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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/24/24 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shukunami et al. (US 2019/0353980 A1).
Re. Claim 1, Shukunami et al. discloses a wavelength adapter 1 (Fig. 1; [0029]) comprising:
one or more a first converters 27 of conversion part(s) 13A/13B, each converting, by a first pump light (e.g., from light source 22), a first signal light (e.g., from light source 11B) into a second signal light having a wavelength not included in a target wavelength band while maintaining a phase relationship of the first signal light (Figs. 1-2; [0031], [0047]-[0048]), [0051]);
one or more a first filters 28A of conversion part(s) 13A/13B, each blocking the first signal light and the first pump light, and allowing for transmission of the second signal light (Figs. 1-2; [0047], [0053]);
one or more a second converters 27 of conversion part(s) 13C/13D, each converting, by a second pump light (e.g., from input 21B), the second signal light into a third signal light having a wavelength in the target wavelength band while maintaining a phase relationship of the second signal light (Figs. 1-2; [0047], [0058]); and
one or more a-second filters 28B of conversion part(s) 13C/13D, each blocking the second signal light and the second pump light, and allowing for transmission of the third signal light (Figs. 1-2; [0047], [0055], [0058]).
The same reasoning applied in the rejection of apparatus claim 1, mutatis mutandis, applies to the subject-matter of method claim 13, given the apparatus is considered inseparable from the method of (making/using) the apparatus.
Re. Claim 2, Shukunami et al. discloses the one or more first converters 27 and the one or more first filters 28A/28B are composed of a plurality of first converters 27 corresponding to different wavelengths (e.g., converter 27 of unit 13A corresponds to the L band, and converter 27 of unit 13B corresponds to the S band) and a plurality of first filters 13A corresponding to each of the plurality of first converters, in which at least one of the one or more second converters 27 of conversion unit 13C converts a plurality of the second signal lights into the third signal lights having wavelengths in the respective target wavelength band while maintaining the phase relationship of the respective second signal light, and the at least one of the one or more second filter blocks the plurality of the second signal lights and the second pump light, and allows for transmission of a plurality of the third signal lights (Figs. 1-2; [0040]).
Re. Claim 4, Shukunami et al. discloses at least one of the one or more first converters 27 converts a plurality of the first signal lights having different wavelengths into a plurality of the second signal lights respectively, each of the wavelengths of the each of the second signal lights is not included in the target wavelength band corresponding to each of the plurality of the first signal lights, while maintaining the phase relationship of the plurality of the first signal lights (Figs. 1-2; [0031]),
at least one of the one or more first filters 28A blocks the plurality of the first signal lights and the first pump light, and allows for transmission of the plurality of the second signal lights (figs. 1-2; [0047]), and
the wavelength adapter further includes:
a demultiplexer 14B that separates, based on wavelength, the plurality of the second signal lights; and
the one or more second converters 27 of unit(s) 13C/13D and the one or more second filters 28B are composed of a plurality of second converters 27 corresponding to different wavelengths which have been demultiplexed by the demultiplexer 14B and a plurality of second filters 28B corresponding to each of the plurality of second converters (Figs. 1-2; [0040], [0055], [0058]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 5-12 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.
Re. Claim 3, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein a frequency of the first pump light of each of the plurality of first converters for converting the first signal light into the second signal light is a frequency shifted from a frequency of the second pump light by a frequency corresponding to a shift between a frequency of the first signal light to be converted and a frequency corresponding to a target wavelength in the target wavelength band of the first signal light.
Re. Claims 5-6, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein a frequency of the second pump light of each of the plurality of second converters for converting the second signal light into the third signal light is a frequency shifted from a frequency of the first pump light by a frequency in accordance with a shift between a frequency corresponding to a target wavelength in the target wavelength band of each of the plurality of the first signal lights converted into each of the plurality of the second signal lights and a frequency of each of the plurality of the first signal lights.
Re. Claim 7, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein the one or more first converters receive the first signal light from a first optical switch having a plurality of first ports, and receiving a signal light from any of the first ports and outputting the signal light from another one of the first ports, and the one or more second filters output the third signal light to a second optical switch having a plurality of second ports, and receiving a signal light from any of the second ports and outputting the signal light from another one of the second ports, or outputs the third signal light to the first optical switch.
Re. Claim 8, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein a plurality of the first signal lights which have been output from different ones of a plurality of first ports of a first optical switch, and receiving a signal light from any of the first ports and outputting the signal light from another one of the first ports, and the plurality of the third signal lights are output to the same one or different one of second ports of a second optical switch, and receiving a signal light from any of the second ports and outputting the signal light from another one of the second ports, or are output to the same one or different one of the first ports of the first optical switch.
Re. Claim 9, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein at least one of the one or more first filters outputs the first pump light to another wavelength adapter, and the first pump light which has been output from the at least one of the one or more first filters is used as the first pump light or the second pump light in the another wavelength adapter.
Re. Claim 10, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein at least one of the one or more first filters outputs the first pump light to another wavelength adapter that outputs a third signal light having a wavelength in a predetermined relationship with a wavelength of the third signal light generated on the basis of the first signal light, and the first pump light which has been output from the at least one of the one or more first filters is used as the first pump light or the second pump light in the another wavelength adapter.
Re. Claim 11, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein at least one of the one or more second filters outputs the second pump light to another wavelength adapter, and the second pump light which has been output from the at least one of the one or more second filters is used as the first pump light or the second pump light in the another wavelength adapter.
Re. Claim 12, the prior art does not disclose or reasonably suggest a wavelength adapter as required by the claim, specifically wherein at least one of the plurality of second filters outputs the second pump light to another wavelength adapter that outputs another third signal light having a wavelength in a predetermined relationship with a wavelength of the third signal light for which transmission is to be allowed, and the second pump light which has been output from the at least one of the plurality of second filters is used as the first pump light or the second pump light in the another wavelength adapter.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See the attached PTO-892.
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/RHONDA S PEACE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874 2/19/26