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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 16-25 in the reply filed on 12/29/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 21 recites the limitation, “a secondary SLM configured to modulate the secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium.”, but the specification does not describe the location, function, or composition of this secondary SLM, in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skill in the art that the inventor had possession of the invention.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “ secondary SLM configured to modulate the secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 16-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Papadopoulos (US 20150015879 A1).
Re claim 16, Papadopoulos discloses on Fig. 5, A system to image or sense objects, the system comprising: a complex medium (multimode fiber 503) [Par 151] wherein the complex medium comprises at least one of an engineered complex medium or a naturally occurring complex medium;
a wave radiation source (beam 500) [Par 151] configured to transmit waves through the complex medium;
one or more detectors (conjugated field propagates backward through the multimode fiber 503 and focused at the proximal end as a point source, would inherently require some form of detector to sense said point source, which is the objective of the invention such as in Fig. 7) [Par 151 and 153] configured to detect wave properties from secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium;
and a digital processor configured to reconstruct information based on the secondary wave properties (inherently include a processor based on, “The recorded hologram is then treated numerically and the phase of the optical field on the output facet of the fiber is retrieved. The calculated phase pattern 509 is then displayed onto spatial light modulator 510. Reference beam 507, incident on 510, generates a diffracted beam exactly counterpropagating the output beam (so-called phase conjugated beam). Finally, the conjugate optical field that is generated in this way is reflected back into the imaging line by beam-splitter 508 and projected onto the multimode fiber facet. The conjugated field propagates backward through the multimode optical fiber 503 and is focused at the distal end of the fiber, recreating point source 502”) [Par 151].
one or more wave modulators (spatial light modulator, SLM 510) [Par 151] wherein the one or more wave modulators comprise at least one of a spatial wave modulator (SLM 510).
But this embodiment of Papadopoulos does not explicitly disclose, wherein the wave modulator is configured to modulate the waves transmitted through the complex medium.
However, Papadopoulos teaches an alternative embodiment (herefore referred to as the ‘first alternative embodiment’ for clarity) wherein the wave modulator is configured to modulate the waves transmitted through the complex medium (“The modulation of the input field is performed with a spatial light modulator (SLM) such as, but not limited to, phase liquid crystal SLMs, deformable mirrors, binary or analog amplitude modulators.”) [Par 130].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to combine the embodiments of Papadopoulos, in order to provide, modulation of the input field as well[Par 130].
Re Claim 17, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, and Papadopoulos further discloses on Fig. 5, wherein the complex medium comprises a multimode fiber (multimode fiber 503].
Re Claim 18, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16 (embodiment of Fig. 5).
But Papadopoulos does not explicitly disclose in the embodiment of Fig. 5 or the first alternative embodiment, wherein the wave radiation source comprises a laser.
However, Papadopoulos teaches, on Fig. 17, an embodiment that includes, wherein the wave radiation source comprises a laser (laser source 1700) [Par 163].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to combine the embodiments of Papadopoulos, in order to provide Rama spectroscopy [Par 134].
Re claim 19, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, and Papadopoulos further discloses on Fig. 5, wherein the one or more modulators comprises a Spatial Light Modulator (spatial light modulator 510) [Par 151].
Re Claim 20, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, in the embodiment of Fig. 5.
But Papadopoulos does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more detectors comprise at least one of a camera, a photodetector, a photodetector array, a single photon avalanche diode array, or a photomultiplier tube.
However, Papadopoulos teaches, various embodiments that include cameras (Fig. 25: camera 2520, Fig. 22: camera 2250, Fig. 20: camera 2035, Fig. 18: camera 1895, Fig. 17: camera 1746) [Par 163-172], and photodetectors (Fig. 5: image sensor 506) [Par 151] for receiving waves transmitted through the complex medium. Therefore, Papadopoulos teaches back propagation of conjugate waves through the complex medium (and the inherently required detection of said waves by a detector)[Par 151 and 153], the use of photodetectors (an image sensor would inherently require a photodetector), and the use of cameras [Par 163-172]. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been capable of using one of the taught cameras or photodetectors as the secondary wave detector, in order to observe the recreation of point source 502 by the backwards propagated conjugate field [Par 151].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Papadopoulos in order to provide, observation of the recreation of the point source by the backwards propagated conjugate field [Par 151].
Re Claim 21, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, and Papadopoulos further discloses, in the embodiment of Fig. 5 and the first alternative embodiment, wherein the one or more modulators comprise a primary Spatial Light Modulator (“modulation of the input field is performed with a spatial light modulator (SLM), alternative embodiment where SLM is at proximal tip for input field) [Par 130], configured to modulate the waves transmitted through the complex medium, a secondary SLM configured to modulate the secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium (Fig. 5: SLM 510, creates conjugate wave) [Par 151].
Re Claim 22, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, and further discloses in the first alternative embodiment, wherein the complex medium comprises a transmission matrix for the waves transmitted through the complex medium (transmission matrix measurement based on first wave transmission) [Par 130].
But Papadopoulos does not explicitly teach on Fig. 5 or the firs alternative embodiment, a secondary transmission matrix for the secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium.
However, Papadopoulos teaches on Fig. 31, a secondary transmission matrix for the secondary waves that propagate back through the complex medium (“The transmission matrix of twice the propagation is then recovered. Because the return path follows the same waveguide element, the transmission matrix for single path is recovered.”) [Par 178]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Papadopoulos in order to recover the phase and amplitude, of the transmission of a single path and return path, as taught by Papadopoulos [Par 178].
Re Claim 23, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 22, and Papadopoulos further discloses on Fig. 31, wherein the digital processor is configured to reconstruct an image using the transmission matrix and the secondary transmission matrix (“Phase and amplitude are recovered from the interferogram. The process is repeated with multiple angles imparted on the beam 3100. The transmission matrix of twice the propagation is then recovered. Because the return path follows the same waveguide element, the transmission matrix for single path is recovered.”, would inherently involve some data processing device to recover phase and amplitude at multiple angles, which effectively reconstructs the image, see Fig. 33 for an example of this) [Par 178 and 181].
Re Claim 24, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 22, and the embodiment of Papadopoulos on Fig. 31 (And the analysis example on Fig. 31), wherein the digital processor is configured to reconstruct an image using the transmission matrix and the secondary transmission matrix for a nonlinearly generated signal (in STORM/PALM imaging of multiple speckle patterns through a multimode fiber, the signal capture is not limited to linear scattering signal) [Par 181].
Re Claim 25, modified Papadopoulos discloses, the system of claim 16, and Papadopoulos further discloses on Fig. 5, further comprising one or more optical elements positioned between the complex medium (fiber 503) and the one or more wave modulators (wave modulator 510) wherein the one or more optical elements comprise a lens (lens 505).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Anand (US 20140064654 A1) teaches
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/RAY ALEXANDER DEAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/BUMSUK WON/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872