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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Information disclosure statements filed 5/08/2024 and 7/10/2024 have been considered.
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, 8, 10-12, 18, 21-24, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent No. 9,995,881 B1 to Patel et al. (hereinafter “Patel”).
Regarding claim 1, Patel discloses a pluggable optical fiber array, comprising: a fiber array chip (400 in Fig. 4) comprising first optical connections disposed on a first edge of the fiber array chip (430 in Fig. 4) and second optical connections disposed on a second edge of the fiber array chip (415 in Fig. 4); and optical fibers (505 in Fig. 5) coupled to the first optical connections.
Regarding claim 2, Patel discloses wherein the second optical connections are configured to optically couple the fiber array chip to one or more optical waveguides disposed on another chip (210 in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3, Patel discloses wherein the second optical connections comprise edge couplers (440 in Fig. 4; see also Fig. 10-11) and the first optical connections comprise v-grooves (430 in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Patel discloses a printed circuit board (120 in Fig. 1; col. 4, ll. 29-32) electrically coupled to the fiber array chip (i.e. Fig. 1 clearly shows 150 being connected to 120 via the element 160).
Regarding claim 10, Patel discloses the optical fibers (155 in Fig. 1) optically coupled to the first optical connections.
Regarding claim 11, Patel discloses an optical assembly, comprising: a first photonic integrated circuit (1005 in Fig. 10) comprising first waveguides (1010 in Fig. 10); and a second PIC (1100 in Fig. 11) removably coupled to the first PIC, the second PIC comprising second waveguides (1110 in Fig. 11) optically aligned with the first waveguides.
Regarding claim 12, Patel discloses wherein: the second waveguides of the second PIC are disposed on a first edge of the second PIC (1136 in Fig. 11), and the second PIC further comprises additional optical connections disposed on a second edge of the second PIC (Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 18, Patel discloses a PCB (120 in Fig. 1; col. 4, ll. 29-32) electrically coupled to the second PIC (i.e. Fig. 1 clearly shows 150 being connected to 120 via the element 160).
Regarding claim 21, Patel discloses optical fibers optically coupled to the additional optical connections (1106 in Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 22, Patel discloses wherein the first PIC is electrically coupled to circuitry (Fig. 1; col. 4, ll. 21-32).
Regarding claim 23, Patel anticipates a method of manufacturing an optical assembly (i.e. since Patel discloses an optical assembly as already discussed above, it necessarily anticipates a method of manufacturing such an optical assembly), comprising: bonding a fiber array chip (150 in Fig. 1; 400 in Fig. 4) comprising first optical connections arranged along a first edge of the fiber array chip (e.g. 1136 in Fig. 11) and second optical connections arranged along a second edge of the fiber array chip (430 in Fig. 4) to a printed circuit board (i.e. 150 is bonded to 120 vi 160 as shown in Fig. 1); and coupling optical fibers (155 in Fig. 1; 505 in Fig. 5) to the first optical connections of the fiber array chip.
Regarding claim 24, since Patel explicitly discloses bonding the fiber array chip (150 in Fig. 1) to the PCB, it necessarily discloses making electrical connections between the fiber array chip and the PCB as claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 26, Patel discloses optically coupling the second optical connections of the fiber array chip to a PIC external to the fiber array chip by aligning the second optical connections with the optical waveguides disposed on the PIC (Figs. 8A-8B).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Patel.
Patel discloses a pluggable optical fiber array according to claim 1 as already discussed above. However, it does not explicitly disclose the pluggable optical array wherein the printed circuit board is a flexible PCB in the manner claimed in the present application. On the other hand, the use of a flexible PCB is well known and common in the optical coupler art. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage of having a flexible PCB since it would allow for a space efficient optical circuit arrangement by allowing bending and folding of electrical interconnection, ideal for compact photonic integrated circuit applications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Patel to have the PCB that is a flexible PCB in the manner claimed in the present application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 13-17, 19-20, 25 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As discussed above, a pluggable optical fiber array comprising a fiber array chip with first optical connections disposed on a first edge of the chip and second optical connections disposed on a second edge of the chip, wherein the optical fibers are coupled to the first optical connections, is known in the art. However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such a pluggable optical fiber array, wherein the fiber array chip further comprises at least one active device in the manner claimed in claims 4, 13 and 25 of the present application. None of the fiber array chips of pluggable optical fiber array of the prior art comprise active devices, and there is no credible reasons why, or more importantly how, one of ordinary skill in the art would modify the passive fiber array chips of the prior art to include an active component in the manner claimed.
In addition, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such a pluggable optical fiber array wherein the PCB further comprises thermal vias configured to thermally couple the second PIC to a thermal substrate disposed on an opposing side of the PCB, in the manner claimed in claim 19 of the present application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNG H PAK whose telephone number is (571)272-2353. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7AM- 5PM.
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/SUNG H PAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874