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
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) 1-5, 7-15 and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schuppener et al. (US 20140285293) or Koppendorfer et al. (US 20220209386).
As to claim 1, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows a device, comprising: a dielectric waveguide (DWG) cable configured to carry multiple data streams to support a high data rate communication, the DWG cable comprising a cladding material [Schuppener et al.’s (2128, ¶0107) or Koppendorfer et al.’s 150] and a plurality of cores [Schuppener et al.’s (2121-2123) or Koppendorfer et al.’s 120-140] with each core of the plurality of cores surrounded by the cladding material.
As to claim 2, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 show that each core of the plurality of cores is next to one or more adjacent cores of the plurality of cores, and wherein a cross section of each core of the plurality of cores is oriented at 90° relative to, or perpendicular to, a respective cross section of each of the one or more adjacent cores.
As to claim 3, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that each core (i.e., Schuppener et al.’s 2122 or Koppendorfer et al.’s 110) of the plurality of cores is surrounded by one or more diagonal cores (i.e., Schuppener et al.’s 2123 or Koppendorfer et al.’s 130) of the plurality of cores, and the cross section of each core of the plurality of cores is oriented at 0° relative to, or parallel to, a respective cross section of each of the one or more diagonal cores.
As to claim 4, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that each core of the plurality of cores is surrounded by one or more diagonal cores of the plurality of cores, and a cross section of each core of the plurality of cores is oriented at 0° relative to, or parallel to, a respective cross section of each of the one or more diagonal cores.
As to claim 5, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that each core of the plurality of cores is next to one or more adjacent cores of the plurality of cores, and the cross section of each core of the plurality of cores is oriented at 90° relative to, or perpendicular to, a respective cross section of each of the one or more adjacent cores.
As to claim 7, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that a cross section of the DWG cable is generally round or circular in shape.
As to claim 8, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C shows that a cross section of the DWG cable is generally square, rectangular or circular in shape.
As to claim 9, Schuppener et al.’s figure 21C or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that the cladding material comprises a cladding dielectric surrounding the plurality of cores and filled everywhere else in the DWG cable.
As to claim 10, Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 6 shows that each core of the plurality of cores is individually surrounded by a respective portion of the cladding material.
As to claims 11-15 and 17-19, Schuppener et al.’s figure 36 further shows that the dielectric waveguide (DWG) cable configured to carry multiple data streams to support a high data rate communication between the two IC chips (¶0174 and figure 26).
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) 6-7 and 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schuppener et al. (US 20140285293) and/or Koppendorfer et al. (US 20220209386).
As to claims 6 and 16, Schuppener et al.’s figure 24 shows a DWG comprising a cladding material (2404, 2407 and 24008, ¶0119 teaches that di-elect cons “ek2, ek3, and ek4 may have similar values “. Therefore, it is seen as an obvious design preference to select the same material for 2404, 2407 and 24008 in order to ensure optimum performance) and a plurality of cores (2406) with each core of the plurality of cores surrounded by the cladding material, wherein at least one core of the plurality of cores is next to one or more adjacent cores of the plurality of cores, and wherein a cross section of the at least one core is oriented at 45° relative to a respective cross section of each of the one or more adjacent cores (the figure shows that each core is arranged with 45° orientation with respect to the other adjacent cores. Therefore, arranging the cores as shown and claimed is seen as an obvious design preference to ensure optimum performance). Koppendorfer et al.’s ¶0019 teaches that “the preferred polarisation direction of the first dielectric waveguide element can differ from the preferred polarisation direction of the second dielectric waveguide element by an angle of at least 45° (or 60° or 75° or 90°)”. Therefore, arranging the cores as shown and claimed is seen as an obvious design preference to ensure optimum performance.
As to claims 7 and 17, figure 24 or Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 2 shows that a cross section of the DWG cable is generally round or circular in shape.
As to claim 10, Koppendorfer et al.’s figure 6 shows that each core of the plurality of cores is individually surrounded by a respective portion of the cladding material. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to arrange Schuppener et al.’s cores individually surrounded by a respective portion of the cladding material for the purpose of reducing error, Koppendorfer et al.’s ¶0095.
As to claims 11-20, Schuppener et al.’s figure 36 further shows that the dielectric waveguide (DWG) cable configured to carry multiple data streams to support a high data rate communication between the two IC chips (¶0174 and figure 26). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use Koppendorfer et al.’s DWG to carry multiple data streams to support a high data rate communication between the two IC chips for the purpose of saving cost and reducing error.
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/QUAN TRA/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2843
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