Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/477,518

MOTORS WITH BUILT-IN OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 28, 2023
Examiner
DOAN, JENNIFER
Art Unit
2874
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Anhui Lanxuan Photoelectric Technology Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 1m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allow Rate
763 granted / 841 resolved
+22.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +6% lift
Without
With
+6.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
866
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.1%
-38.9% vs TC avg
§103
42.3%
+2.3% vs TC avg
§102
34.5%
-5.5% vs TC avg
§112
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 841 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 2. The prior art documents submitted by applicant in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 12/28/23, have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form PTO/SB/08a). Specification 3. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: (a) 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. 6. Claims 1-3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 7792400 B1) in view of Liu et al. (CN 104793296 A). With respect to claim 1, Zhang et al. (figures 1-2) disclose a motor with built-in optical fiber communication, comprising a slip ring section (column 2, line 53) and a driving shaft (a concentric shaft, column 5, lines 9-11), the slip ring section has a stator unit (30) and a rotor unit (18), and the driving shaft and the rotor unit are arranged along a centerline of the driving shaft and are fixedly connected (rotor means having a concentric first gear on the inward end portion of the rotor; a second gear engaging with the first gear, having a concentric shaft, able to rotate around the axis of said shaft in a bore of said stator (column 5, lines 7-11)). Zhang et al. do not explicitly disclose a driving section has a rotationally mounted driving shaft. However, Liu et al. (figure 1) teach an optical fiber rotary connecting device including a driving section (3) has a rotationally mounted driving shaft (4) (the hollow motor is shell 3 and is set in the outer shell of the rotating hollow shaft 4, figure 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Zhang et al. to include the above feature (accordance with the teaching of Liu) for the purpose of making the system structure more simple, removing the transmission error, more optimal volume control, and noise is greatly reduced (abstract). With respect to claim 2, Zhang et al. (figures 1-2) disclose the motor, wherein the driving shaft has a channel passing through a shaft body (column 5, lines 9-11), the rotor unit (18) includes an input collimator (10), the channel is configured to accommodate an input fiber bundle connected to the input collimator (10), and the driving shaft and the input collimator are fixedly connected through a first connecting component (figure 1-2). With respect to claim 3, Zhang et al. (figures 1-2) disclose the motor, wherein the first connecting component includes a first tube body (13), one end of the first tube body is fixedly connected to one end of the driving shaft (figures 1-2), and the input collimator (10) is mounted at another end of the first tube body (13). With respect to claim 8, Zhang et al. (figures 1-2) substantially disclose all the limitations of claimed invention except the driving section is composed of a hollow motor. However, Liu et al. (figure 1) teach an optical fiber rotary connecting device including the driving section is composed of a hollow motor (3, figure 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Zhang et al. to include the driving section composed of a hollow motor (accordance with the teaching of Liu) for the purpose of making the system structure more simple, removing the transmission error, more optimal volume control, and noise is greatly reduced (abstract). PNG media_image1.png 510 498 media_image1.png Greyscale Allowable Subject Matter 7. Claims 4-7 and 9-15 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 prior art of record fails to disclose the motor, wherein the another end of the first tube body is provided with a first adjustment component configured to adjust an attitude of a centerline of the input collimator as recited in claim 4. Claims 5-7 and 9-15 depend from claim 4. Conclusion 8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (US-8355607-B2) disclose a multi-channel fiber optic rotary joint mechanism. Kano et al. (US 6353693 B1) disclose an optical communication device. Akabane (US 20020190599 A1) teaches a lateral pressure mechanism for a motor. 9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jennifer Doan whose telephone number is (571) 272-2346. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 7:00am to 3:30pm. 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, Thomas Hollweg can be reached on 571-270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JENNIFER DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 28, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12601887
TELECOMMUNICATIONS APPARATUS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12596236
OPTICAL FIBER CABLE TRAY CLIP STRUCTURALLY CONFIGURED TO PIVOTALLY CONNECT TWO TRAYS TOGETHER TO LIMIT ACCESS TO LOWER TRAY
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12585147
Parallel Microcavity Trimming by Structured-Laser Illumination
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12585075
Module Assembly, Carrier Unit and Carrier Arrangement for the Fibre-Optic Distribution Industry
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12571976
OPTICAL DISTRIBUTION AND SPLICE FRAME INCLUDING ENCLOSURES
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
91%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+6.0%)
2y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 841 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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