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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on8/15/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 4, 7-8 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.
With regards to claim 7, applicant discloses that the thickness of the cavity layer is D, D=l/2 x m. Examiner is unclear what applicant is referring to with regards to “m” in the equation.
In light of the above 112 rejection the claim are rejected as best understood my examiner .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nishida et al JPH0836109A (of record) .
Nishida aet al discloses an bandpass filter comprising: a cavity 4a made of TiO2; and a laminated portion formed by alternately laminating a first dielectric film TiO2 4 made of a high refractive index material and a second dielectric film SiO2 made of a low refractive index material, wherein when a center wavelength of a transmission band is λ and a film thickness of the cavity layer is D, D=λ/2×m (m is an integer of 3 or more), (The film thickness d3 is set to λ1 / 2n 1 . The TiO 2 cavity layer 4a is a layer that satisfies the resonance condition for obtaining high transmittance.) and a transmittance in the transmission band is 80% or more. (As shown in FIG. 5, the transmittance at a wavelength of 830 nm is 0.957. 1 / maximum transmittance
The full width at half maximum of the transmission band having the transmittance of 2 is about 5 nm, and the resolution is high. The transmission characteristics when the angle (incident angle) formed by the normal A of the incident surface of the dielectric multilayer film bandpass filter 1 and the optical axis B of the incident light is 30 ° are also shown by a broken line. The maximum transmittance at an incident angle of 30 ° is 0.864 at a wavelength of 799 nm.) (paragraph [0032])
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) 1 and 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishida et al JPH0836109A in view of Yasuhide et al JP2002286937 A ( both of record).
Nishida et al discloses a bandpass filter comprising: a cavity 4a made of TiO2; and a laminated portion formed by alternately laminating a first dielectric film TiO2 4 made of a high refractive index material and a second dielectric film SiO2 made of a low refractive index material. ( Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of the dielectric multilayer film bandpass filter 1.
The dielectric multilayer film band pass filter 1 is formed by alternately stacking high refractive index material layers and low refractive index material layers. In the example of FIG. 4, the TiO 2 film 4 is used as the high refractive index material layer, the SiO 2 film 5 is used as the low refractive index material layer, and the TiO 2 film 4 and the SiO 2 film 5 are provided on the translucent glass substrate 6.paragraph [0029]) The method steps to the above apparatus are inherent.
With regards to claim 4, a center wavelength of a transmission band is λ and a film thickness of the cavity layer is D, D=λ/2×m (m is an integer of 3 or more), (The film thickness d3 is set to λ1 / 2n 1 . The TiO 2 cavity layer 4a is a layer that satisfies the resonance condition for obtaining high transmittance. Paragraph [0030])
With regards to claim 5, the λ is 400 nm or more and 1000 nm or less. (Therefore, for example, the central wavelength λ1 of the transmission band is 830 nm. Paragraph [0031])
Thus, Nishida et al is shown to teach all the limitation of the claim with the exception of during the film formation of bandpass filter , a film formation stop period to lower a temperature of a film formation substrate by temporarily stopping film formation during the film formation is set.
Yasuhide et al disclose a method and apparatus for forming dielectric film on end dace of optical fiber. Yasuhide et al states, in alternately forming the high-refractive material film and the low-refractive material film, these films are formed not intermittently but intermittently. The case where the temperature change in the vacuum chamber is suppressed within a certain range is also included in the method of forming a dielectric film on the end face of the optical fiber of the present invention. For example, when forming a dielectric film in which four layers of high-refractive material films and low-refractive material films are alternately laminated on the end face of a fiber, the first layer and the first layer are preheated to 70 ° C. or 75 ° C. in the vacuum chamber. A second layer is formed. afterwards,
After the film formation is temporarily stopped and the temperature in the raised vacuum chamber (per claim 6) is lowered to 70 ° C. or 75 ° C., the film formation of the third and fourth layers is started. The reflectivity of the dielectric film thus formed is 0.003% against the design value of 0.001%. (paragraph [0022])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have a film formation stop period to lower a temperature of a film formation substrate by temporarily stopping film formation during the film formation is set.
The motivation for this modification would have been to provide a method for forming a dielectric film, in which a change in the ambient temperature is reduced as much as possible, and a dielectric film having desired optical characteristics can be formed. (paragraphs [0006 -0007]
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 3 are 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY E GLENN whose telephone number is (571)272-1761. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea Lindgren Baltzell can be reached at 571-272-5918. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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September 27, 2025
/K.E.G/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843