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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species I, claims 1-13, 20 and 23 in the reply filed on July 10, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Claims 14-19, 21, 22, 24 and 25 are withdrawn.
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, 20, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Holt et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2022/0022295) in view of Brown et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2006/0087634).
Regarding claims 1, 20, 23, Holt et al. disclose (Fig. 1) a method, a system and an illumination source comprising: a laser sustained plasma light source (102; [0034]) configured to generate a broadband light beam; a detector (122); a set of optics comprising an adjustable reflector (112), wherein the adjustable reflector is configured to receive and reflect the broadband light beam emitted from the laser sustained plasma light source. Holt et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the detector is configured to detect a brightness distribution of the broadband light beam emitted by the laser sustained plasma light source along one or more directions and one or more controllers communicatively coupled to the detector and the adjustable reflector and configured to: acquire, via the detector, and direct one or more feedback adjustments of the adjustable reflector based on the one or more signals. Brown et al. teach (Fig. 1) a detector (120) is configured to detect a brightness distribution of a beam emitted by a light source along one or more directions and one or more controllers (inherent in feedback loop) communicatively coupled to the detector and an adjustable reflector (124) and configured to: acquire, via the detector, and direct one or more feedback adjustments ([0033]) of the adjustable reflector based on the one or more signals. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide such a feedback system in the apparatus of Holt et al. in view of Brown et al. to improve the uniformity as taught, known and predictable.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 9-12, 20, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakai et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2017/0363876) in view of Bezel et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2021/0092826).
Regarding claims 1, 3, 9-11, 20, 23, Sakai et al. disclose (Fig. 1) a method, a system and an illumination source comprising: a light source (10) configured to generate a light beam; a detector (50) is configured to detect a brightness distribution (light intensity distribution) of the light emitted by the light source along one or more directions; a set of optics comprising an adjustable reflector (20; [0036] reflection type), wherein the adjustable reflector is configured to receive and reflect the light beam emitted from the light source; and one or more controllers (60) coupled to the detector and the adjustable reflector and configured to acquire signals via the detector and direct one or more feedback adjustments of the adjustable reflector based on the one or more signals. Saikai et al. also disclose collection optical elements (12), a diode array detector ([0039]) detecting two or more directions and wherein four photodiodes would constitute a quad diode detector as claimed. Sakai et al. do not specifically disclose the light source being a laser sustained plasma light source emitting broadband light. Bezel et al. teach (Fig. 1) a laser sustained plasma light source (100) emitting broadband light. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide such a laser sustained plasma light source in the apparatus and method of Sakai et al. in view of Bezel et al. to provide more robust illumination as known and predictable.
Regarding claim 12, Sakai et al. in view of Bezel et al. disclose the claimed invention a set forth above. Sakai et al. and Bezel et a. do not disclose a PID controller. However, PID controllers are well known in the art. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to use PID controllers in the apparatus of Sakai et al. in view of Bezel et al. to cost-effectively and simply implement a feedback control with PID controllers as known and predictable.
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakai et al. in view of Bezel et al., further in view of Murakami et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2023/0367230).
Regarding claims 6-8, Sakai et al. view of Bezel et al. disclose the claimed invention as set forth above. Sakai et al. and Bezel et al. disclose a spatial light modulator and do not disclose an aimable reflector, deformable mirror reflector or DMD as claimed. Murakami et al. teach ([0148]) a spatial light modulator may be replaced with a DMD. The DMD being an aimable reflector or deformable mirror reflector as claimed. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide a DMD in the apparatus of Sakai et al. in view of Bezel et al. and Murakami et al. to substitute a reflective equivalent for a desired reflective configuration as known and predictable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 5, 13 are 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.
Conclusion
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/THANH LUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878
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