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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/6/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-10, 12 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miedema et al (US 10,992,374).
1). With regard to claim 1, Miedema et al discloses an optical amplifier assembly (Figures 4-7 etc.) comprising:
a Raman amplifier (50 in Figure 4, or Figures 5-7) configured to amplify optical signals propagating over a fiber span (e.g., fiber span 42 between first node 44 and second node 46); and
a control device (e.g., the printed circuit board PCB 92 in Figure 5; column 12 line 38-50. Or controller 194 in Figure 6) configured to limit a gain of the Raman amplifier (column 7 line 9-15, “According to some embodiments, a process may be executed to automatically turn up the Raman amplifiers on a span at an optimal gain/power level that not only extends the OSC signal reach, but also avoids non-linear effects such as Four Wave Mixing (FWM), or double Rayleigh Back-Scattering”; column 15 line 56-63, “if the span loss is too low to turn on Raman pumps at high power level, it may generate double Rayleigh Scattering, which will corrupt the transmission signals. To avoid this situation, the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss. The Raman pumps may be launched to achieve a target gain or power level that is safe, while avoiding double Rayleigh Scattering”; column 15 line 64 to column 18 line 42, and Figure 10; column 19 “starting with a safe gain/power level or pump power ratios for the Raman pumps”; column 24 lines 16-37, “To limit the damage exposure to the fiber plant, the processes of the present disclosure may further include the step of keeping the launch power below a power limit that will not damage a fiber plant even it has a typical high pinch or point loss”. Column 13 lines 60-67) after maintenance or repair of the fiber span (Figure 10, step 242 “Has Fault Cleared?”, and claim 7 “cause the processing device to determine if a fault on the link has cleared”; column 11 line 41-43 “This is used in case of a fiber break or an open connection to trigger the safety shutdown”).
2). With regard to claim 2, Miedema et al discloses the optical amplifier assembly of claim 1, further comprising a telemetry receiver component (66 in Figure 4, or 104 in Figure 6) configured to obtain power measurements (column 15 line 58-61, “the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss”), wherein the control device is configured to limit the gain of the Raman amplifier to an estimated level based on power measurements (column 11 lines 5-50; column 13 lines 60-67; column 27 line 32-42; also refer to claim 1 rejection).
3). With regard to claim 3, Miedema et al discloses wherein the control device is further configured to estimate an overall loss of the fiber span based on the power measurements and turn up the gain of the Raman amplifier based on the estimated overall loss (Abstract: Responsive to the estimated loss being greater than a reach of an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) signal along the link, the method includes the step of adjusting the gain or power level of the one or more Raman pumps. Column 3 lines 2-11, “cause the processing device to turn on one or more Raman pumps of a Raman amplifier to a predetermined safe gain or power level and determine an estimated loss along a fiber optic span of a link between adjacent nodes of an optical network. Responsive to the estimated loss being greater than a reach of an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) signal along the link, the instructions are further configured to cause the processing device to adjust the gain or power level of the one or more Raman pumps”; Figures 9-10 etc.).
4). With regard to claim 4, Miedema et al discloses wherein the telemetry receiver component is configured to output Amplitude Modulated (AM) signals (column 9 lines 3-61, “the channel 56 can be modulated with an analog modulated (AM) tone, such as two discrete tones. The tone can be enabled only when the span loss is greater than a certain threshold and straightforward power detection is not reliable. The channel 56 is used to establish a low data rate between the two nodes 44, 46 that will work for very high span losses without requiring Raman amplification. Further, the modulation depth of the tone can be changed based on operating condition of the optical system 40. For example, the modulation depth can be high, before the Raman amplifiers 48, 50 are turned off and there is no traffic across the link”).
5). With regard to claim 5, Miedema et al discloses wherein limiting the gain includes setting the gain to a reduced level corresponding to a reduced overall loss of the fiber span (as discussed in claim 1 rejection, and column 11 lines 5-50, column 13 lines 60-67, the span loss is estimated and used to control the Raman gain, then it is inherent that limiting the gain includes setting the gain to a reduced level corresponding to a reduced overall loss of the fiber span).
6). With regard to claim 6, Miedema et al discloses wherein limiting the gain includes setting the gain to a level below a prior setting that had been provisioned before the maintenance or repair of the fiber span (Figure 5, and column 10 lines 52-63; column 17 lines 43-57; “The process 240 may also include the steps of defining a safe Min/Max target gain or power level that may be achievable for any known fiber types”, and claim 5 “the processing device to perform a gain-scanning process to find a range between minimum gain and maximum gain”. The Raman gain is set to a level below the maximum gain).
7). With regard to claim 7, Miedema et al discloses wherein the control device is configured to read Optical Line Fail (OLF) recovery diagnostics (column 16 lines 51-56, “FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a process 240 for determining a target gain or power level of a Raman amplifier. The process 240 includes determining if a fault has cleared, as indicated in decision diamond 242. The fault may be an optical line failure, an Automatic Laser Shut-Off (ALSO) condition, or other types of faults”; column 17 lines 32-34, “As soon as a fiber-cut or an Optical Line Fail (OLF) condition clears, the OTDR can start automatic traces on the Raman fiber (e.g., in the counter-propagating direction).”).
8). With regard to claim 8, Miedema et al discloses wherein the maintenance or repair includes reducing an overall loss of the fiber span by performing one or more of a) fixing a fiber cut (column 17 lines 32-34, “As soon as a fiber-cut or an Optical Line Fail (OLF) condition clears, …”, b) resplicing a lossy fiber splice, c) reconnecting a loose connector, d) unbending an excessively bent fiber, e) releasing a pinched fiber, f) cleaning an end face of one or more dirty fibers, g) clearing an Optical Line Fail (OLF) condition (column 16 lines 51-56, “FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a process 240 for determining a target gain or power level of a Raman amplifier. The process 240 includes determining if a fault has cleared, as indicated in decision diamond 242. The fault may be an optical line failure, an Automatic Laser Shut-Off (ALSO) condition, or other types of faults”; column 17 lines 32-34, “As soon as a fiber-cut or an Optical Line Fail (OLF) condition clears, the OTDR can start automatic traces on the Raman fiber (e.g., in the counter-propagating direction).”), h) shortening a length of the fiber span, and i) resolving issues in the fiber span that were unknown at a time when the fiber span was initially installed or when the fiber span received any prior maintenance or repair.
9). With regard to claim 9, Miedema et al discloses wherein the fiber span is configured to link an upstream Network Element (NE) (node 44 in Figure 3) with a downstream NE (node 46).
10). With regard to claim 10, Miedema et al discloses wherein the optical amplifier assembly (e.g., the Raman Amplifier RA 50) is part of the downstream NE (node 46), and wherein the control device is configured to limit the gain of the Raman amplifier until supervisory-based communications are established with the upstream NE (column 5 lines 34-66, “Once a node is configured, it establishes necessary communication with the next remote node via the Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) and starts working as a relay agent to transfer necessary files to configure the remote nodes. Thus, the OSC enables turn-up of the nodes without an expert being present at the node itself, provided that OSC communication is unhindered”, “If one or more fiber spans (i.e., length of fiber optic link 14 between adjacent nodes, such as A-C, C-H, and H-G) between two gateway nodes are above the OSC reach, then the remote “un-provisioned” node (e.g., ILA node 12i) fails to establish communication with the gateway nodes 12g. Typical OSC reach for Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) plugs are 32 dB and for OC-3 plugs are around 34 dB. That means for any stretched fiber spans beyond such OSC reach, the remote automated node configuration process does not work”, and column 7 lines 9-21“Once the OSC communication is established, the remote node is expected to be reachable for any automatic turn-up process. The proposed process works for initial remote turn-up procedures as well as for recovery from fiber-breaks”).
11). With regard to claim 12, Miedema et al discloses wherein the control device is configured to recover from an Optical Line Fail (OLF) by one of a) clearing a Loss of Modulation (LOM) fault associated with a telemetry unit, and b) clearing a Loss of Frame (LOF) fault associated with an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) component (column 16 line 40 to column 17 line 31; column 18 line 43 to column 19 line 17, “Loss of Frame LOF is detected/accesed).
12). With regard to claim 16, Miedema et al discloses wherein the Raman amplifier is configured for amplification in a direction that is counter to propagation of the optical signals being amplified (Figure 4 etc., “The Raman amplifier 50 can provide counter propagating Raman amplification over the high loss link 42.”).
13). With regard to claim 17, Miedema et al discloses wherein the Raman amplifier includes one or more pump lasers (e.g., Figure 5, pump lasers 86a/86b/86c; 206a/206b/206c in Figure 7), wherein limiting the gain of the Raman amplifier includes clamping pump power of the one or more pump lasers (Figure 11, step 288, “Turn On Raman Pumps”, column 15 line 61-64, “The Raman pumps may be launched to achieve a target gain or power level that is safe, while avoiding double Rayleigh Scattering”; column 19 lines 13-17 and Figure 11 step 294 etc., “the process 280 may include gradually increasing the pump powers and monitor the OSC Raman gain/power level and LOF condition”; column 24 lines 25-37, “To limit the damage exposure to the fiber plant, the processes of the present disclosure may further include the step of keeping the launch power below a power limit that will not damage a fiber plant even it has a typical high pinch or point loss. Such power limit, for example, can be the same as a typical EDFA power output (e.g., 23 dBm) or below laser 1M limit (e.g., 21.5 dBm). Also, for such condition where an objective is to amplify the OSC signal, not all of the pumps on the Raman amplifier need to be turned on. Algorithms can be applied to select a specific pump or a specific group of pumps to be turned on at initial turn-up to provide the maximum possible OSC gain”) regardless of previously provisioned target gains (as cited above, column 15 line 61-64, column 19 lines 13-17 and Figure 11, column 24 lines 25-37; also column 17 lines 43-60, “All of the above processes may be performed without any intervention from a user or shelf processor and does not require any provisioning”; that is, the clamping pump power of the pump lasers is not affected by previously provisioned target gains).
14). With regard to claim 18, Miedema et al discloses wherein the optical amplifier assembly is housed on a Raman card (column 17 line 27, column 18 line 65; column 22 line 27; column 24 line 19, Raman card used).
15). With regard to claim 19, Miedema et al discloses a method comprising steps of:
limiting a gain of a Raman amplifier (Raman amplifier 50 in Figure 4, or Figures 5-7. Column 7 line 9-15, “According to some embodiments, a process may be executed to automatically turn up the Raman amplifiers on a span at an optimal gain/power level that not only extends the OSC signal reach, but also avoids non-linear effects such as Four Wave Mixing (FWM), or double Rayleigh Back-Scattering”; column 15 line 56-63, “if the span loss is too low to turn on Raman pumps at high power level, it may generate double Rayleigh Scattering, which will corrupt the transmission signals. To avoid this situation, the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss. The Raman pumps may be launched to achieve a target gain or power level that is safe, while avoiding double Rayleigh Scattering”; column 15 line 64 to column 18 line 42, and Figure 10; column 19 “starting with a safe gain/power level or pump power ratios for the Raman pumps”; column 24 lines 16-37, “To limit the damage exposure to the fiber plant, the processes of the present disclosure may further include the step of keeping the launch power below a power limit that will not damage a fiber plant even it has a typical high pinch or point loss”. Column 13 lines 60-67) after maintenance or repair of a fiber span (e.g., fiber span 42 between first node 44 and second node 46. Figure 10, step 242 “Has Fault Cleared?”, and claim 7 “cause the processing device to determine if a fault on the link has cleared”; column 11 line 41-43 “This is used in case of a fiber break or an open connection to trigger the safety shutdown”), the Raman amplifier configured to amplify optical signals propagating over the fiber span (Figure 4 etc., “Raman Amplification”, signals from the Node 44 to Node 50 are amplified by the pump light from the RA 50);
obtaining local power measurements (column 15 line 58-61, “the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss”; column 17 lines 37-42, “estimating span loss based on locally received telemetry signal power and estimating typical transmit power from the far end, and possibly c) modulating telemetry signal to transfer transmit power information from the far end to improve accuracy on span loss measurement”. And Figures 9-10 etc., and column 11 lines 5-50; column 13 lines 60-67; column 27 line 32-42); and
based on the local power measurements, increasing the gain of the Raman amplifier (e.g., step 294 in Figure 11, “Increase the Power of the Raman Pumps In A Gradual Step”; column 16 lines 47-50, “responsive to the maximum LOF being less than the OSC Raman gain, the process 230 may include increasing the power of the one or more Raman pumps in a gradual step”; column 18 lines 58-60; column 19 lines 14-17 “the process 280 may include gradually increasing the pump powers and monitor the OSC Raman gain/power level and LOF condition”; column 23 lines 19-21, “Adjusting the power level or gain level of the Raman pumps can be done in a gradual manner”).
16). With regard to claim 20, Miedema et al discloses controller comprising:
a processing device (e.g., the printed circuit board PCB 92 in Figure 5, which contains a microprocessor; column 12 line 38-50. Or controller 194 in Figure 6. And Figure 13); and
memory (e.g., 304 in Figure 13) configured to store computer logic having instructions (column 2 line 66 to column 3 line 22. And column 19 line 53 to column 22 line 9) that, when executed, cause the processing device to;
limit a gain of a Raman amplifier (Raman amplifier 50 in Figure 4, or Figures 5-7. Column 7 line 9-15, “According to some embodiments, a process may be executed to automatically turn up the Raman amplifiers on a span at an optimal gain/power level that not only extends the OSC signal reach, but also avoids non-linear effects such as Four Wave Mixing (FWM), or double Rayleigh Back-Scattering”; column 15 line 56-63, “if the span loss is too low to turn on Raman pumps at high power level, it may generate double Rayleigh Scattering, which will corrupt the transmission signals. To avoid this situation, the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss. The Raman pumps may be launched to achieve a target gain or power level that is safe, while avoiding double Rayleigh Scattering”; column 15 line 64 to column 18 line 42, and Figure 10; column 19 “starting with a safe gain/power level or pump power ratios for the Raman pumps”; column 24 lines 16-37, “To limit the damage exposure to the fiber plant, the processes of the present disclosure may further include the step of keeping the launch power below a power limit that will not damage a fiber plant even it has a typical high pinch or point loss”. Column 13 lines 60-67) after maintenance or repair of a fiber span (e.g., fiber span 42 between first node 44 and second node 46. Figure 10, step 242 “Has Fault Cleared?”, and claim 7 “cause the processing device to determine if a fault on the link has cleared”; column 11 line 41-43 “This is used in case of a fiber break or an open connection to trigger the safety shutdown”), the Raman amplifier configured to amplify optical signals propagating over the fiber span (Figure 4 etc., “Raman Amplification”, signals from the Node 44 to Node 50 are amplified by the pump light from the RA 50), and
increase the gain of the Raman amplifier (e.g., step 294 in Figure 11, “Increase the Power of the Raman Pumps In A Gradual Step”; column 16 lines 47-50, “responsive to the maximum LOF being less than the OSC Raman gain, the process 230 may include increasing the power of the one or more Raman pumps in a gradual step”; column 18 lines 58-60; column 19 lines 14-17 “the process 280 may include gradually increasing the pump powers and monitor the OSC Raman gain/power level and LOF condition”; column 23 lines 19-21, “Adjusting the power level or gain level of the Raman pumps can be done in a gradual manner”) based on local power measurements (column 15 line 58-61, “the proposed method uses received power at the telemetry signal as an indicator to estimate a span loss”; column 17 lines 37-42, “estimating span loss based on locally received telemetry signal power and estimating typical transmit power from the far end, and possibly c) modulating telemetry signal to transfer transmit power information from the far end to improve accuracy on span loss measurement”. And Figures 9-10 etc., and column 11 lines 5-50; column 13 lines 60-67; column 27 line 32-42).
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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miedema et al (US 10,992,374) in view of Takeyama et al (US 2014/0146385).
Miedema et al disclose all of the subject matter as applied to claims 1 and 9 above. But, Miedema et al does not expressly disclose wherein the control device is configured to limit the gain to prevent a saturation condition interrupting Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) communications between the upstream NE and downstream NE.
However, it is common in the art that the high Raman gain could saturate Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC). And Miedema et al discloses that the signal power and the OSC are monitored, then it is obvious to one skilled in the art that the Raman needs to be limited so to prevent a saturation condition interrupting Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) communications between the upstream NE and downstream NE. Takeyama et al discloses a Raman amplification scheme (Figure 1 etc.), and “When the OSC receiver 22 receives too much power, the gain of an amplifier that amplifies an electric signal indicative of a received optical signal is saturated, thereby causing waveform distortion. The waveform distortion degrades the bit error rate of a recovered signal. The overload level defines the optical power that causes such degradation. That is, the pump light provided by the Raman amplifier is controlled to be within a region in which the optical power of an OSC signal is less than the overload level”. That is, the pump light provided by the Raman amplifier needs to be controlled within a region in which the optical power of an OSC signal is less than the overload level.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Takeyama et al to the system/method of Miedema et al so that the Raman gain limited to prevent a saturation condition interrupting OSC communications, and then the system is more reliable.
Claims 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miedema et al (US 10,992,374).
1). With regard to claim 13, Miedema et al disclose all of the subject matter as applied to claim 1 above. But, Miedema et al does not expressly disclose wherein, when an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) associated with the optical amplifier assembly experiences a Loss of Frame (LOF), the gain is limited to a minimum of a) a provisioned target gain, b) a maximum achievable Raman gain for a fiber type of the fiber span, and c) an estimated fiber span loss with the Raman amplifier off minus an estimated value that would avoid double Rayleigh Scattering.
However, first, Miedema et al discloses “The process 240 may also include the steps of defining a safe Min/Max target gain or power level that may be achievable for any known fiber types. For example, the target gain may be derived as below:
Expected Raman gain = Min(MaxGain, FiberLoss−X dB); where X=6;
If (Expected Raman gain<MinGain), Set Target Raman gain=0; else, Set Target Raman gain=Expected Raman gain.
For example, a typical Min/Max can be set as Min=5 dB, Max=15 dB that can be achievable for most commonly known fiber types.” (column 17 lines 43-60).
That is, Miedema et al teaches/suggests: the gain is limited to a minimum (operation “Min”) of b) a maximum achievable Raman gain (MaxGain) for a fiber type of the fiber span, and c) an estimated fiber span loss (FiberLoss) with the Raman amplifier off minus an estimated value (“X dB”, X is 6) that would avoid double Rayleigh Scattering.
In the column 17 lines 43-60, Miedema et al does not expressly introduce “a provisioned target gain”; however, Miedema et al also discloses “[t]o extend the OSC reach, long fiber spans may be configured with amplification components for amplifying the signals. For example, these long fiber spans may use Raman amplifiers and Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs). During installation of a node, as mentioned above, an installer may manually set up basic configurations on the site, run OTDR traces, confirm with the NOC that no other traces are being run from the other end, provision fiber types and other photonic configurations required to instantiate controllers, turn on the Raman amplifiers and EDFAs pre-planned target gain levels or power levels, and readjust gain/loss actuators as needed”. That is, a pre-planned target gain (or provisioned target gain) can be applied initially. Therefore, it is obvious to one skilled in the art that a target gain can be selected from the minimum among the a) a provisioned target gain, b) a maximum achievable Raman gain for a fiber type of the fiber span, and c) an estimated fiber span loss with the Raman amplifier off minus an estimated value, so that a desired safe level of the Raman gain can be initially determined.
2). With regard to claim 14, Miedema et al disclose all of the subject matter as applied to claims 1 and 13 above. And Miedema et al further discloses wherein the estimated fiber span loss with the Raman amplifier off is equal to an estimated upstream telemetry transmitter power minus a local telemetry receiver power with the Raman amplifier off (column 17 lines 37-42, “estimating span loss based on locally received telemetry signal power and estimating typical transmit power from the far end, and possibly c) modulating telemetry signal to transfer transmit power information from the far end to improve accuracy on span loss measurement”).
3). With regard to claim 15, Miedema et al disclose all of the subject matter as applied to claim 1 above. But, Miedema et al does not expressly disclose wherein, when an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) associated with the optical amplifier assembly does not experience a Loss of Frame (LOF), the gain is limited to a minimum of a) a provisioned target gain, and b) a maximum achievable Raman gain for a fiber type of the fiber span.
However, first, Miedema et al discloses “Responsive to the estimated loss being less than the reach of the OSC signal, the process 230 may include the step of performing a gain-scanning process to find a range between minimum gain and maximum gain and may also include the step of adjusting the gain or power level of the one or more Raman pumps” (column 16 lines 17-22), and “If the OSC reach in this case is acceptable (i.e., “N” in block 256), then the process 240 goes to block 258, which includes the step of allowing additional Raman gain-scanning to find out the gain ranges between the minimum and maximum, plus any other pump adjustments.” (column 17 lines 13-18); also refer to Figure 12, which shows “typical achievable gains for Raman amplifiers in a C-band system for different types of fibers, according to various embodiments”. That is, Miedema et al teaches/suggests when an Optical Supervisory Channel (OSC) associated with the optical amplifier assembly does not experience a Loss of Frame (LOF), the gain is limited to less than a maximum achievable Raman gain for a fiber type of the fiber span.
Regarding the provisioned target gain, Miedema et al also discloses “[t]o extend the OSC reach, long fiber spans may be configured with amplification components for amplifying the signals. For example, these long fiber spans may use Raman amplifiers and Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs). During installation of a node, as mentioned above, an installer may manually set up basic configurations on the site, run OTDR traces, confirm with the NOC that no other traces are being run from the other end, provision fiber types and other photonic configurations required to instantiate controllers, turn on the Raman amplifiers and EDFAs pre-planned target gain levels or power levels, and readjust gain/loss actuators as needed”. That is, a pre-planned target gain (or provisioned target gain) can be applied initially. Therefore, it is obvious to one skilled in the art that when an OSC associated with the optical amplifier assembly does not experience a LOF, a target gain should be selected from the minimum of a provisioned target gain and a maximum achievable Raman gain for a fiber type of the fiber span, so that a desired level of the Raman gain that is safe for equipment can be obtained.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20230053180 A1
US 20160329678 A1
US 6850360 B1
US 20030174389 A1
US 20020149841 A1
US 20020114060 A1
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/LI LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634 May 29, 2026
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