DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 11/07/2024. Claims 1-15 are pending and are examined.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. EP23212876.9, filed on 11/29/2023, which papers have been placed on record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/07/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claims 1 and 12, each limitation has to be ended with a semicolon except for the last limitation of the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Notes on Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitations are: “An optical terminal for quantum communication “a first terminal unit configured to receive”, “a second terminal unit configured to receive”, “a connecting part configured to communicate”, “a beam corrector placed on the respective first and second optical axis and configured to correct”, “a steering system configured to adjust” and “a coupling portion for coupling”, in claim 1, “a fiber coupling unit configured to couple” in claim 2, “wherein the optical fiber is an optical relay fiber connected to the coupling portions of the first terminal unit and the second terminal unit and configured to optically” in claim 3, “an entangled photon source configured to emit” in claim 6, “wherein the coupling portion comprises a position sensitive detector arranged and configured to detect” and “wherein the coupling system further comprises a controller configured to control” in claim 12 and “wherein the connecting part comprises a free space optical steering device configured to guide” in claim 14.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claims 1-3, 6, 12 and 14 are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
Such structure is being described by the drawing Figs. 3A- 3D and 4 and columns 13-14 of the description.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
(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, 7, 9-10 and 14-15, are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being unpatentable over Iqbal et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 12,476,705 B2, referred to as Iqbal).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Iqbal teaches:
An optical terminal for quantum communication (Iqbal: Fig. 1; C4, ln 5-39, “As shown in FIG. 1, Satellite based quantum key distribution (SQKD) system 1 comprises a satellite 2 and an optical ground receiver (OGR) 3 at a ground station. During a QKD session, the satellite 2 acts as a transmitter, and sends a quantum laser beam 4 comprising encoded photons down to the OGR 3, which acts as a receiver”; Figs 3A-3D; Fig. 4; C13, ln 25-27, “FIG. 4 shows a more detailed schematic diagram of a satellite 2 arranged to carry out quantum beam alignment according to the method of FIGS. 3A to 3D.”), the optical terminal comprising:
a first terminal unit configured to receive, or transmit, or receive and transmit a first optical signal beam from or to a first target terminal and having a first optical axis (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 26; C13, ln 54-67 - C14, ln 1-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”),
a second terminal unit configured to receive, or transmit, or receive and transmit a second optical signal beam from, or to, or from and to a second target terminal and having a second optical axis (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 3, (EN: Ground station), and
a connecting part configured to communicate with the first terminal unit and the second terminal unit (Iqbal: Fig. 2; Fig. 4, Items 4-6; C6, ln 1-6, “The satellite 2 comprises an optical terminal 10 incorporating an optical telescope, and having a coarse pointing system and a fine pointing system able to direct the optical telescope. The optical telescope is used by the satellite 2 to transmit the quantum laser beam 4 and the downlink laser beam 5, and to receive the uplink laser beam 6”),
wherein each of the first and second terminal units comprises:
a telescope provided on the respective first and second optical axis to collimate the respective first and second signal beams (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 28, (EN: Telescope assembly); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”),
a beam corrector placed on the respective first and second optical axis and configured to correct the respective first and second optical signals beam over a predetermined field of view of the telescope (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 30, (EN: Fine pointing assembly); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”),
a steering system configured to adjust a propagation direction of the first and second optical signal beams to the respective first and second optical axis (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 29, (EN: Coarse pointing assembly); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”), and
a coupling portion for coupling the respective first and second optical signal beams to the connecting part (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 27, (EN: Tx/Rx optics); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”).
Regarding claim 15, Iqbal further teaches:
A method for quantum communication (Iqbal: Figs 3A-3D; Fig. 5, C15, ln 3-6, “FIG. 5 shows a more detailed schematic diagram of a closed loop compensation system 50 to correct for misalignment and/or pointing offset of the quantum beam 4 according to the method of FIGS. 3A to 3D.”).
Regarding claim 7, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal further teaches:
wherein the beam corrector comprises a liquid crystal modulator, a deformable mirror, or a set of interchangeable phase plates (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 30, (EN: Fine pointing assembly); C6, ln 20-47, “The pointing of the optical telescope may, for example, be adjusted using beam steering mirrors of the optical terminal 10. In some examples, the pointing of the optical telescope may be adjusted to point to an anticipated future position of the OGR 3, based on the known orbital path of the satellite 2, rather than the current position, in order to allow for time delays in the closed loop. This is commonly referred to as a point ahead approach. In some examples a separate point ahead mechanism may be used to apply this adjustment.”).
Regarding claim 9, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal further teaches:
wherein the beam corrector is placed downstream the telescope with respect to an incoming first or second optical signal beam from the first or second target terminal a telescope provided on the respective first and second optical axis to collimate the respective first and second signal beams (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 28, (EN: Telescope assembly); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”).
Regarding claim 10, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal further teaches:
wherein the beam corrector is placed inside the telescope (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 29, (EN: Coarse pointing assembly); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”).
Regarding claim 14, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal further teaches:
wherein the connecting part comprises a free space optical steering device configured to guide the first optical signal beam onto the second optical axis, or the second optical signal beam onto the first optical axis, or both (Iqbal: Fig. 4, Item 27, (EN: Tx/Rx optics); C14, ln 4-7, “The optical terminal 26 comprises transmit/receive optics 27, a telescope assembly 28, and a coarse pointing assembly 29. Further, the optical terminal 26 comprises a fine pointing assembly 30, which may include a point ahead mechanism.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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.
Claims 2-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iqbal, in view of Richdate et al. (Wipo application No. WO2020233988 A1, referred to as Richdate).
Regarding claim 2, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal does not explicitly disclose, however Richdate teaches:
wherein the coupling portion comprises a fiber coupling unit configured to couple the respective first and second optical signal beams into an optical fiber of the connecting part (Richdate: Fig. 3, P7, “ In this embodiment, the OGS 220 is preferably located at an optimal location such as at high altitude and away from an urban center for maximizing the signal quality. The transmitter station 220 contains a telescope 130 and a fiber coupling 140 for directing the free-space received optical signal into an optical fiber 400 without processing it. As shown, the transmitter station 220 is connected to a remote QKD Receiving Station 250 supporting a QKD receiver 160 via a fiber link 400, which is directly connected to the QKD receiver 160 where the QKD receiver is preferably located far away, such as 30 km or more, from the transmitter station.”).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Iqbal by Richdate and use a fiber with a predetermined length permitting avoiding a trusted node requirement for a transmitter station to guarantee the security and the high quality of the quantum keys. (Richdate: P7).
Regarding claim 3, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 2, as outlined above.
Iqbal does not explicitly disclose, however Richdate teaches:
wherein the optical fiber is an optical relay fiber connected to the coupling portions of the first terminal unit and the second terminal unit and configured to optically connect the first terminal unit and the second terminal unit to each other (Richdate: Fig. 3, P7, “ In this embodiment, the OGS 220 is preferably located at an optimal location such as at high altitude and away from an urban center for maximizing the signal quality. The transmitter station 220 contains a telescope 130 and a fiber coupling 140 for directing the free-space received optical signal into an optical fiber 400 without processing it. As shown, the transmitter station 220 is connected to a remote QKD Receiving Station 250 supporting a QKD receiver 160 via a fiber link 400, which is directly connected to the QKD receiver 160 where the QKD receiver is preferably located far away, such as 30 km or more, from the transmitter station.”).
Same motivation as claim 2.
Regarding claim 4, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 2, as outlined above.
Iqbal further teaches:
wherein the first optical signal beam, or the second optical signal beam, or both comprises a QKD signal of a first wavelength and a beacon signal of a second wavelength different from the first wavelength (Iqbal: Figs C5, ln 4-63, “This information exchange may be encoded onto classical lasers also transmitted between the satellite and ground station. Such lasers must also be precisely pointed to reduce signal loss to the ground. It is not feasible in practice for individual optical terminals to be built for each separate laser with independent pointing mechanisms, both for cost and payload/space reasons, and because of interference and cross talk between the different pointing mechanisms. Hence, multiple lasers with different characteristics (such as wavelength, polarisation, etc.) must be precisely co-aligned and pointed to the ground station through a single optical terminal.”).
Regarding claim 5, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 2, as outlined above.
Iqbal does not explicitly disclose, however Richdate teaches:
wherein the optical fiber is a single mode-fiber (Richdate: P7- P8, “Typically, to enable long-distance distribution, the fiber 400 should be a Single Mode Fiber (SMF), and the light should be at a wavelength corresponding to a low- loss window in the fiber, typically the O-band (around 1310 nm) or the C-band (around 1550 nm). Due to atmospheric disturbances, the wavefront of the light arriving at the transmitter station 220 is distorted. Distortions also evolve in time. Therefore, in order to couple it into a SMF, adaptive optics are preferred.”).
Same motivation as claim 2.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iqbal, in view of Ladd (U.S. Pat. No. 9,787,409 B1, referred to as Ladd).
Regarding claim 8, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal does not explicitly disclose, however Ladd teaches:
wherein the beam corrector is configured as a stacked amplitude-phase corrector plate (Ladd: C8, ln 3-12, “In embodiments in which the multi-channel FSO WDM system 100 utilizes quantum communication protocols based on differential phase shift keying, the spatial light modulator 114 may perform phase modulation. However, embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto, and in some examples, the spatial light modulator 114 may perform amplitude modulation. In other examples, a coherent state amplitude and phase modulator may be used, which may enable even higher data rates than achievable by phase modulation alone.”).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Iqbal by Ladd to use an amplitude and phase modulator in order to enable higher data rates compared to the use of a phase modulator.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iqbal, in view of Hutchin (U.S Pub. No. 2011/0,176,565, referred to as Hutchin).
Regarding claim 11, Iqbal teaches all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Iqbal does not explicitly disclose, however Hutchin teaches:
wherein the steering system comprises a coarse steering system and a fine steering system, wherein the fine steering system is configured as a Risley Prism (R) (Hutchin: Fig. 3; Fig. 4; ¶ 0030; ¶ 0033- ¶ 0034, “FIG. 3 illustrates a single transmitter aperture 400 for the multi-beam transmitter array 110. The phase modulated beamlet 246 is directed through a series of lenses 482 and reflected off a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) 432. A fast steering mirror (FSM) 430 is included for fine steering control, and a Risley prism pair 410, which is oriented using two rotation stages 420, is included for coarse steering control of the emitted beamlet.”).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Iqbal by Hutchin and use a Risley prism pair among other needed tools for collectively implementing the steering functions for the transmit aperture. (Hutchin: ¶ 0030).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 12-13 would be allowable if they were rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, also should applicant overcome the claim objections, set forth in this office action.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for identifying allowable subject matter.
The closest prior arts made of records are, Iqbal et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 12,476,705 B2, referred to as Iqbal), Richdate et al. (Wipo application No. WO2020233988 A1, referred to as Richdate) and Ladd (U.S. Pat. No. 9,787,409 B1, referred to as Ladd).
Iqbal discloses a method of aligning a quantum laser beam with a receiver, the method including: generating a quantum laser beam and a first classical, non-quantum, laser beam at a transmitter, the quantum laser beam and the first classical laser beam being substantially aligned in direction, transmitting the quantum laser beam and the first classical laser beam and directing the quantum laser beam and first classical laser beam to a receiver.
Richdate discloses a quantum key distribution (QKD) system comprising: an emitter adapted to generate a QKD free-space signal, a transmitter station adapted to receive the free-space signal from the emitter and a remote QKD receiving station supporting a QKD receiver located at a different location than the transmitter station, wherein the transmitter station is adapted to receive said free space signal from the emitter and to forward said signal through a fiber link to the QKD receiver in said remote QKD receiving station.
Ladd discloses a multi-channel free-space optical wavelength division multiplexing system for optical quantum communication includes a transmitter configured to encode an input signal into a weak optical signal carrying quantum information, and to transmit the weak optical signal over a plurality of frequency channels in free space, each of the plurality of frequency channels corresponding to a plurality of photons of the weak optical signal, and a receiver configured to receive and decode the weak optical signal.
However, regarding claim 6, the prior art of Iqbal, Richdate and Ladd when taken in the context of the claim as a whole do not disclose nor suggest, “wherein the connecting part comprises an entangled photon source configured to emit a pair of entangled photons, wherein the entangled photon source is arranged to couple a first photon of the pair of entangled photons to the coupling portion of the first terminal unit and a second photon of the pair of entangled photons to the coupling portion of the second terminal unit.”.
Regarding claim 12, the prior art of Iqbal, Richdate and Ladd when taken in the context of the claim as a whole do not disclose nor suggest, “wherein the coupling portion comprises a position sensitive detector arranged and configured to detect a deviation of a propagation axis of the respective first and second optical signal beams from the respective first and second optical axis, wherein the coupling system further comprises a controller configured to control a deflector according to a sensed position on the position sensitive detector, and wherein the position sensitive detector is configured as a camera.”.
Claim 13 depends on claim 12, and is of consequence identified as allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: See PTO-892.
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/HASSAN SAADOUN/Examiner, Art Unit 2435
/AMIR MEHRMANESH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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