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 Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informality: On Line 2, the Examiner assumes that “wherein when” should actually be --wherein, when--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakanishi et al. (US 2012/0236295, disclosed in IDS 07 August 2024), hereinafter Nakanishi, in view of Matsuo et al. (US 2006/0039665), hereinafter Matsuo.
Claim 1: Nakanishi discloses a method for measuring a bending loss of an optical fiber (1) coated with resin (Abstract), the method comprising:
determining that a wavelength dependency of a bending loss value of the optical fiber (1) in a region of a predetermined transmission wavelength or less when the optical fiber (1) is wrapped around a mandrel (2) with a predetermined diameter has an exponential function shape (evident from Fig. 3) with respect to a transmission wavelength [0021]; and
causing light (from light source 3) with a predetermined power at the predetermined transmission wavelength to be incident on a first end of the optical fiber (1) in a state in which the optical fiber (1) is wrapped around the mandrel (2), and measuring (with power meter 4) a power of light emitted from a second end of the optical fiber (1) to obtain a first power of light (P1) (Fig. 1B) [0019].
Nakanishi is silent with respect to a reference number of turns for the optical fiber to be wrapped around the mandrel.
Matsuo, however, in the same field of endeavor of optical fibers, suggests 10 as a reference number of turns for an optical fiber to be wrapped around a mandrel (“when assuming the bending loss when wound ten times around a mandrel with 20 mm φ to be Px” [0081]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nakanishi’s method by using 10 as the reference number of turns to wrap the optical fiber around the mandrel for the purpose of simplifying calculations and comparisons since the commonly-used numeric system is a base-10 system. It is evident then, in Nakanishi’s modified method, that the optical fiber would be wrapped around the mandrel by 10 turns to obtain the first power of light.
Nakanishi does not explicitly disclose repeating the power measurement when the optical fiber is wrapped around the mandrel by a number of turns larger than the reference number of turns.
However, Matsuo discloses measuring the bending loss “per 10 turns” [0089].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nakanishi’s method by repeating the power measurement when the optical fiber is wrapped around the mandrel by a number of turns larger than the reference number of turns, such as 100 turns, to obtain a second power of light (P2) for the purpose of ascertaining any nonlinear trends with the power transmitted through the optical fiber.
Nakanishi in this modified method, then discloses obtaining, based on the first power of light (P1) and the second power of light (P2), a bending loss value of the optical fiber (1) at the predetermined transmission wavelength when the optical fiber (1) is bent with the predetermined diameter (analogous to how the determination made using a zeroth power of light (P0) and the first power of light (P1) [0019]).
Claim 2: Nakanishi further discloses wherein the determining the reference number of turns comprises:
wrapping the optical fiber (1) around the mandrel (2) with the predetermined diameter [0019]; and
determining that a wavelength dependency of a bending loss value of the optical fiber (1) in the region of the predetermined transmission wavelength or less has an exponential function shape (evident from Fig. 3) with respect to a transmission wavelength [0021].
Nakanishi does not explicitly disclose using the obtained number of turns of the optical fiber as the reference number of turns.
Matsuo, however, discloses obtaining 10 as the number of turns for determining the bending loss (“when assuming the bending loss when wound ten times around a mandrel with 20 mm φ to be Px” [0081]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nakanishi’s method by using 10 as the reference number of turns to wrap the optical fiber around the mandrel in the first process for the purpose of simplifying calculations and comparisons since the commonly-used numeric system is a base-10 system.
Claim 3: Nakanishi further discloses wherein the determining the reference number of turns comprises:
preparing a standard optical fiber (1) [0019], wrapping the standard optical fiber (1) around a mandrel (2) with the predetermined diameter [0019], and determining that a wavelength dependency of a bending loss value of the standard optical fiber (1) in a region of the predetermined transmission wavelength or less has an exponential function shape (evident from Fig. 3) with respect to a transmission wavelength [0021].
Nakanishi does not explicitly disclose using the obtained number of turns of the optical fiber as the reference number of turns.
Matsuo, however, discloses obtaining 10 as the number of turns for determining the bending loss (“when assuming the bending loss when wound ten times around a mandrel with 20 mm φ to be Px” [0081]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nakanishi’s method by using 10 as the reference number of turns to wrap the optical fiber around the mandrel in the first process for the purpose of simplifying
Claim 4: Nakanishi does not explicitly disclose wherein, when a bending loss value per one turn of the optical fiber obtained from the bending loss value of the optical fiber is smaller than a bending loss value per one turn of the standard optical fiber obtained from the bending loss value of the standard optical fiber, the optical fiber is used as the standard optical fiber.
Matsuo, however, discloses selecting an optical fiber such that a bending loss is minimized (“it is possible to obtain an optical fiber that exhibits a smaller loss due to bending” [0045]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nakanishi’s method by selecting and using, from a plurality of optical fibers, an optical fiber with a minimal bending loss for the purpose of improved coupling and a high SNR.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to HINA F AYUB whose telephone number is (571)270-3171. The Examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm ET Mon-Fri.
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If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Tarifur Chowdhury can be reached on 571-272-2287. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Hina F Ayub/
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2877
Prosecution Insights