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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS's) submitted comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner has considered the information disclosure statement; please see attached forms PTO-1449
.Drawings
The drawings submitted have been reviewed and determined to facilitate understanding of the invention. The drawings are accepted as submitted.
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.
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.
Claims 15, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable US Patent Application Publication US 2006/0262324 A1 to Hay et al. (“US1”), cited in Applicant’s IDS received 14 August 2025.
Regarding Claim 15, US1 describes an optical system (see Figs 1, 2a-2b 5a-8), comprising:
an optical interferometer (78) including an optical fiber configuration (corresponding to 72.1-3 and 124.2, see [0076], [0078]-[0079]) having a central channel (shown in Fig 5a), a reference channel (120), and a plurality of measurement channels (122.1-3; and
a plurality of optical fibers (76.1-4), wherein a first portion of the optical fibers are located in the central channel around the optical axis such that there are one or more gaps between the optical fibers in the central channel (see Figs 2a-2b and 5a).
US1 does not describe a ferrule holding the optical fibers. US1 is silent as to how the described fibers are held in the described positions. However, ferrules are well-known in the art for holding fibers in a desired position relative to other fibers and/or additional components of an optical system. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the interferometer of US1 including such a well-known ferrule to hold the described optical fibers in the described positions. The motivation for doing so would have been to make use of a known technique for improving similar devices in the same way.
Further, US1 does not describe the central channel as having an optical axis and a sensitivity axis substantially orthogonal to the optical axis. An optical axis (parallel to a light transmission direction) is inherent to a channel in a fiber configuration for the transmission of light. Note that any axis substantially orthogonal to the optical axis may be considered a sensitivity axis. Therefore, at least one of the optical fibers in the central channel is next to some sensitivity axis or at least one of the optical fibers in the central channel has a center that intersects some sensitivity axis.
Further, US1 does not describe the one or more gaps between the optical fibers in the central channel mitigate against ghost reflections inside the optical interferometer, such that the ghost reflections do not interfere with the measurement channels. However, when the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims, claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent (see MPEP 2112.01).
Regarding Claim 17, US1 describes the optical system is in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system (see Fig 50 and [0171]-[0172]).
Regarding Claim 18, US1 describes an optical sensor system (see Figs 1, 2a-2b 5a-8) comprising:
a laser device (12);
a set of transmit optical fibers (14, 76.1) optically coupled to an output of the laser device;
an optical head (22) including transmit optical components (20) and receive optical components (26), wherein the transmit optical fibers are coupled to the transmit optical components;
a set of receive optical fibers (76.2-72.4) coupled to the receive optical components of the optical head; and
an optical interferometer coupled to the receive optical fibers (substantially similar to the interferometer of Claim 15, discussed above).
Regarding Claim 20, US1 describes the optical sensor system implemented in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system (see Fig 50 and [0171]-[0172]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
Claims 16 and 19 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.
Independent Claim 1 describes rotating the placed optical fibers around the identified optical axis such that one optical fiber is next to the sensitivity axis, or one optical fiber has a center that intersects the sensitivity axis.
Claims 16 and 19 each describe a second portion of the optical fibers located within the inner boundary and around the optical axis, the second portion of the optical fibers each having a second cross-sectional diameter that is smaller than the first cross-sectional diameter.
These limitations represent subject matter not described or reasonably suggested, in conjunction with the further limitations of the present claims, by the prior art of record.
Claims 2-14 depend from Claim 1 and therefore contain at least the same allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY RAHLL whose telephone number is (571)272-2356. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-5:00pm.
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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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/JERRY RAHLL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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