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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Selker et al. (2006/0123884).
Claim 1
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses a chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1) with a first opening (Fig. 9, Ref. 3) and a second opening (Fig. 9, Ref. 3); a first window that seals the first opening (Fig. 9, Ref. 4); a first concave mirror outside of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 9), wherein the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) are oriented in a non-parallel arrangement with each other (See Fig. 9, window Ref. 4 forming Brewster angle toward concave mirror Ref. 9); a second window that seals the second opening (Fig. 9, Ref. 5); and a second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) outside of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1), wherein the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) are oriented in a non-parallel arrangement with each other (See Fig. 9, window Ref. 5 forming Brewster angle toward concave mirror Ref. 10), and wherein the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) is parallel to the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10).
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Claim 2
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) is oriented parallel to the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5; See Fig., 9 the position of Ref. 4, 5 are positioned parallel to one another).
Claim 3
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) are oriented as concave mirror images of each other (Ref. 4, 5 same shape and position).
Claim 4
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses light reflected between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) passes through the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) at an angle between 450 and 80 from normal (See Fig. 9).
Claim 5
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the angle is the Brewster's angle (The windows Ref. 4, 5 are angled to form the Brewster’s angle).
Claim 6
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) are oriented parallel to a sidewall of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 3)(See Fig. 9, Ref. 1)
Claim 7
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) are non-parallel with a sidewall of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 6, 7)(See Fig. 9, Ref. 1).
Claim 8
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses a laser source (Fig. 9, Ref. 44) configured to emit laser light that reflects between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10); and a detector (Fig. 9, Ref. 54) configured to detect laser light that has reflected between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) at least one time.
Claim 9
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the laser source (Fig. 9, Ref. 44) is configured to emit the laser light through the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9), and wherein the detector (Fig. 9, Ref. 54) is configured to detect the laser light after the laser light passes through the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) after reflecting between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10)(Para. 0070).
Claim 10
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the laser source (Fig. 9, Ref. 44) is configured to emit the laser light through the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9), and wherein the detector (Fig. 9, Ref. 54) is configured to detect the laser light after the laser light passes through the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) after reflecting between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 1, Ref. 13).
Claim 11
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the laser source (Fig. 9, Ref. 44) is configured to emit the laser light in a path toward the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) that passes outside an outer edge of the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9), and wherein the detector (Fig. 9, Ref. 54) is configured to detect the laser light after is passes outside an outer edge of the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10)(It’s inherent that the concave mirror Ref. 10 has the ability to pass light to the outer edge of the concave mirror).
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) 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Selker et al. (2006/0123884) and in further view of CN 107941736.
Claim 12
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses a chamber (Fig.9, Ref. 1); a first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) outside of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1); and a second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) outside of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1).
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) substantially teaches the claimed invention except that it does not show using an absorption spectroscopy system. CN 107941736 shows that it is known to provide an absorption spectroscopy system with a chamber (See “Background”) for a device for measuring a gas spectrum. It would have been obvious to modify the device of Selker et al. (2006/0123884) with the absorption spectroscopy of CN 107941736 before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the purpose of providing an absorption spectroscopy that can efficiently collect and direct light, therefore reducing beam divergence and improving the signal-to-noise ratio.
Claim 13
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses an optical path between the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) passes through a first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1) and a second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1).
Claim 14
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses wherein the optical path intersects the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) at an angle between 45 and 80 degrees from normal (See Fig. 9).
Claim 15
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the angle is the Brewster's angle (The windows Ref. 4, 5 are angled to form the Brewster’s angle).
Claim 16
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the claimed invention except for the chamber is an annealing chamber, a chemical vapor deposition chamber, a physical vapor deposition chamber, an atomic layer deposition chamber, or an etching chamber. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Selker et al. (2006/0123884) with one of the chambers listed above since it was well known in the art that using such chambers allows the device to be used in different applications, therefore improving quality in the measurements of the different chambers. The examiner takes Official Notice that the elements listed above are well-known, or to be common knowledge in the art are capable of instant and unquestionable demonstration as being well-known.
Claim(s) 17-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Selker et al. (2006/0123884).
Claim 17
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses a vacuum chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1)(Para. 0007) with a first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and a second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5), wherein an optical path between the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) passes a volume of the chamber (Fig. 1, Ref. 1); a first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and a second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10), wherein the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) are outside of the vacuum chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1), wherein the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10) are configured to reflect light along the optical path through the volume of the chamber (Fig. 9, Ref. 1), and wherein faces of the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) are non-parallel with faces of the first concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 9) and the second concave mirror (Fig. 9, Ref. 10).
Claim 18
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the optical path is substantially orthogonal to a sidewall of the chamber (see Fig. 9).
Claim 20
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the optical path passes through the first window (Fig. 9, Ref. 4) and the second window (Fig. 9, Ref. 5) at the Brewster's angle (The windows Ref. 4, 5 are angled to form the Brewster’s angle).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Selker et al. (2006/0123884).
Claim 19
Selker et al. (2006/0123884) discloses the claimed invention except for the first mirror and the second mirror are coated with gold. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to combine Selker et al. (2006/0123884) with the gold layers since it was well known in the art that using gold layers on the mirror makes them more resistant to tarnish and corrosion, therefore making them suitable in hazardous environments. The examiner takes Official Notice that the elements listed above are well-known, or to be common knowledge in the art are capable of instant and unquestionable demonstration as being well-known.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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 in the argument.
Conclusion
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 MICHAEL PATRICK STAFIRA whose telephone number is (571)272-2430. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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/MICHAEL P STAFIRA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877 April 8, 2026
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