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
Information disclosure statement filed 8/21/2024 has been considered.
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.
Claim 8 is 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 8 recites, “…wherein the optical fiber is a multi-mode optical fiber.” However, claim 1, on which claim 8 ultimately depends, recites “… which a single mode optical fiber is coupled…” Since optical fiber cannot be both single mode and multi-mode at the same time, claim 8 is inconsistent with claim 1. As such, claim 8 fails to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter, as required by 35 USC 112.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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(s) 1-4, 10-15, 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “High-efficiency end-fire 3D optical phased array based on a multi-layer Si3N4/SiO2 platform” by Dachuan Wu et al. (hereinafter “Wu”).
Wu was cited in the information disclosure statement filed 8/21/2024.
Regarding claims 1 and 4, Wu discloses an optical phased array device (Fig. 1(c)) having a plurality of self-aligned waveguides (Fig. 1(a); page 2490, left column), at which a single mode optical fiber is coupled to each of the plurality of self-aligned waveguides (Fig.2; page 2490, right column- page 2491, left column).
Although Wu discloses the coupling between a single mode optical fiber and plurality self-aligned waveguides, it does not explicitly disclose the use of a fiber on-chip edge coupler as claimed in claims 1 and 4 of the present application. On the other hand, the use of a fiber on-chip edge coupler is well known and common in the photonic device art. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantageous of using a fiber on-chip edge couplers since they provide high coupling efficiency afforded by fiber-to-waveguide mode matching, broad operating bandwidth compared to grating couplers, as well as low polarization dependence, yielding high-fidelity optical coupling component. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Wu to have an on-chip edge coupler, in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claims 2-3, Wu discloses wherein the plurality of self-aligned waveguides is four or more; or alternatively eight or more self-aligned waveguides (Fig. 1(a)).
Regarding claims 10-11, Wu discloses an optical phased array device (Fig. 1(c)) a plurality of waveguide layers sharing a common edge (Fig. 1(a)-(c)), wherein the common edge is coupled to a single mode optical fiber (Fig. 2; page 2490, right column- page 2491, left column). Although Wu discloses the coupling between a single mode optical fiber and plurality self-aligned waveguides, it does not explicitly disclose the use of a fiber coupling interface as claimed in claims 10-11 of the present application. On the other hand, the use of a fiber coupling interface is well known and common in the photonic device art. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantageous of using a fiber coupling interface since it provides high coupling efficiency afforded by fiber-to-waveguide mode matching, broad operating bandwidth compared to grating couplers, as well as low polarization dependence, yielding high-fidelity optical coupling components. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Wu to have a fiber coupling interface, in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claims 12-15, Wu discloses wherein the plurality of self-aligned waveguides is four or more; or alternatively six or more; or alternatively eight or more; or alternatively between six and eight inclusive, of self-aligned waveguides (Fig. 1(a)).
Regarding claim 16-17, since Wu renders obvious the claimed optical phased array device of claims 1 and 10 as discussed above, it also renders obvious a metho of fabricating such an optical phased array device, including a step of fabricating an optical phased array according to a layer thickness for one or more waveguide layers (Fig. 1(b)).
However, Wu does not explicitly disclose wherein the layer thickness is determined based on mode matching data derived from a mode profile at an input coupling interface, as claimed in the present application. Nevertheless, such thickness determination is routinely carried out as a part of optimizing the coupling condition of the optical phase array systems. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage of carrying out this step since it would increase the optical coupling efficiency of the optical phased array device. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of this application to modify the fabrication steps of Wu such that the layer thickness is determined based on mode matching data derived from a mode profile at an input coupling interface, as claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 18, Wu renders the claimed subject matter of claim 16 obvious as already discussed above. However, Wu does not explicitly disclose wherein the layer thickness is determined based on a number of waveguide layers that are to be fabricated for the optical phased array, in the manner claimed in the present application.
On the other hand, determining the layer thickness based on the number of waveguide layers is well known and common in the manufacturing process. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage of determining the layer thickness of the optical phased array based on the number of waveguide layers since such method steps would optimize the amount of optical coupling between the coupled fiber and optical waveguide cores formed on teach of the device layer. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Wu to have a fabrication step wherein the layer thickness is determined based on a number of waveguide layers that are to be fabricated for the optical phased array, in the manner claimed in the present application.
Claim(s) 5-7, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu in view of US Patent No. 6,467,969 B1 to Shmulovich (hereinafter “Shmulovich”).
Wu discloses an optical phased array according to claim 1 as discussed above. However, Wu does not explicitly disclose a plurality of optical fibers coupled to the plurality of self-aligned optical waveguides via a fiber coupling interface, where the plurality of optical fibers are bunched fiber array, as claimed in claims 5-7 of the present application. On the other hand, such features are known in the art. Shmulovich discloses a plurality of optical fibers (11a-11e in Fig. 1) coupled to the plurality of optical waveguides (31a-31e in Fig. 1) via a fiber coupling interface (Fig. 1), where the plurality of optical fibers are bunched fiber array (10 in Fig. 1). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such features as advantageous and desirable since it would allow for a high-density, space-efficient coupling arrangements between plurality of optical fibers and plurality of optical waveguides while maintaining low coupling loss. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Wu to have a plurality of optical fibers coupled to the plurality of self-aligned optical waveguides via a fiber coupling interface, where the plurality of optical fibers are bunched fiber array, as claimed in the present application.
In addition to above, Shmulovich discloses wherein the fiber coupling interface couples a common edge portion (i.e. edge of 30 as shown in Fig. 1) for each of the plurality of waveguide to single optical fibers (11a-11e in Fig. 1). As such claimed recitations of claim 9 are rendered obvious based on the same reasonings as claims 5-7 as discussed above.
Conclusion
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/SUNG H PAK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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