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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Regarding claims 1, 7 and 10, the specification does not disclose “said refractive lens focusing the shaped optical beam to provide a center beam having a first focal length and an outer beam having a second focal length, where the first focal length is shorter than the second focal length”. Claims 2-6, 8-9 and 11-15 are rejected upon dependencies of the rejected independent claims.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Coward et al. (Patent Pub. No. US 2022/0045753 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 an optical sensor assembly comprising: a diffractive optical element (DOE) (400) responsive to an optical input beam, said DOE including a diffractive grating that is configured to diffract and shape the optical input beam; a refractive lens (510) responsive to the shaped optical input beam from the DOE, said refractive lens focusing the shaped optical beam to provide a center beam (306A, i.e., 1st portion) having a first focal length and an outer beam (306B, i.e., 2nd portion) having a second focal length, where the first focal length is shorter than the second focal length; a sensor (210, i.e., wavefront sensor) positioned in front of the second focal length and being responsive to the shaped and focused optical input beam from the lens, said sensor having an opening (306A); and a fiber (215) positioned within the opening so that an input facet of the fiber faces the DOE and is positioned at the first focal length, wherein the sensor is positioned relative to the DOE and the position of the optical input beam is controlled so that the center beam impinges the input facet and the outer beam impinges the sensor ([0032] – [0048]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 the sensor assembly according to claim 1 wherein the sensor (Fig. 3A, 210) is circular and the opening is at a center of the sensor.
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 the sensor assembly according to claim 1 wherein the sensor includes an outer ring having a plurality of spaced apart sensor elements, and an inner ring positioned within the outer ring and having a plurality of spaced apart sensor elements.
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 the sensor assembly according to claim 3 wherein the plurality of sensor elements in both the inner and outer rings is four sensor elements (Fig. 3A, 304), where a sensor element is provided in each quadrant of the ring.
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 the sensor assembly according to claim 1 wherein the sensor provides signals for optical input beam tracking ([0032]).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 the sensor assembly according to claim 1 wherein the sensor assembly is part of an optical communications terminal ([0003]).
Regarding claim 7, Coward et al. shows in Figs. 3-5 an optical sensor assembly comprising: a diffractive optical element (DOE) (400) responsive to an optical input beam, said DOE including a diffractive grating that is configured to diffract and shape the optical input beam; a refractive lens (510) responsive to the shaped optical input beam from the DOE, said refractive lens focusing the shaped optical beam to provide a center beam having a first focal length and an outer beam having a second focal length, where the first focal length is shorter than the second focal length; a circular tracking sensor (210) positioned in front of the second focal length and being responsive to the shaped and focused optical input beam from the lens, said sensor including an outer ring having a plurality of spaced apart sensor elements and an inner ring positioned within the outer ring and having a plurality of spaced apart sensor elements, said sensor having an opening (306A); and a fiber (215) positioned within the opening so that an input facet of the fiber faces the DOE and is positioned at the first focal length, wherein the sensor is positioned relative to the DOE and the position of the optical input beam is controlled so that the center beam impinges the input facet and the outer beam impinges the sensor, said sensor providing signals for optical input beam tracking ([0032] – [0048]).
Regarding claim 8, Coward et al. shows in Fig. 3A the sensor assembly according to claim 7 wherein the plurality of sensor elements in both the inner and outer rings is four sensor elements (304), where a sensor element is provided in each quadrant of the ring.
Regarding claim 9, Coward et al. discloses the sensor assembly according to claim 7 wherein the sensor assembly is part of an optical communications terminal ([0003]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Takasu et al. (Patent Pub. No. US 2007/0097492 A1) discloses a diffraction-grating-attached aspherical lens LS3 having the feature that the focal length lets longer as the temperature rises in the refractive lens LS1 as well as the feature that the focal length gets shorter as the temperature rises in the diffractive lens LS2.
Shao et al. (Patent Pub. No. US 2017/0115499 A1) discloses an optical communications module having an optics system that improves link performance.
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/SEUNG C SOHN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878