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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art documents submitted by applicant in the Information Disclosure Statements filed on July 29, 2024 have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copies of form PTO-1449).
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
220 in Figure 4.
L_320 and L_200_G in Figure 6.
601 in Figures 7-11. The Examiner believes 601 is referencing the entire “photoelectric converter”. Perhaps element 601 was meant to be labeled 600 as described in the specification?
The drawings are additionally objected to because reference character 200_G appears twice in Figure 6 and it appears that they are pointing to two different locations. The Examiner suggests removing one of the 200_G labels to reduce confusion.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Reference characters 220, L_320, L_200_G, and 601 appear in the drawings but are not described in the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 20, lines 3-4, “the second waveguide opposite that is to…” should read “the second waveguide that is opposite to…”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 17 and 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.
Regarding claim 17; the claim recites the limitation (emphasis added) “the second optical fiber and the receiver grating coupler share a second d 17ical level” (claim 17, lines 4-5). This limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear what property the second optical fiber and the receiver grating coupler must share due to the typo. The Examiner suggests changing “d 17ical” to “common vertical” (based on Applicant’s specification Paragraph [0079]). For the purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “the second optical fiber and the receiver grating coupler share a second common vertical level”.
Regarding claim 20; the claim recites the limitation (emphasis added) “wherein the PIC receiver comprises a second receiver grating coupler connected to an end of the third waveguide that is opposite to the second end of the second waveguide” (claim 20, lines 4-5). This limitation renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear which end of the third waveguide the second receiver grating coupler must be connected to. The Examiner suggests changing “the second end of the second waveguide” to “the second end of the third waveguide” to overcome this rejection. For the purpose of examination, this limitation will be interpreted as “an end of the third waveguide that is opposite to the second end of the third waveguide”.
Inventorship
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.
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 1-7, 9-12, and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stone et al. (US 20160161333 A1), hereafter Stone, in view of Patel et al. (US 20230060862 A1), hereafter Patel, and in further view of Heck et al. (US 20190121036 A1), hereafter Heck. .
Regarding claim 1; Stone teaches (see annotated Figure 1 below) a photonic integrated circuit chip (see title, abstract, paragraph [0011]), wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip comprises:
a photoelectric converter (100),
wherein the photoelectric converter (100) comprises:
a light-emitting device (Tx Photonics 110) configured to generate an optical signal (Paragraph [0015]),
a first waveguide (111) connected to the light-emitting device (110) and providing a path through which the optical signal travels (Paragraph [0015]),
a first grating coupler configured to output the optical signal (120; Paragraph [0023]),
a second waveguide (113a; the portion of waveguide 113 between 115 and 120) connected to the first grating coupler (120), and
a tunable coupler (115; Paragraph [0015]) connected to the first waveguide (111) and the second waveguide (113a).
Stone does not explicitly teach a semiconductor package comprising a package substrate and a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip arranged on the package substrate (the Examiner notes that these structures are well known, routine, and conventional in the photonic integrated circuit art (see Applicant’s specification paragraph [0003])). Furthermore, in the same field of endeavor, Patel teaches (see Figure 1):
a semiconductor package (100; Paragraph [0016], abstract) comprising:
a package substrate (150) and
a photonic integrated circuit chip (105) arranged on the package substrate (150; Paragraph [0025-0027]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the semiconductor package and substrate structure taught by Patel with the photonic integrated circuit components taught by Stone with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would be familiar with the packaging structure that typically accompanies PICs and would be motivated to include this packaging structure because Patel teaches “co-packaging of the OEs [A combination of a PIC and electrical integrated circuits (EIC) is sometimes also known as Optical Engine (OE)] and these large ASICs [Application Specific Integrated Circuits] into the same package can lead to many advantages such as power savings, space savings, and overall cost reduction” (Paragraph [0002]).
Stone and Patel do not explicitly teach wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip comprises a groove extending from a lateral surface of the photonic integrated circuit chip toward an inside of the photonic integrated circuit chip. However, in the same field of endeavor, Heck teaches (see Figure 1B, 3, abstract) a groove (120) extending from a lateral surface of the photonic integrated circuit chip toward an inside of the photonic integrated circuit chip (Paragraph [0019]). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Heck to etch a groove into the PIC substrate taught by Patel with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to integrate a groove into the PIC substrate in order to align the fiber with the optical waveguide(s), because Heck teaches “various dimensions of the V-shape may be altered to raise or lower optical fiber 105 as needed to provide proper vertical alignment for other things, such as the optical waveguide described later” (Paragraph [0020]).
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Regarding claims 2-3; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 1. Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above) wherein the tunable coupler (115) comprises:
a first portion integrated with the first waveguide (111/112); and a second portion integrated with the second waveguide (113a), and wherein the first portion and the second portion are spaced apart from each other in a lateral direction (the Examiner notes that the structure of a tunable coupler (using the separation distance to control the coupling) is well known in the PIC art; Paragraphs [0020-0021] describe how the variable couplers are controlled).
wherein the photoelectric converter (100) comprises an edge coupler (140; Paragraph [0016]) arranged on a lateral portion of the photonic integrated circuit chip (140 is arranged on the side of the PIC; see annotated Figure 1 above),
wherein a first end of the first waveguide (111) is connected to the light-emitting device (110), and
wherein a second end of the first waveguide (112), opposite the first end (112 is opposite 111 after the variable coupler 115), is connected to the edge coupler (140).
Regarding claims 4-5; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claims 1 and 3. Stone/Patel do not teach an optical fiber unit arranged in the groove, wherein the optical fiber unit faces the edge coupler. Further, Stone/Patel do not teach where the optical fiber is facing and at a common vertical level with the first grating coupler. Heck further teaches (see Figure 1B):
an optical fiber unit (105) arranged in the groove (120), wherein the optical fiber unit faces the edge coupler (see Patel Figure 1; Given this package structure a groove etched into the second side (110) of the PIC (105) would cause the optical fiber (120A) to face the edge coupler (155)).
an optical fiber (105) facing and at a common vertical level with the first grating coupler (Heck teaches “various dimensions of the V-shape may be altered to raise or lower optical fiber 105 as needed to provide proper vertical alignment for other things”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to insert an optical fiber unit in the groove taught by Heck facing the edge coupler taught by Patel and to align the optical fiber at common vertical level with the first grating coupler in the PIC structure taught by Stone/Patel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this change in order to increase coupling efficiency of light into the PIC and reduce coupling loss.
Regarding claim 6; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 1. Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above):
the photoelectric converter (100),
wherein a first end of the second waveguide (114) is connected to the first grating coupler (120).
Stone does not explicitly teach:
a second grating coupler connected to the second waveguide (113a)
wherein a second end of the second waveguide, opposite the first end, is connected to the second grating coupler.
However, Stone does teach that additional out-of-plane (grating) couplers can be used either before or after the variable coupler (Paragraph [0025]). Stone further teaches, “the received light could be coupled into the receive waveguide, either before or after the variable coupler, using additional out-of-plane couplers (not shown), for example coupled at a location along receive waveguide 131 between the variable coupler 117 and the Rx photonics 130 or at a location along the terminal portion 132 of the receive waveguide. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives.” (Paragraph [0025]). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add a second grating coupler at a second end of the second waveguide for the purpose of outputting the first optical signal off the PIC at a different location than the first grating coupler. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification due to Stone’s teaching in Paragraph [0025] quoted above.
Regarding claim 7; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 1. Stone/Heck do not teach wherein the semiconductor package comprises an electronic integrated circuit (EIC) arranged on the PIC and wherein the EIC is configured to transmit signals to the PIC. Patel further teaches (see Figure 1):
comprising an electronic integrated circuit chip (140A, 140B) arranged on the photonic integrated circuit chip (105),
wherein the electronic integrated circuit chip (140A, 140B) is configured to transmit electrical signals to the light-emitting device (Paragraph [0019])
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the EIC taught by Patel into the combined Stone/Patel/Heck semiconductor package taught in claim 1. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the EIC in order to send/receive electrical signals to/from the PIC and to electrically control the devices on the PIC (Paragraph [0019]).
Regarding claim 9; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 7. Stone/Heck do not teach wherein the PIC comprises a through via to electrically connect the PIC and the EIC. Patel further teaches (see Figure 2):
wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip (105) comprises a through via (225), and wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip (105) and the electronic integrated circuit chip (140A, 140B) are electrically connected to each other through the through via (225; Paragraph [0019]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the through via taught by Patel into the combined Stone/Patel/Heck semiconductor package taught in claim 1. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include a through via to electrically connect the PIC and the EIC so that the EIC can send/receive electrical signals to/from the PIC and to electrically control the devices on the PIC (Paragraph [0019]).
Regarding claim 10; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 1. Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above) wherein the light-emitting device (Tx photonics 110) includes a laser or an optical modulator (Paragraph [0014-0015]; the Examiner notes that while Stone does not explicitly disclose a laser or an optical modulator, the language in these paragraphs heavily implies one of these devices is included in the Tx photonics to emit light and the use of lasers or optical modulators to generate light on-chip is well known in the PIC art. Furthermore, Patel teaches that “the EIC 140 can provide drive signals for an optical modulator in the PIC 105” (Paragraph [0019])).
Regarding claim 11; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach (see the rejection of claim 1 above) a semiconductor package comprising: a package substrate; and a photonic integrated circuit chip arranged on the package substrate, wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip comprises a groove extending from a lateral surface of the photonic integrated circuit chip toward an inside of the photonic integrated circuit chip.
Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above):
a photoelectric converter (100) including a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) transmitter (Transmitter; see the gray dashed box on annotated Figure 1 above) and a PIC receiver (Receiver; see the gray solid box on annotated Figure 1 above),
wherein the PIC transmitter (Transmitter) comprises
a transmitter edge coupler (140; Paragraph [0016]) arranged on a lateral portion of the photonic integrated circuit chip (140 is arranged on the side of the PIC; see annotated Figure 1 above),
a light-emitting device (110) configured to convert a first electrical signal into a first optical signal (Paragraph [0015]),
a transmitter grating coupler (120) configured to output the first optical signal (Paragraph [0023]), and
a transmitter tunable coupler (115; Paragraph [0015, 0020-0021]) configured to couple to the first optical signal received from the light-emitting device (111) and to transmit the coupled first optical signal to the transmitter grating coupler (113a), and
wherein the PIC receiver (Receiver) comprises
a receiver edge coupler (142; Paragraph [0016]) arranged on the lateral portion of the photonic integrated circuit chip (142 is arranged on the side of the PIC; see annotated Figure 1 above),
a receiver grating coupler (126) configured to input a second optical signal (Paragraph [0025]),
a photodetector (130) configured to convert the second optical signal into a second electrical signal (Paragraph [0014]), and
a receiver tunable coupler (117; Paragraph [0015]) configured to couple to the second optical signal (113b) received from the receiver grating coupler (126) and transmit the coupled second optical signal to the photodetector (131).
Regarding claim 12; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 11. Stone/Heck do not teach wherein the semiconductor package comprises an electronic integrated circuit (EIC) arranged on the PIC and wherein the EIC is configured to transmit signals to the PIC. Patel further teaches (see Figure 1):
comprising an electronic integrated circuit chip (140A, 140B) arranged on the photonic integrated circuit chip (105),
wherein the photodetector is configured to transmit the second electrical signal to the electronic integrated circuit chip (“Or the EICs 140 can receive an electrical signal provided by a photodetector in the PIC 105” (Paragraph [0019])).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the EIC taught by Patel into the combined Stone/Patel/Heck semiconductor package taught in claim 11. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the EIC in order to send/receive electrical signals to/from the PIC and to electrically control the devices on the PIC (Paragraph [0019]).
Regarding claims 14-15; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 11. Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above):
wherein the PIC transmitter (Transmitter) includes a first waveguide (111/112) and a second waveguide (113a/114), and wherein a first end of the first waveguide is connected to the light-emitting device (111), a second end of the first waveguide (112), opposite to the first end of the first waveguide, is connected to the transmitter edge coupler (140), and a first end of the second waveguide (114) is connected to the transmitter grating coupler (120).
wherein the PIC receiver (Receiver) includes a third waveguide (131/132) and a fourth waveguide (113b), and wherein a first end of the third waveguide (131) is connected to the photodetector (130), a second end of the third waveguide (132), opposite to the first end of the third waveguide, is connected to the receiver edge coupler (142), and a first end of the fourth waveguide (113b) is connected to the receiver grating coupler (126).
Regarding claims 16-17; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 11. Stone/Patel do not teach an optical fiber unit arranged in the groove, wherein the optical fiber unit faces the edge coupler. Further, Stone/Patel do not teach where the optical fiber is facing and at a common vertical level with the first grating coupler. Heck further teaches (see Figure 1B and 2):
further comprising an optical fiber unit (105) arranged in the groove (120), wherein the optical fiber unit faces the transmitter edge coupler (see Patel Figure 1; Given this package structure a groove etched into the second side (110) of the PIC (105) would cause the optical fiber (120A) to face the edge coupler (155) and furthermore, with the PIC layout of Stone (see annotated Figure 1 above), one of ordinary skill in the art would align the optical fiber unit with the transmitter edge coupler (140)).
further comprising (see Figure 2) a first optical fiber (105) and a second optical fiber (105; Figure 2 shows that multiple grooves can be etched to align multiple fibers).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to insert an optical fiber unit in the groove taught by Heck facing the edge coupler taught by Patel and to align the optical fiber at common vertical level with the first grating coupler in the PIC structure taught by Stone/Patel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this change in order to increase coupling efficiency of light into the PIC and reduce coupling loss.
Although Heck does not explicitly disclose wherein the first optical fiber and the transmitter grating coupler share a first common vertical level, and the second optical fiber and the receiver grating coupler share a second common vertical level, Heck teaches “various dimensions of the V-shape may be altered to raise or lower optical fiber 105 as needed to provide proper vertical alignment for other things, such as the optical waveguide described later” (Paragraph [0020]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, when integrating the etched grooves as taught by Heck into the PIC taught by Stone/Patel to alter the dimensions of the V-shape to cause the first optical fiber to share a common vertical level with the transmitter grating coupling and the second optical fiber to share a common vertical level with the receiver grating coupler in order to increase the coupling efficiency of the device with no change in their respective functions to yield predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Regarding claim 18; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach (see the rejection of claim 1 above) a semiconductor package comprising: a package substrate; and a photonic integrated circuit chip arranged on the package substrate, wherein the photonic integrated circuit chip comprises a groove extending from a lateral surface of the photonic integrated circuit chip toward an inside of the photonic integrated circuit chip.
Stone further teaches (see annotated Figure 1 above):
a photoelectric converter (100) including a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) transmitter (Transmitter) and a PIC receiver (Receiver),
wherein the PIC transmitter (Transmitter) comprises
a light-emitting device (110) configured to convert a first electrical signal into a first optical signal (Paragraph [0015]),
a first waveguide (111) connected to the light-emitting device (110) and providing a path through which the first optical signal travels (Paragraph [0015]),
a first transmitter grating coupler (120) configured to output the first optical signal (Paragraph [0023]),
a second waveguide (113a) including a first end connected to the first transmitter grating coupler (115), and
a transmitter tunable coupler (115; Paragraph [0015, 0020-0021]) configured to couple to the first optical signal received from the first waveguide (111) and transmit the coupled first optical signal to the second waveguide (113a), and
wherein the PIC receiver (Receiver) comprises
a first receiver grating coupler (126) configured to input a second optical signal (Paragraph [0025]),
a third waveguide (113b) including a second end connected to the first receiver grating coupler (126) and providing a path through which the second optical signal travels (Paragraph [0025]; the Examiner notes that the role of a “third waveguide” and a “fourth waveguide” has swapped between claim 15 and claim 18, which is confusing),
a photodetector (130) configured to convert the second optical signal into a second electrical signal (Paragraph [0014]),
a fourth waveguide (131) connected to the photodetector (130) and providing a path through which the second optical signal travels (Paragraph [0025]), and
a receiver tunable coupler (117) configured to couple the second optical signal received from the third waveguide (113b) and transmit the coupled second optical signal to the fourth waveguide (131).
Regarding claim 19; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 18. Stone/Heck do not teach an EIC chip including an EIC transmitter and an EIC receiver. Patel further teaches (see Figure 1) comprising an electronic integrated circuit (EIC) chip (140A, 140B) arranged on the photonic integrated circuit chip (105), the EIC chip including an EIC transmitter (e.g. 140A) and an EIC receiver (e.g. 140B; Paragraph [0019]), wherein the EIC transmitter (140A) is configured to transmit the first electrical signal to the light-emitting device (Paragraph [0019]), and wherein the EIC receiver (140B) is configured to receive the second electrical signal from the photodetector (Paragraph [0019]).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include an EIC chip including an EIC receiver and an EIC transmitter into the semiconductor package taught by Stone/Patel/Heck in claim 18. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the EIC receiver and transmitter to provide drive signals for the optical modulator and receive signals from the photodetector as taught by Patel in Paragraph [0019].
Regarding claim 20; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claim 18. Stone/Patel/Heck does not teach wherein the PIC transmitter (Transmitter) comprises a second transmitter grating coupler connected to an end of the second waveguide (113a) opposite that is to the first end of the second waveguide, and wherein the PIC receiver (Receiver) comprises a second receiver grating coupler connected to an end of the third waveguide (113b) that is opposite to the second end of the third waveguide, but Stone teaches that additional out-of-plane (grating) couplers can be used either before or after the variable coupler (Paragraph [0025]). Stone further teaches, “the received light could be coupled into the receive waveguide, either before or after the variable coupler, using additional out-of-plane couplers (not shown), for example coupled at a location along receive waveguide 131 between the variable coupler 117 and the Rx photonics 130 or at a location along the terminal portion 132 of the receive waveguide. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives” (Paragraph [0025]). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add a second transmitting grating coupler at a second end of the second waveguide for the purpose of outputting the first optical signal off the PIC at a different location than the first transmitting grating coupler and to add a second receiver grating coupler connected to an end of the third waveguide that is opposite to the second end of the third waveguide, as taught in the above example by Stone, for the purpose of coupling light into the receive waveguide from a different location than the first receiver grating coupler. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification due to the teachings of Stone in Paragraph [0025].
Claim(s) 8 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stone, Patel, and Heck as applied to claims 7 and 12 above, and further in view of Doerr (US 20160124164 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 13; Stone, Patel, and Heck teach the semiconductor package of claims 7 and 12 (see rejections above). Stone/Patel/Heck do not disclose wherein the electronic integrated chip includes a CMOS driver or trans-impedance amplifier. However, in the same field of endeavor, Doerr teaches (see Paragraph [0029]) that “The EIC 104 may comprise electronic circuitry to process digital and/or analog signals. In some embodiments the EIC 104 may comprise modulator drivers, trans-impedance amplifiers or clock recovery circuits.” It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to comprise the EIC with a CMOS driver or a trans-impedance amplifier in order to have the necessary electronic circuitry to drive the light-emitting device or amplify the signal from the receiver.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sugiyama (US 20200136728 A1) teaches a similar optical transceiver (see Figure 1A).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER L KAULFUSS whose telephone number is (571)270-7260. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at (571)272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/P.L.K./ Examiner, Art Unit 2874
/UYEN CHAU N LE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874
Prosecution Insights