Page 1
`
`(cid:36)(cid:54)(cid:48)(cid:47) (cid:20)(cid:20)(cid:20)(cid:19)
`
`
`
`(cid:36)(cid:54)(cid:48)(cid:47) (cid:20)(cid:20)(cid:20)(cid:19)
`
`
`
`ApplicationlControl Number: 14l510,959
`
`Page 2
`
`Art Unit: 2881
`
`1.
`
`The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent
`
`provisions.
`
`DETAILED ACTION
`
`Response to Arguments
`
`2.
`
`Applicants arguments, see pages 10-12, filed 12X17z’2014, with respect to the
`
`amendments to claims 1, 15, and 20 have been fully considered and are persuasive.
`
`The rejections of these claims have been withdrawn.
`
`3.
`
`Claims 1-3, 5-9, 12, 15-22, 24-36 are allowed.
`
`Allowable Subject Matter
`
`Regarding independent claims 1, 15, and 20; Manning U.S. PGPUB No.
`
`2006l0152128 discloses a lamp with “inner pressure to about 10 or 11 atm... The higher
`
`gas pressure essentially contained the expansion of the plasma during operation,
`
`confining the arc discharge” [0028] having “A sparker electrode 124 is positioned inside
`
`the envelope for generating a preionization of the gas, in order to obtain a more uniform
`
`discharge. The discharge across the arc gap can generate lig ht that is reflected by a
`
`mirror assembly 126 positioned relative to the arc gap and/or transmitted through the
`
`Iig ht transmitting window 106” [0004]. The generated light has “a spectrum on the order
`
`of about 190 nm to about 4000 nm” [0018]. However, Manning does not disclose at
`
`least one substantially continuous laser for providing energy within a wavelength range
`
`from about 700 nm to 2000 nm to the ionized gas to sustain a plasma within the
`
`chamber to produce a plasma-generated light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm.
`
`
`
`Application!Control Number: 14r51c,959
`
`Page 3
`
`Art Unit: 2881
`
`Cross et al. U.S. Patent No. 4,780,608 discloses that “Recently, free-standing
`
`continuous discharges have been produced by focusing the output of a sufficiently
`
`powerful cw-CO2 laser into inert gases, molecular gases and mixtures thereof at
`
`atmospheric pressures or above... Although cw-laser radiation can maintain the
`
`continuous optical discharge, the output power of such light sources is generally
`
`insufficient to initiate the discharge. Consequently, such plasmas can be initiated using
`
`conventional electrode sparks or by the spark produced by a focused laser pulse
`
`superimposed on the focal volume of the cw-laser beam used to maintain the plasma”
`
`[col. 1; lines 30-52]. However, Cross is concerned with producing ions and does not
`
`describe that light is produced by the plasma, Cross does not describe a transparent
`
`region of the chamber allowing at least a portion of a plasma-generated light to exit the
`
`chamber, as claimed in claim 1 (and does not explicitly describe the claimed pressure,
`
`laser wavelength, or plasma-generated light wavelength values).
`
`One of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would not have
`
`combined Manning and Cross since they belong to different fields of endeavor; namely,
`
`Manning uses a plasma to generate light, while Cross uses a plasma to generate ions.
`
`Further, if Manning and Cross were combined, the references still fail to disclose at
`
`least one substantially continuous laser for providing energy within a wavelength range
`
`from about 700 nm to 2000 nm to the ionized gas to sustain a plasma within the
`
`chamber to produce a plasma-generated light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm
`
`(Cross does not disclose the wavelength of the disclosed laser, and does not disclose
`
`that the laser sustains the plasma for producing light, and therefore cannot disclose that
`
`
`
`Application!Control Number: 147510359
`
`Page 4
`
`Art Unit: 2881
`
`light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm can be produced by a plasma sustained by
`
`a laser).
`
`The prior art fails to disclose at least one substantially continuous laser for
`
`providing energy within a wavelength range from about 700 nm to 2000 nm to an
`
`ionized gas to sustain a plasma within a chamber having greater than atmospheric
`
`pressure to produce a plasma-generated light having wavelengths greater than 50 nm,
`
`as claimed in independent claim 1, with similar limitations in independent claims 15 and
`
`20.
`
`Regarding dependent claims 2, 3, 5-9, 12, 16-19, 21, 22, and 24-36; these claims
`
`are allowable at least for their dependence, either directly or indirectly upon
`
`independent claims 1, 15, and 20.
`
`Conclusion
`
`Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
`
`examiner should be directed to JASON MCCORMACK whose telephone number is
`
`(571)270-1489. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday — Thursday 7:00am
`
`— 3:00pm.
`
`If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s
`
`supervisor, Robert Kim can be reached on (571)272-2293. The fax phone number for
`
`the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
`
`
`
`AppIication!ControI Number: 14f510,959
`
`Page 5
`
`Art Unit: 2881
`
`Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the
`
`Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for
`
`published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR.
`
`Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
`
`For more information about the PAIR system, see httpzflpair-direct.uspto.gov. Should
`
`you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic
`
`Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a
`
`USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information
`
`system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
`
`/JASON MCCORMACW
`
`Examiner, Art Unit 2881
`
`XNICOLE IPPOLITOI
`
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
Still Working On It
This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.
Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.
A few More Minutes ... Still Working
It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.
Thank you for your continued patience.
This document could not be displayed.
We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
Set your membership
status to view this document.
With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll
get a whole lot more, including:
- Up-to-date information for this case.
- Email alerts whenever there is an update.
- Full text search for other cases.
- Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.
One Moment Please
The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.
Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.
Your document is on its way!
If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.
Sealed Document
We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.
If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.
Access Government Site
