DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muendel et al., US 2022/0344910 A, in view of Chann et al., US 8,724,222.
Regarding claim 1, Muendel et al. disclose an optical module (figs. 7-8, 9A) comprising:
. a diode laser 720/810 that includes a single emitter configured to emit a laser beam in a beam propagation direction, wherein the single emitter would have a fast axis oriented perpendicular to a top surface of the single emitter and a slow axis oriented parallel to the top surface of the single emitter
. a fast axis collimation (FAC) lens 714/820
. a slow axis collimation (SAC) lens 730/830
Muendel et al., however, do not disclose a Dove prism. Chann et al. do disclose a Dove prism (fig. 4B) applying to an optical module to rotate 45 degrees relative to the single emitter such that an orientation of the fast axis and an orientation of the slow axis of the laser beam are rotated 90 degrees after the laser beam passes through the Dove prism (col. 11, ln 20-36). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ The Muendel et al. optical module including a Dove prism, as shown by Chann et al., for light rotating purposes (col. 11, ln 20-36).
Re claim 2, the modification to Muendel et al. would result the orientation of the fast axis of the laser beam is parallel to the top surface of the single emitter and the orientation of the slow axis of the laser beam is perpendicular relative to the top surface of the single emitter after the laser beam passes through the Dove prism (due to the rotation angle through the Dove prism).
Re claim 3, the modification to Muendel et al. would result the laser beam is wider in a first direction perpendicular to the top surface of the single emitter than a second direction parallel to the top surface of the single emitter after passing through the Dove prism (fig. 4B).
Re claim 4, wherein a center of the Dove prism would be aligned with a center of the single emitter (due to the Dove prism position in the modification device from Muendel et al.).
Re claims 5-6, although Muendel et al. do not disclose a machined grooves surface mountable base, wherein the diode laser, the FAC lens, the SAC lens, and the Dove prism are mounted on the surface mountable base, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ a surface mountable base with grooves over the Muendel et al. as a housing for a diode laser, FAC lens, SAC lens, and a Dove prism.
Re claims 7-8, the modification to Muendel et al. would disclose the Dove prism includes a 45 degree cut surface along one of four parallel edges and/or a base angle of the Dove prism exceeds 45 degrees (Chann et al., fig 4B).
Re claims 9 and 17, Muendel et al. further disclose a polarization beam combiner (PBC) 786, a fast axis coupling lens (FCL) and a slow axis coupling lens (SCL) 788 arranged to couple multiple laser beams into an optical fiber 799.
Re claims 10 and 18, wherein the multiple optical devices would equidistant from a heatsink (Muendel et al., fig. 7).
Re claim 11, the modification to Muendel et al. would result the orientation of the fast axis of the laser beam is parallel to the top surface of the single emitter and the orientation of the slow axis of the laser beam is perpendicular relative to the top surface of the single emitter after the laser beam passes through the Dove prism.
Re claim 12, the modification to Muendel et al. would result the laser beam is wider in a first direction perpendicular to the top surface of the single emitter than a second direction parallel to the top surface of the single emitter after passing through the Dove prism.
Re claims 13-14 and 19, although Muendel et al. do not disclose a machined grooves surface mountable base, wherein the diode laser, the FAC lens, the SAC lens, and the Dove prism are mounted on the surface mountable base, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ a surface mountable base with grooves over the Muendel et al. as a housing for a diode laser, FAC lens, SAC lens, and a Dove prism.
Re claims 15-16, the modification to Muendel et al. would disclose the Dove prism includes a 45 degree cut surface along one of four parallel edges and/or a base angle of the Dove prism exceeds 45 degrees (Chann et al., fig 4B).
Re claim 20, the modification to Muendel et al. disclose the claimed invention as described above except for a wall structure separating a first subset of the multiple optical devices arranged in the first row from a second subset of the multiple optical devices arranged in the second row. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to employ a wall structure over the Muendel et al. high powers module, since applicant has not disclosed that wall structure solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the Muendel et al. module without a wall structure.
Conclusion
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871