Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 11703443, I will examine the patent's cited references. Prior art includes any public information that predates a patent filing and is used to determine if an invention is "new" and "non-obvious" as required for patentability.

Here's an analysis of the prior art cited in US11703443:

Full Patent Citation: US11703443B2

Priority Date: May 30, 2012
Filing Date: November 4, 2022
Publication Date: July 18, 2023

This patent is a continuation-in-part of PCT/US2013/043453, filed on May 30, 2013, which claims priority from several U.S. Provisional Patent Applications filed on May 30, 2012, and October 18, 2012. These provisional applications are important for establishing the earliest effective filing date for the subject matter disclosed therein.

Here are the specific prior art references explicitly mentioned and described within the text of US11703443:

• U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/653,245

  • Full Citation: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/653,245 entitled “Pulseless Peristaltic Pump.”
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on May 30, 2012.
  • Brief Description: This provisional application relates to a peristaltic pump design providing a pulseless liquid flow. The patent abstract and detailed description frequently refer to "the present disclosure" providing a simple design for a peristaltic pump with minimal pulsation, which is simple to manufacture and operate. This aligns directly with the subject matter of this provisional application.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims related to the peristaltic pump and fluidic system (e.g., those describing a pump with a housing, rollers, compressible tube, and mechanisms to minimize pulsation, like specific track recesses or programmable rotor speed). For instance, claims related to the peristaltic pump detailed in "a peristaltic pump in one hundred forty-sixth aspect of the present disclosure" and subsequent paragraphs that describe its features, including recess sections and programmable speed, would be directly implicated.

• U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/653,328

  • Full Citation: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/653,328 entitled “Composite Microscope Objective with a Dispersion Compensation Plate.”
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on May 30, 2012.
  • Brief Description: This provisional application describes an imaging quality microscope objective that is easy to manufacture, has a long working distance, large numerical aperture, large field of view, and minimal chromatic aberration. The patent's detailed description for the "composite microscope objective" with a concave mirror and an aberration corrector plate directly corresponds to this.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims related to the composite microscope objective, especially those describing the concave mirror and aberration corrector plate (e.g., aspheric lens with specific optical power zones), and their arrangement relative to the viewing zone. Claims such as "the composite microscope objective may include a concave mirror upon which scattered and fluoresced light impinges and an aberration corrector plate made of optically transparent material" and further elaborations on the aspheric lens design are directly relevant.

• U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/715,819

  • Full Citation: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/715,819 entitled “Wavelength Division Multiplexing for Extended Light Source.”
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on Oct. 18, 2012.
  • Brief Description: This provisional application concerns a Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) system to separate a light beam into multiple colored bands. It also provides a device capable of collimating a light beam from an extended light source over an extended distance without significantly expanding the beam diameter. The patent elaborates on the WDM's components, including collimating optical elements, dichroic filters, and image relay elements.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims related to the Wavelength Division Multiplexer (WDM) system, including its optical elements (collimating, focusing, image relay) and dichroic filters for separating light into color bands, especially descriptions of a cascaded unit-magnification image relay architecture. For example, claims like "a wavelength division multiplexer may include a collimating optical element that magnifies an to produce an image of substantially the same size as the effective size of said collimating optical element, at least one dichroic filter located between said collimating optical element and said image, said dichroic filter separating the collimated beam of light into two (2) branches of distinctive colors" and further details on the arrangement and function of WDM components.

• U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,927

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,927
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but mentioned as prior art.
  • Brief Description: This patent discloses a method where a spatially filtered laser beam (e.g., through a pinhole or single-mode optical fiber) is collimated and expanded in the direction of flow through a cytometer, and then focused to an elliptical shaped Gaussian beam with its minor axis along the flow direction. The current patent distinguishes itself by addressing challenges in manufacturing and stability with such precision spatial filters in diode laser systems.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims pertaining to the general concept of shaping a laser beam for flow cytometry to achieve a Gaussian shaped elliptical spot with the minor axis along the flow direction, particularly when starting from a spatially filtered beam. The context suggests that the current patent improves upon the reliability and cost of such systems.

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,019 ("the '019 patent")

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,019
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but mentioned as prior art.
  • Brief Description: This patent discloses rotating the Laser Diode (LD) by ninety degrees (90°) so its slow axis is parallel to the direction of flow. It then introduces a beam diffusing section (e.g., concave cylindrical lens) followed by a spherical focusing lens to form an elliptical spot. The present patent identifies shortcomings of this approach, specifically that the resulting beam is highly astigmatic and can have a width comparable to or wider than the flow channel, leading to reduced signal intensity and increased background scattering.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims related to orienting an LD's slow axis parallel to the flow direction and using beam-diffusing and spherical focusing elements to create an elliptical spot. The current patent seeks to overcome the astigmatism and beam width issues described, so claims detailing the cylindrical focusing element (505) after the spherical focusing element (504) to specifically focus the minor axis while maintaining the major axis are likely distinguishing features from this prior art.

• U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,385,682 and 7,561,267

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,385,682 and 7,561,267
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but mentioned as prior art.
  • Brief Description: These patents disclose using a large numerical aperture aspheric lens for LD collimation. The current patent notes that such designs cannot correct for the fringe effect inherent in the LD's beam profile.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims involving the use of large numerical aperture aspheric lenses for LD collimation. The current patent distinguishes itself by addressing the fringe effect, so claims that specifically describe methods or optical elements for mitigating or eliminating these fringes (e.g., by orienting the minor axis of the collimated elliptical beam parallel to the flow direction and using a high power cylindrical focusing element to transpose the far field profile) would be distinguishing.

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,314

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,314
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but mentioned as prior art.
  • Brief Description: This patent is mentioned in the context of WDM techniques and optical configurations, specifically a "star configuration" for delivering a tightly focused beam to photo detectors. The current patent aims to be compatible with such configurations by allowing dichroic filters to be inserted along a long, narrow, and collimated beam path.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims describing a WDM system using a "star configuration" or similar methods of directing different colored bands to detectors. The current patent's novelty may lie in its "cascaded unit-magnification image relay architecture" that extends the collimated optical path, which then allows for the integration of such filtering configurations.

• U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,020

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,020
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but mentioned as prior art.
  • Brief Description: This patent is mentioned in the context of WDM techniques and optical configurations, specifically a "branched configuration" for delivering a tightly focused beam to photo detectors. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,314, the current patent aims to be compatible with such configurations.
  • Potentially Anticipates (35 U.S.C. § 102): Claims describing a WDM system using a "branched configuration" or similar methods of directing different colored bands to detectors. The current patent's distinctions would likely be found in the specific implementation of its collimated beam path extension, which facilitates the use of such branched configurations.

The patent US11703443 builds upon and seeks to overcome limitations of these prior art references, particularly in the areas of laser diode illumination, composite microscope objectives, pulsation-free fluidic systems, and efficient wavelength division multiplexing.