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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 9, and claims 10-13 dependent on it, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the second WDM after the wide WDM in the laser path" in lines 6-7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim; the term “wide WDM” does not appear earlier in the claim. It appears “the second WDM after the first WDM in the laser path” was meant; the Examiner has interpreted the claim accordingly. Clarification and correction are required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 and 14-20 are allowed.
Claims 9-13 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art, Cottervert (EP 1,318,579 A1) disclose in Fig. 6 a Raman fiber laser with a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM 52) and a periodic filter (20) positioned within the laser path coupling the optical fiber, wherein the WDM transmits selected optical power of the laser. The laser path of Cottervert is a ring, so that one cannot specify first or later elements . Further, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious, an optical fiber laser with a second or additional WDMs positioned within the laser path, wherein at least one of the plurality of WDMs has the widest wavelength spacing and is positioned first in the laser path, nor a method of increasing power stability in a Raman fiber laser by operating such an optical fiber laser. This statement is not intended to necessarily state all the reasons for allowance or all the details why the claims are allowed and has not been written to specifically or impliedly state that all the reasons for allowance are set forth (MPEP 1302.14).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Wielendy discloses a cascade fiber Raman laser, Zhou et al. disclose a Raman laser coupled to a fiber via a WDM.
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/ERIC L BOLDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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