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 PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA on 05/31/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202410694376.0 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “thickness of the pressing component” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) 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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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
Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 5 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 5 and 12 recite the limitation (emphasis added) “a thickness of the pressing component is less than a height of the optical transmission unit”. The Examiner suggests changing “a thickness” to “a height” for consistency and clarity. For examination purposes, this limitation will be interpreted as (see Figure 2) that the height of the pressing component (400; as measured along the same direction as H2) is less than the height (H2) of the optical transmission unit (300).
Appropriate correction is required.
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 § 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)(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 1-5, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miao et al. (WO 2022216306 A1), hereafter Miao.
Regarding claim 1; Miao teaches (see annotated Figure 5 below) a multi-channel optical assembly (title; Paragraph [0039] specifically states the fiber 112 may comprise multiple fiber-optic strands, and therefore is multi-channel), comprising: an optical communication chip (optical chip 102); an optical transmission unit (FAU 113; the FAU includes the top block 110, fiber 112, and bottom block 114 (Paragraph [0039])) , comprising an optical coupling end portion (left side 113) optically coupled to the optical communication chip (fiber 112 and waveguide 114 are coupled; see, for example, Paragraph [0040]); and a pressing component (Bridge lid 120), pressing against the optical communication chip (102) and the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) of the optical transmission unit (113); wherein the pressing component (120) has an extension portion (Extension portion; the portion of the Bridge lid that extends above the optical chip, to the left of the dashed black line in annotated Figure 5 below), the extension portion (Extension portion) protrudes from an edge of the optical coupling end portion (left side 113), and the extension portion (Extension portion) presses against the optical communication chip (102).
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Regarding claim 2; Miao teaches multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 1. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above)
comprising an intermediate component (Lid 106) located between the pressing component (120) and the optical communication chip (102), wherein the pressing component (120) presses against the optical communication chip (102) via the intermediate component (106).
Regarding claim 3; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 2. Miao further teaches (see Figure 1) comprising a plurality of coupling adhesives (108, 122, etc.), wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered (bonding layer 108; see Paragraph [0040,0044]) to the optical communication chip (102) and the intermediate component (106) via a part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (108), and the intermediate component (106) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via another part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (“The lid 106 is bonded to the optical chip 102 using a thin layer of epoxy” (Paragraph [0040])).
Regarding claim 4; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 2. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) comprising a bonding adhesive (122), wherein the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) and the intermediate component (106) via the bonding adhesive (122; pressing component 120 is adhered to the intermediate component via the bonding adhesive 122 (see annotated Figure 5 above and Paragraph [0051]). Further, “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])).
Regarding claim 5; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 1. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) wherein a thickness of the pressing component (H3 in annotated Figure 5; Examiner is interpreting this limitation to mean the height of the pressing component (see objection to claim 5 above)) is less than a height of the optical transmission unit (H2 of optical transmission unit 113 (see annotated Figure 5 above; H3 is clearly less than H2)).
Regarding claim 9; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 1. Miao further teaches (see Figure 4; the lid 106 is removed and the bridge lid 120 is directly bonded to the chip) comprising a coupling adhesive (108) and a bonding adhesive (122), wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via the coupling adhesive (108), and the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) and the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) via the bonding adhesive (122; also “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miao in view of Kopinetz et al. (US 20200400890 A1), hereafter Kopinetz.
Regarding claim 6; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 1, but Miao does not teach a housing wherein the optical communication chip, the optical transmission unit and the pressing component are accommodated in the housing. However, in the same field of endeavor, Kopinetz teaches (see Figures 2A and 2B; Paragraph [0035]) a housing (205) containing a FAU (110) and a photonic chip (235) among other components. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to accommodate the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao, including the optical communication chip (102), the optical transmission unit (113) and the pressing component (120) inside a housing as taught by Kopinetz. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to accommodate the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao inside a housing to protect the FAU device and to prevent the optical coupling from being disrupted.
Claims 7-8, 10-12, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miao in view of Lyu et al. (CN 219574437 U), hereafter Lyu.
Regarding claim 7; Miao teaches the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 2 and that the optical transmission unit (left side 113) is coupled (fiber 112 and waveguide 114 are coupled; see, for example, Paragraph [0040]) to the optical communication chip (102), but Miao does not teach further comprising a substrate, wherein the optical communication chip is coupled to the substrate. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lyu teaches (see Figure 3 and corresponding text) an optical transmission unit (FAU 4) coupled to an optical communication chip (PIC 1) and a substrate (7) where the FAU (4) is adhered to both the PIC (1) and the substrate (7) via an epoxy resin (6). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include a substrate coupled to the optical communication chip (the Examiner notes the use of a substrate to support a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is well known and common in the PIC art) as taught by Lyu in the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include a substrate and couple it to the optical communication chip to support the optical communication chip.
Regarding claim 8; Miao and Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 7. Miao further teaches (see Figure 1 and annotated Figure 5 above) comprising a plurality of coupling adhesives (108, 122, etc.), a bonding adhesive (122) and a structural adhesive (108), wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered (108) to the optical communication chip (102) and the intermediate component (106; see Figure 1 and rejection to claim 3 above) via a part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (108), the intermediate component (106) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via another part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (“The lid 106 is bonded to the optical chip 102 using a thin layer of epoxy” (Paragraph [0040])), the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) and the intermediate component (106) via the bonding adhesive (122; also “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])), the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via the structural adhesive (108; Paragraph [0040]).
Miao does not teach wherein the optical coupling end portion is adhered to the substrate. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lyu teaches (see Figure 3 and rejection to claim 7 above) where the FAU (4) is adhered to both the PIC (1) and the substrate (7) via an epoxy resin (6). 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 substrate as taught by Lyu into the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao (see rejection to claim 7 above) and further to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate as taught by Lyu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate to further reinforce the structure and prevent movement of the optical coupling end portion that would cause a loss in coupling efficiency.
Miao and Lyu do not teach wherein the coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrate, the pressing component, the optical communication chip, the plurality of coupling adhesives, the bonding adhesive and the structural adhesive are matched with each other. However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to match the coefficients of thermal expansion of the components of the multi-channel optical assembly and the plurality of coupling adhesives to prevent coupling loss due to thermal expansion. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to match the thermal expansion coefficients because Miao teaches “These dimensions make the design of fiber-to-chip interfaces challenging because any tiny shift in coupling and bonding results in a large coupling loss, which reduces efficiency and bandwidth. Further, significant thermal stress occurs during the epoxy bonding, curing, and baking processes, as well as the subsequent reliability tests. The thermal stress can cause a change or shift in the FAU-waveguide bonding. This change or shifting is a plastic change, meaning the change does not return to its original state even after the thermal stress is released. Therefore, the change leads to permanent loss of the FAU-waveguide coupling” (Paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claim 10; Miao teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) a multi-channel optical assembly (title; Paragraph [0039] specifically states the fiber 112 may comprise multiple fiber-optic strands, and therefore is multi-channel), comprising:
an optical communication chip (102);
an optical transmission unit (113), comprising
an optical coupling end portion (left side 113) optically coupled (fiber 112 and waveguide 114 are coupled; see, for example, Paragraph [0040]) to the optical communication chip (102);
a pressing component (120), pressing against (it presses against the optical communication chip through the intermediate component (106)) the optical communication chip (102) and the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) of the optical transmission unit (113); and
a plurality of coupling adhesives (108, 122, etc.), wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via the plurality of coupling adhesives (108).
Miao does not teach a substrate where the optical communication chip is coupled to the substrate, wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the substrate. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lyu teaches (see Figure 3; rejections to claims 7 and 8 above) where the optical communication chip (PIC 1) is coupled to the substrate (7) and the optical coupling end portion (FAU 4) is adhered to the substrate (7) via an epoxy resin (6). 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 substrate as taught by Lyu into the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao (see rejection to claim 7 above) and further to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate as taught by Lyu (see rejection to claim 8 above). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate to further reinforce the structure and prevent movement of the optical coupling end portion that would cause a loss in coupling efficiency.
Miao and Lyu do not teach a width of each of the plurality of coupling adhesives for adhering the optical coupling end portion to the substrate is less than a height of the optical communication chip. Miao teaches “The epoxy bonding thickness of the second bonding layer 122 to the lid 106 is kept as thin as possible to minimize the shift during the high temperature processes”. The coupling adhesive used to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate in Miao/Lyu would follow the same principle. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to choose a width of coupling adhesives that is less than the height of the optical communication chip to minimize the shift due to thermal expansion as taught by Miao.
Regarding claim 11; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 10. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) wherein the pressing component (120) has an extension portion (Extension portion; the portion of the Bridge lid that extends above the optical chip, to the left of the dashed black line in annotated Figure 5 below), the extension portion (Extension portion) protrudes from an edge of the optical coupling end portion (left side 113), and the extension portion (Extension portion) presses against the optical communication chip (102; the extension portion presses against the chip through the intermediate component (106)).
Regarding claim 12; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 10. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) wherein a thickness of the pressing component (H3 in annotated Figure 5; Examiner is interpreting this limitation to mean the height of the pressing component (see objection to claim 12 above)) is less than a height of the optical transmission unit (H2 of optical transmission unit 113 (see annotated Figure 5 above; H3 is clearly less than H2)).
Regarding claim 14; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 10. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) comprising an intermediate component (Lid 106) located between the pressing component (120) and the optical communication chip (102), wherein the pressing component (120) presses against the optical communication chip (102) via the intermediate component (106).
Regarding claim 15; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 14. Miao further teaches (see Figure 1 and annotated Figure 5 above) wherein the optical coupling end portion (113 left) is adhered to the substrate (see rejection to claim 10 above), the optical communication chip (102) and the intermediate component (106; see Miao Figure 1 and rejection to claim 3 above) via a part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (108), and the intermediate component (106) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via another part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (“The lid 106 is bonded to the optical chip 102 using a thin layer of epoxy” (Paragraph [0040])).
Regarding claim 16; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 14. Miao further teaches (see annotated Figure 5 above) comprising a bonding adhesive (122), wherein the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) and the intermediate component (106) via the bonding adhesive (122; pressing component 120 is adhered to the intermediate component via the bonding adhesive 122 (see annotated Figure 5 above and Paragraph [0051]). Further, “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])).
Regarding claim 17; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 14. Miao further teaches comprising a bonding adhesive (122) and a structural adhesive (108), wherein the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) and the intermediate component (106; see Miao Figure 1 and rejection to claim 15 above) via a part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (108), the intermediate component (106) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via another part of the plurality of coupling adhesives (“The lid 106 is bonded to the optical chip 102 using a thin layer of epoxy” (Paragraph [0040])), the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) and the intermediate component (106) via the bonding adhesive (122; pressing component 120 is adhered to the intermediate component via the bonding adhesive 122 (see annotated Figure 5 above and Paragraph [0051]). Further, “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])), and the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) via the structural adhesive (108).
Miao does not teach wherein the optical coupling end portion is adhered to the substrate. However, in the same field of endeavor, Lyu teaches (see Figure 3 and rejection to claim 7 above) where the FAU (4) is adhered to both the PIC (1) and the substrate (7) via an epoxy resin (6). 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 substrate as taught by Lyu into the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao (see rejection to claim 7 above) and further to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate as taught by Lyu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to adhere the optical coupling end portion to the substrate to further reinforce the structure and prevent movement of the optical coupling end portion that would cause a loss in coupling efficiency.
Miao and Lyu do not teach wherein the coefficients of thermal expansion of the substrate, the pressing component, the optical communication chip, the plurality of coupling adhesives, the bonding adhesive and the structural adhesive are matched with each other. However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to match the coefficients of thermal expansion of the components of the multi-channel optical assembly and the plurality of coupling adhesives to prevent coupling loss due to thermal expansion. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to match the thermal expansion coefficients because Miao teaches “These dimensions make the design of fiber-to-chip interfaces challenging because any tiny shift in coupling and bonding results in a large coupling loss, which reduces efficiency and bandwidth. Further, significant thermal stress occurs during the epoxy bonding, curing, and baking processes, as well as the subsequent reliability tests. The thermal stress can cause a change or shift in the FAU-waveguide bonding. This change or shifting is a plastic change, meaning the change does not return to its original state even after the thermal stress is released. Therefore, the change leads to permanent loss of the FAU-waveguide coupling” (Paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claim 18; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 10. Miao further teaches (see Figure 4; the lid 106 is removed and the bridge lid 120 is directly bonded to the chip) comprising a bonding adhesive (122), wherein the pressing component (120) is adhered to the optical communication chip (102) and the optical coupling end portion (left side 113) via the bonding adhesive (122; also “In an embodiment, the bridge lid 120 is made of glass and can be pre-bonded to the top block 110 of the FAU 113 using a minimum layer of epoxy, typically about 10 pm in thickness” (Paragraph [0048])).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miao in view of Lyu as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Kopinetz.
Regarding claim 13; Miao/Lyu teach the multi-channel optical assembly according to claim 10, but Miao/Lyu do not teach a housing wherein the optical communication chip, the optical transmission unit and the pressing component are accommodated in the housing. However, in the same field of endeavor, Kopinetz teaches (see Figures 2A and 2B; Paragraph [0035]) a housing (205) containing a FAU (110) and a photonic chip (235) among other components. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to accommodate the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao/Lyu, including the optical communication chip (102), the substrate (taught by Lyu; see rejection to claim 7 above), optical transmission unit (113), and the pressing component (120) inside a housing as taught by Kopinetz. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to accommodate the multi-channel optical assembly taught by Miao/Lyu inside a housing to protect the FAU device and to prevent the optical coupling from being disrupted.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Patel et al. (US 20190310431 A1) teaches a similar fiber alignment unit (see Figures 2, 3, 6, and 7).
Potluri et al. (US 20190179079 A1) teaches a similar fiber alignment unit (see Figures 3 and 11).
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
/MICHELLE R CONNELLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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