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 statement filed 2/08/2024 has been considered.
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) 1-3, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN213874893U (hereinafter “CN’893”) in view of CN102654608A (hereinafter “CN’608”).
CN’893 discloses an optical module with single-mode bidirectional fiber (abstract), comprising a housing (external surface of 100 in Fig. 1) and a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate (500 in Fig. 3) in the housing, wherein a lens provided on the PCB substrate (i.e. the matrix of the body 100 is analogous to a “lens” as described in the present application since it transmit thes light therethrough in the same way as element 2 in the present application); a filter (e.g. 410 in Fig. 4) and a beam splitter (210 in Fig. 4; see also Fig. 7) are provided in the lens; a groove with a downward rabbet is formed at a bottom of the lens (See Fig. 3- the bottom of the structure 100 shows a “groove” on the bottom surface that is occupied by element 500); the groove of the lens is covered by one light emission assembly (510 in Fig. 4) and one light reception assembly (520, 530 in Fig. 4); both the light emission assembly and the light reception assembly are fixed on an upper surface of the PCB substrate (Fig. 4); an end of the lens is connected to a fiber (i.e. the fiber resides in the port 101 in Fig. 4); and light emitted from the light emission assembly is transmitted to the optical connector through the lens, the beam splitter, the filter, and the fiber (Fig. 4); and light received by the fiber array is transmitted to the light reception assembly through the filter and the lens (Fig. 4).
However, CN’893 does not explicitly disclose that there are two lenses provided on the PCB substrate side by side along a width direction of the PCB substrate as claimed. On the other hand, US Courts have ruled that mere duplication of parts has no patentable significance unless a new and unexpected results is produced. In re Harza, 274 F.2d 669, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960). MPEP 2144.04. In the present case, since CN’893 fully discloses all the structural component of a lens as claimed in the present application, mere duplication of this lens with the same structural components do not have any new and unexpected results. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage of having two lenses, since it would allow the optical module to process multiple optical beams at the same time. 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 CN’893 to have two lenses provided on the PCB substrate side by side along a width direction of the PCB substrate as claimed.
In addition to above, CN’893 does not explicitly disclose that the end of the lens is connected to a fiber array, the fiber arrays are connected to one optical connector; and a connecting fiber between the fiber array and the optical connector is a single-mode bidirectional fiber, in the manner claimed in the present application. On the other hand, the use of a fiber array connected to an optical connector is known in the art. For example, CN’608 discloses a bidirectional module where the end of a module lens is connected to a fiber array (7 in Fig. 2) such that the fiber array is connected to one optical connector (8 in Fig. 2). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that such use of a fiber array is advantageous and desirable because it allows for support of multiple optical signals in one coupling arrangement. Also, the use of single mode fiber is well known and common in the art. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage is using a single mode fiber since it would support high bandwidth optical transmission in a bidirectional module. 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 CN’893 to have the end of the lens that is connected to a fiber array, the fiber arrays being connected to one optical connector; and a connecting fiber between the fiber array and the optical connector being a single-mode bidirectional fiber, in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 2, CN’893 discloses wherein an upper surface of the lens comprises a first horizontal plane (i.e. the plane of opening of 101 as shown in Fig. 4), an oblique plane (i.e. plane adjacent to element 410 in Fig. 4), and a second horizontal plane (i.e. plane where light 602 travels along in Fig. 4); a height of the first horizontal plane is less than a height of the second horizontal plane (Fig. 4); the oblique plane is connected between the first horizontal plane and the second horizontal plane (Fig. 4); the fiber is connected to an end of the first horizontal plane (i.e. 101 in Fig. 4); the oblique plane is provided above the light reception assembly (530 in Fig. 4). Although CN’893 does not explicitly state that an inclination angle of the oblique plane is 45° less than an inclination angle of the filter, such angle is well known and would have been readily recognized as advantageous to one of ordinary skill in the art since it would allow for selective routing of multiplexed light beams within the bidirectional module components. 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 CN’893 to have an inclination angle of the oblique plane is 45° less than an inclination angle of the filter, as claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 3, CN’893 discloses wherein the filter (410 in Fig. 4) is provided obliquely above the light reception assembly (530 in Fig. 4); the beam splitter (210 in Fig. 4) is provided directly above the light emission assembly (510 in Fig. 4); and a reflecting surface of the beam splitter is formed into an included angle of 45° with the light emitted from the light emission assembly (Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 9, CN’893 in view of CN’608 renders the claimed limitations of claim 1 obvious as already discussed above. However, it does not explicitly disclose the use of a digital signal processor provided on the PCB substrate as claimed in the present application. On the other hand, the use of a digital signal processor is well known and common in the art. Digital signal processor is advantageously used in the art in order to produce compact, high-fidelity optical processing module, capable of wide variety of applications and different use cases. 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 CN’893 to have a digital signal processor provided on the PCB substrate in the manner claimed in the present application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 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, an optical module with single mode bidirectional fiber comprising a housing and a printed circuit board substrate in the housing, wherein a lens is provided on the PCB; a filter and a beam splitter are provided in the lens; a groove with a downward rabbet is formed at a bottom of the lens; the groove of the lens is covered by one light emission assembly and one light reception assembly; both the light emission assembly and the light reception assembly are fixed on an upper surface of the PCB substrate is known in the art. However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such an optical module wherein the light reception assembly comprises a light receiving chip and a trans-impedance amplifier at a side of the light receiving chip; and the trans-impedance amplifier is fixed on the upper surface of the PCB substrate, in the manner claimed in 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