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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because in fig. 1, between reference character “B” and reference character “PM” there is a reference character “T” which is not discussed in the specification. It is possible that this reference character “T” should be the “mask support MT” which is mentioned in [00020].
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “MT” has been used to designate “mask support MT” ([00014 and [00020]) and metrology tools MT (throughout the specification).
Fig. 4 and the accompanying text describes substrate 6, which is not shown in the figure and spectrum 10 which is not shown in the figure. Also, there is a reference number 8 in fig. 4 which is not found in the accompanying text.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
The following are claim objections because of informalities:
Claim 19 reads “the processor unit is configure”. The word “configure” is likely intended to be “configured”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 16-20, 27 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Abdolvand et al, U.S. Patent No. 9,160,137 B1.
With regard to claim 16, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses a broadband radiation device 100, comprising: a pulse shaper 40 configured to impose a temporal profile onto an input pump pulse 1 so as to generate a temporally-modulated pump pulse, the temporally-modulated pump pulse having a different temporal profile than the input pump pulse; and a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) 21 having a hollow core for confining in use a working medium under a pressure, the HC-PCF being configured to receive the temporally- modulated pump pulse; wherein the temporally-modulated pump pulse is configured to be spectrally broadened by a soliton self-compression process to form broadband output radiation while propagating through the hollow core of the HC-PCF 21, and the temporal profile is configured to impart a spectrum of the broadband output radiation with target spectrum characteristics. (col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 17, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses that the temporal profile comprises a temporal profile as would be obtained from numerical propagation of the broadband output radiation having the target spectrum characteristics through the HC-PCF 21 in a backward direction, the backward direction being opposite to the direction in which the broadband output radiation is formed from the temporally-modulated pump pulse. (via the input control loop and numerical simulation; col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 18, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses that the broadband radiation device comprises a processor unit (80) configured to control the pulse shaper, the processor unit being further configured to determine the temporal profile imposed by the pulse shaper. (col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 19, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses that the processor unit (80) is configured to determine the temporal profile by performing a numerical propagation of the broadband output radiation having the target spectrum characteristics through the HC-PCF in a backward direction, the backward direction being opposite to the direction in which the broadband output radiation is formed from the temporally-modulated pump pulse. (via the input control loop and numerical simulation; col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 20, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses that the broadband radiation device comprises a spectrometer (50) to measure a spectrum of the broadband output radiation; wherein the processor unit (80) is configured to optimize the temporal profile so as to minimize a difference and/or maximize a similarity between the measured spectrum of the broadband output radiation with respect to a spectrum defined by the target spectrum characteristics. (col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 27, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses a metrology device comprising a broadband radiation device of claim 16. (col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52)
With regard to claim 28, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses that a method of optimizing a temporal profile of a pump pulse which is to undergo spectral broadening via a soliton self-compression process within a working medium inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) 21, so as to form broadband output radiation, the method comprising: inputting, from a pump radiation source 30/40, the pump pulse into the HC-PCF 21; and optimizing the temporal profile of the pulse in the HC-PCF so as to configure the broadband output radiation from the HC-PCF to have target spectrum characteristics. (col. 8, line 51 – col. 10, line 52) It is noted that claim 28 does not describe “target spectrum characteristics, therefore the output spectrum of the Abdolvand devices meets the claimed target spectrum characteristics.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 22-26, 29 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abdolvand.
With regard to claims 21 and 22, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses the same device, having the same structure and the same components as the instantly disclosed device, where the device, including the pulse shaper and the temporal profile are aimed at creating a spectrum of the broadband output radiation with target spectrum characteristics, however the claims do not specifically define what the target spectrum characteristics are. In light of these similarities, the limitations of claim 21 on the processor, configured to generate, command, analyze and select optimal temporal profile characteristics to obtain optimal target spectrum characteristics are seen as either an intended use of the claimed device, which does not further limit the claimed device, or an obvious method of configuring operating the claimed device, to obtain the desired/optimal target spectrum characteristics. It is well within the skill of one skilled in the art to generate and test different inputs to see if they produce a desired output through routine experimentation and optimization.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the Abdolvand processor to generate a plurality of candidate temporal profiles; command the pulse shaper to impose each of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles onto a respective pump pulse so as to obtain a plurality of temporally-modulated pump pulses; analyze a plurality of measured spectra received from the spectrometer, each measured spectrum resulting from a respective one of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles; and select, based on the analyzing, a candidate temporal profile of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles which maximize the similarity between the measured spectrum of the broadband output radiation with respect to a spectrum defined by the target spectrum characteristics, because it is well within the skill of one skilled in the art to generate and test different inputs to see if they produce a desired output through routine experimentation and optimization.
With regard to claim 23, as explained in the rejection of claim 21 above, routine optimization is obvious to one skilled in the art, including a optimization using a sequential genetic algorithm or evolutionary algorithm.
With regard to claims 24-26, through the same rationale explained in the rejection of claim 21 above, depending on the desired target spectrum characteristics, one could use routine experimentation to arrive at a temporally-modulated pump pulse comprising a temporal profile having two or more peaks, the target spectrum characteristics comprise an average power spectral density (PSD) of at least 5 mW/nm in the wavelength range between 400 nm and 900 nm, or the target spectrum characteristics comprise a spectral profile having a maximum variation of 3dB in the wavelength range between 400 nm and 900 nm, to achieve the desired target spectrum characteristics. If there is a physical difference between the Abdolvand device and the instantly claimed device which would make the Abdolvand device incapable of meeting the performance characteristics of claims 24-26, Applicant is invited to point to specific operational capabilities, physical structure, or other factors, including nature of the input light, nature and operational capabilities of the pulse shaper, physical or optical properties of the HC-PFC, types of gasses used, pressure of the gas, or other optical or physical properties that would distinguish the devices.
With regard to claim 29, Abdolvand discloses controlling the disclosed device through several feedback processes that rely on the output spectrum characteristics as measured at the output detector device 50 and further teaches numerical modeling and numerical simulations based on feedback for optimizing and tailoring various characteristics of the device. The claimed numerical propagation performed in a backward direction to numerically determine the desired temporal profile to achieve the desired broadband output radiation is seen as a routine and obvious process of operating the Abdolvand device, adjusting the input and other operational parameters, including the pulse shaper 40 to achieve a desired broadband output radiation.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to operate the Abdolvand device by the optimizing the temporal profile comprising performing a numerical propagation of broadband output radiation having the target spectrum characteristics through the HC-PCF in a backward direction, the backward direction being opposite to the direction in which the broadband output radiation is formed from the temporally-modulated pump pulse, through routine optimization using the disclosed feedback processes and numerical modeling.
With regard to claim 30, Abdolvand, in figs. 1, 2, 4 and 5, discloses the same device, having the same structure and the same components as the instantly disclosed device, where the device, including the pulse shaper and the temporal profile are aimed at creating a spectrum of the broadband output radiation with target spectrum characteristics, however the claims do not specifically define what the target spectrum characteristics are. The limitations of the method of claim 30, to generate, command, analyze and select optimal temporal profile characteristics to obtain optimal target spectrum characteristics are an obvious method of configuring operating the claimed device, to obtain the desired/optimal target spectrum characteristics. It is well within the skill of one skilled in the art to generate and test different inputs to see if they produce a desired output through routine experimentation and optimization.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to operate the Abdolvand device to generate a plurality of candidate temporal profiles; command the pulse shaper to impose each of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles onto a respective pump pulse so as to obtain a plurality of temporally-modulated pump pulses; analyze a plurality of measured spectra received from the spectrometer, each measured spectrum resulting from a respective one of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles; and select, based on the analyzing, a candidate temporal profile of the plurality of candidate temporal profiles which maximize the similarity between the measured spectrum of the broadband output radiation with respect to a spectrum defined by the target spectrum characteristics, because it is well within the skill of one skilled in the art to generate and test different inputs to see if they produce a desired output through routine experimentation and optimization.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thomas A Hollweg whose telephone number is (571)270-1739. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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, Kiesha R Bryant can be reached at (571)272-3606. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/THOMAS A HOLLWEG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874
Prosecution Insights