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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 the attached annotated forms.
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 § 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 and 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being inherently anticipated by US Patent Application Publication US 2019/0221849 A1 to Bennet al. (“US1”).
Regarding Claim 1, US1 describes an optical fiber (60) comprising:
a glass fiber including a core (70) and a cladding (30, 80) surrounding the core;
and a coating layer (90, 100) surrounding the glass fiber, wherein
the core is formed from silica glass doped with at least one of germanium, titanium, chlorine, fluorine, and alkali metals (see [0057], [0076]),
the cladding includes an inner cladding (81) in contact with and surrounding the core, an outer cladding (85) surrounding the inner cladding, and a trench (83) placed between the inner cladding and the outer cladding in a radial direction,
the coating layer includes a primary resin layer (90) surrounding the cladding and a secondary resin layer (1000) surrounding the primary resin layer,
the core has a radius of 3.6 μm or more and 5.4 μm or less and has a relative refractive index difference with respect to a refractive index of the cladding being greater than the refractive index of the cladding by 0.32% or more and 0.40% or less (see Table 2, [0057]),
the trench has a volume being smaller than −30%·μm2 (see Table 2, [0063]),
the cladding has a radius of 63 μm or less (see Table 2, [0059]),
the primary resin layer has a thickness of 4 μm or more and Young’s modulus of 0.3 MPa or less (see Table 1, [0066]),
the secondary resin layer has a radius of 85 μm or less, a thickness of 7.5 μm or more, and Young’s modulus of 1250 MPa or more (see Table 1, [0066]),
the optical fiber has an effective cross-sectional area of 100 μm2 or less at a wavelength of 1550 nm (calculated from the describe mode field diameter, see Table 2, [0070]),
the optical fiber has a mode field diameter being greater than 8.2 μm at a wavelength of 1310 nm (see Table 2, [0070]),
the optical fiber has a mode field diameter of 9.40 μm or more and 10.5 μm or less at a wavelength of 1550 nm (see Table 2, [0070]),
the optical fiber has a cable cutoff wavelength being less than 1420 nm (see Table 2, [0070]),
the optical fiber has a bending loss of 1 dB/turn or less at a wavelength of 1550 nm upon being wound with a bending diameter of 10 mm (see Table 2),
the coating layer has a cross-sectional area of a portion of the coating layer excluding the primary resin layer of 4400 μm2 or more and 12000 μm2 or less (see Table 1),
the refractive index of the cladding and a refractive index of the coating layer have an absolute difference being greater than 0.01 (see [0074]-[0075], [0085], Figs 3-4), and
the optical fiber has a zero-dispersion slope of 0.092 ps/nm2/km or less (see Table 2).
Regarding the further limitations of Claims 1, 3, 7, and 8 directed to additional properties of the optical fiber, US1 is silent as to such properties. However, when the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims (as in this case as outline above), claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent (see MPEP 2112.01).
Regarding Claim 4, US1 describes the coating layer further including a colored layer (“tertiary coating”, see [0026]-[0027]) surrounding the secondary resin layer, and the coating layer has a cross-sectional area of a portion of the coating layer constituted of the secondary resin layer and the colored layer being 4400 μm2 or more and 12000 μm2 or less (see Table 1).
Regarding Claims 5-6, US1 describes the radius of the secondary resin layer as 51 μm or less (see Table 1).
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US1 as applied to Claim 1 above.
US1 describes an optical cable comprising the optical fiber of Claim 1 (see [0003], [0035]). US1 does not describe the cable comprising a plurality of the optical fibers. It is well-known in the art to form cables with a plurality of the same optical fibers. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form such a cable comprising a plurality of the fibers of Claim 1, as described by US1. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow for additional environmental protection and ease of installation of a plurality of optical fibers.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
Claim 2 describes the volume of the trench as −380%·μm2 or more and −126%·μm2 or less.
This represents subject matter not described or reasonably suggested, in conjunction with the further limitations of the present claims, by the prior art of record.
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JERRY RAHLL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
Prosecution Insights