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 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.
DETAILED ACTION
This is an AIA application filed December 1, 2023.
The earliest effective filing date of this AIA application is seen as December 1, 2023, the actual filing date, there being no earlier priority applications.
The claims originally filed December 1, 2023 are entered, currently outstanding, and subject to examination.
This action is in response to the original filing of the same date.
Claims 1-6 are currently pending and outstanding.
No claims have been amended, cancelled, withdrawn, or added.
Claims 1-6 are currently outstanding and subject to examination.
This is a non-final action and is the first action on the merits.
Allowable subject matter is indicated below.
Often, in the substance of the action below, formal matters are addressed first, claim rejections second, and any response to arguments third.
Substance of Interview
On Friday, December 12, 2025, Chen LE for Applicant and examiner Andrew JORDAN discussed the outstanding claims.
The claims filed December 1, 2023 are currently outstanding.
At issue were:
In claim 1, the term “laser” was not indicated as having a connection with any other part. As such, an essential element of such connection is missing, precipitating a rejection per below;
Any further articulation regarding the coatings seen as reference number 5 in the specification as originally filed.
As counsel had to consult with client, the opportunity for allowance by examiner’s amendment was missed. Examiner believes that any shortcoming in making such an amendment (with counsel’s permission) could have been corrected/rectified by a continuing application.
Further search and consideration may be required.
No agreement was reached.
Examiner looks forward to Applicant's next formal response.
Interview information is available at:
https://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/interview-practice.
Claim Objections
The following claim is objected to because of the indicated informality/ies:
Claim(s)
Informality/ies
1
“the grating” at the end of the claim has no proper antecedent
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b/¶ 2)
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.
Claim 1 (and by dependency, remaining claims 2-6) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: .
Any connecting, operative, or other relationship between the “lasers” and the other elements of the claim.
Special Definitions for Claim Language - MPEP § 2111.01(IV)
The following special definitions are seen as present in the specification regarding the language used in the claims. MPEP §§ 2173.01, 2173.05(a), and 2111.01(IV).
Term(s)
Definition(s)
Defined at
Coating(s)
The coatings 5 are metal coatings and are welded to the multi-chip package 1 by means of the laser welding spots 2. In such a configuration, the metal coatings 5 are disposed not only to protect the optical fibers to make them firmer and more flexible, but also to endow the optical fibers with properties of conduction and power supply, such that the wire bonding for conventional copper wires is omitted; and the processing precision of high-precision laser welding or ultrasonic welding can reach a micron level, and metal welding and fixing can allow extremely high stability, such that an aging allowance does not need to be reserved for a later stage during processing. Therefore, the precision required for connecting optical circuits can be met easily.
¶ 20
The remaining words and phrases of the claims are given their plain meaning.
If other special definitions are present, Applicant should bring those to the attention of the examiner and the prosecution history with its next response.
Claims Allowable
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action. Similarly, claims 2-6 would also be allowable as depending on claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowability:
The prior art does not teach or suggest
a film-coated optical fiber photovoltaic conversion module constructed with the special “coating”
as set forth in the claimed combination of independent claim(s) 1.
No references were found that supported these features in such combination.
The cited references are seen as providing the closest related art.
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.”
Conclusion
Applicant’s publication US 20250180838 A1 published June 5, 2025 is cited.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited references have elements related to Applicant’s disclosure and/or claims or are otherwise associated with the other cited references, particularly with respect to photovoltaic/optoelectronic conversion systems.
Examiner notes the near-identical nature of foreign patent literature CN115421261 cited by Applicant and published on December 2, 2022.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW JORDAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-1571. The examiner can normally be reached most days 1000-1800 PACIFIC TIME ZONE (messages are returned).
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. While examiner does not examine over the phone (see 37 C.F.R. § 1.2), examiner is glad to clarify or discuss issues so long as it forwards prosecution.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas (Tom) HOLLWEG can be reached at (571) 270-1739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Andrew Jordan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
V: (571) 270-1571 (Pacific time)
F: (571) 270-2571
December 12, 2025
Prosecution Insights