Appeal No. 95-2399
Application 08/061,669
element to that end face." We note that the Examiner did not
provide any reason for making this modification or any evidence
in prior art to support the Examiner's conclusion.
Appellants argue on pages 6 through 9 of the brief that
neither Palmer nor Bowen teaches or suggests using an adhesive
between an end face of an optical element and an end face of a
connector plug to provide an optical in-line element in a fiber
optical system. Appellants further emphasize that Bowen does not
teach the use of an adhesive at all.
Upon a detailed review of Bowen, we find that Bowen
does not teach an adhesive but rather an index matching film
material positioned within the connector receptacle. In
column 4, lines 16-20, Bowen teaches that Figure 3 shows
positioned within the alignment means 31 an index matching film
33. The end faces 16, 16' of the ferrules 15,15' form each of
the plugs 10,10' and press against the film 33 which remains in
receptacle housing 33 even after the plugs 10,10' are removed.
Thus, Bowen does not teach an adhesive or an optical element
having one face being affixed with an adhesive to an end face of
one of the connector plugs as claimed by Appellants in claims 1
through 3 and 5 through 9. In addition, Bowen does not teach
depositing a non-removable coating in the form of a thin film
5
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