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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on Mar 16, 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the foreign application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being (a)(2) by anticipated Fujita (US 2022/0255294). a) Regarding claim 1, Fujita discloses an optical module (Fig. 3; Pub [0039]) comprising:
a photoelectric element (113 in Fig. 3 and 4) configured to perform at least one of conversion from an electrical signal to an optical signal or conversion from an optical signal to an electrical signal (Pub [0020], [0040]); and
a gain adjusting unit (15 in Fig. 4) configured to adjust a gain of a signal level of at least one of an electrical signal or an optical signal that are output from the photoelectric element in a test of the optical module (Pub [0046], [0049]). b) Regarding claim 9, Fujita discloses a controlling device (Fig. 3) comprising:
an optical module (Pub [0039]) including a photoelectric element (113 in Fig. 3 and 4) and a gain adjusting unit (15 in Fig. 4), the photoelectric element being configured to perform at least one of conversion from an electrical signal to an optical signal or conversion from an optical signal to an electrical signal (Pub [0020], [0040]), the gain adjusting unit being configured to adjust a gain of a signal level of at least one of an electrical signal or an optical signal that are output from the photoelectric element in a test of the optical module (Pub [0046], [0049]);
an adjustment information generating unit configured to generate gain adjustment information related to a gain adjustment amount of the gain adjusting unit (10 in Fig. 4; Pub [0046], the VGA is controlled by controller 10); and
a determining unit configured to determine a state of the optical module based on a signal level of an electrical signal output through the optical module (10 in Fig. 4; Pub [0052]; active and sleep state). c) Regarding claim 2, Fujita discloses wherein the gain adjusting unit includes an amplifier (14 in Fig. 4) configured to amplify a signal level of at least one of an electrical signal input to the photoelectric element so as to be converted into an optical signal or an electrical signal converted from an optical signal and output from the photoelectric element (Pub [0041], Pub [0045]), and
an amplifier controlling unit configured to control a gain of the amplifier (10 in Fig. 4; Pub [0046]). d) Regarding claim 4, Fujita discloses wherein the gain adjusting unit acquires gain adjustment information related to a gain adjustment amount of the gain adjusting unit and adjusts a gain of a signal level of at least one of an electrical signal or an optical signal that are output from the photoelectric element based on the gain adjustment information (10 and 15 in Fig. 4; Pub [0046], variable gain is controlled by the controller 10). e) Regarding claim 10, Fujita discloses wherein the adjustment information generating unit generates the gain adjustment information to be input to the optical module in a state in which the optical module is connected to another controlling device (110 and 120 are connected via optical cable in Fig. 3; Pub [0039-0040]). f) Regarding claims 13 and 14, Fujita discloses wherein the adjustment information generating unit generates, for the one optical module, a plurality of pieces of the gain adjustment information among which the gain adjustment amount is different (Pub [0052-0053]; VGA inherently produce different gain amount). g) Regarding claims 17 and 18, Fujita discloses further comprising a display controlling unit configured to cause a displaying unit to display a result of the determination by the determining unit (Fig. 1; Pub [0004], UFP is a display).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujita (US 2022/0255294) in view of Matricardi et al (US 7,269,347). a) Regarding claim 5, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with variable gain control, but did not explicitly teach a test of optical module.
However, Matricardi et al an optical receiver (Fig. 2). A well-known optical test signal is applied to maintain high fidelity signal reception in optical networks (Col 1, L26-36). An optical test signal is well known used to diagnose system performance. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal of Matricardi et al. Thus, the gain adjustment can be increased or decreased for an optimum system throughput. By doing so, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception in a communication system.
b) Regarding claim 6, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with variable gain control, but did not explicitly teach a test of optical module.
However, Matricardi et al an optical receiver (Fig. 2). A well-known optical test signal is applied to maintain high fidelity signal reception in optical networks (Col 1, L26-36). An optical test signal is well known used to diagnose system performance. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal of Matricardi et al. Thus, the gain adjustment can be increased or decreased for an optimum system throughput. By doing so, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception in a communication system.
c) Regarding claim 7, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with variable gain control, but did not explicitly teach a test of optical module.
However, Matricardi et al an optical receiver (Fig. 2). A well-known optical test signal is applied to maintain high fidelity signal reception in optical networks (Col 1, L26-36). An optical test signal is well known used to diagnose system performance. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal of Matricardi et al. Thus, the gain adjustment can be increased or decreased for an optimum system throughput. By doing so, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception in a communication system.
d) Regarding claim 8, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with variable gain control, but did not explicitly teach a test of optical module.
However, Matricardi et al an optical receiver (Fig. 2). A well-known optical test signal is applied to maintain high fidelity signal reception in optical networks (Col 1, L26-36). An optical test signal is well known used to diagnose system performance. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal of Matricardi et al. Thus, the gain adjustment can be increased or decreased for an optimum system throughput. By doing so, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception in a communication system.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujita (US 2022/0255294) in view of Soto et al (US 2014/0016926). a) Regarding claim 11, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with control, but did not explicitly teach time interval of tests of the optical module.
However, Soto et al disclose an optical network that performs measurement in accordance of time intervals of an optical test signal (Fig. 3 and 5; Claim 1). It is well known that optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) is used to measure time interval of optical test signal. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal with time interval of Soto et al. Thus, gain adjustment amount can be generated in accordance with a time interval of a test signal. Therefore, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception and processing in a communication system.
b) Regarding claim 12, Fujita disclose a communication device and optical cable including optical module with control, but did not explicitly teach time interval of tests of the optical module.
However, Soto et al disclose an optical network that performs measurement in accordance of time intervals of an optical test signal (Fig. 3 and 5; Claim 1). It is well known that optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) is used to measure time interval of optical test signal. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the optical test signal with time interval of Soto et al. Thus, gain adjustment amount can be generated in accordance with a time interval of a test signal. Therefore, achieve optimum optical and electrical signal reception and processing in a communication system.
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujita (US 2022/0255294) in view of Wachi et al (US 2013/0113534). a) Regarding claims 15 and 16, Fujita disclose an optical communication device that operate in sleep and active states, but did not explicitly teach comparison with a predetermined signal level.
However, Wachi et al disclose active state and non-active state is determined based on a predetermined signal level (Fig. 1; Pub [0126]). Data/output comparison with a preset/predetermined number is a well-known knowledge for signal control process. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the optical communication system of Fujita and the predetermined signal level comparison of Wachi et al. Thus, determined the level of state of signal. By doing so, achieve power saving and optimum optical and electrical signal reception and processing in a communication system.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2007/0053650 Shimada et al disclose optical transmission and controlling. US 2007/0036541 Tanaka discloses optical receiver.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Eva Y Puente whose telephone number is 571-272-3049. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached on 571-272-3042. 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).
October 6, 2025
/EVA Y PUENTE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632