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 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, 11-14, 16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chowdhury (2015, IEEE trans. on Magnetics; ids).
Regarding claims 1, 16, and 18, Chowdhury discloses a system, a device, and a method, comprising: an acoustic wave transducer configured to produce surface acoustic waves in a plane of a magnetostrictive material [[fig. 1] depicts standing waves produced by acoustic transducer along plane of YIG film; note: instant para. 0026 explains gives an example of magnetic film yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG), the magnetic film comprises a magnetostrictive material], wherein the magnetostrictive material serves as a medium for spin waves traveling in the plane [[abstract] propagating spin waves on coupling into an yttrium iron garnet film can modulate the amplitude of the spin wave; [pg. 2, col. 2] excitation antenna is driven by a second signal generator while the transmitted spin wave is observed using a spectrum analyzer connected to the detection antenna.], and wherein the acoustic wave transducer is oriented such that the acoustic waves parametrically amplify the spin waves [[pg. 1, col. 1] spin waves may also be amplified by parametric amplification: periodically modulating a parameter of the spin-wave propagation characteristics].
(claim 16: recites a device, comprising: an acoustic transducer configured to produce surface acoustic waves in a plane of a magnetostrictive material [[fig. 1]]; at least one spin wave transducer configured to produce spin waves [[abstract]], wherein the spin waves propagate in the plane of the magnetostrictive material and parametrically interact with the surface acoustic waves [[pg. 1, col. 1][pg. 2, col. 2]] which appears to be a device form of the system recited in claim 1 and is therefore rejected for similar reasons)
(claim 18: recites a method, comprising: converting electrical signals to spin waves, wherein the spin waves propagate in a plane of a magnetostrictive material [[fig. 1]]; generating acoustic waves in the plane of the magnetostrictive material at an angle relative to the spin waves [[abstract]]; and converting output spin waves to output electrical signals, the output spin waves generated during a parametric interaction between the spin waves and the acoustic waves [[pg. 1, col. 1][pg. 2, col. 2]] which appears to be a method form of the system recited in claim 1 and is therefore rejected for similar reasons)
Regarding claim 11, Chowdhury teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic wave transducer is configured to parametrically amplify the spin waves in one or more spin wave circuits [[pg. 1, col. 1] spin-wave amplification techniques, which can provide gain to compensate for the inherent losses in spin-wave propagation, are therefore crucial for further development of spin-wave-based logic circuits; [pg. 1, col. 2] in this paper, we investigate a novel technique of parametric amplification of spin waves using acoustic waves.].
Regarding claim 12, Chowdhury teaches the system of claim 1, wherein a range of frequencies over which the system operates is adjustable by a magnetic field [[fig. 1] depicts magnetic field; [pg. 1, col. 1] parametric pumping and amplification of spin waves using magnetic fields at twice the spin-wave frequency is well established [8], [9].].
Regarding claim 13, Chowdhury teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the magnetostrictive material comprises a ferrite material [[pg. 1, col. 1] it is possible to use ferromagnetic films as waveguides for spin-wave propagation.].
Regarding claim 14, Chowdhury teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic wave transducer is oriented at an angle such that an idler spin wave resulting from a parametric interaction between the acoustic waves and the spin waves is a standing, non-propagating spin wave [[fig. 1] depicts acoustic transducer at an angle along with standing waves].
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 2-6, 10, 15, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chowdhury (2015, IEEE trans. on Magnetics) and Kolodin (1998, Phys. Review Letters).
Regarding claim 2, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising: an input spin wave transducer configured to generate the spin waves [[fig. 1] structure consists of two 50 mm wide microstrip transducers]; and an output spin wave transducer configured to measure output spin waves [[pg. 1977, col. 1] parallel pumping microwave field was applied by a half wavelength long 0.25 mm wide microstrip resonator between the input and output transducers at the distance of 4 mm from the input transducer …dashed line at 200 ns shows this signal as measured with structure No. 2.]; wherein the surface acoustic waves produced by the acoustic wave transducer [[fig. 1] shows pumping resonator between input and output transducers; note: instant para. 0042 explains that it may be advantageous to place the acoustic transducer or acoustic wave device 205 outside of the spin wave transducers 211 and 212, as shown in FIG. 2. However, the acoustic transducer could also be placed between the spin wave transducers] parametrically amplify the spin waves as the spin waves travel within the magnetostrictive material from the input spin wave transducer [[abstract] the parametric amplification of 4.01 GHz, 22 ns wide microwave magnetic envelope (MME) backward volume wave pulses by parallel pumping has been realized in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
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Regarding claim 3, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the output spin waves comprise the spin waves parametrically amplified by the acoustic waves, and wherein the output spin wave transducer measures the spin waves parametrically amplified by the acoustic waves [[pg. 1976, col. 1] it has been demonstrated that the amplification of MSW signals in thin ferromagnetic films by parallel pumping is possible [4,5] … this Letter reports a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain. This technique does more than provide some limited compensation for decay due to dissipation. It leads to a real amplification of the propagating signal.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 4, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 3, wherein the input spin wave transducer converts electrical signals in a given frequency band to generate the spin waves, and wherein the output spin wave transducer converts the parametrically amplified spin waves to amplified electrical signals in the given frequency band, wherein the given frequency band comprises one or more of a radio frequency band, a microwave frequency band, and a millimeter wave frequency band [[pg. 1977, col. 1] parallel pumping microwave field was applied by a half wavelength long 0.25 mm wide microstrip resonator between the input and output transducers at the distance of 4 mm from the input transducer. The resonator was pumped at a frequency vp 8.05 GHz. ].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 5, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the output spin waves comprise idler spin waves generated when the spin waves are parametrically amplified by the acoustic waves, and wherein the output spin wave transducer measures the idler spin waves [[pg. 1979, col. 1] high power pump at vp drives two transient nonresonant idler waves in the YIG pumping zone around the microstrip resonator. The nonlinear interaction between these idler waves and the MME pulse yields amplification. The amplification process is active only during the transient growth of the idler signals and before the onset of the parametric generation of spin waves by the pump].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 6, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 5, wherein the input spin wave transducer converts input electrical signals to generate the spin waves, and wherein, to measure the idler spin waves, the output spin wave transducer converts the idler spin waves to output electrical signals with a center frequency shifted relative to a center frequency of the input electrical signals [[pg. 1979, col. 1][fig. 2] shows input position shifted from pump and out position].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 10, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the surface acoustic waves parametrically amplify the spin waves during a parametric interaction, and wherein the parametric interaction extends over a specific region of space and specific duration in time [[pg. 1976, col. 1] it has been demonstrated that the amplification of MSW signals in thin ferromagnetic films by parallel pumping is possible [4,5] … this Letter reports a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain. This technique does more than provide some limited compensation for decay due to dissipation. It leads to a real amplification of the propagating signal.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 15, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the system of claim 2, wherein a range of input frequencies for the input spin wave transducer and the acoustic wave transducer are selected so that output spin waves in a third distinct frequency range are produced in a parametric interaction between the acoustic waves and the spin waves [[pg. 1979, col. 1][fig. 2] shows input position shifted from pump and out position.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 19, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the method of claim 18, wherein the output spin waves comprise one or more of the spin waves parametrically amplified by the acoustic waves or idler spin waves generated during the parametric interaction [[pg. 1976, col. 1] it has been demonstrated that the amplification of MSW signals in thin ferromagnetic films by parallel pumping is possible [4,5] … this Letter reports a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain. This technique does more than provide some limited compensation for decay due to dissipation. It leads to a real amplification of the propagating signal.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Regarding claim 20, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Kolodin teaches the method of claim 19, further comprising converting the electrical signals to the spin waves with an input spin wave transducer, and converting the output spin waves to output electrical signals with an output spin wave transducer, wherein the output spin wave transducer is positioned relative to the input spin wave transducer to capture at least one of the spin waves parametrically amplified by the acoustic waves or the idler spin waves [[abstract][fig. 1] [pg. 1977, col. 1] parallel pumping microwave field was applied by a half wavelength long 0.25 mm wide microstrip resonator between the input and output transducers at the distance of 4 mm from the input transducer …dashed line at 200 ns shows this signal as measured with structure No. 2.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, with the input and output transducers as taught by Kolodin as a new and highly effective way to parametrically pump MME linear wave packets and solitons to produce significant gain (Kolodin) [[pg. 1976, col. 1]].
Claims 7-9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chowdhury (2015, IEEE trans. on Magnetics) and Kolodin (1998, Phys. Review Letters) as applied to claim 5 above, and Hansen (2019, Thesis).
Regarding claim 7, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Hansen teaches the system of claim 5, wherein the input spin wave transducer converts input electrical signals to generate the spin waves, and wherein the output spin wave transducer [[fig. 3.1] depicts spin wave antenna and pumping antenna; [sec. 3.1] the device has two input antennas, one of which is a spin wave antenna and one of which is a pumping antenna.] converts the idler spin waves to output electrical signals usable for determining the time correlation or convolution of modulations of the input electrical signals [[pg. 2] surface acoustic wave (SAW) transducers have been proposed as a method of implementing high frequency correlation due to the ability of SAW to operate at microwave frequencies [4, 5]. [sec. 2.3.1 parametric amplification] in this work, a signal wave (at frequency fs) is amplified by a pumping wave (at frequency fp) where fp is twice fs. This nonlinear process creates a third wave, known as the idler wave (at frequency fi) due to the law of conservation of energy (Eqn. 2.5a) and the law of conservation of momentum (Eqn. 2.5b) [9] shown; [abstract] this work demonstrates correlation of microwave signals encoded with 16-bit codes using the parametric interaction of spin waves. Signal processing correlators are devices that compare two signals, such as a reference code and a received code, where the output indicates the similarity between the signals.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, surface acoustic wave transducer correlator as taught by Hansen because correlators can also be used as an added security measure in communication systems due to the nature of applying codes, where if a transmitter can dynamically assign different codes to the devices with which it is communicating, then the system can effectively block communication with all unwanted devices. (Hansen) [[ch.1 introduction]].
Regarding claim 8, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Hansen teaches the system of claim 5, wherein the acoustic wave transducer, the input spin wave transducer, and the output spin wave transducer are configured to selectively block or amplify electrical signals depending on a code modulating the electrical signals [[ch. 1 introduction] correlators can also be used as an added security measure in communication systems … system can effectively block communication with all unwanted devices].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, surface acoustic wave transducer correlator as taught by Hansen because with correlators then the system can effectively block communication with all unwanted devices. (Hansen) [[ch.1 introduction]].
Regarding claim 9, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Hansen teaches the system of claim 2, wherein the input spin wave transducer is positioned at an angle relative to the acoustic wave transducer, and wherein the output spin wave transducer is positioned relative to the input spin wave transducer and the acoustic wave transducer based on the angle [[fig. 1] shows pumping resonator between input and output transducers; [fig. 3.1] depicts spin wave antenna and pumping antenna; [sec. 3.1] the device has two input antennas, one of which is a spin wave antenna and one of which is a pumping antenna.]].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, surface acoustic wave transducer correlator as taught by Hansen because with correlators then the system can effectively block communication with all unwanted devices. (Hansen) [[ch.1 introduction]].
Regarding claim 17, Chowdhury does not explicitly teach and yet Hansen teaches the device of claim 16, wherein the at least one spin wave transducer comprises: an input spin wave transducer configured to generate the spin waves; and an output spin wave transducer configured to measure output spin waves; wherein the input spin wave transducer is positioned at an angle relative to the acoustic wave transducer, and wherein the output spin wave transducer is positioned relative to the acoustic wave transducer and the input spin wave transducer based on the angle to measure the output spin waves [[fig. 3.1] depicts spin wave antenna and pumping antenna; [sec. 3.1] the device has two input antennas, one of which is a spin wave antenna and one of which is a pumping antenna.]].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to replace the acoustic transducer as taught by Chowdhury, surface acoustic wave transducer correlator as taught by Hansen because with correlators then the system can effectively block communication with all unwanted devices. (Hansen) [[ch.1 introduction]].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7339. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9am-5pm.
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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