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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-34 in the reply filed on 11/03/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 7, 14, 15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fujise et al. (US 2012/0057728).
Regarding claim 1, Fujise et al. teaches an apparatus comprising a passive vibration member (161, 162, 670, figures 2, 24), a vibration device (120, 130a, 130b) coupled to a rear surface of the passive vibration member (161, 162, 670, figures 2, 24), and a supporting member (110, 610) at the rear surface of the passive vibration member (161, 162, 670, figures 2, 24), wherein the vibration device comprises a first vibration portion (120, 130a or 130b), a second vibration portion (120, 130a or 130b) coupled to a periphery of the first vibration portion (figures 2, 24), and a connection portion (150a, 150b, 671, figures 2, 24) disposed between a periphery of the second vibration portion (130a, 130b, figure 2 and 120, figure 24) and the rear surface of the passive vibration member (161, 162, 670, figures 2, 24).
Regarding claim 2, Fujise et al. teaches the first vibration portion (120) that comprises a first active vibration member (121, 122, 123) including a first periphery portion and a second periphery portion (figure 2), the second vibration portion (130a or 130b) that comprises a 2-1st active vibration member (130a, 131a, 132a, 133a) and a 2-2nd active vibration member (130b, 131b, 132b, 133b) respectively coupled to the first periphery portion of the first active vibration member (121, 122, 123, figure 2) and the second periphery portion of the first active vibration member (121, 122, 123, figure 2), and the 2-1st active vibration member and the 2-2nd active vibration member are disposed at opposite sides of a center portion of the first active vibration member (121, 122, 123, figure 2).
Regarding claim 7, Fujise et al. teaches that each of the first active vibration member (120, 121, 122, 123), the 2-1st active vibration member (130a, 131a, 132a, 133a) and the 2-2nd active vibration member (130b, 131b, 132b, 133b) includes a piezoelectric material (122, 123, 132a, 133a, 132b, 133b).
Regarding claim 14, Fujise et al. teaches that the first vibration portion comprises a first active vibration member (120, 121, 122, 123, 420, figures 2, 20) including a first periphery portion, a second periphery portion, a third periphery portion and a fourth periphery portion (figure 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]), and the second vibration portion comprises a 2-1st active vibration member (430a, figures 2, 20) coupled to the first periphery portion of the first active vibration member (420, figures 2, 6, 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]), a 2-2nd active vibration member (430b, figures 2, 20) coupled to the second periphery portion of the first active vibration member (420, figures 2, 6, 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]), a 2-3rd active vibration member (430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figures 2, 20) coupled to the third periphery portion of the first active vibration member (420, figures 2, 6, 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]), and a 2-4th active vibration member (430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figures 2, 20) coupled to the fourth periphery portion of the first active vibration member (420, figures 2, 6, 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]), wherein the 2-1st active vibration member (430a, figures 2, 20) and the 2-2nd active vibration member (430b, figures 2, 20) are disposed at opposite sides of the first active vibration member (figure 20), and wherein the 2-3rd active vibration member (430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figures 2, 20) and the 2-4th active vibration member (430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figures 2, 20) are disposed at opposite sides of the first active vibration member (figure 20).
Regarding claim 15, Fujise et al. shows that a width of each of the 2-1st active vibration member, the 2-2nd active vibration member, the 2-3rd active vibration member and the 2-4th active vibration member (430a, 430b, 430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figure 20) is smaller than a width of the first active vibration member (420, figure 20).
Regarding claim 17, Fujise et al. shows that corner portions of the first active vibration member (120, 121, 122, 123, 420, figures 2, 6, 20) overlap with the 2-1st active vibration member, the 2-2nd active vibration member, the 2-3rd active vibration member and the 2-4th active vibration member (430a, 430b, 430c, 430d, 430e or 430f, figures 2, 20, paragraphs [0109]-[0110]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujise et al. (US 2012/0057728).
Regarding claim 23, Fujise et al. teaches the connection member (150a, 150b, 671, figures 2, 24, paragraphs [0075] and [0122]-[0123]). Fujise et al. does not specifically disclose that the connection member comprises an elastic material. However, Fujise does not restrict to any material for the connection member (paragraphs [0075] and [0122]-[0123]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to provide any material for the connection member in the system of Fujise et al. such as an elastic material for providing a better material to the connection member depending on the applications and the desired frequency characteristics in the system.
Regarding claim 24, Fujise et al. does not specifically disclose that the passive vibration member is a display panel or comprises one or more material as claimed in claim 24. However, providing a piezoelectric speaker having a passive vibration member being a display panel or comprising one or more materials of wood, rubber, plastic, flexible glass, fiber, cloth, paper, metal, carbon, a mirror and a leather is known in the art.
Since Fujise et al. does teach the piezoelectric speaker that is provided in an acoustic video device (figure 25); it therefore would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to provide any applications or any materials for the passive vibration member of the piezoelectric speaker of Fujise et al such as providing a passive vibration member being a display panel having a plurality of pixels to implement an image, or comprising one or more materials of wood, rubber, plastic, flexible glass, fiber, cloth, paper, metal, carbon, a mirror and a leather for greater applications and depending on the desired frequency characteristics in the system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 8-13, 16 and 18-22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 25-34 have been allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ye (US 2023/0209268) teaches an apparatus including a passive vibration member, a supporting member overlapping the passive vibration member, and a vibration apparatus between the passive vibration member and the supporting member, wherein the vibration apparatus is configured to include first and second active vibration members connected to each other and intersecting with each other.
Hwang et al. (US 2024/0215454) teaches an apparatus including a vibration member, an active vibration device configured to vibrate the vibration member, and a passive vibration device disposed at a periphery of the active vibration device to generate electrical energy based on a deformation of the passive vibration device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUYEN D LE whose telephone number is (571) 272-7502. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 am-6:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fan Tsang can be reached at (571) 272-7547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HUYEN D LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694 HL
February 21, 2026