Appeal No. 2000-1182
Application No. 08/957,554
claims 1, 3 through 7, 11, 13 through 17, 19 through 21, and
24 through 27.
Appellants' invention relates to an optical waveguide in
which at least a portion of the inner surface of the cladding
is roughened to provide light extraction from the waveguide.
The degree of roughness varies along the length of the
waveguide, producing a pattern of light extraction. Claim 1
is illustrative of the claimed invention, and it reads as
follows:
1. An optical waveguide comprising:
a flexible core of light transmitting material having an
axis in the general direction of light flow through the
optical waveguide; and
a flexible cladding surrounding the core to provide a
flexible optical waveguide, the cladding having an index of
refraction that is less than an index of refraction of the
core, the cladding comprising an inner surface which is
roughened with indentations to extract light from the core,
the indentations being substantially non-parallel with respect
to the axis of the core and providing a plurality of roughened
regions along a length of the cladding, with at least two of
the regions having different degrees of roughness provided by
the indentations, to produce a light extraction pattern from
the waveguide.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
Ishiharada et al. (Ishiharada I) 7-198947 Aug. 01, 1995
2
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