Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAILED ACTION
Amendment
The amendment filed on 09/25/2026 has been entered into this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Oostman, JR. et al. (2003/0048539 A1, Applicant cited reference) in view of Sorin et al. (WO2013032474, using Published asUS2014/0219606 A1, previously cited reference).
Regarding claim 1, Oostman discloses a flow cytometer included in analytical instruments for light analysis (figs. 1-15) comprising:
a light source laser 11/ lasers 52 and 54 arranged to illuminate a stream of particles flow cell 41/flow stream 78/103/flow channel 109 in a viewing zone;
objective lens 19 and/or light collector 111 collect and collimate the fluorescent signal from the target substance is/are a collecting optical element configured to collect and focus fluorescent light emitted by a particle illuminated by the light source laser 11/ lasers 52 and 54; and
a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) plurality of dichroic mirror and/or combination of dichroic mirrors 25-44 configured to separate into color bands the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element, the WDM including:
a row of mirrors the combination of dichroic mirrors 25-44 arranged and configured to sequentially reflect different color bands of the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element;
a row of dichroic filters (each of the dichroic mirror(s) also includes an optical filter that reflects some wavelengths (colors) of light and transmits others), inherently opposed to the row of mirrors, each of the dichroic filters configured to pass one color band of the fluorescent light reflected by a mirror in the row of mirrors, and to reflect another color band of the fluorescent light reflected by the mirror; and
a row of semiconductor detectors a plurality of photodetector(s) a respective detector cluster 124, 126, 128 and 130 which houses an array of detectors) (Oostman, claim 14), each of the semiconductor detectors arranged and configured to detect and quantitate the band of fluorescent light passing through a dichroic filter in the row of dichroic filters from (each of the dichroic mirror(s) also includes an optical filter that reflects some wavelengths (colors) of light and transmits others).
Oostman fail to explicitly specify the shape of the mirrors in the row of mirrors as being either curved mirrors or the row of mirrors including at least one curved mirror.
Sorin from the same field of endeavor teaches constructional/structural changes of the mirrors in the row of mirrors as being either curved mirrors or the row of mirrors including at least one curved mirror is known in the art (Sorin, fig. 4) [par. 0043]) in order to focus the beams of light or re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter (i.e. dichroic splitter) and/or compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, since it has been held that the provision of adjustability, where needed, involves only routine skill in the art, In re Stevens, 101 USPQ 284 (CC1954).
As to claim 2, Oostman when modified by Sorin, Oostman also discloses a row of focusing optical elements plurality of focusing elements (i.e. 168, 158) in each of detector(s) leg(s)(160, 170, 180, 189, 179,169,159) [pars. 0031-32], each of the focusing optical elements in the row of focusing optical elements arranged and configured to focus the band of fluorescent light passing through a dichroic filter in the row of dichroic filters onto the corresponding semiconductor detector, as can be seen in depicted drawing (fig. 5).
Claims 3-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Oostman, JR. et al. (2003/0048539 A1, Applicant cited reference) in view of Sorin et al. (WO2013032474, using Published asUS2014/0219606 A1, previously cited reference) or He et al. (7,212,343 B1, previously cited reference).
As to claims 3-8, Oostman further discloses wherein the row of mirrors (i.e. beam splitting element 151 which is a dichroic mirror) configured to form an image in the fluorescent light reflected by the mirror [pars. 0031-32], wherein the image formed by the mirror is an image of a collimating optical element by objective lens 19 that is placed across axis 24 to collect and collimate the fluorescent that is arranged to receive the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element and configured to collimate the fluorescent light.
Oostman fail to explicitly specify the shape of the row of mirrors includes at least one curved mirror (claims 3-4). Further, Oostman fail to teaches the constructional/structural change differences as that claimed by Applicants claims 5-8, such as; wherein the row of mirrors and row of dichroic filters are arranged such that fluorescent light received by the WDM is reflected back and forth between the row of mirrors and the row of dichroic filters in a zig-zag pattern (claim 5); wherein the WDM further comprises: an additional dichroic filter configured to: pass one color band of the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element to a first mirror in the row of mirrors; and reflect another color band of the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element to a first mirror in the row of mirrors; and an additional semiconductor conductor arranged and configured to detect and quantitate the band of fluorescent light passing through the additional dichroic filter (claim 6); wherein: the WDM further comprises a collimating optical element that is arranged to receive the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element, the collimating optical element configured to collimate the fluorescent light; and the additional dichroic filter is arranged to receive the fluorescent light after the fluorescent light has passed through the collimating optical element (claim 7); and wherein each of the mirrors in the row of mirrors is concave (claim 8).
Sorin or He from the same field of endeavor teaches of constructional/structural changes such as claimed by Applicant’s claim(s) 1, as applied to claims 3-8, is/are known in the art in order to recollimated the beam as travels through the splitter(s)/filter(s) and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors. Sorin teaches of a WDM demultiplexer, and/or partially reflective, comprises/comprising collimating mirrors 448 are curved reflecting mirrors (i.e. concave) to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter 430. The collimating mirrors 448 may compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction Sorin (Sorin, [par. 0043] (fig. 4)) or He teaches of compact multiplexer WDM comprises/comprising a/one concave mirror 316 that reflects the beam to the next filter for further demultiplexing till all remaining wavelengths are respectively coupled out, the concave mirror 316 is to compensate the tilting error propagation commonly seen in the prior art modules, for example, in FIG. 3 and 7 (fig. 7: 702) He, (He, col. 5, lines 2-24; and lines 62-col. 6, lines 7) in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, as applied to claims 3-8, in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin or He in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
As to claims 9-12, Oostman further discloses wherein the row of mirrors (i.e. beam splitting element 151 which is a dichroic mirror) configured to form an image in the fluorescent light reflected by the mirror [pars. 0031-32], wherein the image formed by the mirror is an image of a collimating optical element by objective lens 19 that is placed across axis 24 to collect and collimate the fluorescent that is arranged to receive the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element and configured to collimate the fluorescent light, and a plurality of photodetector(s) a respective detector cluster 124, 126, 128 and 130 which houses an array of detectors.
Oostman fail to teaches the constructional/structural change differences as that claimed by Applicants claims 9-12, such as; further comprising an optical fiber optically disposed between the collecting optical element and the WDM, the optical fiber arranged and configured to deliver the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element to the WDM (claim 9); wherein: each of the semiconductor detectors in the row of semiconductor detectors comprises an avalanche photodiode; and the additional semiconductor detector comprises an avalanche photodiode (claim10); wherein the WDM further comprises: a row of focusing optical elements, each of the focusing optical elements in the row of focusing optical elements arranged and configured to focus the band of fluorescent light passing through a dichroic filter in the row of dichroic filters to a spot onto the corresponding semiconductor detector in the row of semiconductor detectors; and an additional focusing optical element arranged and configured to focus the band of fluorescent light passing through the additional dichroic filter to a spot onto the additional semiconductor detector (claim 11); and wherein: for each of the focusing optical elements in the row of focusing optical elements, the spot has a diameter that is smaller than a diameter of a core of the optical fiber; and for the additional focusing optical element, the spot has a diameter that is smaller than a diameter of a core of the optical fiber.
With regards detector(s), even though Oostman fail to disclose the type of photodetector used in the system as being avalanche photodiodes (APDs), since he does not limit the photodetector to be used, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to choose any suitable photodetector for the intended application, since avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is photodetector, and the propose modification of the prior art would not change the principle of operation of the prior art invention being modified.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the recited type of photodetector in view of the feature is merely a variation in design and the results would have been predictable. Further, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to choose any suitable photodetector for the intended application, such as, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim(s), since avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is a photodetector, and it has been held that the provision of adjustability, where needed, involves only routine skill in the art, In re Stevens, 101 USPQ 284 (CC1954).
Furthermore, Oostman fail to explicitly specify the bending mirror(s) constructional/structural change(s) is/are included in the multiplexer(s) (WDMs), such as, one or more mirrors, wherein: each of the one or more mirrors comprises at least one reflective surface; at least one of the reflective surface(s) of the one or more mirrors is concave; and the reflective surface(s) of the one or more mirrors are configured to: receive light reflected by a filter of the plurality of filters; and reflect light to another filter of the plurality of filters.
Sorin or He from the same field of endeavor teaches of constructional/structural changes such as claimed by Applicant’s claim(s) 1, as applied to claims 9-12 is/are known in the art in order to recollimated the beam as travels through the splitter(s)/filter(s) and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors. Sorin teaches of a WDM demultiplexer, optical fibers may be used for communication of signals [pars. 0001-12] (figs. 1-9), and/or partially reflective, comprises/comprising collimating mirrors 448 are curved reflecting mirrors (i.e. concave) to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter 430. The collimating mirrors 448 may compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction Sorin (Sorin, [par. 0043] (fig. 4)) or He teaches of compact multiplexer WDM comprises/comprising fiber(s) used for communication protocols (col.1, lines 15-22, lines 29-39), a/one concave mirror 316 that reflects the beam to the next filter for further demultiplexing till all remaining wavelengths are respectively coupled out, the concave mirror 316 is to compensate the tilting error propagation commonly seen in the prior art modules, for example, in FIG. 3 and 7 (fig. 7: 702) He, (He, col. 5, lines 2-24; and lines 62-col. 6, lines 7) in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, as applied to claims 9-12 in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin or He in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
As to claims 13-15, Oostman further discloses wherein the row of mirrors (i.e. beam splitting element 151 which is a dichroic mirror) configured to form an image in the fluorescent light reflected by the mirror [pars. 0031-32], wherein the image formed by the mirror is an image of a collimating optical element by objective lens 19 that is placed across axis 24 to collect and collimate the fluorescent that is arranged to receive the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element and configured to collimate the fluorescent light, and a plurality of photodetector(s) a respective detector cluster 124, 126, 128 and 130 which houses an array of detectors.
Oostman fail to teaches the constructional/structural change differences as that claimed by Applicants claims 13-15, such as; wherein: for each of the focusing optical elements in the row of focusing optical elements, the diameter of the spot is less than 1 mm; and for the additional focusing optical element, the diameter of the spot is less than 1 mm (claim 13); wherein: each of the focusing optical elements in the row of focusing optical elements comprises a singlet lens; and the additional focusing optical element comprises a singlet lens (claim 14); and wherein the collimating optical element comprises a doublet lens (claim 15).
Sorin or He from the same field of endeavor teaches of constructional/structural changes such as claimed by Applicant’s claim(s) 1, as applied to claims 13-15 is/are known in the art in order to recollimated the beam as travels through the splitter(s)/filter(s) and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors. Sorin teaches of a WDM demultiplexer, optical fibers may be used for communication of signals [pars. 0001-12] (figs. 1-9), and/or partially reflective, comprises/comprising collimating mirrors 448 are curved reflecting mirrors (i.e. concave) to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter 430. The collimating mirrors 448 may compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction Sorin (Sorin, [par. 0043] (fig. 4)) and Sorin also teaches that optical components associated with propagating and/or manipulating signals, optical components including receivers, demultiplexers, splitters, connectors, lenses, and the like (Sorin, [par. 0012]) or He teaches of compact multiplexer WDM comprises/comprising fiber(s) used for communication protocols (col.1, lines 15-22, lines 29-39), a/one concave mirror 316 that reflects the beam to the next filter for further demultiplexing till all remaining wavelengths are respectively coupled out, the concave mirror 316 is to compensate the tilting error propagation commonly seen in the prior art modules, for example, in FIG. 3 and 7 (fig. 7: 702) He, (He, col. 5, lines 2-24; and lines 62-col. 6, lines 7) in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, as applied to claims 13-15 in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin or He in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
As to claims 16-20, Oostman further discloses wherein the row of mirrors (i.e. beam splitting element 151 which is a dichroic mirror) configured to form an image in the fluorescent light reflected by the mirror [pars. 0031-32], wherein the image formed by the mirror is an image of a collimating optical element by objective lens 19 that is placed across axis 24 to collect and collimate the fluorescent that is arranged to receive the fluorescent light collected by the collecting optical element and configured to collimate the fluorescent light, and a plurality of photodetector(s) a respective detector cluster 124, 126, 128 and 130 which houses an array of detectors; and that lens is seen to comprise (a) a nearly hemispheric plano-convex crown glass lens [par. 0043].
Oostman fail to teaches the constructional/structural change differences as that claimed by Applicants claims 16-20, such as; wherein the row of mirrors and row of dichroic filters are arranged such that fluorescent light received by the WDM is reflected back and forth between the row of mirrors and the row of dichroic filters in a zig-zag pattern (claim 16); wherein: the WDM further comprises a block comprising a first surface; and each of the dichroic filters in the row of dichroic filters is coupled to the first surface of the block (claim 17); wherein the first surface of the block is flat (claim 18); wherein each of the dichroic filters in the row of dichroic filters has a coated surface that is parallel to the first surface of the block (claim 19); and wherein the block comprises glass (claim 20).
Sorin or He from the same field of endeavor teaches of constructional/structural changes such as claimed by Applicant’s claim(s) 1, as applied to claims 16-20 is/are known in the art in order to recollimated the beam as travels through the splitter(s)/filter(s) and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors. Sorin teaches of a WDM demultiplexer, optical fibers may be used for communication of signals [pars. 0001-12] (figs. 1-9), and/or partially reflective, comprises/comprising collimating mirrors 448 are curved reflecting mirrors (i.e. concave) to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter 430. The collimating mirrors 448 may compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction Sorin (Sorin, [par. 0043] (fig. 4)) and Sorin also teaches that optical components associated with propagating and/or manipulating signals, optical components including receivers, demultiplexers, splitters, connectors, lenses, and the like (Sorin, [par. 0012]) or He teaches of compact multiplexer WDM comprises/comprising fiber(s) used for communication protocols (col.1, lines 15-22, lines 29-39), a/one concave mirror 316 that reflects the beam to the next filter for further demultiplexing till all remaining wavelengths are respectively coupled out, the concave mirror 316 is to compensate the tilting error propagation commonly seen in the prior art modules, for example, in FIG. 3 and 7 (fig. 7: 702) He, (He, col. 5, lines 2-24; and lines 62-col. 6, lines 7) in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Oostman with the constructional/structural change(s) above, in the manner set forth in applicant's claim 1, as applied to claims 16-20 in view of the teaching(s) of Sorin or He in order to re-collimate the beam as travels through the splitter/filter as the concave mirror(s) compensate for beam divergence, e.g., caused by diffraction, as per teachings of Sorin and/or in order to compensate the filter tilting errors and in order to minimize errors and corrected immediately the tilting errors, in other words, positional and angular errors generated by any prior filter tilting are completely compensated for all following channels through the oblate spheroid concave mirror array, as per teachings of He.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments/remarks, filed on 09/25/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new ground(s) of rejection(s) because the claims invention is broad enough to read individually on each of the references.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Isiaka Akanbi whose telephone number is (571) 272-8658. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tarifur R. Chowdhury can be reached on (571) 272-2287. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/ISIAKA O AKANBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
