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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 11/08/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN 2024115995586 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it contains less than 50 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 made.
Claims 1, 2, 4-12, 14-17, 19-27, 29, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahni et al. (2025/0216626) in view of Shi et al. (2016/0025932).
Regarding claim 1, Sahni discloses a shortwave optical module (at least Figures 5A and 9), said module comprising: a glass platform (1302, glass substrate, 1304, upper glass substrate); one or more glass spacers (512, transparent spacer, 524, transparent spacer; [0090]); a light collimation module (at least 516, lens; [0091]); a light reflection module (at least 520, reflector); and one or more glass lens arrays (534, 536, lenses).
Sahni fails to teach wherein the light reflection module is made of glass. Sahni and Shi are related because both teach an optical module.
Shi teaches an optical module wherein a light reflection module is made of glass (at least Figure 1 depicts a glass substrate utilized for 100, optical coupling device).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Shi and provide the light reflection module to be made of glass. Doing so would allow for improved optical and mechanical performance while maintaining high precision and mass production uniformity.
Regarding claim 2, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said glass comprises monocrystalline silicon, fused silica, fused quartz, polymer glass, or a glass-like transparent material with a refractive index similar to glass ([0090, 0107]).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said light collimating module comprises an optical fiber array (514, fiber array unit), a lens array (534, 536, lenses), a spacer (512, transparent spacer), and an optional air gap.
Regarding claim 5, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said light collimation module may comprise a light splitting module, a light shrinking module, or a light deflection module (522, polarizing beam splitter, which may be considered as a light splitting module, 534, 536, lenses, which may be considered as a light shrinking module because they focus the beams, [0092], or 520, reflector, which may be considered as a light deflection module).
Regarding claim 6, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 5, wherein said light splitting module comprises a Z-block (Examiner notes that claim 5 recites "may comprise", thus all limitations provided after the clause are considered as optional).
Regarding claim 7, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 5, wherein said light shrinking module comprises a plurality of wedge modules and/or curved lenses (Examiner notes that claim 5 recites "may comprise", thus all limitations provided after the clause are considered as optional).
Regarding claim 8, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 5, wherein said light deflection module comprises an oblique parallelogram prism (Examiner notes that claim 5 recites "may comprise", thus all limitations provided after the clause are considered as optional).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 5, wherein said one or more glass lens arrays comprise a plurality of lenses (534, 536, lenses).
Regarding claim 10, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said one or more glass lens arrays are made using high-precision cold processing, a polymer on glass imprinting process, a molding process, an embossing process, or an etching process (Examiner notes that the claim recites a process of manufacturing in an apparatus claim, and therefore the process is not given patentable weight).
Regarding claim 11, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said glass light reflection module comprises one or more rhombic prisms, a right-angle prism, a diamond-shaped prism, or a trapezoidal prism (Figure 5A depicts 520, reflector, to be a right-angle prism).
Regarding claim 12, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said glass light reflection module comprises one or more anti-reflective coatings (Shi: at least Figure 3, Abstract teaches an anti-reflection coating layer disposed on the first lens and the second lens, which are disposed on the prism that reflects light).
Regarding claim 14, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said shortwave optical module comprises a light deflection module operable to vertically align a plurality of light beams at the output of said light deflection module (at least 520, reflector, is interpreted to vertically align the plurality of light beams from 516, lens, to 503b, optical signal).
Regarding claim 15, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, wherein said shortwave optical module comprises a trapezoidal prism operable as beam splitter for an incident light beam (for exemplary purposes because the elements are labeled and described in the text, Figure 13A, 1710, trapezoidal plate, and 1708, wedge prism, [0112] teach these two elements form a polarizing beam splitter, which is viewed to be analogous to element 522, polarizing beam splitter).
Regarding claim 16, Sahni discloses a method of fabricating a shortwave optical module (at least Figures 5A and 9), said method comprising: providing a glass platform (1302, glass substrate, 1304, upper glass substrate); coupling one or more glass spacers to said glass platform (512, transparent spacer, 524, transparent spacer; [0090]); coupling a light collimation module to said glass platform (at least 516, lens; [0091]); coupling a glass light reflection module to said glass platform (at least 520, reflector); and generating on said glass platform one or more glass lens arrays, or coupling to said glass platform one or more glass lens arrays (534, 536, lenses).
Sahni fails to teach wherein the light reflection module is made of glass. Sahni and Shi are related because both teach a method of fabricating an optical module.
Shi teaches a method of fabricating an optical module wherein a light reflection module is made of glass (at least Figure 1 depicts a glass substrate utilized for 100, optical coupling device).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Shi and provide the light reflection module to be made of glass. Doing so would allow for improved optical and mechanical performance while maintaining high precision and mass production uniformity.
Regarding claim 17, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising using monocrystalline silicon, fused silica, fused quartz, polymer glass, or a glass-like transparent material with a refractive index similar to glass for said glass ([0090, 0107]).
Regarding claim 19, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising forming said light collimating module from an optical fiber array (514, fiber array unit), a lens array (534, 536, lenses), a spacer (512, transparent spacer), and an optional air gap.
Regarding claim 20, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising forming said light collimation module from a light splitting module, a light shrinking module, and/or a light deflection module (522, polarizing beam splitter, which may be considered as a light splitting module, 534, 536, lenses, which may be considered as a light shrinking module because they focus the beams, [0092], or 520, reflector, which may be considered as a light deflection module).
Regarding claim 21, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 20, comprising employing a Z-block in said light splitting module (Examiner notes that claim 20 recites the elements in the alternative by utilizing "or", thus the other two elements may be considered as teaching the limitation).
Regarding claim 22, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 20, comprising employing a plurality of wedge modules and/or curved lenses in said light shrinking module (534, 536, lenses).
Regarding claim 23, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 20, comprising employing an oblique parallelogram prism in said light deflection module (Examiner notes that claim 20 recites the elements in the alternative by utilizing "or", thus the other two elements may be considered as teaching the limitation).
Regarding claim 24, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 20, comprising employing a plurality of lenses in said one or more glass lens arrays (534, 536, lenses).
Regarding claim 25, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising generating said one or more glass lens arrays by high-precision cold processing, a polymer on glass imprinting process, a molding process, an embossing process, or an etching process (Shi: at least Figure 5).
Regarding claim 26, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising employing one or more rhombic prisms, a right-angle prism, a diamond-shaped prism, or a trapezoidal prism in said glass light reflection module (Figure 5A depicts 520, reflector, to be a right-angle prism).
Regarding claim 27, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising employing one or more anti-reflective coatings in said glass light reflection module (Shi: at least Figure 3, Abstract teaches an anti-reflection coating layer disposed on the first lens and the second lens, which are disposed on the prism that reflects light).
Regarding claim 29, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising employing a light deflection module operable to vertically align a plurality of light beams at the output of said light deflection module in said shortwave optical module (at least 520, reflector, is interpreted to vertically align the plurality of light beams from 516, lens, to 503b, optical signal).
Regarding claim 30, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, comprising employing a trapezoidal prism operable as beam splitter for an incident light beam in said shortwave optical module (for exemplary purposes because the elements are labeled and described in the text, Figure 13A, 1710, trapezoidal plate, and 1708, wedge prism, [0112] teach these two elements form a polarizing beam splitter, which is viewed to be analogous to element 522, polarizing beam splitter).
Claims 3 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahni et al. (2025/0216626) in view of Shi et al. (2016/0025932) as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Rudmann et al. (2013/0267273).
Regarding claim 3, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein said one or more glass spacers are made of the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays. The modified Sahni and Rudmann are related because both teach an optical module.
Rudmann teaches an optical module wherein said one or more glass spacers are made of the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays ([0056] teaches the material for L, lenses, may be the same as the material for the spacer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have further modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Rudmann and provide wherein said one or more glass spacers are made of the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays. Doing so would allow for improved efficiency in manufacturing the optical module.
Regarding claim 18, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, but fails to teach comprising making said one or more glass spacers from the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays. The modified Sahni and Rudmann are related because both teach a method of fabricating an optical module.
Rudmann teaches a method of fabricating an optical module comprising making said one or more glass spacers from the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays ([0056] teaches the material for L, lenses, may be the same as the material for the spacer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have further modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Rudmann and provide making said one or more glass spacers from the same material as at least one of said one or more lens arrays. Doing so would allow for improved efficiency in manufacturing the optical module.
Claims 13 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahni et al. (2025/0216626) in view of Shi et al. (2016/0025932) as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Hailai et al. (2019/0103919).
Regarding claim 13, the modified Sahni discloses the module of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein said shortwave optical module comprises a splitting prism, operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths. The modified Sahni and Hailai are related because both teach an optical module.
Hailai teaches an optical module wherein said shortwave optical module comprises a splitting prism, operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths (Figure 1, 160, beam splitter; [0039] teaches 160, beam splitter, may include a wavelength selective filter or a polarization filter).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have further modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Hailai and provide wherein said shortwave optical module comprises a splitting prism, operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths. Doing so would allow for additional light filtering and modulation to improve output and transmission performance.
Regarding claim 28, the modified Sahni discloses the method of claim 16, but fails to teach comprising employing a splitting prism operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths in said shortwave optical module. The modified Sahni and Hailai are related because both teach a method of fabricating an optical module.
Hailai teaches a method of fabricating an optical module comprising employing a splitting prism operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths in said shortwave optical module (Figure 1, 160, beam splitter; [0039] teaches 160, beam splitter, may include a wavelength selective filter or a polarization filter).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have further modified Sahni to incorporate the teachings of Hailai and provide a splitting prism operable to physically separate an incident light into a plurality of signals of different wavelengths in said shortwave optical module. Doing so would allow for additional light filtering and modulation to improve output and transmission performance.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bruck (2024/0369772), Lu (2022/0052511), Kurtz (2016/0147026), Ma (2016/0131861), Shi (2016/0025932), O’Brien (2011/0299811), and Grann (6,563,976) disclose relevant optical modules.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BALRAM T PARBADIA whose telephone number is (571)270-0602. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bumsuk Won can be reached at (571) 272-2713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BALRAM T PARBADIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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