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, 3-6, 9-13 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mancini et al. (US 20220190798), Applicant’s submitted IDS.
As to claim 1, Mancini et al.’s figure 1 shows a device, comprising: a Josephson junction traveling-wave parametric circuit comprising unit cells (right and middle 102s) which are coupled in series to form a transmission line between an input port and an output port, each unit cell comprising a series Josephson junction (104), and a dispersive ground-shunt admittance [108 and/or (116b-114 or 116a-112)] configured to cause suppression of one or more sideband frequency components (abstract), wherein the dispersive ground-shunt admittance of each unit cell comprises a capacitive element and an inductive element (in 114 or 112) .
As to claim 3, figure 1 shows that the Josephson junction traveling-wave parametric circuit comprises a Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier circuit.
As to claim 4, figure 1 shows that the capacitive element and the inductive element comprises lumped elements.
As to claim 5, figure 1 shows that the inductive element is configured to add the dispersion along the transmission line to cause the suppression of the one or more sideband frequency components.
As to claim 6, figure 1 shows that the capacitive element and the inductive element comprise a series-connected capacitor (116a) and inductor (122b).
As to claim 9, figure 1 shows that the Josephson junction traveling-wave parametric circuit further comprises dispersion resonators (114 or 112) which are capacitively coupled to the transmission line and which are configured to maintain phase matching between different signal modes that are propagating along the transmission line.
Claims 10-13 and 15 recite similar limitations in claims above. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons.
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) 2, 8, 16-18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mancini et al. (US 20220190798) in view of Tan (US 20200358430).
As to claim 2, Mancini et al.’s figure 1 fails to show that the Josephson junction traveling-wave parametric circuit comprises a Josephson traveling-wave frequency converter circuit. However, Tan et al.’s figure 2 shows a similar device that is used as or in a frequency converter. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use Mancini et al.’s figure as or in a frequency converter for the purpose of provide more precise converted signal.
As to claim 8, Mancini et al.’s figure 1 shows that the dispersive ground-shunt admittances of the unit cells are configured to add dispersion along the transmission line to cause the suppression of sideband frequency components resulting from intermodulation between frequency components of a pump signal and an input signal (Tan’s figures 1-3).
As to claims 16-18 and 20, it would have been obvious to use the device figure 1 readout signal generated by a quantum processor (Mancini et al.’s ¶0027-0028) for the purpose of optimizing gain performance (¶0003).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 14 and 19 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The claims do not require that every unit cell comprises a dispersive ground-shunt admittance having a capacitive element and an inductive element.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/QUAN TRA/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2843
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