Appeal No. 2006-2229
Application 10/347,069
page 5 of the reply brief that Tangonan’s planar waveguide layer 12 is
formed “on” a substrate in accordance with the teaching at column 3, lines
60 through 63, this portion of Tangonan plainly indicates that the waveguide
layer 12 is formed “within” the substrate region 10 notwithstanding the
fact that it is also formed in the top region of this substrate layer. The
formation of the waveguide in Tangonan as described here is the same as it
is described in Tangonan’s Abstract and Summary of the Invention.
Moreover, the drawings are consistent with this description. Even
appellants’ arguments at the top page 11 of the principal brief on appeal
indicate that regions 10 and 12 in Tangonan have different indices of
refraction. In Tangonan, because waveguide 12 is fabricated within
substrate area 10, waveguide region 12 is considered to be within the
substrate and through which light signals pass. Moreover, this waveguide
area 12 may be considered to be at least one optical component to the extent
recited in representative independent 12 on appeal.
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