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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed , with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-31 under Kramida have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Azadeh.
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) 1-4, 9-13, 22-23, 25 and 30-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Azadeh “Monolithically integrated MEMs cantilevers with embedded waveguides for visible light beam scanning”.
Regarding claim 1, Azadeh teaches a multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine comprising: a laser light source (see abstract); and a photonic integrated circuit, wherein the photonic integrated circuit comprises a plurality of beam-steering cantilevers (page 3 1st paragraph under Operation principle and architecture heading) and a plurality of modulators (phase shifters see abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 1, wherein the laser light source emits light having at least three different wavelengths (see page 19 1st paragraph).
Regarding claim 4, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 1, wherein the plurality of beam-steering cantilevers are piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers (page 7 2nd last paragraph).
Regarding claim 9, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 1, wherein each beam-steering cantilever in the plurality of beam-steering cantilevers comprises one or more waveguides (page 7 last paragraph).
Regarding claim 10 Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 9, wherein the one or more waveguides emit modulated light (fig. 1c).
Regarding claim 11, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 9, wherein a first waveguide has a first length, and a second waveguide has a second length (see page 7 last paragraph discloses multiple waveguides).
Regarding claim 12, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 11, wherein selectively sending light to the first waveguide causes the first waveguide to emit light onto a first image plane (see fig. 3a and 4a).
Regarding claim 22, Azadeh teaches method comprising: receiving light from a laser light source (see abstract); distributing the light to a plurality of beam-steering cantilevers (see abstracdt), wherein each beam-steering cantilever comprises one or more waveguides (fig. 1c); and actuating at least one of the plurality of beam-steering cantilevers to cause at least one of the one or more respective waveguides to emit light (2d scanning and light projection see abstract.
Regarding claim 23, Azadeh teaches the method of claim 22, wherein the laser light source emits light having at least three different wavelengths (page 6 last paragraph).
Regarding claim 25, Azadeh teaches the method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of beam-steering cantilevers are piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers (page 7 3rd paragraph).
Regarding claim 30, Azadeh teaches the method of claim 22, wherein a first waveguide of the one or more waveguides has a first length, and a second waveguide of the one or more waveguides has a second length (see fig. 1C claim does not require first and second length to be different).
Regarding claim 31, Azadeh teaches the method of claim 30, wherein selectively sending light to the first waveguide causes the first waveguide to emit light onto a first image plane (see fig. 3a and 4a).
Regarding claim 32, Azadeh teaches the photonic integrated circuit comprises a substrate that is connected to the plurality of beam steering cantilevers (page 7 3rd paragraph).
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) 3, 13-15 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Azadeh in view of Mashayekh “Silicon nitride PIC based multi-color laser engines for life science application”.
Regarding claim 3, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach wherein the laser light source comprises at least a red laser, a green laser, and a blue laser. Mashayekh teaches a photonic integrated circuit with multiple laser sources (fig 2) covering the entire visible spectrum (see 3rd paragraph after introduction). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Azadeh in view of Mashayekh for better cover the entire visible spectrum.
Regarding claim 13, Azadeh teaches teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine of claim 1, but does not teach wherein the plurality of modulators are configured to distribute light to the plurality of beam-steering cantilevers. However Mashayekh teaches plurality of modulators are configured to distribute light to the a fiber array (see fig. 2 which equivalent to beam steering cantilever of Azadeh) for covering the entire visible spectrum (see 3rd paragraph after introduction). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Azadeh in view of Mashayekh for better cover the entire visible spectrum.
Regarding claims 14-15, Azadeh teaches the limitations of claim 1 except the plurality of modulators comprise broadband switches or Mach-Zehnder interferometer switches. Azadeh teaches grating couplers/phase shifters (see abstract) as the modulators. Mashayekh teaches the use of Mach Zehnder interferometers allowing expansion to coverage of the visible spectrum (see page 3 last paragraph- page 4 1st paragraph).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Azadeh in view of Mashayekh for better cover the entire visible spectrum.
Regarding claim 24, Azadeh teaches the method of claim 22, but does not teach wherein the laser light source comprises at least a red laser, a green laser, and a blue laser. Mashayekh teaches a photonic integrated circuit with multiple laser sources (fig 2) covering the entire visible spectrum (see 3rd paragraph after introduction). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Azadeh in view of Mashayekh for better cover the entire visible spectrum.
Claim(s) 5-8, 16-21, 26-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Azadeh.
Regarding claim 5/ 26, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine/method of claim 4 /25, since Azadeh teaches a piezoelectric actuator then the piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers comprise a piezoelectric film is considered obvious as piezoelectric film is well-known form of piezoelectric actuation and examiner takes official notice of this.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute piezoelectric film for the piezo-electric actuator of Azadeh so as to reduce the size of the device.
Regarding claim 6 / 27, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine/ method of claim 5 / 26, wherein the piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers are actuated by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric film (see page 7 3rd paragraph).
Regarding claim 7 / 28, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine / method of claim 4 / 25, wherein the piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers comprise a piezoelectric stack. Since Azadeh teaches a piezoelectric actuator then the piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers comprise a piezoelectric stack is considered obvious as piezoelectric stack is well-known form of piezoelectric actuation and examiner takes official notice of this.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinarily skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute piezoelectric film for the piezo-electric actuator of Azadeh so as to provide more precision actuation.
Regarding claim 8/ 28, Azadeh teaches the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine / method of claim 7 / 27, wherein the piezoelectrically actuated beam-steering cantilevers are actuated by applying a voltage to the piezoelectric stack (see page 7 3rd paragraph).
Regarding 16-17, Azadeh teaches the limitations of claims 16-17 except the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine enables projection of light over at least ten image planes; wherein each image plane has 4K resolution. However Azadeh does teach multiple image planes (see fig. 3a and 4a). The explicit recitation of at least ten image planes does not impose any additional structure since the current specification does not tie this or the image plane having 4K resolution. Assuming there is no novel hardware or structure not already claimed to enable this than ten image planes and 4K resolution (an industry standard) would be considered obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 18, Azadeh teaches the voxel engine of claim 16, wherein the light comprises
light having at least three different wavelengths (spanning visible spectrum page 6 last paragraph to page 7 1st paragraph).
Regarding claim 19-21, Azadeh teaches the limitations of claim 1, while Azadeh does not directly teach wherein the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine has a refresh rate of at least 100,000 frames per second, the multiplane nanophotonic voxel engine consumes less than one milliwatt of power per megavoxel, wherein the photonic integrated circuit has an area less than 100 mm2, these limitations are not tied to any specific structure not taught by Azadeh. They appear to be performance targets and the specification does not identify if they are the result of a novel structure. Absent this they would be considered routine optimization as efficiency (power per megavoxel), reduction in size (photonic IC area) and performance (high refresh rates) will always be an end goal and thus achievable through routine optimization and thus obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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/PHU VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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