DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claim(s) 1- 2, 6-7, 9-10 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 112101540A to Institute of Semiconductors-Chinese Academy of Science ( hereinafter , “ CAS ” ) in view of US 20190370652 to Shen et al . and US 20020176140 to Davis. As to claim 1 , CAS discloses a neural network accelerator (see [0019]) , comprising: a photonic locally-connected unit (see [00 23 ], photonic weighting module 1 ) including: a plurality of optical modulators each receiving a respective input optical signal indicative of a value of a respective input element and a respective electrical signal indicative of the value of a respective weight (see [0075], The modulator array 44 includes N groups of modulators, each group containing M modulators. The distribution of the N*M modulators in the modulator array is the same as the distribution of the N*M modulators in the photonic weighting module 1; see [0081], the photonic weighting module implements the encoding of multiple weights, and based on the encoding of multiple weights, adjusts the amplitude of multiple optical signals of different wavelengths included in the input signal, so as to realize the optical multiplication and addition calculation of the input data represented by the optical signal of each wavelength with multiple weights respectively) , each optical modulator modulating the respective input optical signal with the respective electrical signal weights to generate a respective weighted optical signal (see [0075], The modulator array 44 … is used to perform amplitude modulation on the optical signals of different wavelengths included in the input signal to realize the optical encoding of the input data represented by each wavelength optical signal) ; a positive accumulation waveguide; a negative accumulation waveguide (see [0055], the photodetector array 3 includes multiple photodetectors, which are connected one-to-one with the longitudinal waveguides in the photonic weighting module 1. The optical signals of the positive and negative calculation results on the longitudinal waveguides of the weighting module are detected twice) ; a plurality of optical adders each selectively coupling one of the respective weighted optical signals into one of the positive accumulation waveguide or the negative accumulation waveguide based on whether the respective weight is positive or negative (see [0041], the photonic weighting module 1 includes N transverse waveguides and M longitudinal waveguides. The transverse and longitudinal waveguides intersect each other, and a resonator is placed at each intersection, for a total of N*M resonators [adders]. The input signal is input into the photonic weighting module 1 through each transverse waveguide; see [0067], The resonators 11, 12, and 13 in the photon weighting module 1 perform a multiplication and addition calculation of the input value and the weight. Each bias resonator 21, 22, and 23 performs a summation calculation of the result of the multiplication and addition calculation of the bias and the corresponding resonator columns 11, 12, and 13, which can be expressed as …) ; a first photodetector that generates a positive current in response to receiving a first accumulated optical signal from the positive accumulation waveguide (see [0055], the photodetector array 3 includes multiple photodetectors, which are connected one-to-one with the longitudinal waveguides in the photonic weighting module 1. The optical signals of the positive and negative calculation results on the longitudinal waveguides of the weighting module are detected twice) ; and a second photodetector that generates a negative current in response to receiving a second accumulated optical signal from the negative accumulation waveguide (see [0055], the photodetector array 3 includes multiple photodetectors, which are connected one-to-one with the longitudinal waveguides in the photonic weighting module 1. The optical signals of the positive and negative calculation results on the longitudinal waveguides of the weighting module are detected twice) , wherein the photonic locally-connected unit generates an output current that is a sum of the positive current and the negative current (see [0055], the photodetector array 3 includes multiple photodetectors, which are connected one-to-one with the longitudinal waveguides in the photonic weighting module 1. The optical signals of the positive and negative calculation results on the longitudinal waveguides of the weighting module are detected twice . The signal difference between the positive and negative calculation results represents the result of the summation calculation ) . CAS fails to explicitly disclose the plurality of optical modulators each receiving a respective electrical signal indicative of the value of a respective weight, each optical modulator modulating the respective input optical signal with the respective electrical signal to generate a respective weighted optical signal; and coupling one of the respective weighted optical signals into one of the positive accumulation waveguide or the negative accumulation waveguide based on whether the respective weight is positive or negative. Shen teaches the plurality of optical modulators each receiving a respective electrical signal indicative of the value of a respective weight, each optical modulator modulating the respective input optical signal with the respective electrical signal to generate a respective weighted optical signal (see [0359]) . At the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify CAS using Shen’s teachings to include the plurality of optical modulators each receiving a respective electrical signal indicative of the value of a respective weight, each optical modulator modulating the respective input optical signal with the respective electrical signal to generate a respective weighted optical signal in order to have more control over the weights applied to input optical signal (Shen; [0359]-[0360]). Davis teaches coupling one of the respective weighted optical signals into one of the positive accumulation waveguide or the negative accumulation waveguide based on whether the respective weight is positive or negative (see [0044] -[ 0045]; FIGS. 5-6) . At the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to further modify CAS using Davis ’s teachings to include coupling one of the respective weighted optical signals into one of the positive accumulation waveguide or the negative accumulation waveguide based on whether the respective weight is positive or negative in order to improve the sorting of optical signals to reach its designated detector within an optical device (Davis; [0011]). As to claim 2, modified CAS further discloses wherein the respective input optical signal received at each optical modulator is one of a first plurality of input optical signals received by the optical modulator, each input optical signal having a unique wavelength, being indicative of the value of one of a plurality of input elements, and being modulated by the optical modulator to generate a weighted optical signal (see [0016]) . As to claim 6, modified CAS further discloses wherein the photonic locally-connected unit is one of a plurality of photonic locally-connected units in a photonic locally-connected group (see [0072] -[ 0075]) , and further comprising: an optical demultiplexer that receives a composite input optical signal including a second plurality of input optical signals each having a unique wavelength and separately couples each input optical signal into one of a first plurality of optical waveguides that is partitioned into a plurality of waveguide groups each including a portion of the first plurality of optical waveguides (see [0072] -[ 0075]) ; a plurality of optical couplers each configured to receive a respective portion of the first plurality of optical waveguides, and output a multicast pattern of the input optical signals carried by the respective portion of the first plurality of optical waveguides into a second plurality of optical waveguides such that each optical waveguide of the second plurality of optical waveguides carries the first plurality of input optical signals (see [0045], [0047], [0056]) . As to claim 7, modified CAS further discloses wherein the photonic locally-connected group is one of a plurality of photonic locally-connected groups (see [0072] -[ 0075]) , and further comprising: an optical signal generator that generates the composite input optical signal (see [0072] -[ 0075]) ; and a plurality of Y-branches that broadcast the composite input optical signal to each of the plurality of photonic locally connected groups (see [0072] -[ 0075]) . Modified CAS fails to explicitly disclose a plurality of Y-branches that broadcast the input optical signal. Shen teaches a plurality of Y-branches that broadcast the input optical signal (FIG. 18; see [0553]) . At the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to further modify CAS using Shen’s teachings to include a plurality of Y-branches that broadcast the input optical signal in order to copy the same input signal to multiple multiplication units within an optoelectronic system (Shen; [0553]). As to claims 9- 10 and 14-15 , method claims 9-1 0 and 14-15 recite the same features as those recited in claims 1- 2 and 6-7 , respectively, and are therefore rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above. Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 112101540A to Institute of Semiconductors-Chinese Academy of Science ( hereinafter , “ CAS ” ) in view of US 20190370652 to Shen et al ., US 20020176140 to Davis , and US 20170222729 to Sadot et al. As to claim 5, modified CAS further discloses a Mach-Zehnder modulator (see [0054], [0066]). Modified CAS fails to explicitly disclose wherein each optical modulator includes a Mach-Zehnder modulator . Sadot teaches wherein each optical modulator includes a Mach-Zehnder modulator (FIG. 3; [0047] -[ 0048]). At the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify CAS to include a Mach-Zehnder modulator in each optical modulator in order to utilize Mach-Zehnder modulator s to attain error free transmission ( Sadot ; [0072] ). As to claim 13, method claim 13 recites the same features as those recited in claim 5 and is therefore rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3, 4, 8, 11, 12 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT BOUBACAR ABDOU TCHOUSSOU whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-7625 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M-F 8am-4pm . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Chris Kelley can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT 5712727331 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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