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 § 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, 5, 7, and 9-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moriya et al. (US 2021/0386347 A1), hereinafter referred to as Moriya.
With reference to claim 1 , Moriya teaches an optically pumped magnetometer comprising: a cell configured to be filled with alkali metal vapor (Fig. 1, 1A, ¶0018); a pump light incidence unit configured to cause pump light for pumping alkali metal atoms constituting the alkali metal vapor to be incident on a sensitivity region inside the cell in a first direction (Fig. 1, 10, ¶0018); a probe light incidence unit configured to cause probe light for detecting change in electron spins in a pumped state of the alkali metal atoms to be incident on the sensitivity region in a direction intersecting the first direction (Fig. 1, 11, ¶0018); a bias magnetic field coil configured to apply a bias magnetic field in the first direction to the inside of the cell and determine a resonance frequency of the electron spins (¶0026); a gradient correction coil configured to correct a gradient of the bias magnetic field applied through the bias magnetic field coil (¶0041, Fig. 1, 8A, 8B); an electron spin tilting unit configured to tilt a rotation axis direction of the electron spins in a direction perpendicular to the first direction (Fig. 1, 21, ¶0035); an optical sensor configured to detect the probe light having passed through the sensitivity region (Fig. 1, 1A, ¶0018); and a magnetic field measuring unit configured to measure a magnetic field strength related to the sensitivity region based on an output of the optical sensor (Fig. 1, 1A, ¶0018).
With reference to claim 2, Moriya further teaches the gradient correction coil includes a pair of first coils disposed on one side and the other side of the cell in the first direction and correcting an amount of change in the bias magnetic field with respect to an amount of change in position in the first direction (¶0041, Fig. 1, 8A, 8B).
With reference to claim 5, Moriya further teaches the gradient correction coil corrects the gradient of the bias magnetic field such that a relaxation time of free induction decay obtained from an output of the optical sensor becomes longer than a first time when correction by the gradient correction coil is not performed (¶0041, ¶0067, ¶0068). With reference to claim 7, Moriya further teaches the gradient correction coil corrects the gradient of the bias magnetic field such that a spectral peak after fast Fourier transform regarding a relaxation time of free induction decay obtained from an output of the optical sensor becomes steeper than when correction by the gradient correction coil is not performed (¶0041, ¶0067, ¶0068)
With reference to claim 9, Moriya further teaches one or a plurality of mirrors configured to reflect the probe light traveling inside the cell toward the outside of the cell or having traveled from the inside of the cell to the outside of the cell such that the probe light returns to the inside of the cell (Fig. 1, L2). With reference to claim 10, Moriya further teaches the electron spin tilting unit radiates an RF signal having the same frequency as the resonance frequency (Fig. 1, 21, ¶0035).
With reference to claim 11, Moriya further teaches the electron spin tilting unit radiates pulsed light (Fig. 1, 1A, ¶0018).
With reference to claim 12, Moriya further teaches there are two or more of the sensitivity regions, and the magnetic field measuring unit measures the magnetic field strength based on a difference between outputs of the optical sensor corresponding to the two adjacent sensitivity regions (Fig. 1, ¶0019). With reference to claim 13, Moriya further teaches A magnetoencephalograph comprising: the optically pumped magnetometer according to claim 1 configured to be provided in a manner of being able to be disposed around the head of a test object and measure a strength of a magnetic field emitted from the test object (Fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 6, and 8 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: The prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed "gradient correction coil includes a pair of second coils disposed on one side and the other side of the cell in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and correcting an amount of change in the bias magnetic field with respect to an amount of change in position in the second direction" in combination with the remaining claim elements as set forth in claim 3. The prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed "gradient correction coil includes a pair of third coils disposed on one side and the other side of the cell in the first direction and correcting an amount of change in the bias magnetic field with respect to an amount of change in position in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction" in combination with the remaining claim elements as set forth in claim 4. The prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed "gradient correction coil corrects the gradient of the bias magnetic field such that the relaxation time of free induction decay obtained from an output of the optical sensor becomes the longest" in combination with the remaining claim elements as set forth in claim 6. The prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed "gradient correction coil corrects the gradient of the bias magnetic field such that the spectral peak after fast Fourier transform regarding the relaxation time of free induction decay obtained from an output of the optical sensor becomes the steepest" in combination with the remaining claim elements as set forth in claim 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kobayashi et al. (US 10,288,701 B2) teaches an optically pumped atomic magnetometer and magnetic sensing method.
Kim et al. (US 11,105,865 B2) teach a high-sensitivity multi-channel atomic magnetometer.
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/GREGORY H CURRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852