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 § 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 1-20 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.
As to claims 1, 14 and 15, the limitations of “the first real image point and the second real image point being image conjugates of the virtual object point and wherein the virtual object point, the first real image point and the second real image point coincide” are indefinite since the claims recite that “the first real image point and the second real image point [are] image conjugates of the virtual object point” while further reciting that “the virtual object point, the first real image point and the second real image point coincide”. These limitations are internally inconsistent because the image conjugate points are by definition, distinct points related through an optical system, whereas coincident points occupy the same spatial location. The claims therefore fail to inform, with reasonable certainty, the scope of the claimed invention.
Claims 2, 16 are likewise indefinite as they depend on claims 1 and 14 and further recite result-oriented limitations without clearly defining the structural or quantitative relationships required to achieve the recited result.
For purposes of examination, notwithstanding the indefiniteness of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 112 second paragraph, the claims are interpreted as broadly as reasonable in light of the specification. Under this interpretation, the prior art rejections are applied. To extent the limitations relating to the virtual object point and real image points can be reasonably understood as intending that the optical system is configured to focus radiation to a common focal location, the claims are interpreted accordingly for purpose of examination.
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.
Claims 1-2, 8-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chuang et al (US 2017/0278694 A1).
With respect to claims 1, 12, 13 and 14, Chuang discloses an optical assembly, a corresponding metrology assemble, and corresponding methods comprising all features of the instant claims such as: a bulb (101) having a chamber (see figure 1A) for accommodating an ionizable gas (see paragraphs [0032-0033] and a plasma (103) formed by energizing the ionizable gas, the bulb having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and a lens (113) for a laser-operated light source, the lens arranged to, in use, focus a wavefront of radiation from a laser (111) to a virtual object point located inside the chamber (it is the Examiner’s position that Chuang discloses pump optics arranged to focus a laser beam into the plasma region within the bulb (figure 1A-1C), when a converging optical system focuses radiation inside a medium, a virtual object point must be defined according to basic Gaussian optics. Thus, the focal convergence in Chuang implicitly defines a virtual object point located in the chamber), wherein in use, the bulb is arranged to transmit and refract the wavefront of the radiation to a first real image point in a first cross-section of the longitudinal axis (center of the bulb 101; see figure 1 A) and a second real image point in a second cross-section of the transverse axis (see figure 1A-2C) , the second cross-section of the transverse axis having an outer surface cross-section and an inner surface cross-section, the outer surface cross-section and the inner surface cross-section being concentric (see figure 1B), and the first real image point and the second real image point being image conjugates of the virtual and wherein the virtual object point, the first real image and the second real image point coincide.
As to claims 2, 15-16, the bulb is made of a material transparent for radiation (112), thus it has refractive index n, a thickness d of a wall of the bulb at the transverse axis, an outer radius of curvature r1, and an inner radius of curvature r2 of the second cross-section and an outer radius of curvature R1 and an inner radius of curvature R2 of the first cross-section such that the virtual object point, the first real image point and the second real image point coincide.
As to claims 8 and 19, wherein the radiation from the laser(111) is IR (see paragraphs [0007, 0036].
As to claims 9 and 20, wherein the bulb (101) has at least one electrode (102) and the longitudinal axis is an electrode axis.
As to claims 10 and 11, the laser (111) is configured to emit the radiation having the wavefront (see figure 1A-2C) and the laser light source is configured to emit light in operation and the light has wavelengths in the UV spectral range (see paragraph [0027, 0066]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7, 17-18 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 3-7 and 17-18 have been found allowable since the prior art of record, either alone or in combination, neither discloses nor makes obvious a combination of an optical assembly comprising among other features, the specific quantitative design relationships recited in claims 3-17 and 17-18. In particular, the cited references do not disclose defining the bulb surface radii, object distance, longitudinal shift, and optical power using the explicit mathematical constraints and functional dependencies set forth in these claims, including the special case where the optical power K=0. Also, the prior art does not recognize or derive the claimed analytical relationships governing the refractive geometry of the bulb, nor do these relationships appear to constitute routine optimization, as recited in the mentioned claims.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Flagella et al (U.S.Pat. 11,099,483) discloses an optical assembly and has been cited for technical background. 9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG HENRY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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HUNG HENRY NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2882
Hvn
1/6/26
/HUNG V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882