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 1-2 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 4815843.
Claim 1: '843 discloses a light source device comprising (see mainly fig. 8):
an optical waveguide path (through waveguiding film 1) including a first diffraction grating 4;
a light source unit (source of laser beam 7, col. 6 lns. 26-27) that outputs laser light 7 having an optical center axis inclined, with respect to the first diffraction grating, in a direction in which the optical waveguide path extends; and
a light receiving unit D7 that receives light leaking from the optical waveguide path through the first diffraction grating from among the laser light outputted from the light source.
Claim 2: A wavelength of the laser light, a pitch of the first diffraction grating, an angle of incidence of the laser light with respect to the first diffraction grating, a divergence angle of the laser light, and an effective refraction index of the optical waveguide path are set to a condition that causes the laser light to be diffracted in one direction (toward the right as oriented in fig. 8) of the optical waveguide path (see arrow representing guided mode 8) and does not cause the laser light to be diffracted in another direction (e.g. toward the left in fig. 8) of the optical waveguide path.
Claim 18: '843 discloses an electronic apparatus (the system of fig. 8) comprising (see above with regard to claim 1 for repeated limitations): a light source device, the light source device including an optical waveguide path including a first diffraction grating, a light source unit that outputs laser light having an optical center axis inclined, with respect to the first diffraction grating, in a direction in which the optical waveguide path extends, and a light receiving unit that receives light leaking from the optical waveguide path through the first diffraction grating from among the laser light outputted from the light source.
Claims 1-3 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 5631885.
Claim 1: '885 discloses a light source device comprising (see mainly figs. 2-3; note fig. 3 shows detail of element 38 in fig. 2):
an optical waveguide path (along waveguide 42 in fig. 3) including a first diffraction grating 44;
a light source unit 14 (laser diode) that outputs laser light 50 having an optical center axis inclined, with respect to the first diffraction grating, in a direction in which the optical waveguide path extends (fig. 3); and
a light receiving unit 28 that receives light 52 leaking from the optical waveguide path through the first diffraction grating from among the laser light outputted from the light source.
Claim 2: A wavelength of the laser light, a pitch of the first diffraction grating, an angle of incidence of the laser light with respect to the first diffraction grating, a divergence angle of the laser light, and an effective refraction index of the optical waveguide path are set to a condition that causes the laser light to be diffracted in one direction (generally toward the left as oriented in fig. 3, note beam 54) of the optical waveguide path and does not cause the laser light to be diffracted in another direction of the optical waveguide path.
Claim 3: A center value of the angle of incidence of the laser light falls in a range of not less than 4 degrees and not more than 20 degrees (10.17 degrees in the example in the paragraph spanning cols. 5-6).
Claim 18: '885 discloses an electronic apparatus (the system of fig. 2) comprising (see above with regard to claim 1 for repeated limitations): a light source device, the light source device including an optical waveguide path including a first diffraction grating, a light source unit that outputs laser light having an optical center axis inclined, with respect to the first diffraction grating, in a direction in which the optical waveguide path extends, and a light receiving unit that receives light leaking from the optical waveguide path through the first diffraction grating from among the laser light outputted from the light source.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-17 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
The additional references listed on the attached 892 form are considered generally relevant to the subject matter of this application. Many of them disclose other examples of light source devices.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Mike Stahl at 571-272-2360. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful the examiner’s supervisor Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Stahl/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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