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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Information Disclosure Statement
The art submitted by Applicant has been considered by the Examiner in the same manner as other documents in Office search files are considered while conducting a search of the prior art in a proper field of search. Some of the art has been imported into SEARCH and filtered using keywords and other criteria in an attempt to determine if it is relevant. The art which cannot be imported into SEARCH has been considered by reviewing summary information, such as the title and abstract, in an attempt to determine if it is relevant.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 - Indefinite
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2, line 6, recites “the bottom side”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation. It may be that this should be “the lower side”.
Claim 2, lines 12-13, recites “interface contact being designated for a set of the interface signals ...”. It is not clear how to interpret a contact being “designated” as recited in the claim. In particular, it is not clear how this further limits the claimed structure. This term does not appear to be used in the written description, so there does not appear to be guidance in the disclosure for interpreting the scope of this term. It may be that “designating” means that there is a physical connection between particular elements through which particular signals flow, but this is not clear.
Claims 3-10 are rejected because they depend from claim 1 and fail to further limit the scope in a manner to overcome the rejection.
Claim 11, lines 3-4 recites “designating one of a plurality of electrical contacts of a connector as at least one interface contact ...”. It is not clear how to interpret “designating” or what particular method steps are within the scope of this term. See the discussion of claim 2.
Claim 11, line 11 recites:
designating the first pair of receiver contacts for a first receiver, the second pair of receiver contacts for a second receiver, the first pair of transmitter contacts for a first transmitter, and the second pair of transmitter contacts for a second receiver.
It is not clear how to interpret “designating” in this claim language. See the discussion above.
Claim 11, line 13 recites “a second receiver”. It is not clear if this is the same second receiver as was introduced in line 12 (in which case the Examiner suggests changing line 13 to “the second receiver”), or if it is a different second receiver (in which case the Examiner suggests using different terms for the different receivers).
When considering this claim in light of the teachings, it may be that “a second receiver” at the end of line 13 should be “a second transmitter”.
Claims 12-16 are rejected because they depend from claim 11 and fail to further limit the scope in a manner to overcome the rejections.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 6,942,395 (Chuan) at FIG. 3 illustrates a connector 235 having a top and bottom side and including a plurality of electrical contacts on each side. In particular, it teaches the use of one or more transmitter pins 243 coupled to the transmitter electrical component 229 and one or more receiver pins 245 which couple with the receiver electrical components 227.
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(13) Referring now to FIG. 3, an exploded view of the optical element 103, the receiver printed circuit board 250, the transmitter printed circuit board 200, a bottom frame 301, and a top frame 303 is illustrated. One or more transmitter pins 243 of the male electrical connector 235 which couple to the transmitter electrical components 229, the transmitter electrical components 229, the light transmitter 110, the interconnect leads 225 and a lens (not shown) of the optical block form one transmitting channel. The transmitter electrical components 229 control the light transmitter 110 and buffer the data signal received from a system for transmission over an optical fiber. One or more receiver pins 245 of the male electrical connector 235 which couple to the receiver electrical components 227, the receiver electrical components 227, the light receiver 111 and a lens (not shown) of the optical block form one receiving channel. The receiver electrical components 227 control the light receiver 111 and buffer the data signal received from an optical fiber. Other combinations of components can form other combinations of communications channels.
FIG. 4A illustrates another embodiment with the same or a similar connector 235.
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FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate top and bottom sides of the connector 235, showing contacts on both sides.
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FIGS. 4B and 4C illustrates that there are power contacts 461, ground contacts 460, and signal (e.g., transmitter and receiver) contacts 462. See col. 8:
(31) Referring now to FIGS. 4B and 4C, pins of the male electrical connector 235 are illustrated in detail to provide hot plugability. The male electrical connector 235 includes one or more ground or negative power pins 460, one or more positive power pins 461 and one or more signal pins 462 on top and/or bottom surfaces of the receiver printed circuit board 250. The pins 460, 461, and 462 are staggered from each other with reference to an edge 465 of the receiver printed circuit board 250 to facilitate the hot plugability. The ground pins 460 of the male electrical connector 235 are closer to the edge 465 than any other pin in the male electrical connector 235 in order for ground to be established first when the fiber optic module is inserted and for ground to be removed last when its removed. The positive power pins 461 are next closest to the edge 465 for power to be established secondly when the fiber optic module is inserted and for power to be removed next to last when its removed. The signal pins 462 are farther from the edge that the power pins 461 and ground pins 462 so that they are established after power and ground has been when inserted and they are disconnect first when the fiber optic module is removed.
In particular, FIG. 4B illustrates two pairs of signal contacts on one side, and FIG 4C illustrates four pairs of signal contacts on the other side. Chuan also teaches that “one or more” signal pins can be used. However, Chuan does not appear to teach a tone generator as recited in the claims.
US 2009/0154918 (Hinderthuer) at FIG. 13A illustrates a connector including plural contacts 8-1, 8-2, 8-3.
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FIG. 13A is a pluggable module 1 and illustrates an apparatus to exchange interface signals associated with an electro-optical transceiver interface. See, for example:
[0142] FIG. 13A shows a possible embodiment for the pluggable module 1 comprising an embedded communication channel ECC. In the shown embodiment, the pluggable module 1 comprises a diagnostic unit 22 to receive local performance data and electronic components within the pluggable module 1. These electronic components comprise in the given example a transmission diode 23, a receiving diode 24, a transimpedance amplifier TIA 25, a laser driver 26 and a limiting or linear amplifier 27. On the backside of the pluggable module 1 the electrical interface 8 comprises a data transmission interface 8-1, an electrical reporting interface 8-2 and for the reception data path an electrical data reception interface 8-3. Furthermore, the pluggable module 1 comprises a mapping unit 28 which controls the laser driver 26 depending on local performance data received from the diagnostic unit 22 to transfer the performance data via the provided embedded communication channel ECC to a remote pluggable module 1.
As shown in FIG. 5, the pluggable module is plugged into a host device 2 and used in a data transport system.
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See also:
[0107] As can be seen from FIG. 5 a pluggable module 1 as used in a data transport system according to the present invention is plugged into a cage of a host device 2. The host device 2 can be a switching device, such as a router, a bridge, an Ethernet bridge or a fibre channel switch. The module 1 as shown in FIG. 5 is adapted to be plugged into a corresponding cage of the host device 2 and performs a traffic management of data which is transported bidirectionally via at least one optical fibre 3 between host devices 2 of a data network.
Hinderthuer also teaches the contacts corresponding in number to standard contacts used on a standard type of connector:
[0112] In a possible embodiment, the pluggable module 1 according to the present invention comprises optical and/or electrical add/drop multiplexing functionalities. Furthermore, in a possible embodiment, the traffic management functionality of the pluggable module 1 comprises optical conversion with mapping and framing functions. The pluggable module 1 complies in a possible embodiment with existing MSA-agreements, such as SFP, SFP+, XFP, GBIC etc.
FIG. 13A also illustrates a diagnostic unit 22 and mapper 28 coupled to contact 8-2. The diagnostic unit 22 and mapper 28 act generate tones on optical signals. See, for example:
[0140] There are two main possibilities for implementation of the embedded communication channel ECC. In a physical layer implementation of the embedded communication channel ECC, for example a pilot tone can be used. By using, for example a slow AM modulation scheme (10%, KHz range) available diagnostic I/F data can be imprinted on the embedded communication channel ECC.
In other words, the ECC is implemented with a tone. Furthermore, it is taught that the ECC is implemented with the diagnostic unit 22 and mapper 28. See:
[0142] FIG. 13A shows a possible embodiment for the pluggable module 1 comprising an embedded communication channel ECC. In the shown embodiment, the pluggable module 1 comprises a diagnostic unit 22 to receive local performance data and electronic components within the pluggable module 1. These electronic components comprise in the given example a transmission diode 23, a receiving diode 24, a transimpedance amplifier TIA 25, a laser driver 26 and a limiting or linear amplifier 27. On the backside of the pluggable module 1 the electrical interface 8 comprises a data transmission interface 8-1, an electrical reporting interface 8-2 and for the reception data path an electrical data reception interface 8-3. Furthermore, the pluggable module 1 comprises a mapping unit 28 which controls the laser driver 26 depending on local performance data received from the diagnostic unit 22 to transfer the performance data via the provided embedded communication channel ECC to a remote pluggable module 1.
[0143] As can be seen from FIG. 13A, the pluggable module 1 further comprises a demapping unit 29 for storing performance data extracted from the embedded communication channel ECC in a memory of the diagnostic unit 22. The performance data can be extracted, for example at the transimpedance amplifier 25 and the embedded communication channel ECC can be provided by side band modulation of a data signal of the transported data stream. The diagnostic unit 22 receives local performance data from the electronic components 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, such as temperature T or power consumption P. In a possible embodiment, the diagnostic unit 22 reports the received local (near end) performance data and the received remote (far end) performance data transported via the embedded communication channel ECC via the electrical interface 8-2 to a controlling device of the host device 2 into which the pluggable module 1 is inserted. The electrical interface 8-2 can be formed in a possible embodiment by an I.sup.2C bus. In a possible embodiment, the performance data extracted at the transimpedance amplifier TIA comprises SFF 8472-performance parameters. In a possible embodiment, the diagnostic unit 22 comprises a memory for storing local performance monitoring data of the pluggable module 1 as well as the received and extracted performance monitoring data of remote pluggable modules.
In other words, the diagnostic unit 22 and mapper 28 implement the ECC with a tone. FIG. 13A also illustrates the diagnostic unit 22 configured to receive tone signals via de-mapper 28 and transmit tones via the mapper. See the discussion above regarding [0142]-[0143].
Hinderthuer appears to differ from the claimed invention in that Hinderthuer teaches the use of the tones on the optical channels (i.e., the ECC channel), while the claims recite the use of the tones on the electrical channels via electrical contacts in the electrical connector.
US 2009/0208214 (Hauenschild) at FIG. 1 illustrates a tone generator 102 used with an E/O optical transducer 105.
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[0033] A frequency spreading circuit 103 is coupled to the tone generator 102 so as to receive and frequency spread the electrical tone (act 203) to generate a frequency spread tone 103A. The frequency spreading circuit 103 may be any spreading circuit including, for example, a Pseudo Random Bit Sequence (PRBS) generator driven by the electrical tone, or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) encoder. The frequency spreading circuit 103 is configured to generate frequency spread electrical signals that are largely non-harmonics of the electrical tone input to the frequency spreading circuit
[0034] A modulator 104 receives the electric signal 101A and the frequency spread tone 103A, and modulates one of the power levels of the electrical signal 101A using the frequency spread electrical tone 103A (act 204). For instance, the modulator 104 may be configured to modulate the high power level of the electrical signal 101A, the low power level of the electrical signal 101A, and/or one or more intermediate power levels (e.g., the average power level) of the electrical signal.
However, the tones control the optical modulator and do not send the electrical tone signals across an electrical connector, as recited in the claims.
US 2009/0123157 (Moore) at FIG. 1 illustrates an SPF optical transceiver module 100 with a TOSA 120, ROSA 130, a printed circuit board (PCB) 109 with an edge connector 140 having plural contacts.
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[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, optoelectronic transceiver 100 includes a printed circuit board assembly ("PCBA") 110 that includes a printed circuit board ("PCB") 109 with various optical transceiver electronics mounted thereon. PCBA 110 and its various electronics are configured to be placed inside an optoelectronic transceiver carrier as will be explained in more detail to follow.
[0018] As also disclosed in FIG. 1, the PCBA 110 includes a transmitter optical subassembly ("TOSA") 120, a receiver optical subassembly ("ROSA") 130, electrical interfaces 121 and 131, and an edge connector 140. The two electrical interfaces 121 and 131 are used to electrically connect the TOSA 120 and the ROSA 130, respectively, to the PCBA 110.
[0021] As further disclosed in FIG. 1, the PCBA 110 includes optical transceiver electronics 150. Such electronics may include, but are not limited to, a controller, a laser driver, and a post-amplifier, each of which is configured to help allow optoelectronic transceiver 100 to convert optical signals into electrical signals and to convert electric signals into optical signals.
US 2009/0034982 (Deng) at FIG. 1 illustrates an optical SFP transceiver module including a ROSA and TOSA 10, 20, PCB 50 including electrical components 40, and electrical edge connectors 60.
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[0022] Reference is first made to FIG. 1, which depicts a perspective view of an optical transceiver module ("transceiver"), generally designated at 100, for use in transmitting and receiving optical signals in connection with an external host that is operatively connected in one embodiment to a communications network (not shown). As depicted, the transceiver shown in FIG. 1 includes various components, including a first optical subassembly ("OSA") 10, a second OSA 20, electrical interfaces 30, various electronic components 40, and a printed circuit board ("PCB") 50. In detail, two electrical interfaces 30 are included in the transceiver 100, one each used to electrically connect the OSAs 10 and 20 to a plurality of conductive pads 18 located on the PCB 50. The electronic components 40 are also operably attached to the PCB 50. An edge connector 60 is located on an end of the PCB 50 to enable the transceiver 100 to electrically interface with a host (not shown here). As such, the PCB 50 facilitates electrical communication between the OSAs 10 and 20, and the host. In addition, the above-mentioned components of the transceiver 100 are partially housed within a shell 70. Though not shown, the shell 70 can cooperate with a housing portion to define a covering for the components of the transceiver 100.
It also teaches that a TOSA and ROSA were known forms of OSAs used to transmit and receive optical signals in optical transceivers. See, for example:
[0007] Various other components are also employed by the optical transceiver to aid in the control of the optical transmit and receive components, as well as the processing of various data and other signals. For example, the optical transmitter is typically housed in a transmitter optical subassembly ("TOSA"), while the optical receiver is housed in a separate receiver optical subassembly ("ROSA"). The transceiver also typically includes a driver (e.g. referred to as a "laser driver" when used to drive a laser signal) configured to control the operation of the optical transmitter in response to various control inputs and an amplifier (e.g. often referred to as a "post-amplifier") configured to amplify the channel-attenuated received signal prior to further processing. A controller circuit (hereinafter referred to as the "controller") controls the operation of the laser driver and post-amplifier.
US 2002/0093796 (Medina) teaches that SFP transceiver are specified by a multi-source agreement (MSA) among competing manufacturers. See, for example:
[0004] It is desirable to miniaturize transceivers in order to increase the port density associated with the network connection (switch boxes, cabling patch panels, wiring closets, computer I/O, etc.). Various standards are known that define form factors for miniaturized electronic devices, such as the Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) standard that specifies an enclosure 9.8 millimeters in height by 13.5 millimeters in width and having a minimum of 20 electrical input/output connections. The specific standards for SFP transceivers are set forth in the "Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) Transceiver Multisource Agreement (MSA)," dated Sep. 14, 2000, which Applicant hereby incorporates by reference.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARREN WOLF whose telephone number is (571)270-3378. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KENNETH N. VANDERPUYE can be reached on 571-272-3078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARREN E WOLF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634
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