CTNF 18/721,336 CTNF 89698 DETAILED ACTION 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Election/Restrictions The Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-4 drawn to Group I in the reply filed on 5/21/2026 is acknowledged. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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 of this title, 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co. , 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA Claim 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakagawa et al (Compact and Low Cost Superimposition of AMCC with Magneto-Optic VOA) in view of Nakagawa 2 et al (US Pub 20180180909) . Regarding claim 1. Nakagawa discloses a transmission device comprising: a first modulator that performs intensity modulation on a control signal for performing management control of communication (Fig 3, where a transmitter comprises a first modulator (MZM) (i.e. at SFP+ transceiver) that performs modulation on a control signal (AMCC) for performing management control of communication and where it is known that a Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) performs intensity modulation (see for example Lee et al (US Pub 20040096225) Fig 4, para [37])); a second modulator that performs modulation on the control signal (Fig 3, where the transmitter comprises a second modulator (VOA1) that performs modulation on the control signal (AMCC)); a reception modulation scheme acquirer that acquires a modulation scheme receivable by a receiver receiving the control signal (Fig 3, where the transmitter comprises a reception modulation scheme acquirer (e.g. at FPGA DSP/ DAC/ Selector) that acquires a modulation scheme (e.g. modulation via MZM or modulation via VOA1) receivable by a receiver receiving the control signal (AMCC)); and a modulation controller that causes the first or second modulator to modulate the control signal in accordance with a modulation scheme acquired by the reception modulation scheme acquirer acquisition unit (Fig 3, where the transmitter comprises a modulation controller (e.g. at FPGA DSP/ DAC/ Selector) that causes the first modulator (MZM) (i.e. at SFP+ transceiver) or the second modulator (VOA1) to modulate the control signal (AMCC) in accordance with a modulation scheme (e.g. modulation via MZM or modulation via VOA1) acquired by the reception modulation scheme acquirer (e.g. at FPGA DSP/ DAC/ Selector)). Nakagawa fails to explicitly disclose the second modulator performs phase modulation or frequency modulation. However, Nakagawa 2 discloses a second modulator performs phase modulation or frequency modulation (Fig 1, para [32] where a second modulator (VOA 124) performs phase modulation or frequency modulation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the second modulator (VOA1) as described in Nakagawa, with the teachings of the second modulator (VOA 124) as described in Nakagawa 2. The motivation being is that as shown a second modulator (VOA 124) can perform phase modulation or frequency modulation and one of ordinary skill in the art can implement this concept into the second modulator (VOA1) as described in Nakagawa and have the second modulator (VOA1) perform phase modulation or frequency modulation i.e. as an alternative so as to have the second modulator (VOA1) with a known technique of a known second modulator (VOA 124) for the purpose of optimally modulating the control signal (AMCC) via a known phase/ frequency variation and which technique optimally implements the benefits of using phase/ frequency modulation into the system which includes for example increased spectral efficiency, better signal quality and high noise immunity and which modification is being made because the systems are similar and have overlapping components (e.g. second modulators VOAs) and which modification is a simple implementation of a known concept of a known second modulator (VOA 124) into another similar second modulator (VOA1), namely, for its improvement and for optimization and which modification yields predictable results . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 2-4 is/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. Conclusion The additional prior art considered pertinent to the Applicant’s disclosure and not relied upon is the following: Yamauchi et al (US Pat 10425166) and more specifically Fig 6. Nakagawa et al (Development of Evaluation Platform of AMCC Superimposition on CPRI Signal Transmission for Mobile Fronthaul Network) and more specifically Fig 2. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to DIBSON J SANCHEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-0868. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 10:00-6:00. If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, Kenneth Vanderpuye can be reached on 5712723078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /DIBSON J SANCHEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634 Application/Control Number: 18/721,336 Page 2 Art Unit: 2634 Application/Control Number: 18/721,336 Page 3 Art Unit: 2634 Application/Control Number: 18/721,336 Page 4 Art Unit: 2634 Application/Control Number: 18/721,336 Page 5 Art Unit: 2634 Application/Control Number: 18/721,336 Page 6 Art Unit: 2634
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