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 .
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required:
Claim 2 recites “the binder…comprises ceramic powder”. The specification only describes the binder as comprising organic materials, and ceramic powder as being a separate component of the extrusion mixture (see, e.g., ¶ [0032]).
Claim Interpretation
Claim 8 (line 11) and claim 13 (line 11) each recite “thermally drying the green C4 fiber”. This is interpreted to correspond to “Evaporative removal of the organic (binder) component” of the green C4 fiber, as described in ¶ [0038]. This would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to include burning off organic materials at such temperatures in an oxygen atmosphere. This interpretation is taken because the only other description of “drying” the green C4 fiber is drying at room temperature overnight (¶ [0037]), wherein drying at room temperature would not be considered “thermally drying” by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 2, the word --and-- should be inserted before “pressure fed” in order to make grammatical sense. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: Line 2 recites “the comprises”. The word “the” is superfluous and should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 2, the word “TO” should not be capitalized. Appropriate correction is required.
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 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without including a ceramic powder in the coextrusion mixture, which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976). The disclosed method requires a ceramic powder in the coextrusion mixture in order to provide the material for the crystalline clad which is densified to form the optically transparent C4 fiber. ¶ [0032]-[0034] describe the inclusion of a majority of ceramic powder in the coextrusion mixture, and that the cladding is ceramic. However, claims 8 and 13 do not recite a ceramic powder in the coextrusion mixture, only a plasticizer and a binder, which are disclosed as being organics.
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 1-7, 10-11, and 15-20 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.
Claim 1 recites “a binder” in line 3 and “a binder” in line 4. It is unclear if these are the same binder or two different binders.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the YAG core" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 2 also recites “the YAG core”. For purposes of examination, each of these instances will be interpreted as --the crystalline core--, with antecedent referring to claim 1, line 6.
Claim 4 recites “the binder” in claim 1. It is unclear which binder is being referred to because claim 1 recites “a binder” two different times (see also item 11. above).
Claim 4 recites “ceramic powder” in line 2. It is unclear if this is referring to the YAG powder as recited in claim 1, which is a ceramic powder, or if it is reciting an additional ceramic powder.
Claim 10 recites “wherein the green C4 fiber is dried by…”. It is unclear if this is referring back to the step of “thermally drying the green C4 fiber” as recited in claim 8, line 11, or if this is a separate drying step. If claim 10 intends to refer to claim 8, Examiner recommends --wherein the step of thermally drying the green C4 fiber comprises--.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the oxygen air temperature" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the step of applying tension" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites “during drying” in line 2. It is unclear if this is referring back to “thermally drying” as recited in claim 8, “the green C4 fiber is dried” as recited in claim 10, or to another step of drying (see also item 15. above).
Claim 14 recites “cooling the green C4 fiber” in line 7. This is unclear because at that point, the fiber would be sintered and would no longer be green.
Claim 15 recites “the step of sintering….following the step of cooling” in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 14 only recites a step of sintering before the step of cooling.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the step of hot isostatically pressing" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 16 recites “…following the step of sintering the C4 fiber”. Claim 14 recites a step of “sintering”, and claim 15 recites “the step of sintering”, which appear to be two different sintering steps, and thus it is unclear which sintering step is being referred to in claim 16.
Claim 17 recites “the green fiber” in lines 3, 4, and 6. This is unclear because the step of hot isostatically pressing is recited as being after a step of sintering in claim 16. Thus the fiber would no longer be green when it is subjected to hot isostatic pressing.
Claim 18 recites “the step of thermally densifying the C4 fiber comprises hot isostatically pressing the C4 fiber”. It is unclear if this is referring to the step of hot isostatically pressing as already recited in claims 16 and 17, or if claim 18 is reciting an additional step of hot isostatically pressing.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 20 recites “further comprising the step of sintering the C4 fiber prior to the step of hot isostatically pressing the C4 fiber”. However, claim 16 already recites “the step of hot isostatically pressing the C4 fiber following the step of sintering the C4 fiber”, which necessitates the same order of steps as recited in claim 20. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Conclusion
There are currently no prior art rejections for the pending claims.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 5,309,543 (Artushenko), US 4,865,418 (Takahashi), US 5,186,870 (Fuller), US 4,552,434 (Murakami), US 4,678,274 (Fuller) - produce crystalline core/clad fibers by extruding a solid core/clad preform
US 4,521,073 (Marukami) - produces a crystalline core/clad fiber by extruding a molten cladding around a solid core
CN 111825453 A (Tang) - produces a crystalline core/clad fiber by 3D printing ceramic pastes
US 8,679,378 B2 (Goldstein), CN 113248256 A (Yao), WO 2018/188280 A1 (Chen)- produce unclad crystalline YAG fiber
Shaw et al. Fabrication of Cladded Single Crystal Fibers for All-Crystalline Fiber Lasers. Advanced Photonics Congress (BGPP, IPR, NP, Networks, NOMA, Sensors, SOF, SPPCom), 2018 - produces crystalline core/clad YAG fiber by cladding a YAG single crystal with magnetron sputtering, hydrothermal crystal growth, or liquid phase epitaxy crystal growth
Bera et al. Cladding single crystal YAG fibers grown by laser heated pedestal growth. Proceedings Volume 9726, Solid State Lasers XXV: Technology and Devices; 97260C (2016). - produces crystalline core/clad fiber by re-melting of a YAG rod-in-tube preform, or by cladding a YAG single crystal with sol-gel dip-coating or with liquid phase deposition
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erin Snelting whose telephone number is (571)272-7169. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:00.
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/ERIN SNELTING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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