Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 4, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2021/0302764 A1 (already made of record via information disclosure statement).
Claim 1: '764 discloses an optical waveguide device comprising (see mainly fig. 4B):
an optical waveguide substrate 1 provided with an optical waveguide 22; and
a reinforcing member 3 disposed on an upper side of the optical waveguide near an end portion of the optical waveguide, the optical waveguide substrate and the reinforcing member being joined through an adhesive layer 5,
wherein a plurality of structures are disposed between the optical waveguide substrate and the reinforcing member to interpose the optical waveguide between the plurality of structures,
for a first structure 21, the adhesive layer is disposed between an upper surface of the structure and the reinforcing member, and the first structure has a ratio of an area of the upper surface to an area of a lower surface of the reinforcing member being set to be equal to or more than a predetermined ratio, and
a second structure 4 is configured to set a thickness of the adhesive layer disposed between the first structure and the reinforcing member within a predetermined range.
Claim 4: The second structure 4 is laminated on the first structure 21 and disposed on the first structure.
Claim 7: A spot size converter is formed in the optical waveguide disposed on a lower side of the reinforcing member (note tapered portion 20 in fig. 2).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 8-10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0302764 A1 (applied above) in view of US 2021/0302679 A1 (already made of record via information disclosure statement).
Claim 8: '764 discloses an optical fiber 6 through which a light wave is input into the optical waveguide or output from the optical waveguide, but does not disclose an optical modulation device comprising a case accommodating the optical waveguide device.
'679 discloses in fig. 10 an optical modulation device MD including a case 8 accommodating an optical waveguide device, and an optical fiber F through which a light wave is input into the optical waveguide or output from the optical waveguide.
A person of ordinary skill in the art could have disposed the optical waveguide device of '764 in a case in the manner disclosed by '679 with predictable results. Thus it would have been obvious to such a person before the effective filing date of claim 8 to do so, motivated by a desire to provide suitable protection for the optical waveguide device.
Claim 9: The optical waveguide device includes a modulation electrode for modulating the light wave propagating through the optical waveguide ([0061] of '679), and an electronic circuit DRV that amplifies a modulation signal ([0062] of '679) to be input into the modulation electrode of the optical waveguide device is provided inside the case.
Claims 10 and 12: The proposed combination includes optical transmission apparatus comprising:
the optical modulation device according to claims 8 or 9; and
an electronic circuit DSP that outputs a modulation signal causing the optical modulation device to perform a modulation operation ([0062] of '679).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5-6, and 11 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 claim 1 and all applicable intervening claims.
Conclusion
The references listed on the attached 892 form disclose other examples of arrangements connecting fibers to integrated optical waveguides.
Contact Information
Examiner: 571-272-2360
Examiner's direct supervisor: 571-272-2397
Official correspondence by fax: 571-273-8300
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Should you have questions about Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/Michael Stahl/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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