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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 & 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meissner, US Patent 5734728, in view of Kim, US Patent Pub. 20040264727 A1.
Re Claim 1, Meissner discloses a sound generating device (claim 8: speaker system), comprising: a housing, wherein the housing is provided with a front sound outlet and a rear sound outlet (claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1), an interior of the housing is provided with a first loudspeaker and a second loudspeaker (claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1), a front cavity of the first loudspeaker is communicated with the front sound outlet (claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1), a rear cavity of the first loudspeaker and a front cavity of the second loudspeaker are both communicated with the rear sound outlet (claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1 therefore sounds within said space are reflectively communicated with each other), and a rear cavity of the second loudspeaker is enclosed (claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1), wherein, a phase of a sound signal output from the rear cavity of the first loudspeaker is opposite to a phase of a sound signal output from the front cavity of the second loudspeaker (claim 8: phase of the rear facing cavity of the first loudspeaker is out of phase(opposite phase) to the front facing cavity of the first loudspeaker but the phase of the front cavity of the first loudspeaker and the second loudspeaker are both in phase, implying that the phase of the rear cavity of the first loudspeaker is also out of phase with the front cavity of the second loudspeaker), and the phase of the sound signal output from the rear cavity of the first loudspeaker is opposite to a phase of a sound signal output from the front cavity of the first loudspeaker (claim 8: phase of the rear facing cavity of the first loudspeaker is out of phase(opposite phase) to the front facing cavity of the first loudspeaker but the phase of the front cavity of the first loudspeaker and the second loudspeaker are both in phase, implying that the phase of the rear cavity of the first loudspeaker is also out of phase with the front cavity of the second loudspeaker); but fails to disclose wherein the sound generating device is applied to all head-mounted or ear-mounted playing devices, and the front sound outlet is a sound outlet of the sound generating device adjacent to a human ear. However, Kim discloses a headphone device that teaches two loudspeakers mounted within an earcup of a headphone mounted adjacent to a listener’s ear (Kim, fig. 1: S & S’, fig. 2: S & S’, fig. 3: 10f & 10r; paras 0024, 0027, 0034: phase inverted reflected sounds output at rear speaker; para 0036), wherein the two speakers include a front speaker and a rear speaker such that sounds leaking from the rear of the front speaker are phase inverted and reflected to be output by the front of the rear speaker (Kim, fig. 1: S & S’, fig. 2: S & S’, fig. 3: 10f & 10r; paras 0024, 0027, 0034: phase inverted reflected sounds output at rear speaker; para 0036). It would have been obvious to modify the Meissner device such that it can be incorporated within a headphone device mounted adjacent to a listener’s ear as taught in Kim for the purpose of utilizing the sound output mechanism of Meissner within an adjacent to ear mounted device.
Re Claim 2, the combined teachings of Meissner and Kim disclose the sound generating device of claim 1, wherein a plurality of second loudspeakers are provided (Meissner, fig. 5b: second loudspeaker is a tweeter and fig. 5b includes a plurality of tweeter loudspeakers).
Re Claim 19, the combined teachings of Meissner and Kim disclose the sound generating device of claim 1, wherein the rear cavity of the first loudspeaker and the front cavity of the second loudspeaker are coupled at the rear sound outlet (Meissner, claim 8: first and second speaker; wherein both speakers include a front sound outlet/front driving face(includes front facing cavity to output sound signals) and a rear sound outlet/rear face(includes rear facing cavity to output sound signals); wherein the rear facing cavities are within the enclosure tube structure of fig. 1 therefore sounds within said space are reflectively communicated with each other; Kim, fig. 1: S & S’, fig. 2: S & S’, fig. 3: 10f & 10r; paras 0024, 0027, 0034: phase inverted reflected sounds output at rear speaker, where the sounds include sounds output from rear of front speaker which are reflectively communicated with front of rear loudspeaker; para 0036).
Claims 3-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meissner, US Patent 5734728 and Kim, US Patent Pub. 20040264727 A1, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Metcalf, US Patent Pub. 20060262948 A1.
Re Claim 3, the combined teachings of Meissner and Kim disclose a control apparatus for a sound generating device according to claim 1, but fail to disclose the control apparatus comprises: a trigger module configured to generate a trigger signal if it is activated; a control module configured to control an output of an audio signal, and also configured to generate a first control signal if the trigger signal is received and generate a second control signal if no trigger signal is received; an adjustment module configured to control the first loudspeaker and the second loudspeaker in the sound generating device to output a sound signal based on the audio signal if the first control signal is received, and configured to control the first loudspeaker to output a sound signal based on the audio signal and control the second loudspeaker not to operate if the second control signal is received. However, Metcalf discloses a system that teaches the concept of a control module 90 that is able to output trigger signals that can activate/deactivate individual loudspeakers of a loudspeaker array such that a first loudspeaker of the loudspeaker array can be turn on while a second loudspeaker of the loudspeaker array can be turned off by the trigger signal (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: activation/deactivation of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array). It would have been obvious to modify the Meissner and Kim system such that a control module can send trigger signals to activate/deactivate individual loudspeakers of a loudspeaker array as taught in Metcalf for the purpose including power management capabilities to the Meissner system.
Re Claim 4, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 3, wherein only one second loudspeaker is provided, and the adjustment module controls the first loudspeaker and the second loudspeaker in the sound generating device to output the sound signal based on the audio signal if the first control signal is received (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array).
Re Claim 5, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 3, wherein a plurality of second loudspeakers are provided, and the adjustment module controls the first loudspeaker and one or more of the second loudspeakers in the sound generating device to output the sound signal based on the audio signal if the first control signal is received (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array).
Re Claim 6, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 3, wherein the trigger module is one or more of a pressure sensor, a toggle switch and a noise sensor (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: activation/deactivation of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; wherein toggle switch is selected from the Markush language).
Re Claim 7, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 3, wherein the adjustment module comprises: a filtering compensation module configured to adjust a gain value and a phase value of each frequency band of the audio signal (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker); a first power amplification module connected with the first loudspeaker (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker), wherein the first power amplification module is configured to adjust the gain value of each frequency band of the audio signal according to the received first control signal or the received second control signal, so that the first loudspeaker outputs a first sound signal or a second sound signal (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker); and a second power amplification module connected with the second loudspeaker (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker), wherein the second power amplification module is configured to adjust the gain value of each frequency band of the audio signal, so that the second loudspeaker outputs a third sound signal (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: dynamic control of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker).
Re Claim 8, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 5, wherein the adjustment module further comprises: a first switch provided between the first power amplification module and a power supply module, and configured to turned on if the first control signal or the second control signal is received (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: activation/deactivation switch of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker); and a second switch provided between the second power amplification module and the power module, and configured to turned on if the first control signal is received and turned off if no first control signal is received (Metcalf, paras 0044-0045: activation/deactivation switch of individual amplifiers of individual loudspeakers of the loudspeaker array; the loudspeakers are dedicated to specific frequency bands (para 0010, para 0004: phase shift) and therefore the dynamically controlled amplifiers for each individual loudspeakers inherently controls the gain of a frequency band relative to the individual loudspeaker).
Re Claim 9, the combined teachings of Meissner, Kim and Metcalf disclose the control apparatus of claim 7, but fail to disclose wherein the filtering compensation module is a DSP. However, official notice is taken that both the concept and advantages of utilizing a filter compensation module which includes amplitude and phase control within a digital signal processor are well known. Since the signals of Metcalf could be digital signals (Metcalf, para 0005), it would have been obvious to modify the Meissner and Metcalf system such that its filter module to control amplitude/phase is a digital signal processor for the purpose of processing digital signals.
Claim 10 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1 & 3.
Claim 11 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1-3.
Claim 12 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1 & 3-4.
Claim 13 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 3 & 5.
Claim 14 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 3, 5 & 8.
Claim 15 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9.
Claim 16 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 3 & 6.
Claim 17 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 3 & 7.
Claim 18 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1-3.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEORGE C MONIKANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1190. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri., 9AM-5PM, ALT. Fridays off.
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, Carolyn R Edwards can be reached at 571-270-7136. 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.
/GEORGE C MONIKANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692 3/10/2026