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 .
Preliminary amendments
The preliminary amendment filed 10/17/2024 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/17/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puffer et al. (US 2022/0350089 A1 Hereinafter Puffer) in view of Dogruoz et al. (US 11,647,607 B2 Hereinafter Dogruoz).
Regarding claim 1, Puffer teaches an optical module (100, Figs. 1 and 2, paragraph 0034), characterized by including:
a circuit assembly (102, 104, and 108, Fig. 2) arranged inside, wherein the circuit assembly has a first side and a second side that are arranged opposite each other (Figs. 2 and 3A, paragraph 0034-0035);
a potting body (109, 180, 118, and 156, Figs. 2, 3B, 3C, 4B, and 5, paragraph 0040, 0048, and 0050-0056) arranged on the circuit assembly and cooperating with the circuit assembly to create a sealed cavity (155, Fig. 2, paragraph 0040) located on the first side;
a light emitting/receiving element (104, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034), a lens (110, Fig. 2, paragraph 0036) and a light guide component (112, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034), wherein a light beam propagation path cooperatively formed by the light-emitting/receiving element, the lens and the light guide component is located in the sealed cavity (155 and 162, Fig. 2, paragraph 0040).
Puffer fails to teach a housing assembly, the circuit assembly arranged inside the housing assembly, wherein the second side is in communication with an outside of the housing assembly, such that a cooling medium that has entered the housing assembly comes into contact with the circuit assembly to dissipate heat.
Dogruoz teaches a housing assembly (22, Fig. 2), a circuit assembly (20, 21, and 23, Fig. 2) arranged inside the housing assembly, wherein the second side is in communication with an outside of the housing assembly, such that a cooling medium that has entered the housing assembly comes into contact with the circuit assembly to dissipate heat (27a, 28a, and 27b, Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included the coolant-admitting enclosure to the device of Puffer as taught by Dogruoz, in order to immerse the sealed optical transceiver (100, Fig. 6, paragraph 0068) for heat removal while the sealed cavity (155, Fig. 2, paragraph 0040) keeps liquid off the beam path.
Regarding claim 2, Puffer in view of Dogruoz teaches the optical module according to claim 1 as set forth above.
Dogruoz further teaches wherein, the housing assembly is provided with an opening (27a, Fig. 2), and the second side of the circuit assembly is in communication with the outside of the housing assembly through the opening (27a, 22, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 5, Puffer in view of Dogruoz teaches the optical module according to claim 1 as set forth above.
Puffer further teaches wherein the light guide component includes an optical fiber (112, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034) and an optical fiber fixing member (116 and 118, Figs. 2 and 5, paragraph 0034 and 0048) located at an end of the optical fiber; wherein, the light emitting/receiving element (104, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034), the lens (110, Fig. 2, paragraph 0036) and the optical fiber fixing member (116 and 118, Fig. 2, paragraph 0048) are all located in the sealed cavity (155, Fig. 2, paragraph 0040).
Regarding claim 6, Puffer in view of Dogruoz teaches the optical module according to claim 1 as set forth above.
Puffer teaches the circuit assembly includes a circuit board (102, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034) and an electronic device (104 and 203, Fig. 2, paragraph 0034-0035). Dogruoz teaches the electronic device (21 and 23, Fig. 2) is disposed on a surface of the circuit board (20, Fig. 2), the electronic device is not covered by the potting body, and the electronic device directly contacts the cooling medium to dissipate heat (22, Fig. 2). The first listed alternative is relied upon.
Regarding claim 9, Puffer in view of Dogruoz teaches the optical module according to claim 1 as set forth above.
Puffer further teaches wherein the optical module further includes an isolation component (110 and 156, Figs. 2 and 5, paragraph 0040 and 0048); the isolation component is disposed in the sealed cavity (155, Fig. 2, paragraph 0040), and the light beam propagation path is isolated from the potting body through the isolation component (110, 156, and 118, Figs. 2 and 5, paragraph 0040, 0048, and 0050).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Puffer et al. (US 2022/0350089 A1 Hereinafter Puffer) in view of Dogruoz et al. (US 11,647,607 B2 Hereinafter Dogruoz) and Poplawski et al. (US 5,546,281 Hereinafter Poplawski).
Regarding claim 8, Puffer in view of Dogruoz teaches the optical module according to claim 1 as set forth above.
Puffer fails to teach a potting mold provided on the circuit assembly and cooperating with the circuit assembly to form a potting cavity, wherein the potting body is potted in the potting cavity.
Poplawski teaches a potting mold (64, Fig. 4; col. 5, lines 1-16) provided on the circuit assembly (60, Figs. 1 and 4; col. 6, lines 1-11) and cooperating with the circuit assembly to form a potting cavity, wherein the potting body is potted in the potting cavity (62, Fig. 1; col. 6, lines 24-28).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included a potting mold to the device of Puffer as taught by Poplawski, in order to contain injected potting material about the circuit assembly without hand caulking.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3, 4, 7, 10, and 11 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 taken as a whole does not show nor suggest all of the limitations of claim 3, 4, 7, 10, and 11 as specifically called for the claimed combinations.
The closest prior art, Puffer et al. (US 2022/0350089 A1 Hereinafter Puffer) in view of Dogruoz et al. (US 11,647,607 B2 Hereinafter Dogruoz) teaches all the limitations and their specifics as rejected in the office action above.
However Puffer in view of Dogruoz fail to disclose does not establish a second heat dissipation cavity on the first side spaced apart from the potting cavity as in claim 3, or first and second retaining walls on the first side defining that second heat dissipation cavity with the potting cavity on the far side of the first retaining wall as in claim 4.
Puffer in view of Dogruoz and Poplawski does not establish the first limiting body sandwiched between the circuit assembly and the housing assembly and forming a seal, the second limiting body on the housing assembly spaced from the circuit assembly to form the claimed potting opening, and the potting body at that opening submerged beyond an edge of the circuit assembly facing the first side, as in claim 7.
Puffer in view of Dogruoz does not establish an isolation body forming a seal between the light guide component and the circuit board, as required by claims 10 and 11, or the remaining recited pairwise isolation-body seals of claim 10 as required by the claim and there is no motivation absent the applicant' s own disclosure, to modify Puffer in view of Dogruoz reference in the manner required by the claims.
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Son et al. (US 2024/0288641 A1) teaches injecting UV-curable encapsulant around an optical assembly while keeping the optical path free of liquid; it is listed and is not applied. Shah et al. (US 2023/0078166 A1) teaches openings (212, 312, Figs. 2-3, paragraph 0034-0035 and 0042) through a transceiver housing and optical-port housing for immersion coolant, but does not establish the first-side second heat dissipation cavity spaced from a potting cavity or the retaining-wall arrangement of claims 3 and 4. Hubner (US 7,303,340 B2) teaches a transparent sealing compound in a transmitter-to-waveguide coupling space (col. 3, lines 31-40 and 50-61) and is not applied to claims 10 and 11. Nakanishi et al. (US 6,655,856 B2) teaches partitioned inner and outer resins with barriers. Kato et al. (US 6,457,877 B2) teaches optical-module resin packaging. Du et al. (US 11,631,960 B2) teaches an optical module housing with a circuit board and photonic chip. Pindl et al. (US 2014/0014995 A1) teaches a gas-tight cavity around a semiconductor chip. Fujimura et al. (US 11,733,467 B2) teaches potting transmissive resin between a device and a lens. Edwards et al. (US 11,249,264 B2) teaches optical-module housing apertures for thermal management.
Conclusion
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/ERIC T EIDE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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