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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-20, corresponding to Inventions II and II identified in the restriction requirement of the Office Action mailed 10 December 2025, were canceled in Applicant’s amendment received 10 February 2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 10 February 2025 is acknowledged.
New claims 21-33 are directed to the same invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 17 April 2025 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner has considered the information disclosure statement; please see attached forms PTO-1449.
Drawings
The drawings submitted have been reviewed and determined to facilitate understanding of the invention. The drawings are accepted as submitted.
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.
(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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 21-22, 24, and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. US 2023/0204879 A1 to Kim et al. (“US1”).
Regarding Claim 1, US1 describes a method of manufacturing an optical device (see Figs 10-11E and [0090]-[0100]) , the method comprising:
attaching (1008, see [0093]) a first mirror structure (120) to a first optical package (110),
wherein after the attaching the first mirror structure, a first mirror (125) within the first mirror structure is aligned with an edge coupler (111) within the first optical package (1008, see [0093]) and
wherein after the attaching the first mirror structure, a first optical fiber (138) is located within the first mirror structure (1012, see [0095]).
Regarding Claim 2, US1 describes the first mirror structure comprising a first microlens (132).
Regarding Claim 3, US1 describes the first optical fiber aligned to send optical signals to the first mirror (see [0096]-[0099]).
Regarding Claim 4, US1 describes the first mirror structure comprising a second mirror (135).
Regarding Claim 5, US1 describes the first optical fiber is aligned to send optical signals to the second mirror (see [0096]-[0099]).
Regarding Claim 7, US1 describes the attaching the first mirror structure comprising attaching the first mirror structure directly to the first optical package with an adhesive (116, 1008, see [0066], [0093], [0109]).
Regarding Claim 21, US1 describes a method of manufacturing an optical device (see Figs 10-11E and [0090]-[0100]), the method comprising:
Placing (1008, see [0093]) an adhesive (116) onto a first optical package (110), wherein the first optical package comprising an edge coupler (111); and
adhering a first mirror structure (120) to the adhesive, wherein after the adhering the first mirror structure a first mirror (125) within the first mirror structure is aligned with the edge coupler, the first mirror structure comprising an optical fiber (138).
Regarding Claim 23, US1 describes the adhering the first mirror structure to the adhesive places the first mirror structure in physical contact with the adhesive (see Fig 11A).
Regarding Claim 24, US1 describes attaching the first optical package onto an interposer substrate (114).
Regarding Claim 26, US1 describes attaching the first optical package onto a redistribution structure (104)
Regarding Claim 27, US1 describes the first mirror comprising an array of mirrors (shown Fig 11E).
Regarding Claim 28, US1 describes a method of manufacturing an optical device (see Figs 10-11E and [0090]-[0100]), the method comprising:
receiving a first optical package (110); and
adhering (1008, see [0093]) a first mirror structure (120) to the first optical package, the first mirror structure comprising:
a first mirror (125) aligned with an edge coupler (111) within the first optical package; and
a first optical fiber (138).
Regarding Claim 29, US1 describes that, after the adhering, the first optical fiber is aligned parallel with a sidewall (top wall as shown in Fig 11A) of the first optical package.
Regarding Claim 30, US1 describes the first mirror structure further comprises a second mirror (135), the second mirror being aligned with an output of the first optical fiber (see Figs 11A, 1E).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US1 as applied to Claim 21 above.
US1 describes attaching (1006, see [0092]) the first optical package onto a substrate (114).
US1 does not describe the substrate as silicon. US1 only states that substrate is made of, “glass or any other suitable material that can be penetrated by optical wavelengths,” (see [0074], [0103]). Silicon is a well-known material for forming glass substrates in optical devices. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the substrate of US1 from silicon, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 22, and 31-33 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.
Claim 6 describes the attaching the first mirror structure comprises:
attaching a first receptacle to the first optical package; and
attaching the first mirror structure to the first receptacle.
Claims 22 and 32 describe a microlens located between the first mirror and the edge coupler.
Claim 31 describes the first mirror structure comprising:
a first portion comprising the first mirror; and
a second portion comprising the second mirror, the first portion extending into the second portion.
Claim 33 describes the adhering using a first receptacle.
These limitations represent subject matter not described or reasonably suggested, in conjunction with the further limitations of the present claims, by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art cited in the attached form PTO-892 are made of record and considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art describes optical devices, and methos of manufacturing thereof, including optical packages, edge couplers, and/or mirror structures.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY RAHLL whose telephone number is (571)272-2356. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY RAHLL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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