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 1-2, 10, 12-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 4784456.
Claim 1: '456 discloses a system for maintaining relative position of separate fibers for performing a subsequent alignment and connection of the separate fibers to an interface, the system comprising (see mainly fig. 9; some corresponding parts are described in conjunction with fig. 4):
a plurality of fibers (two in fig. 9) extending parallel in a same direction along a Z-axis, wherein the plurality of fibers includes at least a first fiber and a second fiber, wherein each fiber of the plurality of fibers includes at least one coating (buffers 47 and 48 respectively) and a core section; and
a fiber holder comprising:
a first alignment slot 45 for receiving the first fiber, wherein the first alignment slot defines a first recess defined in a first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the first recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the first fiber therein such that an outer coating of the first fiber rests within the first recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the first fiber (note e.g. "the optical fiber buffer or plastic jacket 29 is pressed into V-shaped groove 20 and held firmly by the edge surface 30 of land 26, col. 4 lns. 22-24; "maintains a firm grip on fiber buffers 47 and 48", col. 5 lns. 43-47; "maintains a firm grip on buffer 29", col. 4 lns. 29-35); and
a second alignment slot 46 for receiving the second fiber, wherein the second alignment slot defines a second recess defined in the first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the second recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the second fiber therein such that an outer coating of the second fiber rests within the second recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the second fiber (note quotations above),
wherein the first alignment slot is positioned in a fixed spaced apart manner from the second alignment slot in at least one of a direction along a Y-axis or a direction along an X-axis so as to maintain at least a relative position of the first fiber and the second fiber with respect to each other (an X-axis can be taken as a horizontal direction as oriented in fig. 9).
Claim 2: The fiber holder comprises a first portion 44 and a second portion 49, wherein the first alignment slot 45 and the second alignment slot 46 are provided on the first portion, wherein the first portion is configured to contact the first fiber at two or more distinct locations (at sidewalls of 45) and the second portion is configured to contact the first fiber at at least one location (at bottom of land 51), and wherein the first portion and the second portion provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the first fiber.
Claim 10: A plurality of alignment slots are defined within the first surface (two as shown in fig. 9), and a protrusion is provided between each of the plurality of alignment slots.
Claim 12: The fiber holder is capable of being removed after the fibers are connected to the interface (for example, by unlatching outer portion 53 of the upper element 49).
Claim 13: At least one of the first alignment slot or the second alignment slot possess a cross sectional shape from at least one of a partial triangular shape, a partial trapezoidal shape, a partial rectangular shape, or a partial curvilinear shape (partial triangular as shown).
Claim 14: The fiber holder comprises a first portion 51 and a second portion 52, and wherein the first portion and the second portion possess an identical shape (fig. 9).
Claim 15: '456 discloses a fiber holder for maintaining relative position of separate fibers for performing a subsequent alignment and connection of the separate fibers to an interface, the fiber holder comprising:
a first alignment slot for receiving a first fiber extending in a direction parallel to a Z-axis, wherein the first alignment slot defines a first recess defined in a first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the first recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the first fiber therein such that an outer coating of the first fiber rests within the first recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the first fiber; and
a second alignment slot for receiving a second fiber extending in a direction parallel to the Z-axis, wherein the second alignment slot defines a second recess defined in the first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the second recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the second fiber therein such that an outer coating of the second fiber rests within the second recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the second fiber,
wherein the first alignment slot is positioned in a fixed spaced apart manner from the second alignment slot in at least one of a direction along a Y-axis or a direction along an X-axis so as to maintain at least a relative position of the first fiber and the second fiber with respect to each other. See above with regard to claim 1, which includes all the elements of claim 15.
Claim 16: The fiber holder further comprises:
a first portion; and
a second portion,
wherein the first alignment slot and the second alignment slot are provided on the first portion, wherein the first portion is configured to contact the first fiber at two or more distinct locations and the second portion is configured to contact the first fiber at least one location, and wherein the first portion and the second portion provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the first fiber. See above with regard to claim 2.
Claim 20: The process of using the system described above with regard to claim 1 includes steps of: providing a first fiber; providing a second fiber; providing a fiber holder, wherein the fiber holder comprises: a first alignment slot for receiving a first fiber extending in a direction parallel to a Z-axis, wherein the first alignment slot defines a first recess defined in a first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the first recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the first fiber therein such that an outer coating of the first fiber rests within the first recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the first fiber; and a second alignment slot for receiving a second fiber extending in a direction parallel to the Z-axis, wherein the second alignment slot defines a second recess defined in the first surface of the fiber holder, wherein the second recess is configured to receive at least a portion of the second fiber therein such that an outer coating of the second fiber rests within the second recess to provide frictional resistance to resist movement of the second fiber, wherein the first alignment slot is positioned in a fixed spaced apart manner from the second alignment slot in at least one of a direction along a Y-axis or a direction along an X-axis so as to maintain at least a relative position of the first fiber and the second fiber with respect to each other; placing the first fiber within the first alignment slot; and placing the second fiber within the second alignment slot.
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 7-9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 4784456 in view of Hosaka et al. (article in Electronics Letters, July 1981, citation "U' on attached 892 form).
Claims 7 and 19: '456 discloses that the outer coating of the first fiber rests within the first recess to provide frictional resistance to resist rotational movement of the first fiber (claims 7 and 19), and wherein the outer coating of the second fiber rests within the second recess to provide frictional resistance to resist rotational movement of the second fiber (claim 7), as indicated by the quotations provided above with regard to claim 1. '456 does not disclose that the plurality of fibers (claim 7) or the first fiber (claim 19) includes at least one polarization-maintaining optical fiber.
Hosaka discloses that polarization-maintaining optical fibers have applications including coherent optical communication systems and fiber optic sensing systems (p. 530, introduction). A person of ordinary skill in the art could have used the '456 connector with polarization-maintaining optical fibers with predictable results. Thus it would have been obvious to such a person before the effective filing date of claims 7 and 19 to do so, motivated by an interest in expanding the utility of the connector to additional applications such as those mentioned by Hosaka.
Claim 8: It would further have been obvious to the skilled person to have all of the fibers be polarization-maintaining optical fibers such as those taught by Hosaka, as connecting a polarization-maintaining optical fiber to a non-polarization-maintaining fiber would likely cause the polarization to not be maintained.
Claim 9: In the proposed combination using a polarization-maintaining optical fiber such as the one taught by Hosaka, a polarization-maintaining optical fiber of the at least one polarization maintaining optical fiber comprises a core (GeO2-doped core) and two stress rods (B2O3-doped regions of cladding), wherein the core is provided in a center of a cross section of the polarization-maintaining optical fiber and the two stress rods are provided on opposite sides of the core (see fig. 1 and "fibre structure" section of Hosaka).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 11, and 17-18 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 their respective base claims and all applicable intervening claims.
As to claims 3, 11, and 17, the applied '456 reference does not disclose or suggest the recited arrangements of first and second sets of fibers in combination with all the features of their respective ancestor claims.
Conclusion
The additional references listed on the attached 892 form disclose other examples of fiber retaining structures.
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