Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-4, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 10379311 B1.
Claim 1: '311 discloses a fiber optic beam splitter comprising:
a housing 102,
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210
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a single first optical fiber A (labeled in annotated crop from fig. 4 above); and
a pair of second optical fibers B and C (as labeled above) which meet and abut the single first optical fiber (col. 6 lns. 22-33) at a location within the housing, the housing overmolded over the single first optical fiber and the pair of second optical fibers (col. 2 lns. 27-30 and 46-49; col. 4 lns. 1-5; col. 5 lns. 35-38; col. 6 lns. 5-9; col. 7 ln. 15 - col. 8 ln. 15; fig. 6). The term "fiber optic beam splitter" which appears in the preamble is regarded as an intended use for the device, since the body of the claim defines a structurally complete invention (MPEP 2111.02(II)).
Claim 3: Each optical fiber B / C of the pair of second optical fibers only partially abuts the single first optical fiber A (they abut only along a line of contact).
Claim 4: The pair of second optical fibers B / C extend alongside each other within the housing towards the location where they meet and abut the single first optical fiber A.
Claim 8: The pair of second optical fibers and the single first optical fiber, are uncoated (col. 5 lns. 31-35; col. 6 lns. 12-14 and 28-33).
Response to Arguments
All rejections of the 9/30/2025 action were overcome by the 12/10/2025 amendments and associated remarks. A new reference is applied to several claims in the present action.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-15 remain allowed as set forth in a previous action. Claims 2, 5-7, and 9 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 base claim 1 and all applicable intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The additional references cited on the attached 892 disclose other examples of encapsulated / potted optical fiber devices.
Contact Information
Examiner: 571-272-2360
Examiner's direct supervisor: 571-272-2397
Official correspondence by fax: 571-273-8300
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Should you have questions about Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/Michael Stahl/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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