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
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 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rasras (Publication No.: US 2013/0177027 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Rasras teaches A method of processing a signal comprising: providing an optical broadband signal (reference numeral 140 in Figure 1) having a frequency bandwidth of a first size to a first input (e.g. any one of the reference numeral 240 in Figure 2) of a first optical device (reference numeral 210 in Figure 2 of AWG 110 of Figure 1), the optical broadband signal comprising a plurality of narrowband chunks (e.g. “λS1” through “λS4” in both polarizations as illustrated in Figure 1) that comprise optical signals having frequency bandwidths of different portions of the frequency bandwidth of the optical broadband signal; providing a local oscillator optical comb (LOOC) (reference numeral 135 in Figure 1) to a second input (e.g. any other one of the reference numeral 240 in Figure 2) of the first optical device (reference numeral 210 in Figure 2 of AWG 110 of Figure 1), the LOOC comprising a plurality of optical local oscillator (OLO) spectral lines at different frequencies from one another (e.g. “λLo1” through “λLo4” in both polarizations as illustrated in Figure 1); with the first optical device, capturing the optical broadband signal and the LOOC at P outputs of the first optical device (e.g. the inherent outputs of reference numeral 210 in Figure 2), where P is an integer greater than one; with each of P waveguides (reference numeral 230 in Figure 2) of an arrayed waveguide grating (reference numeral 110 in Figure 1), transmitting the optical broadband signal and the LOOC to P inputs of a second optical device (reference numeral 220 in Figure 2); with the second optical device, spatially separating the plurality of narrowband chunks to be captured by separate ones of N outputs (reference numeral 250 in Figure 2) of the second optical device, where N is an integer greater than 1, and spatially separating N OLO spectral lines to be captured by separate ones of the N outputs (reference numeral 250 in Figure 2), such that each of the N outputs captures a corresponding pair of one of the narrowband chunks and one of the OLO spectral lines (e.g. “output pairs” as in paragraph [0017]); for each of the N pairs of a narrowband chunk and an OLO spectral line captured by the N outputs of the second optical device, downconverting the spectral chunk using the corresponding OLO spectral line as an optical local oscillator for the downconversion (reference numeral 170, 180 in Figure 1).
Conclusion
This is a continuation of applicant's earlier Application No. 17/975,396. All claims are identical to, patentably indistinct from, or have unity of invention with the invention claimed in the earlier application (that is, restriction (including lack of unity) would not be proper) and could have been finally rejected on the grounds and art of record in the next Office action if they had been entered in the earlier application. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL even though it is a first action in this case. See MPEP § 706.07(b). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AGUSTIN BELLO whose telephone number is (571)272-3026. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Payne can be reached on (571)272-3024. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AGUSTIN BELLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
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