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 § 102
(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) 1-5 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by United States Patent Application Publication 2020/0386610 A1 to Foster.
Regarding Claim 1, Foster discloses a system including:
an optical source configured to provide at least one first optical beam and at least one second optical beam (Fig. 5, signal from (710) is split into 1st and 2nd beam);
an interferometer (Fig. 5, 720; ¶ 92) including:
at least one first optical path for the at least one first optical beam (Fig. 5, 721),
at least one second optical path for the at least one second optical beam (Fig. 5, 722),
at least one modulator configured to modulate the first optical beam and/or the second optical beam based on at least one digital modulation sequence (Fig. 5, modulator (740), digital modulation signal (750A)), and
an optical combiner/detector configured to detect interference fringes between the first and second optical beams after the first and second optical beams have traversed the first and second optical paths (Fig. 5, detector (730); ¶ 93-95) ;
an electronic processing system including:
a receiver element ("receiver") configured to receive from the optical combiner/detector an interference signal that is indicative of an interferometer phase, which is an optical phase difference between the first and second optical beams (Fig. 5, electrical elements after PD (730)),
a demodulator configured to obtain/generate at least one decoding output by demodulating the interference signal using at least one digital demodulation sequence that is associated with the at least one digital modulation sequence (Fig. 5, correlator (790) and demodulator (780) multiply the interference signal by the PRBS (756) used for the modulation signal above), and
a phase output element configured to determine/generate the interferometer phase based on the at least one decoding output (Fig. 5, phase output on right),
wherein the at least one digital modulation sequence or the at least one digital demodulation sequence is based on a plurality of digital sequences, which include a first digital sequence and a second digital sequence, wherein the second digital sequence is based on a time-shifted version of the first digital sequence by an offset delay (Fig. 5, PRBS and phase stepping used for digital modulation and delayed version used for demodulation), and
wherein the offset delay is selected to correspond to a delay not already associated with a physical signal in the interferometer (Fig. 5, 756b; ¶ 89; pi/2.)
Regarding Claim 2, Foster discloses a sequence source configured to generate the first digital sequence, the second digital sequence, and/or the compound digital sequence for the modulation and/or the demodulation, optionally wherein the sequence source is configured to generate the second digital sequence by time shifting the first modulation sequence by the offset delay (Fig. 5, 756b; ¶ 89; pi/2.)
Regarding Claim 3, Foster discloses wherein the sequence source includes a pseudo-random number generator (Fig. 5, PRBS.)
Regarding Claim 4, Foster discloses wherein the electronic processing system is configured to generate the second digital sequence by time shifting the first modulation sequence by the offset delay (Fig. 5, 756b; ¶ 89; pi/2.)
Regarding Claim 5, Foster discloses a first modulator configured to modulate the first optical beam in the first optical path based on the digital modulation sequence (Fig. 5, modulator and modulation sequence (740; 750A)).
Regarding Claim 21, Foster discloses a method comprising:
providing at least one first optical beam and at least one second optical beam (Fig. 5, signal from (710) is split into 1st and 2nd beam);
modulating the first optical beam based on at least one digital modulation sequence (Fig. 5, modulator (740), digital modulation signal (750A)), and
detecting interference fringes between the first and second optical beams after the first and second optical beams have traversed the first and second optical paths (Fig. 5, detector (730); ¶ 93-95) ;
receiving an interference signal that is indicative of an interferometer phase, which is an optical phase difference between the first and second optical beams (Fig. 5, electrical elements after PD (730)),
obtain/generating at least one decoding output by demodulating the interference signal using at least one digital demodulation sequence that is associated with the at least one digital modulation sequence (Fig. 5, correlator (790) and demodulator (780) multiply the interference signal by the PRBS (756) used for the modulation signal above), and
determining the interferometer phase based on the at least one decoding output (Fig. 5, phase output on right),
wherein the at least one digital modulation sequence or the at least one digital demodulation sequence is based on a plurality of digital sequences, which include a first digital sequence and a second digital sequence, wherein the second digital sequence is based on a time-shifted version of the first digital sequence by an offset delay (Fig. 5, PRBS and phase stepping used for digital modulation and delayed version used for demodulation), and
wherein the offset delay is selected to correspond to a delay not already associated with a physical signal in the interferometer (Fig. 5, 756b; ¶ 89; pi/2.)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-20, 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL G DOBSON whose telephone number is (571)272-9781. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/DANIEL G DOBSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634 05/30/2026
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