Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-9, 11-13, 15-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 10088631 B1.
Claim 1: '631 discloses a lid for a photonic device, comprising (see mainly figs. 1-2):
a resilient frame 21 configured to bridge transversely over one or more optical fibers (an optical fiber in optical fiber member 42) in a region of the photonic device (which can be interpreted as all the elements below cover case 21 in fig. 1), the resilient frame including a span that defines a span direction, the resilient frame further including end portions (bottom ends of 21b and 21c, figs. 1 and 13) that are disposed transversely to the span to form an internal region of the frame; and
a compliant solid base material 26 formed within the internal region of the frame and attached to the frame along the span;
the resilient frame being configured to transversely span over one or more optical fibers and preload the one or more optical fibers with the compliant solid base material when secured to the photonic device (for example, in the assembled state of fig. 2; see also col. 10 lns. 26-30).
Claim 3: The compliant solid base material 26 is configured to engage the one or more optical fibers and contour to a shape of the one or more optical fibers to fill lateral spaces around the one or more optical fibers (figs. 2 and 13).
Claim 4: The compliant solid base material 26 includes an elastomeric polymer material (col. 7 lns. 31-36; col. 5 ln. 65 - col. 6 ln. 6).
Claim 6: The frame 21 includes one or more of plastic, metal and/or ceramic (plastic and metal are mentioned in col. 6 lns. 56-58).
Claim 7: '631 discloses a lid for a photonic device, comprising:
a resilient frame 21 configured to bridge transversely over one or more optical fibers (an optical fiber in optical fiber member 42) in a region of the photonic device (which can be interpreted as all the elements below cover case 21 in fig. 1); and
a compliant solid base material 26 formed on a first side of the frame;
the one or more fibers being positioned on the photonic device, and the resilient frame being configured to transversely span over the one or more optical fibers and preload the one or more fibers with the compliant solid base material when the frame is secured to the photonic device.
Claim 8: The compliant solid base material 26 engages the one or more optical fibers and contours to a shape of the one or more optical fibers to fill lateral spaces around the one or more optical fibers (figs. 2 and 13).
Claim 9: The compliant solid base material 26 includes an elastomeric polymer material (col. 7 lns. 31-36; col. 5 ln. 65 - col. 6 ln. 6).
Claim 11: The photonic device includes one or more channels 6b (fig. 12) that receive the one or more optical fibers.
Claim 12: The region of the photonic device includes a transition region between waveguides 41a (fig. 17) on the photonic device and the one or more fibers, which extend off the photonic device.
Claim 13: The resilient frame 21 includes a span that defines a span direction, the resilient frame further including end portions (bottom ends of 21b and 21c) that are disposed transversely to the span.
Claim 15: The compliant solid base material 26 is fully removeable from the one or more optical fibers.
Claim 16: '631 discloses a lid assembly for a photonic device, comprising:
a resilient frame 21 configured to bridge transversely over one or more optical fibers (an optical fiber in optical fiber member 42) in a region of the photonic device (which can be interpreted as all the elements below cover case 21 in fig. 1), the resilient frame including a span that defines a span direction, the resilient frame further including end portions (bottom ends of 21b and 21c) that are disposed transversely to the span to form an internal region of the frame;
a compliant solid base material 26 formed with the internal region of the frame and attached to the frame along the span; and
a fiber receiving trough 6b disposed in the photonic device is configured to receive the one or more optical fibers, the one or more fibers being positioned on the photonic device in communication with corresponding waveguides 41a disposed on the photonic device;
the resilient frame being configured to transversely span over the one or more optical fibers and preload the one or more fibers with the compliant solid base material when secured to the photonic device in a transition region between the waveguides on the photonic device and the one or more fibers, which extend off the photonic device.
Claim 17: The compliant solid base material 26 engages the one or more optical fibers and contours to a shape of the one or more optical fibers to fill lateral spaces around the one or more optical fibers (figs. 2 and 13).
Claim 18: The compliant solid base material 26 includes an elastomeric polymer material (col. 7 lns. 31-36; col. 5 ln. 65 - col. 6 ln. 6).
Claim 20: The compliant solid base material 26 is fully removeable from the one or more optical fibers.
Claims 1-3, 7-8, 11, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 6464407 B1.
Claim 1: '407 discloses a lid for a photonic device, comprising (see mainly figs. 2, 2A, and 3):
a resilient frame 34 configured to bridge transversely over one or more optical fibers 28 in a region of the photonic device (the photonic device can be taken as lower ferrule member 32 and the fibers 28 it carries), the resilient frame 34 including a span that defines a span direction (such as left to right as oriented in fig. 2), the resilient frame further including end portions 62 that are disposed transversely to the span to form an internal region of the frame; and
a compliant solid base material 24 formed within the internal region of the frame and attached to the frame along the span;
the resilient frame being configured to transversely span over one or more optical fibers and preload the one or more optical fibers with the compliant solid base material when secured to the photonic device (in the assembled state of figs. 2 and 2A; see also col. 3 lns. 49-61).
Claim 2: The end portions 62 are secured to the photonic device with an adhesive 26 (col. 3 lns. 34-37; note the presence of some adhesive 26 between 62 and 44 in fig. 2A).
Claim 3: The compliant solid base material 24 is configured to engage the one or more optical fibers 28 and contour to a shape of the one or more optical fibers to fill lateral spaces around the one or more optical fibers (fig. 2A).
Claim 7: '407 discloses a lid for a photonic device, comprising:
a resilient frame 34 configured to bridge transversely over one or more optical fibers in a region of the photonic device; and
a compliant solid base material 24 formed on a first side of the frame;
the one or more fibers 28 being positioned on the photonic device (which can be taken as lower ferrule member 32 and the fibers 28 it carries), and the resilient frame being configured to transversely span over the one or more optical fibers and preload the one or more fibers with the compliant solid base material when the frame is secured to the photonic device.
Claim 8: The compliant solid base material 24 engages the one or more optical fibers 28 and contours to a shape of the one or more optical fibers to fill lateral spaces around the one or more optical fibers.
Claim 11: The photonic device includes one or more channels 42 that receive the one or more optical fibers 28.
Claim 13: The resilient frame 34 includes a span that defines a span direction, the resilient frame further including end portions 62 that are disposed transversely to the span.
Claim 14: The end portions 62 are secured to the photonic device with an adhesive 26.
Claim 15: The compliant solid base material 24 is fully removeable from the one or more optical fibers 28.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 5, 10, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10088631 B1 (applied above) in view of US 2016/0223763 A1.
'631 does not discuss compression pressure and so does not disclose that the preload includes a compression pressure of less than 5 psi. The compression pressure was recognized as a result-effective variable in that too low of a pressure would not securely hold fibers while too high of a pressure would damage fibers. See e.g. '763 at [0023] and figs. 1A-1B (pressure is proportional to force per area). It has been held that optimization of a result-effective variable is obvious absent evidence of criticality (MPEP 2144.05(II)). Accordingly it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claims 5, 10, and 19 to have determined a suitable value of the compression pressure which would securely hold the fiber in the '631 device without damaging it.
Conclusion
The additional references listed on the attached 892 form are considered generally relevant to the subject matter of this application. Several of them disclose other examples of optical fiber holding devices.
Contact Information
Examiner: 571-272-2360
Examiner's direct supervisor: 571-272-2397
Official correspondence by fax: 571-273-8300
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/Michael Stahl/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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