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 .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-11 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 and the remaining claims due to their dependency recite the limitation "the laser light source unit" in line 9 and 14 and “the collimated beam” in line 10. However, there are multiple light source units which will generate multiple collimated beams. It is unclear to which laser light source unit and collimated beam the claim refers.
Claim 9 recites “the ceramic substrate.” There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposes of claim interpretation it is assumed to depend from claim 3 which would provide antecedent basis.
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.
Claims 1, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0136344 (Oomori) in view of US 2018/0191135 (Yanase).
For claim 1, Oomori teaches a laser diode package (fig. 1) comprising:
a packaging housing unit (fig. 1, 10; [0025]);
a coolant housing unit that is coupled to the packaging housing unit. (fig. 1, 10 Note the instant application at page 7, lines 8-9 as filed states that the housing unit and coolant housing may be integrally formed. Therefore, the claimed packaging unit and coolant housing may be the same element in the prior art.) Oomori further teaches the coolant housing includes a coolant inlet through which coolant is introduced (fig. 1, 11a; [0025]) and a coolant outlet through which the coolant is discharged (fig. 1, 11b; [0025]), and has a coolant flow path therein (fig. 1, 11; [0025]); and
a laser light source unit each including a laser diode configured to emit a laser beam (fig. 1, 40; [0024]), which is disposed on the base of the packaging housing unit (fig. 1, 40 on 10),
wherein the laser light source unit includes: a cooler coupled to the base (fig. 1, 20; [0024], including a coolant channel connected to the coolant flow path of the coolant housing unit (fig. 1 and 3-4, 23; [0027]), and having at least an upper surface made of a metal layer (fig. 3-4, 22b; [0026]); and a submount bonding-coupled to the upper surface of the cooler and having an upper surface to which the laser diode is bonding-coupled (fig. 1 and 4, 30; [0024]).
Oomori does not teach a plurality of the light source unit; and
collimating lenses each configured to collimate the laser beam emitted from the laser light source unit, reflective mirrors each configured to reflect the collimated laser beam to an optical element arrangement region on a base, and an optical fiber provided in the optical element arrangement region and in which a stacked beam formed by gathering each laser beam is coupled and emitted to the outside, which are disposed on the base of the packaging housing unit,
However, Yanase teaches a laser diode package (fig. 1-2 and 3B) comprising:
a packaging housing unit (fig. 1-2, 12 and 22; [0039] and [0041]);
a coolant housing unit that is coupled to the packaging housing unit (fig. 2 and 3B, 22; [0041]) includes a coolant inlet through which coolant is introduced (fig. 2, 18in; [0039]) and a coolant outlet through which the coolant is discharged (fig. 2, 18out; [0039]), and has a coolant flow path therein ([004]1).
Yanase further teaches a plurality of light source units (fig. 2 and 3B, 36; [0043]); and collimating lenses (fig. 2, 40 and/or 42) each configured to collimate the laser beam emitted from one of the laser light source unit (fig. 2, 36), reflective mirrors each configured to reflect the collimated laser beam (fig. 1, 38) to an optical element arrangement region on a base (fig. 2, region below 36), and an optical fiber provided in the optical element arrangement region and in which a stacked beam formed by gathering each laser beam is coupled and emitted to the outside (fig. 2, 14; [0039] and fig. 6), which are disposed on the base of the packaging housing unit (fig. 2, and 3B, 22) in order to obtain high-power and high brightness ([0005]),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention form multiple light source units of Oomori and corresponding lenses, mirrors, and base arrangement with stacked beams and fiber as taught by Yanase in order to obtain high-power and high brightness.
For claim 10, Yanase teaches single emitters may be used to obtain high power and high brightness ([0005]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use single emitters as taught by Yanase as the laser diodes in the previous combination in order to obtain high-power and high brightness.
Claims 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0136344 (Oomori) in view of US 2018/0191135 (Yanase) and US 10,862,265 (Kanskar) and US 2006/0102607 (Adams).
For claim 2, Yanase further teaches the base of the packaging housing unit is divided into a step-type surface having a plurality of stepped surfaces (fig. 3B, 34), and the optical element arrangement region formed at one side of the step-type surface (fig. 2, bottom side), the laser light source units are disposed on the stepped surfaces of the step-type surface, respectively (fig. 3B), in a direction facing each other (fig. 2), and include laser light source units disposed along one side surface of the base to form a first row (fig. 2, 36L) and laser light source units disposed along the other side surface of the base to form a second row (fig. 2, 36R), in a space between the laser light source unit of the first row and the laser light source unit of the second row, a slow-axis collimating (SAC) lens for collimating the laser beam emitted from each laser light source unit (fig. 2, 42; [0048]) and the reflective mirror are installed (fig. 2, 38; [0045]), and the optical element arrangement region includes a beam combiner (fig. 2, 30) configured to combine a first beam stack, in which laser beams from the laser light source units of the first row are aligned in a height direction (fig. 2, SLBL), and a second beam stack, in which laser beams from the laser light source units of the second row are aligned in the height direction (fig. 2, SLBR).
The previous combination does not teach the SAC lens and the mirror are installed in each step and a turning mirror configured to guide the first beam stack into the beam combiner, and a polarization converter.
However, Kanskar teaches a stepped configuration similar to Yanase’s where the SAC lens (fig. 2B, 224) and the mirrors (fig. 2B230) are installed in each step (fig. 2B, 242-246) and a P-mux is used as the beam combiner (fig. 2B, 236, col. 6, l. 19-22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the p-mux and step installation of Kanskar as a simple substitution for the combiner and unspecified installation of the previous combination as the substituted components and their functions were known in the art and the substitution would have yielded predictable results. In the present case, the substituted component provides an alternative combiner and particular installation location for the mirror and SAC lenses. See MPEP 2143 I.B.
Kanskar does not explicitly state the p-mux includes a turning mirror configured to guide the first beam stack into the beam combiner, and a polarization converter. However, Adams teaches forming a p-mux to combine a first beam and a second beam by including a turning mirror configured (fig. 6, 54) to guide the first beam stack (fig. 6, from right 32) into the beam combiner (fig. 6, 56) and a polarization converter (fig. 6, 48). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use p-mux design of Adams in the p-mux of the previous combination in order to form the p-mux of the previous combination.
For claim 11, Yanase teaches the emission end is of the laser (fig. 2, 36) is closest to the SAC lens (fig. 2, 42). Oomori, shows the emission end (fig. 1, 40a) and the submount (fig. 1, 30) bonded to the upper side of the cooler (fig. 1, 20). The first side surface relatively away from the SAC in the combination is the right side of fig. 1, 20. The second side surface close to the SAC is the left side of fig. 1, 20.
The submount is arguably bonding-coupled to the upper surface of the cooler toward the first side surface as the bonding interface begins at the left end of 30 and progresses toward the right side.
Claims 3-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0136344 (Oomori) in view of US 2018/0191135 (Yanase) and US 2011/0007762 (Fukuda).
For claim3, the previous combination does not teach the submount includes a ceramic substrate made of a ceramic material, and an upper metal layer and a lower metal layer thermally bonded to upper and lower surfaces of the ceramic substrate, respectively, and the laser diode is bonded to the upper metal layer.
However, Fukuda teaches a submount fig. 1, 20) includes a ceramic substrate made of a ceramic material (fig. 1, 20b), and an upper metal layer (fig. 1, 25) and a lower metal layer (fig. 1, 15) thermally bonded to upper and lower surfaces of the ceramic substrate, respectively (fig. 1; “thermally bonded” does not structurally distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art), and the laser diode (fig. 1, 30) is bonded to the upper metal layer ([0033]) in order to relax thermal stress (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the submount of Fukuda with the invention of the previous combination in order to relax thermal stress.
For claim 4, the limitation “the submount, the ceramic substrate disperses heat transferred from the upper metal layer and transfers the heat to the lower metal layer, and the lower metal layer performs heat dissipation through the cooler” recites functional language and the instant combination will function in a similar manner due to the device’s similar structure.
For claim 5, Oomori teaches the cooler (fig. 3 and 4, 20) includes a metal layer (fig. 3 and 4, 22b) disposed on an uppermost layer thereof (fig. 3 and 4, 26) and formed of a heat conductive layer without a coolant channel ([0026]; 22b is copper), and a plurality of layers formed as metal layers or ceramic layers and attached to a lower portion of the uppermost layer while forming the coolant channel therein (fig. 3 and 4, 22a, 24 and 25), and the coolant channel includes a coolant inlet hole (fig. 3, 22c) and a coolant outlet hole (fig. 3, 22d), which are connected to the coolant flow path of the coolant housing unit (fig. 1, 11; [0027]), and a recessed region formed between the coolant inlet hole and the coolant outlet hole to correspond to a cooling region in which the laser diode is disposed, and in which coolant proceeds from downward to upward while taking heat transferred from the uppermost metal layer (fig. 1and 3-4, 23; [0027]).
For claim 6, Oomori teaches the recessed region includes: a lower recess (fig. 8, 28a); a bar-shaped rising channel formed with a cross-sectional area smaller than that of the lower recess, extending in a width direction of the cooler, and making a flow that causes the coolant to rise with an increasing flow rate (fig. 3, 28b); and an upper recess in which the coolant rising through the bar-shaped rising channel moves horizontally while taking heat (fig. 3, 28c), and is discharged through the coolant outlet hole (fig. 3, 22d).
For claim 7, Oomori teaches the upper recess is formed in a fin-free structure (fig. 3, 28c).
For claim 8, Oomori teaches the coolant outlet hole is disposed to be spaced apart from the cooling region (fig. 1, cooling region defined by semiconductor laser 40 and outlet hole is space to the right), the cooler includes a first channel in which the coolant rising through the coolant inlet hole is discharged through the upper recess (fig. 4A, lower left portion of 23 in layer 24), and a second channel connected to the first channel in a vertical direction and connected to the coolant outlet hole (fig. 4Aright portion of 23 in 24 and 25), and the second channel is formed with the same width as the first channel and has a thickness greater than that of the first channel (fig. 4A).
For claim 9, the previous combination inherently teaches the cooler is electrically insulated from the laser diode by the ceramic substrate (Fukuda, fig. 1, ceramic substrate 20b is insulating).
Oomori teaches the coolant flowing inside the cooler is water ([0024]).
Oomori does not teach the water is distilled. However, the examiner takes official notice that distilled water was well-known in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use well-known distilled water as a suitable form of water in the previous combination in order to provide cooling.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael W Carter whose telephone number is (571)270-1872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:00-5:30.
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/Michael Carter/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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