DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hrudey (US12223938) in view of Wang (US20210096108) and Sun (US20220106873).
With respect to claim 1 Hrudey discloses an acoustic wave noise dampening device including an array of attenuators which surround a transmission passage for sounds and configured to receive at least a top portion of an acoustic wave generating device and further configured to reduce acoustic wave noise.
Hrudey does not disclose an acoustic wave applicator membrane or that the resonant chambers are of annular shape.
Wang discloses an acoustic wave applicator including acoustic applicator membrane (see figures and abstract the device shown is an ultrasonic probe).
Hrudey when taken in conjunction with Wang would result in an attenuator having a rounded shape and a membrane for the application of the acoustic waves.
Sun discloses the use of annular resonant chambers to reduce noise in the application of sound waves to a substrate (see abstract and figure 3).
It would have been an obvious matter to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing to combine the teachings of Sun to provide annular resonant chambers with the device of Hrudey such that a single chamber surrounded the whole of the device and to then allow for the provision of multiple chambers to attenuate different sound bandwidths thus reducing noise with the device of Wang so that this teaching could be applied to an ultrasonic probe.
With respect to claim 2 Hrudey as modified further discloses a plurality of additional openings apart from the upper configured to receive at least a top portion of a acoustic wave applicator membrane (refer to Hrudey there are multiple openings on the housing, a housing when applied to the device of Wang is revieing the acoustic application membrane).
With respect to claim 3 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein the plurality of additional openings includes a plurality of upper openings and a plurality of lower openings (see Hrudey figure 2).
With respect to claim 4 Hrudey as modified further discloses a plurality of channels (see Hrudery figure 13).
With respect to claim 5 Hrudey further discloses a plurality of spiral channels (Hrudey discloses a plurality of channels and discloses the use of a spiral channel figure 9 connected to one of the volumes, it would have been an obvious smatter to apply such a teaching to provide an elongated neck to any or all of the volumes).
With respect to claim 6 Hrudey as modified further discloses whereon one or more of the plurality of spiral channels include an external conical surface and an internal conical surface ( see teachings of embodiment of figure 7 of Hrudey as would be obvious to apply to the connection to the volume by the spiral channel of embodiment of figure 9 so as to provide a flared opening).
With respect to claim 7 Hrudey as modified further discloses a plurality of channels (see Hrudery figure 13).
With respect to claim 8 Hrudey further discloses a plurality of spiral channels (Hrudey discloses a plurality of channels and discloses the use of a spiral channel figure 9 connected to one of the volumes, it would have been an obvious smatter to apply such a teaching to provide an elongated neck to any or all of the volumes).
With respect to claim 9 Hrudey as modified further discloses whereon one or more of the plurality of spiral channels include an external conical surface and an internal conical surface ( see teachings of embodiment of figure 7 of Hrudey as would be obvious to apply to the connection to the volume by the spiral channel of embodiment of figure 9 so as to provide a flared opening).
With respect to claim 10 Hrudey as modified discloses an apparatus comprising an acoustic wave source (Wang) and fluid sealed within an applicator membrane (Wang) and a noise dampening element (Hrudey) surrounding at least a portion of the applicator membrane (the shape of the applicator being round the use of an annular chamber as taught by Sun would have been an obvious choice of shape).
With respect to claim 11Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein a top portion of the applicator membrane exits form a top portion of the noise dampening element (the passage through to the contact surface would have been understood to be necessary and as such the placement of the noise dampening housing would have been conducted in a manner to allow function of the device)
With respect to claim 12 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein the acoustic wave source and fluid are sealed by the applicator membrane in a reflector cavity (Wang).
With respect to claim 13 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein the acoustic wave source and fluid are sealed by the applicator membrane in a reflector cavity (Wang).
With respect to claim 14 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein the noise dampening element includes a plurality of openings (see Hrudey figure 2).
With respect to claim 15 Hrudey as modified further discloses (see again figure 2) wherein the noise dampening element includes a plurality of upper openings and a plurality of lower openings.
With respect to claim 16 Hrudey as modified further discloses (see figure 13 of Hrudey) wherein the noise damping element includes a plurality of channels,.
With respect to claim 17 Hrudey as modified (see Hrudey figure 9) further discloses wherein the plurality of channels are spiral channels.
With respect to claim 18 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein one or more channels of the plurality of channels includes an external conical surface and an internal conical surface (see Hrudey figure 7 as would be obvious to apply to the connection to the volume of the spiral channel as shown in figure 9).
With respect to claim 19 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein the noise dampening element includes one or more channels (see figure 13 of Hrudey).
With respect to claim 20 Hrudey as modified further discloses wherein at least one of the one or more channels includes a fluid (air is implicitly disclosed in Hrudey but any fluid trapped by the membrane would function equally well).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Irving (US11604296) discloses a seismic source with wave chamber; Jung (US10794032) discloses a noise mitigation system for an acoustic probe; Smith (US20110196268) discloses a precision guidance of shockwaves; Schultheiss (US200070239082) discloses a shockwave treatment device for ultrasonic probe; and Van Creveld (US5810733) discloses an encapsulated ultrasonic probe.
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/FORREST M PHILLIPS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837