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 .
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)(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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (US Publication 2023/0028676; IDS dated 03/28/2025 US Publication Cite No. 1; hereinafter Huang).
With regards to claim 1, Huang discloses a method for remotely monitoring an optical fiber cable route, the method comprising:
performing, by a field technician, a field survey including the introduction of mechanical disturbances at one or more locations along the optical fiber cable route ([0043]);
sending, by a mobile device co-located with the field technician, current global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the mobile device and noise recordings of the mechanical disturbances to a pairing system located in a central office ([0041]);
correlating, by the pairing system, acoustic signals in the noise recordings and vibration signals collected by a distributed fiber optic sensing system (DFOS) ([0042, 0044]);
determining, a precise location of the optical fiber cable affected by the mechanical disturbances ([0044]).
With regards to claim 2, Huang discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising: pairing fiber distance data from a DFOS waterfall analysis with the GPS coordinates ([0044]).
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Iwano et al. (US Publication 2025/0003791; hereinafter Iwano).
With regards to claim 1, Iwano discloses a method for remotely monitoring an optical fiber cable route, the method comprising:
performing, by a field technician, a field survey including the introduction of mechanical disturbances at one or more locations along the optical fiber cable route (10; S21-S22; [0078]);
sending, by a mobile device co-located with the field technician, current global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the mobile device and noise recordings of the mechanical disturbances to a pairing system located in a central office (including 26; [0085]);
correlating, by the pairing system, acoustic signals in the noise recordings and vibration signals collected by a distributed fiber optic sensing system (DFOS) ([0043]);
determining, a precise location of the optical fiber cable affected by the mechanical disturbances ([0073]).
With regards to claim 2, Iwano discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising: pairing fiber distance data from a DFOS waterfall analysis with the GPS coordinates ([0073, 0078-0079]).
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 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US Publication 2023/0028676; IDS dated 03/28/2025 US Publication Cite No. 1; hereinafter Huang) in view of Perron (US Publication 2025/0076152).
With regards to claim 3, Huang teaches the system of claim 2. However, Huang is silent regarding wherein the mobile device is configured to provide step-by-step instructions to the field technician for a testing procedure to be followed.
Perron teaches a system and method for testing connectivity of a fiber optic cable (abstract). Perron further teaches wherein the mobile device is configured to provide step-by-step instructions to the field technician for a testing procedure to be followed ([0035]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the system and method of providing instructions to the field technician as taught by Perron to the system and method and taught by Huang with reasonable expectation of providing instructions and/or testing procedures to the technician for testing purposes ([0035]; Perron).
With regards to claim 4, Huang, as combined with Perron, teaches the system of claim 3 wherein the mobile device communicates with the DFOS system using 4G/5G signals ([0044]; Huang).
With regards to claim 5, Huang, as combined with Perron, teaches the system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide a plurality of survey modes including pole mode, hand hole mode, and ground mode, each mode indicative of a location to which the mechanical disturbance is applied ([0065]; Huang).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG X.L NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/QXN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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