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 .
DETAILED OFFICE ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending examination.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b) (2) (C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) prior art against the later invention.
1. Claims 1,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Aflatouni et al. (USPUB 20130215919) in view of Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.).
As per claim 1, Aflatouni et al. teaches A device (FIG. 25 ) , comprising: an optical package; a frequency discriminator configured to provide complementing signals that include phase noise associated with a local oscillator (LO) input ( FIG. 4 and Paragraphs [0078-0079]- “… A semiconductor laser 401 may have its laser field output split by a splitter 403, so that a portion of the output is delivered to the frequency discriminator 405 and another portion is delivered to the phase modulator 407. The frequency discriminator 405 may be configured to produce information about the frequency of the laser field. This output may be integrated by the integrator 409, thereby producing an oscillation. The phase modulator 307 may be configured to optically modulate its portion of the laser field with the output from the integrator 409, thereby reducing frequency noise in the laser field….”) ;
a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) system adapted to provide one or more phase information signals by amplifying a difference of the complementing signals ( FIG. 20(b) – TIA and Paragraphs [0100-0102]- “…and locking to quadrature point. FIG. 21 shows the performance of the phase adjustment loop where offset locking and locking at the quadrature point are depicted. The voltage V.sub.E after the TIA in FIG. 20C corresponds to the open-loop slow relative phase fluctuation between two arms of MZI. …”) ; and
Aflatouni et al. does not explicitly teach an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to process the one or more phase information signals to derive an estimation of the phase noise, wherein the frequency discriminator is implemented in the optical package and integrated with the TIA system and the ASIC to facilitate avoidance of enhanced equalized phase noise (EEPN).
However, within analogous art, Alireza Imani et al. teaches an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to process the one or more phase information signals to derive an estimation of the phase noise ( Page 1658-1658- Col. 2- Col. 1 – “…A basic representation of the phase noise reduction scheme is shown in Fig. 1. Simply stated, the phase noise information of a controlled oscillator is measured by a phase-frequency discriminator; it is then fed back to the oscillator control node to suppress the phase noise. The main block in phase noise reduction systems is the phase frequency discriminator. The input to this block is an amplitude-and phase-modulated sinusoidal waveform and the output is only a linear function of the phase information (Fig. 2), as given by…” And Page 1661- Fi. G6 and Fig. 9 teaches the integrated circuit with the frequency discriminator unit) , wherein the frequency discriminator is implemented in the optical package and integrated with the TIA system and the ASIC to facilitate avoidance of enhanced equalized phase noise (EEPN) ( Page 1662- Fig. 11 And Col. 1- “…The low-noise phase-frequency discriminator can be used
to reduce the phase noise of an oscillator in feedback and/or feedforward configurations. It has been shown that the lowest achievable phase noise in an oscillator is determined by the phase noise floor of its discriminating component, which is typically a high- resonator. However, given the large-signal operation of the oscillator, low-frequency noise is often up-converted to around the oscillation frequency, prohibiting reaching the resonator-limited phase noise floor. The proposed discriminator is specifically designed to eliminate the noise frequency up-conversion and enable reaching close to the FBAR-limited phase noise floor. The schematic of the proposed feedback–feedforward phase noise reduction scheme that utilizes the phase-frequency discriminator of Fig. 4(a) is shown in Fig. 11(a). The use of a notch based discriminator in a feedback phase loop is the same as the frequency stabilization technique described in [13]. In this scheme, the discriminator measures the phase noise of a VCO and feeds it back to its control voltage through a phase loop filter….” And Page 1663- Fig. 14 teaching the integrated ( CMOS ) circuit) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Alireza Imani et al. within the modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. because the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. provides a method and system for implementation of phase noise reduction within optical communication system with CMOS circuitry .
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. within the modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. for implementing a system and method for phase noise reduction within optical communication system with CMOS circuitry.
As per claim 6, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator is interferometer- based ( Paragraphs [0176-0177]- “phase noise cancellation scheme is now discussed where the conversion of the discriminated optical frequency noise to phase noise…FIG. 41 is a diagram of a phase noise cancellation system. The laser output is split into two branches. In the bottom branch (the feed-forward branch), the frequency noise of the laser (i.e., the derivative of the phase noise) is discriminated using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and photodetector….”) .
As per claim 7, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator comprises a delay element arranged in one of two paths, resulting in a delayed path and a non-delayed path ( FIG. 41 – showing a Delay line and a non Delay line AND FIG. 13 and Paragraph [0087]- “… the delay line frequency discriminator 1305 and another portion is delivered to the quadrature or single side band amplitude modulator 1307. The delay line frequency discriminator 1305 may include a delay line 1309 and a photodiode 1311 and may be configured to produce information about the frequency of the laser field. This output may be delivered to the voltage or current controlled oscillator (VCO or CCO) 1313. The quadrature or single side band quadrature amplitude modulator 1307 may be configured to optically modulate its portion of the laser field with the output from the voltage or current controlled oscillator (VCO or CCO) 1313, thereby reducing phase noise in the laser field…”) .
As per claim 8, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator comprises a splitter device that manipulates a portion of the LO input for output onto two paths ( FIG. 20 teaches Splitter to split signal to two paths within the discriminator and Paragraph [0099-0100]- “…the input light is split into two branches. The top branch is delayed by and recombined with the bottom branch. The light at the output of the optical combiner is converted to electrical current using a photodetector….”) .
As per claim 9,The device of claim 8,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein a ratio of the splitter device is other than 50/50 ( FIG. 41- 50/50 Splitter ) .
As per claim 10, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator comprises one or more phase shifters for controlling phase in two paths ( Paragraph [0182]- “…A balanced photodetector with responsivity of 0.9 A/W was built using two similar Thorlabs FGA04 photodiodes and used after the frequency noise discriminator to suppress the laser intensity noise by more than 16 dB. A Minicircuits ZX95-3555+VCO oscillating at 3.2 GHz with 600 MHz modulation bandwidth was used to integrate the laser frequency noise in the phase domain. A Minicircuits ZX10Q-2-34-S 90.degree. power splitter was used to generate inphase and quadrature signals from VCO output. A JDS Uniphase LiNbO.sub.3 traveling wave differential quadrature phase shift keying modulator was used as the SSB modulator. …”) .
As per claim 11, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator comprises a combiner device that couples a delayed path and a non-delayed path to a pair of balanced photodetectors ( FIG. 43A and Paragraph [0182]- “…A balanced photodetector with responsivity of 0.9 A/W was built using two similar Thorlabs FGA04 photodiodes and used after the frequency noise discriminator to suppress the laser intensity noise by more than 16 dB. A Minicircuits ZX95-3555+VCO oscillating at 3.2 GHz with 600 MHz modulation bandwidth was used to integrate the laser frequency noise in the phase domain. …”) .
As per claim 12, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 11,
Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein a ratio of the combiner device is 50/50 ( FIG. 42B – FIG. 42C AND Paragraph [0180]- “… In the top MZI, balanced phase modulation of the light results in the suppression of the optical carrier and even components (i.e., components at .omega..sub.0+2m.omega..sub.e, m.epsilon.Z) after the combiner. The phase noise reduced component and the component with twice the phase noise will appear as imaginary signals at point (5). Similarly, even components at the output of the bottom MZI are suppressed [point (6)]. By shifting the phase of the optical field by 90.degree. in the top arm, and combining it with the optical field of the bottom arm, the clean tone remains at the output spectrum of the SSB modulator….”) .
As per claim 20, Aflatouni et al. teaches A method, comprising: implementing a frequency discriminator in an optical package, the frequency discriminator being configured to provide complementing signals that include phase noise associated with a local oscillator (LO) input( FIG. 4 and Paragraphs [0078-0079]- “… A semiconductor laser 401 may have its laser field output split by a splitter 403, so that a portion of the output is delivered to the frequency discriminator 405 and another portion is delivered to the phase modulator 407. The frequency discriminator 405 may be configured to produce information about the frequency of the laser field. This output may be integrated by the integrator 409, thereby producing an oscillation. The phase modulator 307 may be configured to optically modulate its portion of the laser field with the output from the integrator 409, thereby reducing frequency noise in the laser field….”); wherein the TIA system is adapted to provide one or more phase information signals by amplifying a difference of the complementing signals ( FIG. 20(b) – TIA and Paragraphs [0100-0102]- “…and locking to quadrature point. FIG. 21 shows the performance of the phase adjustment loop where offset locking and locking at the quadrature point are depicted. The voltage V.sub.E after the TIA in FIG. 20C corresponds to the open-loop slow relative phase fluctuation between two arms of MZI. …”),
Aflatouni et al. does not explicitly teach integrating a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) system and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with the frequency discriminator to facilitate avoidance of enhanced equalized phase noise (EEPN), wherein the ASIC is configured to process the one or more phase information signals to derive an estimation of the phase noise.
However, within analogous art, Alireza Imani et al. teaches integrating a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) system and an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with the frequency discriminator to facilitate avoidance of enhanced equalized phase noise (EEPN) ( Page 1658-1658- Col. 2- Col. 1 – “…A basic representation of the phase noise reduction scheme is shown in Fig. 1. Simply stated, the phase noise information of a controlled oscillator is measured by a phase-frequency discriminator; it is then fed back to the oscillator control node to suppress the phase noise. The main block in phase noise reduction systems is the phase frequency discriminator. The input to this block is an amplitude-and phase-modulated sinusoidal waveform and the output is only a linear function of the phase information (Fig. 2), as given by…” And Page 1661- Fi. G6 and Fig. 9 teaches the integrated circuit with the frequency discriminator unit) , wherein the ASIC is configured to process the one or more phase information signals to derive an estimation of the phase noise ( Page 1662- Fig. 11 And Col. 1- “…The low-noise phase-frequency discriminator can be used
to reduce the phase noise of an oscillator in feedback and/or feedforward configurations. It has been shown that the lowest achievable phase noise in an oscillator is determined by the phase noise floor of its discriminating component, which is typically a high- resonator. However, given the large-signal operation of the oscillator, low-frequency noise is often up-converted to around the oscillation frequency, prohibiting reaching the resonator-limited phase noise floor. The proposed discriminator is specifically designed to eliminate the noise frequency up-conversion and enable reaching close to the FBAR-limited phase noise floor. The schematic of the proposed feedback–feedforward phase noise reduction scheme that utilizes the phase-frequency discriminator of Fig. 4(a) is shown in Fig. 11(a). The use of a notch based discriminator in a feedback phase loop is the same as the frequency stabilization technique described in [13]. In this scheme, the discriminator measures the phase noise of a VCO and feeds it back to its control voltage through a phase loop filter….” And Page 1663- Fig. 14 teaching the integrated ( CMOS ) circuit) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Alireza Imani et al. within the modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. because the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. provides a method and system for implementation of phase noise reduction within optical communication system with CMOS circuitry .
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. within the modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. for implementing a system and method for phase noise reduction within optical communication system with CMOS circuitry.
2. Claims 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Aflatouni et al. (USPUB 20130215919) in view of Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.) in further view of Yuansheng Tao et al. ( NPL Doc. : “Fully On-Chip Microwave Photonic Instantaneous Frequency Measurement System,”12th August 2022, Laser Photonics Rev. 2022, 16, Pages -2200158(1-8). ).
As per claim 2, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the frequency discriminator, the TIA system, and the ASIC are monolithically integrated on a same die.
Within analogous art, Yuansheng Tao et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator, the TIA system, and the ASIC are monolithically integrated on a same die (Same die on a CMOS circuit with optical elements taught within Page 3- Figure 1 ) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Yuansheng Tao et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the Fully On-Chip Microwave Photonic Instantaneous Frequency Measurement System mentioned by Yuansheng Tao et al. provides a method and system for implementation of optical integrated circuit within a CMOS structure .
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Fully On-Chip Microwave Photonic Instantaneous Frequency Measurement System mentioned by Yuansheng Tao et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. for implementing a system and method for optical integrated circuit within a CMOS structure .
As per claim 5, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the frequency discriminator feeds from a tap coupler on a LO input path in the optical package.
Within analogous art, Yuansheng Tao et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator feeds from a tap coupler on a LO input path in the optical package ( Page 5- Col. 2- “…these input time-varying microwave oscillations (≈GHz) are broadcasted onto optical carrier and discriminated based on frequency-to power mapping in real time, and ultimately the targeted frequency variations with relatively low-speed (≈MHz) will be extracted back to electrical domain. …” And Page 8- Col. 1- “…in OEO systems,[59] the fully chip-scale integration will dramatically improve the power efficiency, stability of oscillation frequency and the key phase noise performance metrics. In the microwave signal processing such as the channelized receiver…”) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Yuansheng Tao et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the Fully On-Chip Microwave Photonic Instantaneous Frequency Measurement System mentioned by Yuansheng Tao et al. provides a method and system for implementation of optical integrated circuit within a CMOS structure .
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Fully On-Chip Microwave Photonic Instantaneous Frequency Measurement System mentioned by Yuansheng Tao et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. for implementing a system and method for optical integrated circuit within a CMOS structure .
3. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Aflatouni et al. (USPUB 20130215919) in view of Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.) in further view of Hideki Yagi et al. ( NPL Doc. : “InP-Based Monolithically Integrated Photonic Devices for Digital Coherent Transmission,” 6th July 2017, IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 24, NO. 1, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018,Pages 1-9. ).
As per claim 3, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the optical package comprises a silicon photonics (SiP) intradyne coherent receiver (ICR) package with a balanced receiver.
However , within analogous art, Hideki Yagi et al. teaches wherein the optical package comprises a silicon photonics (SiP) intradyne coherent receiver (ICR) package with a balanced receiver ( Page 7- Col. 2- “…Fig. 18 shows (a) the photograph and (b) the schematic diagram
for a fabricated polarization and phase diversity intradyne coherent receiver (ICR) [32]. This receiver was composed of a beam splitter (BS), PBS, two InP-based photodetectors monolithically integrated with the 90° hybrid and MIM capacitors…”) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Hideki Yagi et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the InP-Based Monolithically Integrated Photonic Devices for Digital Coherent Transmission mentioned by Hideki Yagi et al. provides a method and system for implementation of monolithical integrated photonic device within coherent transmission of optical communication system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the InP-Based Monolithically Integrated Photonic Devices for Digital Coherent Transmission mentioned by Hideki Yagi et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. for implementing a system and method for coherent transmission of optical communication system.
4. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Aflatouni et al.(USPUB 20130215919) in view of Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.) in further view of Hironishi et al. (USPUB 20120213532).
As per claim 13, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the complementing signals comprise an inverting signal and a non-inverting signal.
Hironishi et al. teaches wherein the complementing signals comprise an inverting signal and a non-inverting signal ( FIG. 6 and Paragraph [0104]- “…The inverting unit 606 inverts the intensity variation signal .DELTA.p.sub.1 output from the intensity calculator 604. The inverting unit 606 outputs the inverted intensity variation signal into the amplitude adjustment unit 284 of the digital processor 280 as an amplitude compensation value. Thus, the amplitude compensation value from the inverting unit 606 represents -.DELTA.p.sub.1, opposite intensity variation compared to the intensity variation of the local oscillator lightwave affected by the dispersion compensation at the chromatic dispersion compensator 281…”) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Hironishi et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the Optical receiver, signal processor, and optical receiving method mentioned by Hironishi et al. provides a method and system for implementation of multilevel transmission within optical communication system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Optical receiver, signal processor, and optical receiving method mentioned by Hironishi et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. for implementing a system and method for multilevel transmission within optical communication system.
5. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Aflatouni et al. (USPUB 20130215919) in view of Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.) in further view of Yuxuan Tang et al. ( NPL Doc. : “A Low-Power SiPM Readout Front-end with Fast Pulse Generation and Successive-Approximation Register ADC in 0.18 μm CMOS,” 1st May 2019, 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS),Pages 1-3.).
As per claim 15, Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. teach claim 1,
Combination of Aflatouni et al. and Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach wherein the ASIC comprises a successive-approximation- register (SAR) analog to digital converter (ADC).
Within analogous art, Yuxuan Tang et al. teaches wherein the ASIC comprises a successive-approximation- register (SAR) analog to digital converter (ADC)( Fig. 2 and Page 2- “…The schematic of the single-ended SAR ADC is shown in Fig. 2. The ADC sampling capacitor is designed by reusing the integration capacitor CQ, and separated from the capacitive DAC
(CDAC) as opposed to the conventional implementation of SAR ADCs, where the CDAC is reused as the sampling capacitor during the sampling phase. Benefiting from this modification, the size of the sampling capacitor…”) .
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Yuxuan Tang et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the A Low-Power SiPM Readout Front-end with Fast Pulse Generation and Successive-Approximation Register ADC in 0.18 μm CMOS mentioned by Yuxuan Tang et al. provides a method and system for implementation of ( SAR) ADC within optical communication integrated module.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the A Low-Power SiPM Readout Front-end with Fast Pulse Generation and Successive-Approximation Register ADC in 0.18 μm CMOS mentioned by Yuxuan Tang et al. within the combined modified teaching of the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. and the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. for implementing a system and method for ( SAR) ADC within optical communication integrated module.
6. Claims 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103(a) as being unpatentable over Alireza Imani et al. ( NPL Doc. : “ An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System,” 4th May 2015, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 63, NO. 5, MAY 2015,Pages 1658-1664.) in view of Aflatouni et al. (USPUB 20130215919).
As per claim 18, Alireza Imani et al. teaches A noise cancellation system for facilitating avoidance of enhanced phase noise (EEPN) ( Page 1658- Col. 2- “…A basic representation of the phase noise reduction scheme is shown in Fig. 1. Simply stated, the phase noise information of a controlled oscillator is measured by a phase-frequency discriminator; it is then fed back to the oscillator control node to suppress the phase noise….”) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) configured to process the one or more phase information signals to derive an estimation of the phase noise ( Page 1658-1658- Col. 2- Col. 1 – “…A basic representation of the phase noise reduction scheme is shown in Fig. 1. Simply stated, the phase noise information of a controlled oscillator is measured by a phase-frequency discriminator; it is then fed back to the oscillator control node to suppress the phase noise. The main block in phase noise reduction systems is the phase frequency discriminator. The input to this block is an amplitude-and phase-modulated sinusoidal waveform and the output is only a linear function of the phase information (Fig. 2), as given by…” And Page 1661- Fi. G6 and Fig. 9 teaches the integrated circuit with the frequency discriminator unit), wherein the frequency discriminator is implemented in an optical package and integrated with the TIA system and the ASIC( Page 1662- Fig. 11 And Col. 1- “…The low-noise phase-frequency discriminator can be used to reduce the phase noise of an oscillator in feedback and/or feedforward configurations. It has been shown that the lowest achievable phase noise in an oscillator is determined by the phase noise floor of its discriminating component, which is typically a high- resonator. However, given the large-signal operation of the oscillator, low-frequency noise is often up-converted to around the oscillation frequency, prohibiting reaching the resonator-limited phase noise floor. The proposed discriminator is specifically designed to eliminate the noise frequency up-conversion and enable reaching close to the FBAR-limited phase noise floor. The schematic of the proposed feedback–feedforward phase noise reduction scheme that utilizes the phase-frequency discriminator of Fig. 4(a) is shown in Fig. 11(a). The use of a notch based discriminator in a feedback phase loop is the same as the frequency stabilization technique described in [13]. In this scheme, the discriminator measures the phase noise of a VCO and feeds it back to its control voltage through a phase loop filter….” And Page 1663- Fig. 14 teaching the integrated ( CMOS ) circuit).
Alireza Imani et al. does not explicitly teach the noise cancellation system comprising: a frequency discriminator configured to provide complementing signals that include phase noise associated with a local oscillator (LO) input; a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) system adapted to provide one or more phase information signals by amplifying a difference of the complementing signals; and
However, within analogous art, Aflatouni et al. teaches the noise cancellation system comprising: a frequency discriminator configured to provide complementing signals that include phase noise associated with a local oscillator (LO) input ( FIG. 4 and Paragraphs [0078-0079]- “… A semiconductor laser 401 may have its laser field output split by a splitter 403, so that a portion of the output is delivered to the frequency discriminator 405 and another portion is delivered to the phase modulator 407. The frequency discriminator 405 may be configured to produce information about the frequency of the laser field. This output may be integrated by the integrator 409, thereby producing an oscillation. The phase modulator 307 may be configured to optically modulate its portion of the laser field with the output from the integrator 409, thereby reducing frequency noise in the laser field….”) ;
a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) system adapted to provide one or more phase information signals by amplifying a difference of the complementing signals ( FIG. 20(b) – TIA and Paragraphs [0100-0102]- “…and locking to quadrature point. FIG. 21 shows the performance of the phase adjustment loop where offset locking and locking at the quadrature point are depicted. The voltage V.sub.E after the TIA in FIG. 20C corresponds to the open-loop slow relative phase fluctuation between two arms of MZI. …”) ;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teaching of Aflatouni et al. within the modified teaching of the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al. because the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. provides a method and system for implementation of reduction of phase noise in an optical communication transmission system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one in the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Wideband tunable laser line-width reduction mentioned by Aflatouni et al. within the An FBAR/CMOS Frequency/Phase Discriminator and Phase Noise Reduction System mentioned by Alireza Imani et al for implementing a system and method for reduction of phase noise in an optical communication transmission system.
As per claim 19, Combination of Alireza Imani et al. and Aflatouni et al. teach claim 18,
Within analogous art, Aflatouni et al. teaches wherein the frequency discriminator is interferometer-based ( Paragraphs [0176-0177]- “phase noise cancellation scheme is now discussed where the conversion of the discriminated optical frequency noise to phase noise…FIG. 41 is a diagram of a phase noise cancellation system. The laser output is split into two branches. In the bottom branch (the feed-forward branch), the frequency noise of the laser (i.e., the derivative of the phase noise) is discriminated using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and photodetector….”) .
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 4,14,16 and 17 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.
8. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for objecting the claims as allowable subject matter:
As to claim 4 , prior art of record does not teach or suggest the limitation mentioned within claim 4 : “…optical package comprises a transmit receive optical silicon integrated circuit (TROSiC) package with a balanced receiver and a quad parallel Mach-Zehnder (QPMZ) modulator, and wherein the LO input is split between the balanced receiver and the QPMZ modulator.”
As to claim 14, prior art of record does not teach or suggest the limitation mentioned within claim 14 : “…digitize the estimation of the phase noise, resulting in a digitized estimation; and process a digital conversion of a received signal with the digitized estimation prior to performing digital dispersion compensation so as to reduce or eliminate the EEPN.”
As to claim 16, prior art of record does not teach or suggest the limitation mentioned within claim 16 : “…further comprising a second TIA system adapted to provide a voltage signal or a digitally sampled representation of the voltage signal for use by the ASIC or another ASIC to drive phase shifters of the frequency discriminator.”
As to claim 17, prior art of record does not teach or suggest the limitation mentioned within claim 17 : “…complementing signals further include relative intensity noise associated with the LO input, wherein the TIA system is further adapted to provide one or more relative intensity noise information signals by amplifying a sum of the complementing signals, and wherein the ASIC or another ASIC is configured to process the one or more relative intensity noise information signals to derive an estimation of the relative intensity noise.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Examiner’s Notes
9. The Examiner acknowledges the following prior arts below as pertinent to the current applications claim limitations and inventive concept, although the following prior arts shown below were not relied upon to address the limitations within the claim , they are analogous art mentioning the inventive concept key points on (Optical communication module, Integrated circuit, frequency discrimination, phase noise cancellation, Transimpedance amplifier and ASIC etc. ).
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Conclusion
10. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to PTO-892, Notice of Reference Cited for a listing of analogous art.
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR S ISMAIL whose telephone number is (571)272-9799 and Fax # is (571)273-9799. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David C. Payne can be reached on (571) 272-3024. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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/OMAR S ISMAIL/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
Prosecution Insights