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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filled on 12/29/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-22 are remain pending in the application.
Applicant’s arguments filed on 12/29/2025 with respect to 35 U.S.C § 103 to newly amended limitations in claims 1, 12 and 22 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged.
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-8, 10, 12, 14, 16-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamness et al. (US 2005/0060103 A1), hereafter Chamness, in view of Dennis et al. (US 2024/0019675 A1) and further in view of Scott et al. (US 2009/0316159 A1), hereafter Scott and Verdoold et al. (US 2025/0198847 A1), hereafter Verdoold.
Regarding Claims 1 and 4, Chamness teaches a method of processing an optical signal, (Fig. 2, [0042]), comprising:
receiving an optical signal at a spectrometer, ( Fig. 2 element 34, the spectrometer received an optical signal emitted from the plasma (45), [0043]);
filtering the optical signal using a narrow pass band filter (the spectrometer (34) comprise a narrow band filter, [0043]) to select a predetermined portion of an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer, (a narrow bandpass interference filter, when used with a spectrometer, it functions to select a specific, narrow portion of the operational range of the spectrometer. Therefore its inherent that the narrow pass filter would filter the optical signal to select a predetermined portion of an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer. Additionally, the claim recite “a narrow pass band filter to select …” is a contingent limitation and do not carry patentably weight as those steps are not required to be performed under a broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim, See Ex parte Schulhauser,, MPEP 2111.04), and
processing the filtered optical signal using a selective combination of optical components based on a desired resolution, (element 34 comprise a combination of optical components as a narrow band filter, grating and a prism generating the desire resolution, Additionally, element 34 comprise a high resolution OES sensor, [0043-0044]).
Chamness fail to teach:
(claim 1) filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter that corresponds to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer and is located in a portion of a collimated light path within the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
(claim 4) wherein the narrow pass band filter is positioned external to the spectrometer.
However, Dennis related to spectroscopy devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches:
(claim 1) filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter (Fig. 1 element 70) that correspond to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer,( a wide band filter element 70 it passes wavelengths within a range that includes all wavelengths of interest (e.g. a pass band from 200 nm to 1600 nm or wider) to the spectrometer “element 14), [0113], and is located in a portion of a collimated light path, (as shown in Fig. 1 element 70 is located in a portion (65A + 65B + 67) of a collimated light path of the beam 65, [0074]).
(claim 4) wherein the narrow pass band filter (Fig. 1 element 27, [0075]) is positioned external to the spectrometer (Fig. 1 element 14, as shown in Fig. 1 element 27 is positioned external to element 14,.[0075, 0113]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Chamness by including filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer, wherein the narrow pass band filter is positioned external to the spectrometer (as taught by Dennis) for several advantages such as: the bandpass filter block unwanted wavelength that may be incident on the sample allowing to decrease the spectral contamination of scattered light thus increase the accuracy of the device.
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter that corresponds to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer and is located in a portion of a collimated light path, ([0074, 0113], Dennis). The modified device of Chamness still lack to teach (claim 1) the band filter is located within the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Scott related to optical measuring devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches: (claim 1) the band filter is located within the spectrometer, (as shown in Fig. 3 the micro-spectrometer 300 comprise band-pass filters elements (303 + 304 + 305) within the spectrometer 300 as the filters are located between the aperture stop 302 and the detector 310, [0051]) Moreover, the particular placement of parts has been held to be an obvious matter in order to satisfy a particular design choice and/or in order to decrease the size of the spectrometer as the micro-spectrometer 300 of Scott without deviating from the general teaching concept of the modified device of Chamness (see MPEP 2144.04 Section VI-C), “It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.”.
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including the band filter is located within the spectrometer (as taught by Scott) for several advantages such as: the arrangement of the spectrometer lets produce a micro-spectrometer allowing to increase portability and integration into other devices. Also band-pass filters allows to prevent aliasing of the signals in order to eliminate unnecessary multiplexed shot noise from outside the spectral region of interest ([0007, 0054], Scott).
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter, the modified device of Chamness is silent about the functional limitation of the filter optical density such as the modified device of Chamness still lack to teach (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Verdoold related to spectroscopy measuring devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches: (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter (Fig. 2a element 208, [0015, 0044]) provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals, (as shown in Fig. 1 regions 101 and 102, [0092], the filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density a filter has an optical density around the range of 6-12 for the suppression of undesired optical signals, [0119, 0123]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals (as taught by Verdoold) for several advantages such as: spectral filters may be used to isolate the wavelengths associated with Raman shifts of the already identified analytes, thereby enabling the miniaturization described above, ([0088], Verdoold).
Regarding Claims 12 and 14, Chamness teaches an optical instrument (Fig. 2, [0042]), comprising:
an optical interface (optical vacuum window) of a spectrometer (Fig. 1 element 34) that receives an optical fiber (optical fiber); (light emitting through an optical vacuum window is focused onto the input end of the optical fibers via a convex spherical lens to be received by the spectrometers, [0045])
a narrow band pass filter (Fig. 2 element 34 that can further comprise a narrow bandpass filter, [0043]) that filters a portion of an optical signal corresponding to a predetermined portion of an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer, (a narrow bandpass interference filter, when used with a spectrometer, it functions to select a specific, narrow portion of the operational range of the spectrometer. Therefore its inherent that the narrow pass filter would filter the optical signal to select a predetermined portion of an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer) received via the optical fiber, (light generated in the optical vacuum is received by the optical fiber and transmitted to the sensor that can comprise a narrow bandpass filter to filter the signal, [0045]).
optical components that are selectively combined to process at least a portion of the optical signal (element 34 comprise a combination optical components as a grating and a prism [0043-0044]), wherein the optical components include a sensor (EOS sensor), that receives the optical signal, [0043-0044]); and one or more processors (Fig. 2 element 55) that process electrical signals from the sensor, [0049].
Even though Chamness teaches a filter that filters the optical signal corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer received via the optical fiber, Chamness fail to teach:
(claim 12) a wide band pass filter located in a portion of a collimated light path within the spectrometer that filters the optical signal corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
(claim 14) wherein the narrow pass band filter is positioned external to the spectrometer.
However, Dennis related to spectroscopy devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches:
(claim 12) a wide band pass filter (Fig. 1 element 70) located in a portion of a collimated light path, (as shown in Fig. 1 element 70 is located in a portion (65A + 65B + 67) of a collimated light path of the beam 65, [0074]). that filters the optical signal corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer,(a wide band filter element 70 it passes wavelengths within a range that includes all wavelengths of interest (e.g. a pass band from 200 nm to 1600 nm or wider) to the spectrometer “element 14), [0113]).
(claim 14) wherein the narrow pass band filter (Fig. 1 element 27, [0075]) is positioned external to the spectrometer (Fig. 1 element 14, as shown in Fig. 1 element 27 is positioned external to element 14,.[0075, 0113]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Chamness by including a wide band pass filter that filters the optical signal corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer (as taught by Dennis) for several advantages such as: the bandpass filter block unwanted wavelength that may be incident on the sample allowing to decrease the spectral contamination of scattered light thus increase the accuracy of the device.
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter that corresponds to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer and is located in a portion of a collimated light path, ([0074, 0113], Dennis). The modified device of Chamness still lack to teach: (claim 12) the band filter is located within the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Scott further teaches the band filter is located within the spectrometer, (as shown in Fig. 3 the micro-spectrometer 300 comprise band-pass filters elements (303 + 304 + 305) within the spectrometer 300 as the filters are located between the aperture stop 302 and the detector 310, [0051]) Moreover, the particular placement of parts has been held to be an obvious matter in order to satisfy a particular design choice and/or in order to decrease the size of the spectrometer as the micro-spectrometer 300 of Scott without deviating from the general teaching concept of the modified device of Chamness (see MPEP 2144.04 Section VI-C), “It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.”.
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including the band filter is located within the spectrometer (as taught by Scott) for several advantages such as: the arrangement of the spectrometer lets produce a micro-spectrometer allowing to increase portability and integration into other devices. Also band-pass filters allows to prevent aliasing of the signals in order to eliminate unnecessary multiplexed shot noise from outside the spectral region of interest ([0007, 0054], Scott).
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter, the modified device of Chamness is silent about the functional limitation of the filter optical density such as the modified device of Chamness still lack to teach (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Verdoold related to spectroscopy measuring devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches: (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter (Fig. 2a element 208, [0015, 0044]) provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals, (as shown in Fig. 1 regions 101 and 102, [0092], the filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density a filter has an optical density around the range of 6-12 for the suppression of undesired optical signals, [0119, 0123]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals (as taught by Verdoold) for several advantages such as: spectral filters may be used to isolate the wavelengths associated with Raman shifts of the already identified analytes, thereby enabling the miniaturization described above, ([0088], Verdoold).
Regarding Claim 3, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method as recited in Claim 1.
Chamness further teaches wherein the optical components include a sensor, (High resolution sensor OES, [0044]).
Regarding Claim 6, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method as recited in Claim 1.
Chamness further teaches wherein the desired resolution is selected based on processing emissions from one or more gas species, (the device in Fig. 2 element 1 comprise a combination of elements that detect the light generated in region 45 of fig. 2 from a gas, produce a resolution of 1.4 Angstroms, [0038, 0044]).
Regarding Claim 7, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method as recited in Claim 6.
Chamness further teaches wherein the one or more gas species include SiN, SiF2, CH, CO and CN, (the species include CO, [0040]).
Regarding Claim 8, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method as recited in Claim 6.
Chamness further teaches wherein a single one of the one or more species SiN, SiF2, CH, CO and CN is selected for processing, (a single specie CO of the one or more specie is introduced in region for processing, [0040]).
Regarding Claim 10, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method as recited in Claim 1.
Chamness further teaches wherein the combination of optical components is selected during manufacturing, (the combination optical components as the narrow band filter, grating, prism and the sensor, it is inherent that were selected at the time the device was assembled, [0043-0044]. Additionally, claims 1 and 10 are directed to a method of processing optical signal contrary to a process of manufacturing the device as cited in the claim 10, (see MPEP 2114 II)).
Regarding Claim 16, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument as recited in claim 12.
Chamness further teaches wherein the optical components are selectively combined to achieve a desired resolution based on processing emissions from one or more gas species. (the device in Fig. 2 element 1 comprise a combination of elements that detect the light generated in region 45 of fig. 2 from a gas, produce a resolution of 1.4 Angstroms, [0038, 0044]).
Regarding Claim 17, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument as recited in claim 16.
Chamness further teaches wherein the one or more gas species include SiN, SiF2, CH, CO and CN, (the species include CO, [0040]).
Regarding Claim 18, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument as recited in claim 17.
Chamness further teaches wherein a single one of the one or more species SiN, SiF2, CH, CO and CN is selected for processing, (a single specie CO of the one or more specie is introduced in region for processing, [0040]).
Regarding Claim 20, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument as recited in claim 12.
Chamness further teaches wherein the combination of optical components is selected during manufacturing, (the combination optical components as the narrow band filter, grating, prism and the sensor, it is inherent that the component were selected at the time the device was assembled, [0043-0044]. Additionally, claims 12 and 20 are directed to an optical instrument contrary to a process of manufacturing the instrument as cited in the claim 20, (see MPEP 2114 II)).
Claims 2, 5, 13, 15 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamness in view of Dennis, Scott and Verdoold and further view of Bouchard et al. (US 2021/0148756 A1), hereafter Bouchard.
Regarding Claims 2 and 13, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument and method.
Even though Chamness teaches wherein the optical components includes a grating, ([0045], Chamness), the modified device of Chamness fail to teach wherein the optical components includes combination of grating, mirrors, and slit size.
However, Bouchard related to spectrometric devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches wherein the optical components includes combination of grating (Fig. 1 element 30, 36), mirrors (Fig. 1 element 46), and slit size (Fig. 1 element 50), [0032, 0034].
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the device of Chamness by including wherein the optical components includes combination of grating, mirrors, and slit size (as taught by Bouchard) for several advantages such as: a modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer configuration increase the spectral resolution with respect to the standard mono-grating approach, while keeping a low form factor, ([0048], Bouchard).
Regarding Claims 5 and 15, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument and method.
Even though Chamness teaches a spectrometer, [0043-0044], the modified device of Chamness fail to teach the spectrometer is a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer.
However, Bouchard related to spectrometric devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches the spectrometer (Fig. 1 element 20) is a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer, (the Czerny-Turner spectrometer is customized to increase the spectral resolution with respect to the standard mono-grating approach, while keeping a low form factor. [0036, 0048]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the device of Chamness by including the spectrometer is a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer (as taught by Bouchard) for several advantages such as: a modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer configuration increase the spectral resolution with respect to the standard mono-grating approach, while keeping a low form factor, ([0048], Bouchard).
Regarding Claim 22, Chamness teaches a semiconductor monitoring system, (Fig. 2, [0042]), comprising:
optical fiber (light is emitted through an optical vacuum window is focused onto the input end of the optical fibers via a convex spherical lens, [0045]); and
spectrometer (Fig. 2 element 34 can comprise high resolution sensor OES and a spectrometer, [0044]). having at least one narrow pass band filter that filters out a portion of an optical signal received via the optical fiber, (light generated in the optical vacuum is received by the optical fiber and transmitted to the sensor that can comprise a narrow bandpass filter to filter the signal, [0043, 0045]).
Chamness fail to teach a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer, at least one wide pass band filter located in a portion of a collimated light path within the spectrometer that corresponds to an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the at least one wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Dennis related to spectroscopy devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches at least one wide pass band filter located in a portion of a collimated light path, (as shown in Fig. 1 element 70 is located in a portion (65A + 65B + 67) of a collimated light path of the beam 65, [0074] that corresponds corresponding to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer,( a wide band filter element 70 it passes wavelengths within a range that includes all wavelengths of interest (e.g. a pass band from 200 nm to 1600 nm or wider) to the spectrometer “element 14), [0113]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Chamness by including having at least one wide pass band filter that corresponds to an operational wavelength range of the spectrometer (as taught by Dennis) for several advantages such as: the bandpass filter block unwanted wavelength that may be incident on the sample allowing to decrease the spectral contamination of scattered light thus increase the accuracy of the device.
Chamness in view of Dennis still lack to teach a modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer, the band filter is located within the spectrometer, wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the at least one wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter, the modified device of Chamness is silent about the functional limitation of the filter optical density such as the modified device of Chamness still lack to teach (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals.
However, Verdoold related to spectroscopy measuring devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches: (claim 1) wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter (Fig. 2a element 208, [0015, 0044]) provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals, (as shown in Fig. 1 regions 101 and 102, [0092], the filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density a filter has an optical density around the range of 6-12 for the suppression of undesired optical signals, [0119, 0123]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein at least one of the narrow band pass filter and the wide band pass filter provide a spectral out-of-band rejection of optical density 6 or greater for the suppression of undesired optical signals (as taught by Verdoold) for several advantages such as: spectral filters may be used to isolate the wavelengths associated with Raman shifts of the already identified analytes, thereby enabling the miniaturization described above, ([0088], Verdoold).
The modified device of Chamness still lack to teach a modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer, the band filter is located within the spectrometer.
However, Bouchard related to spectrometric devices and thus from the same filed of endeavor teaches a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer, (Fig. 1 element 20, the Czerny-Turner spectrometer is customized to increase the spectral resolution with respect to the standard mono-grating approach, while keeping a low form factor. [0036, 0048]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including a customized Czerny-Turner spectrometer, (as taught by Bouchard) for several advantages such as: a modified Czerny-Turner spectrometer configuration increase the spectral resolution with respect to the standard mono-grating approach, while keeping a low form factor, ([0048], Bouchard).
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches filtering the optical signal using a wide pass band filter that corresponds to the operational wavelength range of the spectrometer and is located in a portion of a collimated light path, ([0074, 0113], Dennis). The modified device of Chamness still lack to teach the band filter is located within the spectrometer.
However, Scott further teaches the band filter is located within the spectrometer, (as shown in Fig. 3 the micro-spectrometer 300 comprise band-pass filters elements (303 + 304 + 305) within the spectrometer 300 as the filters are located between the aperture stop 302 and the detector 310, [0051]) Moreover, the particular placement of parts has been held to be an obvious matter in order to satisfy a particular design choice and/or in order to decrease the size of the spectrometer as the micro-spectrometer 300 of Scott without deviating from the general teaching concept of the modified device of Chamness (see MPEP 2144.04 Section VI-C), “It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.”.
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including the band filter is located within the spectrometer (as taught by Scott) for several advantages such as: the arrangement of the spectrometer lets produce a micro-spectrometer allowing to increase portability and integration into other devices. Also band-pass filters allows to prevent aliasing of the signals in order to eliminate unnecessary multiplexed shot noise from outside the spectral region of interest ([0007, 0054], Scott).
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamness in view of Dennis, Scott and Verdoold and further in view of Fazekas, Péter, et al. "Optical emission spectra analysis of thermal plasma treatment of poly (vinyl chloride)." Open Chemistry 13.1 (2015): 000010151520150069.
Regarding Claims 9, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the method according to claim 6.
The modified device and method of Chamness fail to teach wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm.
Fazekas related to spectral analysis device and thus from the same field of endeavor teaches wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm, ([Page 550, Section 2.2, First paragraph]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm, (as taught by Fazekas) for several advantages such as: a high resolution spectroscopy device generate a precise identification of closely spaced spectral peaks, making it ideal for analyzing samples with fine spectral features where even slight variations in wavelength matter significantly, thus increase the efficiency of the device.
Regarding Claim 19, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument as recited in claim 16.
The modified device of Chamness fail to teach wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm.
Fazekas related to spectral analysis device and thus from the same field of endeavor teaches wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm, ([Page 550, Section 2.2, First paragraph]).
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein the resolution is 0.025 nm, (as taught by Fazekas) for several advantages such as: a high resolution spectroscopy device allow to generate a precise identification of closely spaced spectral peaks, making it ideal for analyzing samples with fine spectral features where even slight variations in wavelength matter significantly, thus increase the efficiency of the device.
Claims 11 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chamness in view of Dennis, Scott and Verdoold and further in view of Chen et al. (US2020/0373210 A1), hereafter Chen.
Regarding Claims 11 and 21, Chamness in the combination outlined above teaches the optical instrument and method.
Even though the modified device of Chamness teaches narrow pass band filter (the spectrometer (34) comprise a narrow band filter, [0043], Chamness) to select a predetermined wavelength range corresponding to emissions from a predetermined species, (the device in Fig. 2 element 1 comprise a combination of elements comprising the narrow band filter that detect the light generated in region 45 of Fig. 2 from a gas, to produce a resolution of 1.4 Angstroms, [0038, 0044] Chamness). Therefore the narrow band filter is select to predetermined wavelength range to the corresponding emission of a predetermine specie. Additionally, a narrow bandpass interference filter, when used with a spectrometer, it functions to select a specific, narrow portion of the operational range of the spectrometer. Therefore its inherent that the narrow pass filter would filter the optical signal to select a predetermined portion of an operational wavelength range of the species analyzed by the spectrometer).
The modified device of Chamness fail to teach wherein the narrow pass band filter is adaptable after manufacturing the optical instrument.
However, Chen related to processing optical signal and thus from the same field of endeavor teaches wherein the narrow pass band filter is adaptable after manufacturing the optical instrument, (the optical detector element 140 in Fig. 1 comprise a narrow passband wavelength tunable filter element 150, [0037, 0039].. Additionally, claims 1 and 11 are directed to a method of processing optical signal contrary to a process of manufacturing the device as cited in the claim 11, (see MPEP 2114 II). Furthermore, the claim recite “a narrow pass band filter to select …” is a contingent limitation and do not carry patentably weight as those steps are not required to be performed under a broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim, See Ex parte Schulhauser,, MPEP 2111.04),
Therefore, it would been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling day of the claimed invention to modify the modified device of Chamness by including wherein the narrow pass band filter is adaptable after manufacturing (as taught by Chen) for several advantages such as: since the passband wavelength of wavelength tunable filter is varied, each image acquired by the array detector will be acquired at the instantaneous passband wavelength selected by the wavelength tunable filter allowing to increase the ability of the system to process more work in a given time frame as only the wavelength ranges of interest are acquired, ([0039], Chen).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al. (US 2015/0208957 A1), discloses a measuring instrument and in particular a measuring instrument for detecting a content of an analyte in a sample by analyzing Raman signals obtained in transmission and reflectance modes comprising for each filter, the transmittance for wanted light is greater than 85% while the optical density (OD) for unwanted light is greater than 6, wherein the detector 36 includes a Czerny Turner spectrometer (not shown in FIG. 1) equipped with InGaAs array operating at -5.degree. C. The spectral resolution is controlled by adjusting the entrance slit of the spectrometer, [0046].
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS G PEREZ-GUZMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3904. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 5:00 pm ET.
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/TARIFUR R CHOWDHURY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/CARLOS PEREZ-GUZMAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2877