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) submitted on August 21, 204 and June 10, 2025 are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on August 21, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ridgway et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2008/0112705, hereinafter referred to as “Ridgway”). Ridgway anticipates claims:
1. An electro-optic polymer device (see figure 17) comprising:
an optical waveguide (core 35’, upper and lower claddings 44’, and electrooptic layer 38’ are together interpreted as the optical waveguides) having a first principal surface (the top surface is interpreted as the first principal surface) and a second principal surface (the lower surface is interpreted as the second principal surface) opposite to the first principal surface, and including a core layer (the optical waveguide is interpreted as the core layer) formed of an electro-optic polymer (see paragraph 0093); and
a first antenna electrode including a first upper antenna electrode (24’) and a first lower antenna electrode (26’),
wherein
the electro-optic polymer contains an electro-optic molecule, and the electro-optic molecule is oriented along a normal direction of the first principal surface (see figure 17, the molecules of the electro-optic layer are interpreted as being oriented along a normal direction of the first principal surface),
the first upper antenna electrode is provided on the first principal surface and includes a first edge proximate to a center line of the core layer in a width direction of the core layer in plan view of the first principal surface (the plan view of the first principal surface is interpreted as the top down view along the Z axis as shown in figure 17), and the width direction of the core layer is perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the core layer in the plan view of the first principal surface (see figure 17),
the first lower antenna electrode is provided on the second principal surface and includes a second edge proximate to the center line of the core layer in the plan view of the first principal surface (see figure 17),
in the plan view of the first principal surface, a first center line (the area generally at the reference numeral 24’ as seen in figure 17 is interpreted as the first center line) of the first upper antenna electrode in the width direction of the core layer is shifted in a first width direction with respect to the center line of the core layer in the width direction of the core layer, and the first width direction is one side of the width direction (see figure 17),
in the plan view of the first principal surface, a second center line (the area generally at the reference number 26’ as seen in figure 17 is interpreted as the second center line) of the first lower antenna electrode in the width direction of the core layer is shifted in a second width direction opposite to the first width direction with respect to the center line of the core layer, and the second width direction is the other side of the width direction (see figure 17),
in the plan view of the first principal surface, the first edge overlaps with the core layer (see figure 17);
in the plan view of the first principal surface, the second edge overlaps with the core layer (see figure 17),
a first distance between the first upper antenna electrode and the core layer in the normal direction of the first principal surface is less than or equal to 20 pm (see figure 17), and
a second distance between the first lower antenna electrode and the core layer in the normal direction of the first principal surface is less than or equal to 20 pm (see figure 17).
2. The electro-optic polymer device according to claim 1, wherein in the width direction of the core layer, the first edge and the second edge coincide with the center line of the core layer or are located opposite each other with respect to the center line of the core layer (see figure 2).
6. The electro-optic polymer device according to claim 1, wherein the optical waveguide includes at least one of an upper clad layer or a lower clad layer (shows both as 44’), the upper clad layer is disposed between the first upper antenna electrode and the core layer in the normal direction of the first principal surface and has a lower refractive index than the core layer (see paragraph 0091), the lower clad layer is disposed between the first lower antenna electrode and the core layer in the normal direction of the first principal surface and has a lower refractive index than the core layer (see paragraph 0090), and the at least one of the upper clad layer or the lower clad layer is formed of a material having an electrical resistivity greater than 104 0-m (the electrooptic polymer necessarily has an electrical resistivity greater than 104 ohm meters).
7. The electro-optic polymer device according to any one of claim 1, wherein the first upper antenna electrode and the first lower antenna electrode each include a bowtie antenna (see figures 16 and 17, the antenna are interpreted as bowtie antenna).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record, which is the closest prior art to the subject matter of the claims, does not disclose the limitations with respect the ground electrode and spacer layer, as required in claim 3, and the antenna structures as required in claims 4 and 5.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M BEDTELYON whose telephone number is (571)270-1290. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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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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/John Bedtelyon/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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