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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishimitsu (US 2020/0064187).
Regarding claim 1, Ishimitsu discloses an optical axis adjustment method for a laser module (320) used in a Raman spectrometer (paragraph 1), the optical axis adjustment method comprising: a jig mounting step (paragraphs 84, 85) of mounting the laser module having an optical axis adjustment mechanism (343) on an optical axis adjustment jig (370) in a state where the laser module is detached from the Raman spectrometer (paragraph 84); an optical axis adjusting step of adjusting an optical axis of the laser module (350) by using the optical axis adjustment mechanism (343) of the laser module mounted on the optical axis adjustment jig (paragraph 85); and a device attaching step of attaching the laser module whose optical axis has been adjusted in the optical axis adjusting step to an attachment position of the Raman spectrometer (paragraph 84).
Regarding claim 4, Ishimitsu discloses an attachment member (371; Fig.11) on which the laser module is mounted; and an irradiation unit (373, 375) that is irradiated with laser light from the laser module mounted on the attachment member.
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) 2, 3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishimitsu (US 2020/0064187).
Regarding claim 2, Ishimitsu discloses that laser modules are aligned via an alignment procedure carried out on a jig, and are attached side-by-side to the Raman spectrometer (Figs.1-2; laser units 21a, 21b). A connecting step of the two laser modules (21a, 21b) prior to being assembled with/attached to other components of the Raman spectrometer would have been an obvious design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art depending on the needs of particular application and involving only routine skill in the art. in view of meeting different design requirements.
Regarding claim 3, it should be noted that the jig mounting step as defined in the claim 3 is broadly interpreted in the sense that both the mounting step and the optical axis adjusting step of the plural laser modules need not take place simultaneously (i.e. the laser modules may be mounted to the jig and adjusted on the jig independently from one another). Therefore, it is considered that the procedure disclosed in Ishimitsu, in which the first laser module (310) and the second laser module (320) are adjusted (sequentially) by using the optical axis adjustment jig of Fig.11 falls within the scope of the procedure defined in claim 3.
Regarding claim 5, the specific scheme and configuration utilized for adjusting the laser modules (21a, 21b) would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of meeting different design requirements and achieving the particular desired performance.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shimizu et al (US 2003/0128728) is cited for disclosing a semiconductor laser module and a Raman amplifier.
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/KEVIN K PYO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878