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 prior art documents submitted by applicant in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on August 13, 2024 have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form PTO-1449).
Drawings
Seven (7) sheets of drawings were filed on August 13, 2024 and have been accepted by the examiner.
Specification
Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Inventorship
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 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 4 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.
Regarding claim 4; the claim recites “[t]he optical fiber according to 3 wherein CC (r)/CA (r) is less than 1 in an area within 1 μm from the central axis of the optical fiber.” Thus, claim 4 depends from claim 3, which depends from claim 1. Claim 1 requires “an average concentration CA of the alkali metal element group in the entire core and an average concentration CC of chlorine in the entire core satisfy CC/CA > 1.0.” Therefore since claim 1 requires that CC/CA is greater than 1.0 in the entire core the limitation of claim 3 contradicts the limitation of claim 1, rendering claim 4 indefinite. Claim 4 has not been further considered with respect to prior art, because clarification is required. This is not an indication of allowable subject matter.
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 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakuma et al. (US 2020/0241198 A1), hereafter Sakuma.
Regarding claims 1-3 and 5-7; Sakuma discloses an optical fiber (1; see Figure 1 and paragraph 16) made of silica-based glass (silica glass; see paragraph 16), the optical fiber (1) comprising:
a core (core 10) containing chlorine (chlorine; see paragraph 16) and one or more elements among an alkali metal element group consisting of alkali metal elements and alkaline-earth metal elements (alkali metal group; see paragraph 16); and
a cladding (cladding 20) surrounding the core (10) and having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the core (see the abstract, paragraph 6, and paragraph 16);
wherein an average concentration CA of the alkali metal element group in the entire core (Core average K concentration [ppm]; see Figure 3) and an average concentration CC of chlorine in the entire core (Core average chlorine concentration [ppm]; see Figure 3) satisfy CC/CA >1.0;
wherein CC/CA is smaller than 500 (see Figure 3);
wherein in an area ranging from a central axis of the optical fiber (1) to a position at 1/2 of a radius of the core (10), a straight line obtained by fitting, by least squares, values of a ratio CC (r)/CA (r) of a concentration CA (r) of the alkali metal element group to a concentration CC (r) of chlorine at a position of a distance r away from the central axis of the optical fiber has a positive slope (this is inherently true for the optical fibers having the properties summarized in Figure 3);
wherein the core further contains fluorine, and an average concentration CF of fluorine in the entire core (Core average Fluorine concentration [ppm]; see Figure 3) satisfies CF/CA ≤ 100 (see Figure 3);
wherein the average concentration CA of the alkali metal element group in the entire core is 0.2 ppm to 2000 ppm on a mass fraction basis (see Figure 3);
wherein the core contains, as the alkali metal element group, one or more elements among sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and calcium (potassium, K).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHELLE R CONNELLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2345. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.
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.
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/MICHELLE R CONNELLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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