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 .
Response to Arguments
On page 7 of applicant’s arguments filed January 27, 2026 in response to the October 30, 2025 Office action of record, applicant states that claims 4 and 5 have been rewritten in independent form because the Examiner indicated that they contain allowable subject matter. This is only partially correct. The Examiner indicated that claims 4 and 5 contained allowable subject matter because they depended on claim 3 which was the claim that was considered to have allowable subject matter. The limitations found in claim 3, which original claims 4 and 5 inherited, cannot be found in newly independent claims 4 and 5. As a result, these claims do not contain the allowable subject matter that was indicated in the October 30, 2025 Office action, and these claims are rejected using newly discovered prior art to Xue et al. as discussed below.
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 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xue et al (“Programmable Single-Bandpass Photonic RF Filter Based on Kerr Comb from a Microring”).
Regarding claim 4, Xue (Fig. 1) discloses an optical self-heterodyne detection system comprising a light source (c.w. tunable laser) configured to generate light; a photodetector (PD) configured to detect the light; a programmable filter (Pulse shaper 1) provided between the detector and the light source (see Fig. 1); and an electrical spectrum analyzer (VNA) connected to the photodetector and configured to analyze a frequency and wavelength of the light using a detection signal of the photodetector (a VNA is an electric spectrum analyzer for RF components to characterize how filters affect signals, in this case it outputs a filter frequency-domain transfer function of light passing through the system), wherein the light source includes a frequency comb light source (see Kerr comb generation at the top of Fig. 1), and wherein the optical self-heterodyne detection system further comprises an interferometer including a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (see the bottom of Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 5, Xue (Fig. 1) discloses an optical self-heterodyne detection system comprising a light source (c.w. tunable laser) configured to generate light; a photodetector (PD) configured to detect the light; a programmable filter (Pulse shaper 2) provided between the detector and the light source (see Fig. 1); and an electrical spectrum analyzer (VNA) connected to the photodetector and configured to analyze a frequency and wavelength of the light using a detection signal of the photodetector (a VNA is an electric spectrum analyzer for RF components to characterize how filters affect signals, in this case it outputs a filter frequency-domain transfer function of light passing through the system), wherein the light source includes a frequency comb light source (see Kerr comb generation at the top of Fig. 1), and wherein the optical self-heterodyne detection system further comprises an interferometer, (see the bottom of Fig. 1), wherein the interferometer includes an input coupler provided between the light source and the programmable filter (see the coupler on the right side of the interferometer at the bottom of Fig. 1); an output coupler provided between the programmable filter and the photodetector (see the coupler on the left side of the interferometer at the bottom of Fig. 1); and branch waveguides branching off from the input coupler and connected to the output coupler (see the interferometer at the bottom of Fig. 1).
As for claim 6, Xue discloses that the branch waveguides include a first branch waveguide; and a second branch waveguide that is in parallel with the first branch waveguide (see the Mach-Zehnder interferometer at the bottom of Fig. 1, showing a pair of parallel branch waveguides between the input and output couplers).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 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 the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 11-20 are allowed in view of the prior art.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 7, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious the further limitation of claim 6, wherein the programmable filter includes a first programmable filter provided to the first branch waveguide; and a second programmable filter provided to the second branch waveguide, in combination with the rest of the limitations of the above claim.
With further regard to the above claim, while Xue discloses a pair of programmable filters in the form of pulse shapers 1 and 2, the first pulse shaper is located outside the Mach-Zehnder interferometer set forth in Fig. 1, meaning that light reaching the Mach-Zehnder interferometer has already passed through a pulse shaper. Moving this pulse shaper to the other branch waveguide of the interferometer would change the operation of the Xue device, as light passing through pulse shaper 2 would not first pass through pulse shaper 1 prior to entering that pulse shaper.
As to claim 11, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious an optical self-heterodyne detection system, the system being allowable for the reasons given in the previous Office action mailed October 30, 2025, in combination with the rest of the limitations of the above claim.
As to claim 16, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious an optical self-heterodyne detection system, the system being allowable for the reasons given in the previous Office action mailed October 30, 2025, in combination with the rest of the limitations of the above claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. “Linewidth measurement based on a delayed self-heterodyne interferometer using a Mach-Zehnder modulator” by Wu et al. teaches measuring laser linewidth using a self-heterodyne interferometer featuring a Mach-Zehnder modulator (see Fig. 1 and abstract); and US Pat. 5,032,002 to Fonneland et al. discloses, in prior art Fig. 1, a heterodyning system featuring a Mach-Zehnder interferometer where light from source 12 is split by a beam splitter into a reference beam 18 and a transmission beam, with light transmitted by the beam splitter passing through acousto-optic modulator 20 before reaching programmable spatial filter 25, where the light having passed through the filter is recombined with the reference beam 18 at beam splitter 38 to be detected by detector 42 (see Fig. 1).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael A. Lyons whose telephone number is (571)272-2420. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday.
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/Michael A Lyons/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877 February 10, 2026