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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C.
102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the
statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a
new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection,
would be the same under either status.
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 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by
US 2020/0285084 (“JI”).
Regarding claim 1, JI teaches a slow-light photonic modulator (FIGs. 1-11) comprising: a silicon-on-insulator substrate (50) comprising a silicon device layer (65) on top of a silicon dioxide buried layer (60); a ridge waveguide (30) formed by partially etching the silicon device layer (pars. [0004], [0021], [0025], [0027]), the ridge waveguide comprising a grating arm and a reference arm (FIG. 11); a grating waveguide (12, 22; pars. [0024], [0025], [0036], [0040]) in the grating arm; a grating electrode (80) in the grating arm; a straight waveguide (30) in the reference arm; a reference electrode (80) in the reference arm; and a lateral junction (31) formed by doping the ridge waveguide with p-type (12) and n-type dopants (22).
Regarding claim 2, JI teaches a y-splitter (500) configured to split an input optical signal into two paths, a first of the two paths passes through the grating arm and a second of the two paths passes through the reference arm (FIG. 11); and a y-combiner (600) configured to recombine the first and the second of the two paths into an output optical signal after the first and the second of the two paths passes through the respective grating and reference arms (FIG. 11).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the
contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and
effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date
of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of
35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JI in view of US 2019/0146304 (“YU”).
JI teaches the limitations of the base claim 9. JI does not teach a silicon- germanium photodetector in optical communication with the ridge waveguide. YU teaches a silicon- germanium photodetector in optical communication with a ridge waveguide (par. [0039])). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date to modify the modulator of JI so as to include the photodetector of YU. The motivation would have been to lower the necessary bias voltage and to increase responsivity (par. [0039]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 and 10-17 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 3-8, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole and as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious an unequal phase shifter architecture configured to set the modulator in quadrature without the use of external waveguide heaters.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole and as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious that the silicon-germanium photodetector is positioned in the silicon-on-insulator substrate and is in optical communication with the ridge waveguide via an embedded single-mode silicon photonic waveguide.
Regarding claims 11-15, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole and as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious a first thermo-optic switch in optical communication with an input side of the ridge waveguide, the first thermo-optic switch comprising a first heater; and a second thermo-optic switch in optical communication with an output side of the ridge waveguide, the second thermo-optic switch comprising a second heater; the first thermo-optic switch and the second thermo-optic switch configured to adjust a splitting ratio of an input optical signal inputted to the input side of the ridge waveguide and an output optical signal outputted from the output side of the ridge waveguide.
Regarding claims 16 and 17, the prior art of record, whether taken individually or in combination, when considered in light of the claimed subject matter as a whole and as interpreted in light of the Specification as originally filed, fails to disclose or render obvious a radio-frequency photonic link comprising: a tunable laser configured to provide an input optical signal to the slow-light photonic modulator; an optical circulator positioned between the tunable laser and the slow-light photonic modulator; an erbium-doped fiber amplified positioned between the tunable laser and the optical circulator; and a radio-frequency spectrum analyzer configured to receive an output optical signal from the slow-light photonic modulator.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to JERRY M BLEVINS whose telephone number is (571)272-8581.
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organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY M BLEVINS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
Prosecution Insights