DETAILED ACTION
1. 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 § 102
2. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 16-22, 24-25, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by GUDEMAN (US 20180166850).
Regarding claim 16, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification:
16. A semiconductor laser, comprising:
- a carrier (see, 70, fig. 1, see also, paragraph [0039],here, device substrate 70.),
- an edge-emitting laser diode (see, paragraph [0042]) which is arranged on the carrier and which has an active zone (inherent for an edge-emitting laser diode) for generating laser radiation and a facet (inherent foe exit area) with a radiation exit area,
- an optical element (see, 50, fig. 1) which covers the facet,
- a connecting material (see, 20, fig. 1) which is arranged between the optical element and the facet,
- a molded body (see, 60, fig. 1) which covers the laser diode and the optical element at least in places, wherein
- the optical element is at least partially transparent to the laser radiation emitted by the laser diode during operation (inherent due to the reflective characteristic of optical element), - the optical element (see, 50, fig. 1) is designed to change a main propagation direction of the laser radiation entering the optical element during operation (see, paragraph [0039]),
- the optical element has the shape of a segment of a sphere or an ellipsoid (inherent since this configuration is to accommodate the shape of beam generated by an edge-emitting laser diode),
- a main propagation radiation direction of the laser diode is transverse or perpendicular to a main propagation radiation direction of the semiconductor laser (see the configuration of arrow from laser(10) to upper arrow from turning mirror 50).
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Regarding claim 17, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, in which the molded body completely covers the laser diode on at least one side (see, the configuration of 60 and 10, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 18, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, in which the carrier is surrounded at least in places by the molded body in lateral directions, the lateral directions being parallel to the main extension plane of the carrier (see, the configuration of 70 and 60, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 19, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, which has a radiation exit surface that is free of the molded body (see, the configuration of 20 and 60, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 20, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, in which the optical element completely covers the facet (see, the configuration of 20 and 50, fig. 1).
Regarding claim 21, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, in which an anti-reflective layer is applied on the optical element on the side facing the radiation exit are (inherent since an anti-reflective layer is to prevent the laser due the returned beam from the optical element).
Regarding claim 22, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 16, in which the optical element has a radiation exit side on which a further anti-reflective layer is applied (inherent since an anti-reflective layer is to prevent the laser due the returned beam from the optical element).
Regarding claim 24, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the optical element is designed to shape the laser radiation entering the optical element during operation (inherent since the shape of beam from an edge-emitting laser diode be corrected for the laser radiation having the circular profile of beam).
Regarding claim 25, GUDEMAN discloses in figure 1 and specification the semiconductor laser according to claim 24, which comprises a beam combiner, wherein the semiconductor laser comprises two further edge-emitting laser diodes, each of which is arranged on a carrier, one optical element each covers the facet of one further edge-emitting laser diode, and the beam combiner is arranged downstream of the three optical elements of the laser diode and the two further edge-emitting laser diodes (see, paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 27, claim 27 is rejected for the same reasons applied to claim 16 and claim 25 since the limitations of claim 27 are implemented by the limitations of the claims 16 and claim 25.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
5. Claim 23 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Deng above, and further in view of Stoll et al. (US 20160273736).
Regarding claim 23, GUDEMAN discloses the limitations of claim 22 for the reasons above.
However, GUDEMAN is silent as to the limitation of “a photocatalytically acting
layer is applied on the radiation exit side of the optical element to support decomposition reactions on the radiation exit side”.
Stoll et al. discloses that a highly reflective material—for example, TiO.sub.2,
Al.sub.2O.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, in particular with a coating for reducing photocatalytic activity—may also be deposited (see, paragraph [0026]). Even though Stoll et al. does not disclose that the limitation of “a photocatalytically acting layer is applied on the radiation exit side of the optical element to support decomposition reactions on the radiation exit side” as claimed, Stoll et al. discloses the limitation can be realized.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to combine limitation of “a photocatalytically acting layer is applied on the radiation exit side of the optical element to support decomposition reactions on the radiation exit side” with a semiconductor laser of UDEMAN because selecting a photocatalytically acting layer allows for reducing photocatalytic activity to support decomposition reactions on the radiation exit side.
Regarding claim 26, GUDEMAN discloses the limitations of claim 16 for the reasons above.
However, GUDEMAN is silent as to the limitation of “the optical element is
followed by a conversion element which is designed to convert the wavelength of the radiation emitted by the laser diode during operation”.
Stoll et al. discloses that the light-converting regions contain a luminescent
material, which converts light of a first wavelength into light of a second wavelength different from the first wavelength (see, paragraph [0035]). Even though Stoll et al. does not disclose that the limitation of ““the optical element is followed by a conversion element which is designed to convert the wavelength of the radiation emitted by the laser diode during operation” as claimed, Stoll et al. discloses the limitation can be realized.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at
the time of invention to combine limitation of “the optical element is followed by a conversion element which is designed to convert the wavelength of the radiation emitted by the laser diode during operation” with a semiconductor laser of UDEMAN because converting the wavelength of the radiation emitted by the laser diode allows for providing different wavelength for another application.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kinam Park whose telephone number is (571) 270-1738. The examiner can normally be reached on from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, MINSUN HARVEY, can be reached on (571) 272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/KINAM PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828