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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-6 in the reply filed on Dec. 2, 2025 is acknowledged.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Information Disclosure Statement
A large volume of art has been cited in the IDSs filed June 3, 2024. The art which can be imported into EAST has been imported and filtered in an attempt to identify the relevant art. The art which cannot be imported into EAST has been reviewed based on titles, abstracts, and drawings in an attempt to identify relevant art. The most relevant art found by the Examiner is discussed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 - Indefinite
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, lines 4-7 recites:
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of a repetition rate of a pump source, each delay component providing a different delay amount for the corresponding train of optical pulses that is received by the delay component;
The “pump source” is inferentially claimed and it is not clear if it is a required element of the claim or if it is non-limiting intended use. If Applicant does not intend this to be a required element, then the Examiner suggest deleting it in order to avoid confusion. On the other hand, if Applicant intends this to be a required element, then the Examiner suggests affirmatively reciting it. For example:
An optical encoder with improved bandwidth requirements, comprising:
an optical splitter configured to receive a first optical signal and to produce N output optical signals, wherein N is greater than or equal to 2;
a pump source having a repetition rate;
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of [[a]] the repetition rate of [[a]] the pump source, each delay component providing a different delay amount for the corresponding train of optical pulses that is received by the delay component . . .
The pump source should also be structurally or functionally related to at least one other element of the claim. It is the Examiner’s understanding that claim 1 corresponds to FIG. 33. If that is the case, and if it is consistent with Applicant’s intentions, then the Examiner suggests reciting that the pump source generates the first optical signal, or similar language.
Claim 1, lines 4-7 recites:
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of a repetition rate of a pump source, each delay component providing a different delay amount for the corresponding train of optical pulses that is received by the delay component;
The absence of an article makes it unclear if “each delay component” is a reference to each of the “N optical delay components” introduced in line 4, or if these are new elements. If this is a reference to the “N optical delay components”, then the Examiner suggests using an article and using consistent terminology, such as:
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of a repetition rate of a pump source, each of the optical delay components
If these are new elements, then the Examiner suggests using language that clearly distinguishes the different groups of delay components. Amendment is required.
Claim 1, lines 4-7 recites:
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of a repetition rate of a pump source, each delay component providing a different delay amount for the corresponding train of optical pulses that is received by the delay component;
There is insufficient antecedent basis for “the corresponding train of optical pulses”. If Applicant intends this to reference the “train of optical pulses”, then the Examiner suggests using consistent terminology in order to avoid confusion, such as:
N optical delay components, each configured to receive a corresponding train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is 1/Nth of a repetition rate of a pump source, each delay component providing a different delay amount for each of the corresponding train of optical pulses that is received by the delay component;
Amendment is required.
Claim 1, lines 8-9 recites:
N optical multiplexers, each configured to receive an output from the optical splitter and an output from a corresponding optical delay component;
It is not clear if this is a reference to the “N optical output signals” output by the optical splitter and introduced in lines 2-3, or if it is a new element. If it is a new element (and this is suggested by the use of the article “an”), then the Examiner suggests using a different term so that the different groups of outputs from the optical splitter are distinguished. On the other hand, if this is a reference to the “N optical output signals” from lines 2-3, then the Examiner suggests using the article “the” and using more consistent terminology, such as:
N optical multiplexers, each configured to receive one of the N [[an]] output optical signals from the optical splitter and an output from a corresponding optical delay component;
Amendment is required.
Claim 1, lines 8-9 recites:
N optical multiplexers, each configured to receive an output from the optical splitter and an output from a corresponding optical delay component;
It is not clear if this is a reference to the “N optical delay components” introduced in line 4, or if it is a new element. If it is a new element (and this is suggested by the use of the article “a”), then the Examiner suggests using a different term so that the different groups of optical delay components are clearly distinguished. On the other hand, if this is a reference to the “N optical delay components” from line 4, then the Examiner suggests using the article “the” and using more consistent terminology, such as:
N optical multiplexers, each configured to receive an output from the optical splitter and an output from a corresponding one of the N optical delay components
Amendment is required.
Claim 1, lines 10-12 recites:
N non-linear optical media, each coupled to a corresponding multiplexer to effect phase modulation onto each of the trains of optical pulses in accordance with an intensity of the corresponding output signal of the splitter
It is not clear if this is a reference to the “N optical multiplexers” introduced in line 8, or if it is a new element. If it is a new element (and this is suggested by the use of the article “a”), then the Examiner suggests using a different term so that the different multiplexers are clearly distinguished. On the other hand, if this is a reference to the “N optical multiplexers” from line 8, then the Examiner suggests using the article “the” and using more consistent terminology, such as:
N non-linear optical media, each coupled to a corresponding one of the N optical multiplexers
Amendment is required.
Claim 1, last paragraph, recites:
N demultiplexers, each coupled to an output of a corresponding non-linear optical medium to produce N phase modulated optical signals.
It is not clear if this is a reference to the “N non-linear optical media” introduced in line 10, or if it is a new element. If this is a reference to the “N non-linear optical media” from line 10, then the Examiner suggests using consistent terminology, such as:
N demultiplexers, each coupled to an output of a corresponding one of the N non-linear optical media
Amendment is required.
Claim 2 recites:
The optical encoder of claim 1, wherein the N phase modulated optical signals upon conversion into an electrical domain reduce an amount of signal processing operations by a factor that depends on N.
It is not clear how this further limits the claim. In particular, it seems that this recites how the apparatus is intended to be used (e.g., used with elements that are not claimed to achieve the results recited in the claim). If there is some additional structure that can be added to achieve this desired result, then the Examiner suggests adding that additional structure. As the claim is presently written, it is not clear how or if it further limits the structure of claim 1.
Claim 3 recites:
The optical encoder of claim 1, wherein the first optical signal is an output of the optical pump source having a repetition rate that is N times the repetition rate of each train of optical pulses.
This claim appears to further limit the first optical pump source. However, as discussed above, it is not clear if the “optical pump source” is a limitation of the claim. As a result, it is not clear how to interpret this claim.
Claim 4 recites:
The optical encoder of claim 1, including the optical pump source that is a laser light source.
This claim appears to further limit the first optical pump source. However, as discussed above, it is not clear if the “optical pump source” is a limitation of the claim. As a result, it is not clear how to interpret this claim.
Claim 6 recites:
The optical encoder of claim 1, wherein processing of each of the N phase modulated optical signals is carried out with:
(a) a reduced bandwidth requirement of a photodetector that is configured to receive and convert the corresponding phase optical signal into an electrical signal, or
(b) a reduced processing bandwidth or throughput requirement on a digital processor that is configured to receive and process the electrical signals from the photodetector(s),
as comparted to processing a phase modulated optical signal that is produced in accordance with a train of optical pulses having a repetition rate that is equal to the repetition rate of the pump source.
The “photodetector” and the “digital processor” are inferentially claimed in elements (a) and (b), and it is not clear if they are limitations of the claim or if they are non-limiting intended use. If they are to be limitations of the claims, then the Examiner suggests affirmatively reciting them. If they are not to be limitations of the claims, then the Examiner suggests removing them to avoid confusion.
The last element of the claim (“comparted to”) appears to depend from the alternative elements (a) and (b). As a result, if elements (a) and (b) are non-limiting intended use, then it is not clear how to interpret the last element.
Finally, if elements (a) and (b) are non-limiting intended use, and if the last paragraph adds nothing without at least one of elements (a) or (b), then it is not clear how this claim further limits the claim from which it depends (i.e., claim 1).
Claims 2-6 are also rejected because they depend from claim 1 and they fail to further limit the scope in such a manner as to overcome the rejections to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 - Failure to Further Limit
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 2-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
As discussed in the 112(b) rejections, it is not clear how claims 2-4 and 6 further limit the structure of the claim from which they depend (i.e., claim 1).
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2007/0110442 (Peer) at FIG. 3A illustrates an optical device including an optical splitter 105 configured to receive an optical signal from source 102 and produce 4 outputs to optical delay components 104 on each split path, and a coupler to receive and combine the delayed signals from the splitter.
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[0094] FIG. 3A illustrates one example of an optical CDMA multiplexer system 100A of the present invention. In this example, all channels share the same signal and idler fields (key and conjugate), i.e. the channels use the signal-idler pairs, respectively, emitted by one source. Alternatively, this can be achieved by coupling many sources together via seeding of all sources by one broadband noise field. The system 100A thus comprises an encoder assembly formed by a source arrangement 102 and a phase affecting utility 104 (such as a dispersive glass bulk); a data modulator utility 106 associated with a control unit (not shown); and an output beam coupler 108. It should be noted that the modulator utility 106 can alternatively be accommodated upstream of the phase affecting utility (with respect to the direction of light propagation through the system 100A). The light source arrangement 102 includes a non-linear medium, and may be constituted by a single non-linear crystal, that may and may not be included in a resonator cavity (OPO). Preferably, the source 102 is a novel OPO arrangement developed by the inventors, as described below. The source 102 is associated with a beam splitting assembly 105 accommodated in the optical path of either one of down converted signal and idler fields L.sub.s and L.sub.i--in the path of the signal field L.sub.s in the present example. The phase affecting utlity 104 is composed of an array of phase-affecting units D.sub.1-D.sub.N, each operable to uniquely affect the phase of light passing therethrough, for example by applying relative delay or material dispersion. In the present example, where the idler field components of all the channels propagate all together through the system, the phase affecting utility is associated with the signal field components. The data modulator utility 106 is composed of an array of modulators M.sub.1-M.sub.N, each for modulating light passing therethrough in accordance with a specific information piece to be carried by the respective channel.
FIG. 3A also illustrates modulators 106, and Peers teaches that the modulators can modulate phase. See:
[0113] It should be noted that the present invention allows for using any type of modulation for data transmission, namely, not only amplitude modulation, but also frequency or phase modulation. In this connection, it should be understood that although minute frequency/phase shifts cannot be detected directly from the broadband incoherent key (signal), still, since the up conversion appears at the sum frequency with a phase that is a sum of the signal and idler phases, a small frequency/phase shift of the signal will cause the same frequency/phase shift of the narrowband coherent up converted field, which is easily detected.
Although Peer teaches the general subject matter of the claims, it does not appear to teach the particular embodiment recited in the claims, including the non-linear optical media and the demultiplexers.
US 2008/0212166 (Lett) at FIG. 1 illustrates an optical device including an optical mux 36 receiving signal from probe source 34 and from pump source 30, a non-linear mixing medium 14, and a demux 38.
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[0033] The first beam splitter 36 is a polarizing beam splitter used to combine the pump beam 12 and probe beam 16 before entering the chi(3) non-linear mixing medium 14.
[0034]: The second beam splitter 38 is also a polarizing beam splitter, but is used to separate the pump beam 12 from the probe beam 16 and the phase conjugate beam 18 after passing through the chi(3) non-linear mixing medium 14.
[0039] For instance, in an exemplary system in which Rb vapor is utilized as the non-linear mixing medium 14, the Rb vapor is preferably contained in a vapor cell approximately 1 cm long at approximately 130 C. The exemplary system, using an infrared laser as the pump beam source 30, is "tuned" .about.1 GHz to the blue of the D1 line in .sup.85Rb. A ground state splitting of .sup.85Rb at .about.3 GHz is large enough to move the frequency of the probe beam 16 and the frequency of the conjugate beam 18 outside of the Doppler absorption profile of the Rb vapor near the infrared frequency of the pump beam 12. Additionally, in the exemplary system, the frequency of the probe beam 16 and the frequency of the conjugate beam just fit between the absorption features from the other .sup.85Rb ground state and those of the .sup.87Rb isotope.
Although Lett teaches the general subject matter of the claims, it does not appear to teach the particular embodiments recited in the claims, including the optical splitter and the “N” multiples of optical components or the particular implementation of the non-linear optical medium.
US 6,661,975 (Hall) at FIG. 4 illustrates an optical device including a splitter 102, delay line 108, and optical mux 110.
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In particular, it includes switches 106, 107 which select one or several different delay values. See also col. 5, first full paragraph:
(15) FIG. 4 shows how to use a polarization-maintaining fiber to build the multi-rate demodulator 56, and in particular an interferometer 60 with selectable delay lines. The interferometer 60 includes a first waveguide coupler 102, a piezoelectric fiber stretcher 104, two optical switches 106 and 107, and a second waveguide coupler 110. The first waveguide coupler 102 optically connects through a filter 103 to the amplifier 54 (not shown) and splits the amplified optical signal into two optical signals. The piezoelectric fiber stretcher 104 piezoelectrically tunes the optical path length in an optical fiber traveled by one of the signals without bending losses and other restrictions. Two optical switches 106 and 107 are used to pass the other signal over one of a plurality of selectable delay lines 108. Lastly, a second waveguide coupler 110 is used to optically interfere the two optical signals and connect the interference output to the two photodetectors 62. In this way, the interferometer 60 provides a different delay line for each of the data rates supported by the multi-rate optical communication system 20 of the present invention
US 2012/0263456 (Tanaka) at FIG. 2 illustrates an optical transmitter including an optical source 11, an optical splitter following the source 11, an optical multiplexer at the outputs of the modulators 12.
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FIG. 6 illustrates a system including a transmitter 3 (e.g., see FIG. 2) and a coherent receiver 4 (e.g., see FIG. 3).
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It teaches operation with optical multiplexed signals (e.g., see FIG. 2 regarding the transmitter producing WDM signals; see also [0047], [0059]). In particular, FIG. 6 shows a chromatic dispersion adder 41, a skew compensator 32, and a controller 32. The operation is generally described in [0086]:
[0086] The controller 42 controls the chromatic dispersion amount of the chromatic dispersion adder 41 in accordance with the chromatic dispersion amount detected by the chromatic dispersion compensator 33. In addition, the controller 42 controls the skew suppression in the Tx inter-channel delay controller 14 and/or the Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 based on the Q factor obtained by the signal quality detector 34.
See also [0080] regarding additional description of the controller 32:
[0080] The Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 is realized by providing a digital filter for each channel (XI, XQ, YI, YQ). In this case, tap coefficients of each digital filter is determined in accordance with a command from the controller 42. The configuration and the operation of the digital filters realizing the Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 are described in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-193204. The Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 may be disposed on an input side of the digital signal processor 25. The Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 may be realized by a phase shifter that shifts a phase of an analog signal of each channel (XI, XQ, YI, YQ). In this case, a phase shift amount of each phase shifter is determined in accordance with the command from the controller 42. The Rx inter-channel delay controller 32 may control a delay time on a digital signal or may control a delay time on an analog signal.
US 9,857,660 (DeVore) at FIG. 3 illustrates an apparatus including an optical multiplexer 302 configured to receive optical pulses and output an optical component, and non-linear optical media 304.
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See also col. 5:
(22) As shown, the ISE Module 300 includes a Combiner 302 and an Optical Material 304, wherein the Combiner 302 receives the First Optical Wave 306 and Second Optical Wave 308 and joins them together as “First Optical Wave and Second Optical Wave 310” to be sent to the Optical Material 304. The Optical Material 304 is preferably a nonlinear optical dielectric material, suitably adapted and engineered to cause a large enough phase change for an Information Bearing First Optical Wave and a Second Optical Wave.
2012/0082414 (Sakamaki) at FIG. 2 illustrates an optical device including an optical splitter 2c, and optical couplers 3a, 3b
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[0029] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the optical 90-degree hybrid circuit according to the present invention which achieves the wavelength-independence of IQ phase difference. The optical 90-degree hybrid circuit according to the present invention includes: a first optical splitter 2c connected with an input waveguide 1a; a second optical splitter 9 connected with an input waveguide 1b; arm waveguides 10a and 10b connected with the first optical splitter 2c; arm waveguides 10c and 10d connected with the second optical splitter 9; an optical coupler 3a connected with the arm waveguides 10a and 10c; an optical coupler 3b connected with the arm waveguides 10b and 10d; output waveguides 4a and 5a connected with the optical coupler 3a; and output waveguides 4b and 5b connected with the optical coupler 3b.
.
US 5,339,185 (Kaede) teaches that teaches that in PM fiber a first signal will module a second signal by the Kerr effect. See col. 4, lines 64-67:
In polarization-maintaining fiber 202, the second light is modulated in frequency by the optical Kerr effect caused by the first light being modulated in intensity.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARREN WOLF whose telephone number is (571)270-3378. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KENNETH N. VANDERPUYE can be reached at 571-272-3078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARREN E WOLF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634