DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant’s preliminary amendment dated 09/06/2024 has been received and entered. By the amendment, claims 1-20 are now pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/06/2024 was filed and considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 8-14 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Applicant’s submitted prior art, Bunandar et al., US 2019/0356394 A1.
Claims 1 and 19 are anticipated by Bunandar et al. figures 1-1, 1-10, 1-11, 4-1 to 4-6 and accompanying text which disclose an optical apparatus comprising:
. a plurality of first encoders 1-101, each first encoder arranged to encode a first complex element onto an input stream of light ([0093])
. a plurality of input ports arranged in a first array, each input port arranged to be supplied with a corresponding one of the input streams, thereby forming an input function definable based on the value of the first complex elements and the position of the corresponding input ports in the first array ([0094])
. wherein the input ports are arranged to provide an optical input to an optical Fourier transform stage arranged to perform at least one optical Fourier transform or convolution of the input function ([0390])
. a plurality of output ports 1-707/1-709 arranged in a second array, each output port arranged to receive a portion of the output of the optical Fourier transform stage and thereby form an output stream
. a plurality of decoders 4-114, each decoder arranged to decode a second complex element from each of the output streams based on at least one characteristic of the respective output stream, wherein the second complex element is a full complex number (fig 4-2A, [0425]).
Re claim 8, Bunandar et al further disclose at least one input amplifier arranged to amplify the input streams and/or at least one output amplifier arranged to amplify the output streams and/or at least one intermediate amplifier arranged to amplify the intermediate streams ([0117]).
Re claim 9, Bunandar et al. also disclose a processor 1-111 to derive the values of the first complex elements for encoding, based on an input function and the position of the corresponding input ports in the array, and/or derive an output function, based on the values of the second complex elements and the position of the corresponding output ports in the second array ([0166]).
Re claims 10-11, wherein each first encoder comprises a first modulator 1-205, a second modulator 1-207 and first/second controller 1-107 (fig 1-3) as claimed, wherein both of a first value of the first digital electronic signal and a second value of the second digital electronic signal are based on the first complex element, the first controller is configured to control the first modulator to apply a first element of modulation to the input stream based on the first value, the second controller is configured to control the second modulator to apply a second element of modulation to the input stream based on the second value; and the first element of modulation and second element of modulation are together operable to encode the first complex element onto the input stream ([0112], [0117], [0416]).
Re claim 12, wherein each decoder is arranged to produce a first difference signal based on the output stream and a first reference stream, produce a second difference signal based on the output stream and a second reference stream, detect at least one first characteristic of the first difference signal, detect at least one second characteristic of the second difference signal, output a first digital electronic signal encoded with a first component of the second complex element based on the at least one first characteristic, output a second digital electronic signal encoded with a second component of the second complex element based on the at least one second characteristic ([0449]).
Re claim 13, wherein the at least one characteristic is phase and/or amplitude ([0450]).
Re claim 14, wherein the decoder comprises at least one balanced detector, e.g., homodyne detector (phase detection via differential measurement).
Re claim 18, wherein the optical apparatus is a photonic integrated circuit ([009]).
Re claim 20, since the method of manufacturing the device is merely a list of forming each component and each component must be formed to make the device, the method of manufacturing would be inherent to the device (figs 1-19 to 1-21).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 15-17 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2297. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00.
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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