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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 states “a management control device that manages communication between one or more first subscriber devices and one or more second subscriber devices” and further states “an optical transmitter configured to convert the control signal generated….into an optical signal” (singular). There is inconsistency between the limitations and the specifications/drawings. As per the submitted disclosure, Fig. 1 shows the output of an optical signal by an optical transmitter wherein the communication is occurring between one subscriber device and another one subscriber device. Fig. 1 doesn’t show “one or more first subscriber devices and one or more second subscriber devices”. Fig. 6 however shows “one or more first subscriber devices and one or more second subscriber devices”, but doesn’t show “an optical transmitter configured to convert the control signal generated….into an optical signal” (singular), as there are multiple optical signals output by the transmitter. There is no shown figure where there are multiple first and second subscriber devices with an optical signal being multiplexed. Claims 7 and 8 also suffer from these issues.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 states “the first subscriber device includes a receiver configured to convert the optical signal multiplexed by the optical multiplexer into an electrical signal”. Firstly, which subscriber within claim 1 comprises such a receiver? Claim 1 states there are one or more first subscriber devices. Furthermore, according to the specifications, such detection of claim 3 is shown in Fig. 4. However, the main signal appears to be one signal that is transmitted by a subscriber device 10 as shown in Fig. 1. Claim 3 depends on claim 1 which states “one or more first subscriber devices” and “one or more second subscriber devices”. Fig. 4 doesn’t show such detection as claimed in claim 3, within the topology comprising more than one first and second subscriber devices. It isn’t clear how the detection of claim 3 functions with the presence of “one or more first subscriber devices” and “one or more second subscriber devices”.
Claim 4 states “the same numbers of the optical transmitters and optical multiplexers as that of communication paths…are included”. This part is confusing. Firstly, there is antecedent basis for “the same numbers”. There is also the limitation “as that of communication paths between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices”. Claim 4 depends on claim 1 which already claims “a communication path” between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices. Is “communication paths” within claim 4 referring to “a communication path” within claim 1? Furthermore, the claim states “each optical transmitter converts the control signal generated by the control signal generator”. If there are multiple optical transmitters, are they all converting the same control signal? What is the purpose of doing such a conversion? These limitations are unclear.
Claim 5 states “the same numbers of the optical multiplexers as the number of communication paths between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber device”. This part is confusing. Firstly, there is antecedent basis for “the same numbers”. There is also the limitation “as the number of communication paths between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices”. Claim 5 depends on claim 1 which already claims “a communication path” between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices. Is “communication paths” within claim 5 referring to “a communication path” within claim 1? Furthermore, the claim states “an optical switch that is provided between the optical transmitter and each multiplexer…as an input and switches paths to connect to a port to which the optical signal is input”. There is inconsistency within these limitations and also the specifications. Firstly, “the optical transmitter” limitation within claim 1 is outputting “an optical signal”, whereas within claim 5, which seems to refer to Fig. 6, the optical transmission unit 33 outputs multiple optical signals. Secondly, Fig. 6 shows the optical switch 50 is provided between the multiplexers 40 and the subscribers 20 and not the transmitter and each multiplexer as claimed.
Claim 6 states “the first optical multiplexer is provided on a communication path between the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device” and “the second optical multiplexer is provided on a communication path between the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device”. Claim 6 depends on claim 1 which comprises “one or more first subscriber devices” and “one or more second subscriber devices”. Which first and second subscriber device is claim 6 stating from within claim 1?
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, 2, 4, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Suzuki (JP 2014165574) see translated copy for relevant paragraphs.
Regarding claim 1, Suzuki teaches an optical communication system (Fig. 1, system 100) comprising: a management control device (Fig. 1, device 20) that manages communication between one or more first subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 12) and one or more second subscriber devices that are provided at counterpart locations of the one or more first subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 10),
wherein the management control device includes
a control signal generator configured to generate a control signal that is transmitted to the one or more first subscriber devices and used for management and control (Fig. 1, generator within 44; paragraph [0021], The transmission OSC unit 44 transmits a monitoring control signal), and
an optical transmitter configured to convert the control signal generated by the control signal generator into an optical signal (Fig. 1, output from 44) with a wavelength that is different from a wavelength of a main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices (paragraph [0021], The transmission amplifier unit 40 amplifies the received wavelength-multiplexed optical signal and outputs the amplified signal to the optical multiplexing unit 42) that perform communication with the one or more first subscriber devices and transmits the optical signal (paragraph [0015], The monitoring control signal is a signal used for control and monitoring of nodes, and is transmitted and received between adjacent nodes. The supervisory control signal has a different wavelength than the optical main signal), and
the optical communication system comprises an optical multiplexer that is provided on a communication path between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices and multiplexes the main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices with the optical signal transmitted from the optical transmitter (paragraph [0022], The optical multiplexing unit 42 multiplexes the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal amplified by the transmission amplifier unit 40 and the monitoring control signal output from the transmission OSC unit 44, and outputs the multiplexed signal to the second optical transmission path 18).
Regarding claim 2, Suzuki teaches the optical communication system according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more first subscriber devices includes a wavelength demultiplexer configured to demultiplex the optical signal multiplexed by the optical multiplexer into a first optical signal and a second optical signal (Fig. 1, demux 54),
a first receiver configured to convert the first optical signal into a main signal that is an electrical signal (Fig. 1, conversion performed by 70; paragraph [0026], The level monitor 70 monitors the input level to the reception amplifier unit 56, and outputs the monitoring result to the device monitoring control unit 64), and a second receiver (Fig. 1, receiver 62) configured to convert the second optical signal into a control signal that is an electrical signal (paragraph [0025], The reception OSC unit 62 performs optical / electrical conversion processing, signal termination processing, and the like on the supervisory control signal which is an optical signal).
Regarding claim 4, Suzuki teaches the optical communication system according to claim 1, wherein in a case where a plurality of the one or more first subscriber devices and a plurality of the one or more second subscriber devices are included, the same numbers of the optical transmitters and the optical multiplexers as that of communication paths between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices are included, and each optical transmitter converts the control signal generated by the control signal generator into an optical signal with a wavelength that is different from the wavelength of the main signal transmitted by the second subscriber device in each communication path and transmits the optical signal. Although Suzuki doesn’t explicitly show a plurality of the optical transmitters and multiplexers, Suzuki in Fig. 1 shows a singular instance of such a layout. One of ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious to have multiple of the optical transmitters and the multiplexers as shown in Fig. 1 of Suzuki as a matter of duplication of parts in order to have the expected result of outputting the control signal and multiplexing it with the main signal. (MPEP 2144.04 VI B).
Regarding claim 6, Suzuki teaches the optical communication system according to claim 1, wherein the control signal generator includes a first control signal generator generation unit and a second control signal generator, the optical transmitter includes a first optical transmitter and a second optical transmitter, the optical multiplexer includes a first optical multiplexer and a second optical multiplexer, the first control signal generator generates a control signal that is transmitted to the first subscriber device and is used for management and control, the first optical transmitter converts the control signal generated by the first control signal generator into an optical signal with a wavelength that is different from the wavelength of the main signal transmitted by the second subscriber device and transmits the optical signal, the first optical multiplexer is provided on a communication path between the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device and multiplexes the main signal transmitted by the second subscriber device with the optical signal transmitted from the first optical transmitter (Fig. 1 teaches the first control signal generator, the first multiplexer and this is taught by claim 1), the second control signal generator generates a control signal that is transmitted to the second subscriber device and is used for management and control, the second optical transmitter converts the control signal generated by the second control signal generator into an optical signal with a wavelength that is different from the wavelength of the main signal transmitted by the first subscriber device and transmits the optical signal, and the second optical multiplexer is provided on a communication path between the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device and multiplexes the main signal transmitted by the first subscriber device with the optical signal transmitted from the second optical transmitter. Although Suzuki doesn’t explicitly show the second control signal generator and the second multiplexer, Suzuki in paragraph 12 states “It may be configured to be capable of bi-directional transmission” which states that a control signal output configuration of Fig. 1 in the direction from device 10 to device 12 can be configured in a direction from device 12 to device 10, thus teaching a second control signal generator and the second multiplexer.
Regarding claim 7, Suzuki teaches a management control device (Fig. 1, device 20) that manages communication between one or more first subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 12) and one or more second subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 10) provided at counterpart locations of the one or more first subscriber devices, the management control device comprising: a control signal generator configured to generate a control signal that is transmitted to the one or more first subscriber devices and is used for management and control (Fig. 1, generator within 44; paragraph [0021], The transmission OSC unit 44 transmits a monitoring control signal); and an optical transmitter configured to convert the control signal generated by the control signal generator into an optical signal (Fig. 1, output from 44) with a wavelength that is different from a wavelength of a main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices (paragraph [0021], The transmission amplifier unit 40 amplifies the received wavelength-multiplexed optical signal and outputs the amplified signal to the optical multiplexing unit 42) that perform communication with the one or more first subscriber devices and transmits the optical signal (paragraph [0015], The monitoring control signal is a signal used for control and monitoring of nodes, and is transmitted and received between adjacent nodes. The supervisory control signal has a different wavelength than the optical main signal) to an optical multiplexer that is provided on a communication path between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices and multiplexes the main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices with the other optical signal (paragraph [0022], The optical multiplexing unit 42 multiplexes the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal amplified by the transmission amplifier unit 40 and the monitoring control signal output from the transmission OSC unit 44, and outputs the multiplexed signal to the second optical transmission path 18).
Regarding claim 8, Suzuki teaches a control signal transmission method in an optical communication system including a management control device (Fig. 1, device 20) that manages communication between one or more first subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 12) and one or more second subscriber devices (Fig. 1, device 10) that are provided at counterpart locations of the one or more first subscriber devices, the control signal transmission method comprising, by the management control device: generating a control signal that is transmitted to the one or more first subscriber devices and is used for management and control (Fig. 1, generator within 44; paragraph [0021], The transmission OSC unit 44 transmits a monitoring control signal); and converting the generated control signal into an optical signal (Fig. 1, output from 44) with a wavelength that is different from a wavelength of a main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices (paragraph [0021], The transmission amplifier unit 40 amplifies the received wavelength-multiplexed optical signal and outputs the amplified signal to the optical multiplexing unit 42) that perform communication with the one or more first subscriber devices (paragraph [0015], The monitoring control signal is a signal used for control and monitoring of nodes, and is transmitted and received between adjacent nodes. The supervisory control signal has a different wavelength than the optical main signal), transmitting the optical signal, and by an optical multiplexer provided on a communication path between the one or more first subscriber devices and the one or more second subscriber devices, multiplexing the main signal transmitted by the one or more second subscriber devices and the optical signal transmitted from the management control device (paragraph [0022], The optical multiplexing unit 42 multiplexes the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal amplified by the transmission amplifier unit 40 and the monitoring control signal output from the transmission OSC unit 44, and outputs the multiplexed signal to the second optical transmission path 18).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See the notice of reference cited (PTO-892).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PRANESH K BARUA whose telephone number is (571)270-1017. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Sat: 11-8pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Payne can be reached on 5712723024. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PRANESH K BARUA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635