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 statements (IDS) submitted on 5-13-24 and 5-20-24 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg et al. (US20230336846) in view of Wagner et al. (US20040234198).
Re claim 1, Borg et al. teaches for example in fig. 2, an all-solid-state frequency agile filter system (104, para. 0035), comprising: a substrate exhibiting (104, para. 0039) transparency in a wavelength band selected within the range of 500 nm to 15 μm (para. 0030, 0031, 0041); including at least one tunable cavity (para. 0035) comprising an exotic phase change material (para. 0035); and multiple optical layers (para. 0035).
But, Borg et al. fails to explicitly teach multiple cavities.
However, within the same field of endeavor, Wagner et al. teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, multiple cavities (para. 0043).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the teachings of Borg et al. with Wagner et al. in order to provide variable transmission at a fixed wavelength, as taught by Wagner et al. (para. 0043).
Re claim 2, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the exotic phase change material is a chalcogenide material (para. 0035).
Re claim 3, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the chalcogenide material is a compound consisting of at least one chalcogen anion selected from the group consisting of O, S, Se, Te, and Po (para. 0035).
Re claim 4, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the compound is selected from the group consisting of GeSbTe, SbS, and GeSbSeTe (para. 0035).
Re claim 5, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, the substrate is selected from the group consisting of calcium fluoride, germanium, silicon, potassium bromide, sodium chloride, magnesium fluoride, sapphire, zinc selenide, and zinc sulfide (para. 0031, 0060).
Re claim 6, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the multiple optical layers include a Fabry-Perot arrangement comprising multiple distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) each consisting of multi-layer dielectric mirrors (para. 0035).
Re claim 7, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, each of the multiple cavities is embedded between distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) (para. 0036, 0047).
Re claim 8, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, including an etalon component (para. 0006, 0045-0047, 0050).
Re claim 9, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, multiple passive cavities (para. 0041).
Re claim 10, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, one tunable cavity and two passive cavities (para. 0041).
Re claim 12, Wagner et al. further teaches for example in fig. 3, 5, and 7, one of the three passive cavities is an etalon-like cavity (para. 0045).
Re claim 13, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the at least one tunable cavity is electrically tunable between a first and second state commensurate with transmission of a first and second wavelength (para. 0036).
Re claim 14, Borg et al. further teaches for example in fig. 2, the exotic phase change material is electrically reversible between an amorphous phase and a crystalline phase (para. 0040).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is 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 15-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art taken alone or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the claims, in such a manner that a rejection would be proper. The prior art fails to teach a combination of all the claimed features as presented in dependent claim 11 and independent claim 15.
Specifically regarding claim 11, Borg et al. (US20230336846) teaches the state of the art of a differential absorption light detection and ranging filter.
But, Borg et al. fails to explicitly teach a combination of all the claimed features including two tunable cavities and three passive cavities, as claimed.
Specifically regarding claim 15, Borg et al. (US20230336846) teaches the state of the art of a differential absorption light detection and ranging filter.
But, Borg et al. fails to explicitly teach a combination of all the claimed features including the following solid-state material layers: a substrate exhibiting transparency in a wavelength band selected within the range of 500 nm to 15 μm; a first distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials; a first electrically tunable cavity, including an exotic phase change material; a second distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials; a first passive cavity; a third distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials; a passive etalon-like cavity; a fourth distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials; a second passive cavity; a fifth distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials; a second electrically tunable cavity, including an exotic phase change material; and a sixth distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) consisting of N bi-layers of alternating high and low index materials, as claimed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH P MARTINEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-2335. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9am to 7pm PACIFIC.
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/Joseph P Martinez/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 8-28-26
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