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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-6, filed 7/21/2026, with respect to claims 2 and 8-9, have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections of claims 2 and 8-9 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, line 1 – page 11, line 5, with respect to claims 1-9, 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.
Applicant's arguments, see page 11, lines 6-9, filed 7/21/2026, with respect to claim 10, do not comply with 37 CFR 1.111(c) because they do not clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Further, they do not show how the amendments avoid such references or objections. See MPEP § 714.04. Additionally, Applicant has not specifically pointed out the support for this amendment. See MPEP §§ 714.02 and 2163.06.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 10 recites the negative limitation, “wherein the connector does not include multiple connectors.” The specification nowhere excludes a multi-connector arrangement. Although the specification recites “a connector” and “a USB terminal,” and the figures show a single connector, MPEP § 2173.05(i) states: “the mere absence of a positive recitation is not basis for an exclusion.” (Internal quotes omitted.) In the present case, it cannot be established that “a skilled artisan would understand a negative limitation to necessarily be present in the disclosure.” (MPEP § 2173.05(i) (Internal quotes omitted).) Musical instruments and their peripheral devices often comprise multiple connectors, and an absence of multiple connectors in the instant disclosure does not provide reasonable support for a negative limitation precluding them within the scope of the claims.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites the limitation “the connector” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Amending to “the single connector” to correspond with claim 1 would cure this rejection.
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.
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 1-3 and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Osakabe et al. (US 5933430 A, August 3, 1999), hereinafter Osakabe, in view of Ito (US 20030121401 A1, July 3, 2003), and further in view of Ishii (US 20030196540 A1, October 23, 2003).
Regarding claim 1, Osakabe teaches a communication device for communicating with an electronic musical instrument, via a communication interface of the electronic musical instrument (Osakabe col. 13, lines 37-49: "A second embodiment of a bidirectional data transmission system applied with the present invention is shown in FIG. 14. In this data transmission system, there are provided MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34, a CD player 35, an MD recorder 36, MIDI/IEEE-1394 converters (hereinafter referred to simply as converters) 37 to 40, a personal computer 41 and a hard disk unit 42. Then, OUTs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to INs of the converters 37 to 40, by MIDI cables, respectively, and INs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to OUTs of the converters 37 to 40 by MIDI cables, respectively."), the communication device comprising: a control device for mutually converting the MIDI data and a first signal for the communication interface (Osakabe col. 13, lines 55-65: "The converters 37 to 40 performs mutual conversion between the MIDI signal and the protocol of the IEEE-1394 serial bus. For example, a MIDI signal inputted to IN of the converter 37 from OUT of the MIDI musical instrument 31 is converted into the IEEE-1394 isopacket or asynchronous packet in the converter 37 and is sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus. Conversely, a packet which has been sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus from another MIDI musical instrument through another converter and received by the converter 37 is converted here into the MIDI signal and sent from OUT to IN of the MIDI musical instrument 31.") and for converting the audio data into a second signal for the communication interface (Osakabe col. 17, lines 20-25: "Further, it is also possible to input the digital signal outputted from the tone synthesis portion 60 to the converter from OUT of MIDI signal output through the switch 61, to convert it into the format of isochronous data transmission of the IEEE-1394 serial bus and to feed it back to an equipment on the bus."), wherein the first signal includes the MIDI data, and the second signal includes the audio data (Osakabe col. 6, line 61 - col. 7, line 5: "Furthermore, it is preferable that a header which belongs to a packet of an isochronous transmission format is made common to a plural types of digital data (such as linear digital audio, non-linear digital audio and music/musical instrument signals). Further, an identification code for identifying a mode of transmitting synchronously with an isochronous transmission cycle and a mode of transmitting asynchronously therewith on a plural types of digital data may be provided in the header. Furthermore, it is also possible to add an identification code for identifying the types of digital data to the data of the isochronous transmission format.").
Osakabe does not explicitly disclose an antenna for transmitting and receiving a radio signal of Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDI) data and receiving a radio signal of audio data; a radio communication module for mutually converting the MIDI data and the radio signal of MIDI data and for converting the radio signal of audio data into the audio data; and a single connector for transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic musical instrument and for transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic musical instrument.
However, Ito teaches an antenna for transmitting and receiving a radio signal of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data (Ito ¶0044: "Bluetooth module 77 receives audio signals and MIDI data from Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in other music apparatus such as electronic musical instruments, sequencers, and microphone apparatus connected by wireless, and transmits audio signals and MIDI data to Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in the aforesaid other music apparatus." Bluetooth modules inherently comprise antennas.") and receiving a radio signal of audio data (Ito ¶0032: "On the other hand, the audio signals transmitted by wireless from mixer apparatus 40 are received by Bluetooth module 11 and supplied to sound system 15 via decoder 13 and D/A converter 14."); and a radio communication module for mutually converting the MIDI data and the radio signal of MIDI data (Ito ¶0044: "Bluetooth module 77 receives audio signals and MIDI data from Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in other music apparatus such as electronic musical instruments, sequencers, and microphone apparatus connected by wireless, and transmits audio signals and MIDI data to Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in the aforesaid other music apparatus.") and for converting the radio signal of audio data into the audio data (Ito ¶0032: "Decoder 13 decodes (decompresses) the audio signals that are encoded (compressed) by mixer apparatus 40 and outputs the decoded audio signals.").
Furthermore, Ishii teaches a single connector for transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic musical instrument (Ishii ¶0011: "Another countermeasure against the complicated external cables is an interface/cable available for both of the MIDI music data codes and the audio data codes. The interface and cable are hereinafter referred to as 'shared interface' and 'shared cable'. USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminals and IEEE1394 terminals are examples of the shared interface. In case where an electronic musical instrument is equipped with the shared interface, both of the MIDI data codes and the audio data codes are transmitted and received between the system components through a single shared cable. This results in reduction in the interface/cable.") and for transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic musical instrument (Ishii ¶0058: "Thus, the MIDI music data codes and audio data codes are multiplexed into the digital modulated music data signal in the music data source 11, and are demultiplexed from the digital modulated music data signal in the tone generator module 12. For this reason, only one digital audio cable 17 is required for the data transmission from the music data source 11 and the tone generator module 12.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication device of Osakabe by adding the radio communication module of Ito to solve the problem of cumbersome wiring and connection of cables (Ito ¶¶0005-0006) and the single connector of Ishii to reduce the interface and cabling required (Ishii ¶0011).
Regarding claim 2, Osakabe (in view of Ito and further in view of Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Ito further teaches that the radio communication module supports a wireless communication standard (Ito ¶0008: "Further, as means for wireless communication between the plurality of music apparatus and the mixer apparatus, one can use, for example, a wireless communication device according to the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard.").
Regarding claim 3, Osakabe (in view of Ito further in view of and Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Ishii further teaches that each of the first signal and the second signal includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) signal (Ishii ¶0011: "Another countermeasure against the complicated external cables is an interface/cable available for both of the MIDI music data codes and the audio data codes. The interface and cable are hereinafter referred to as “shared interface” and “shared cable”. USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminals and IEEE1394 terminals are examples of the shared interface. In case where an electronic musical instrument is equipped with the shared interface, both of the MIDI data codes and the audio data codes are transmitted and received between the system components through a single shared cable. This results in reduction in the interface/cable.").
Regarding claim 6, Osakabe (in view of Ito and further in view of Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Ito further teaches that the radio communication module processes the MIDI data and the audio data (Ito ¶0044: "Bluetooth module 77 receives audio signals and MIDI data from Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in other music apparatus such as electronic musical instruments, sequencers, and microphone apparatus connected by wireless, and transmits audio signals and MIDI data to Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in the aforesaid other music apparatus.").
Regarding claim 7, Osakabe (in view of Ito and further in view of Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Ito further teaches an electronic musical instrument system, the electronic musical instrument, wherein the electronic musical instrument comprises a speaker configured to produce sound on a basis of at least one of MIDI data and audio data acquired via the communication device (Ito ¶¶0045-0046: "Mixing circuit 82 inputs digital music tone signals of plural series supplied from tone generator circuit 81 through channels that are different series by series, and mixes the plural music tone signals after controlling the characteristics and levels of the music tone signals for each channel. Also, an audio input circuit 83 connected by wire to other music apparatus 84 is connected to mixing circuit 82. Audio input circuit 83 inputs audio signals from other music apparatus (electronic musical instruments, automatic play apparatus, microphone apparatus, and the like) by wire and outputs the audio signals to mixing circuit 82. Also, audio signals transmitted by wireless from other Bluetooth modules 79 and received by Bluetooth module 77 are input into mixing circuit 82 via bus 60. Mixing circuit 82 respectively inputs the audio signals from audio input circuit 83 and Bluetooth module 77 as well through channels that are different from those of the aforesaid music tone signals, controls the characteristics and levels of the audio signals at each channel, and mixes the audio signals with the aforesaid digital music tone signals from tone generator circuit 81. The output of mixing circuit 82 is connected to D/A converter 85. D/A converter 85 converts the digital audio signals from the mixing circuit into analog audio signals for output to sound system 86. Sound system 86 is composed of amplifiers 86 a, 86 b, speaker 86 c, and headphone 86 d.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication device of Osakabe (as modified by Ito and Ishii) by adding the mixing of Ito to monitor the aforesaid results at the position of the music apparatus (Ito ¶0019).
Regarding claim 8, Osakabe teaches a method of performing processing by at least one processor of a communication device (Osakabe col. 9, lines 36-39: "FIG. 2 shows a basic structure of the converter. The converter 20 is provided with a physical layer block (PHY) 21 for the IEEE-1394 serial bus, a link layer block (LINC) 22, a CPU 23 and a digital audio I/O 24."), comprising: mutually converting the MIDI data and a first signal for a communication interface (Osakabe col. 13, lines 55-65: "The converters 37 to 40 performs mutual conversion between the MIDI signal and the protocol of the IEEE-1394 serial bus. For example, a MIDI signal inputted to IN of the converter 37 from OUT of the MIDI musical instrument 31 is converted into the IEEE-1394 isopacket or asynchronous packet in the converter 37 and is sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus. Conversely, a packet which has been sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus from another MIDI musical instrument through another converter and received by the converter 37 is converted here into the MIDI signal and sent from OUT to IN of the MIDI musical instrument 31.") and converting the audio data into a second signal for the communication interface (Osakabe col. 17, lines 20-25: "Further, it is also possible to input the digital signal outputted from the tone synthesis portion 60 to the converter from OUT of MIDI signal output through the switch 61, to convert it into the format of isochronous data transmission of the IEEE-1394 serial bus and to feed it back to an equipment on the bus."), wherein the communication device is configured to communicate with an electronic device via the communication interface (Osakabe col. 13, lines 37-49: "A second embodiment of a bidirectional data transmission system applied with the present invention is shown in FIG. 14. In this data transmission system, there are provided MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34, a CD player 35, an MD recorder 36, MIDI/IEEE-1394 converters (hereinafter referred to simply as converters) 37 to 40, a personal computer 41 and a hard disk unit 42. Then, OUTs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to INs of the converters 37 to 40, by MIDI cables, respectively, and INs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to OUTs of the converters 37 to 40 by MIDI cables, respectively."), and wherein the first signal includes the MIDI data, and the second signal includes the audio data (Osakabe col. 6, line 61 - col. 7, line 5: "Furthermore, it is preferable that a header which belongs to a packet of an isochronous transmission format is made common to a plural types of digital data (such as linear digital audio, non-linear digital audio and music/musical instrument signals). Further, an identification code for identifying a mode of transmitting synchronously with an isochronous transmission cycle and a mode of transmitting asynchronously therewith on a plural types of digital data may be provided in the header. Furthermore, it is also possible to add an identification code for identifying the types of digital data to the data of the isochronous transmission format.").
Osakabe does not explicitly disclose mutually converting Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data and a radio signal of MIDI data and converting a radio signal of audio data into audio data; transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic device via a single connector of the communication device; and transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic device via the single connector of the communication device.
However, Ito teaches mutually converting Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data and a radio signal of MIDI data (Ito ¶0044: "Bluetooth module 77 receives audio signals and MIDI data from Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in other music apparatus such as electronic musical instruments, sequencers, and microphone apparatus connected by wireless, and transmits audio signals and MIDI data to Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in the aforesaid other music apparatus.") and converting a radio signal of audio data into audio data (Ito ¶0032: "Decoder 13 decodes (decompresses) the audio signals that are encoded (compressed) by mixer apparatus 40 and outputs the decoded audio signals.").
Furthermore, Ishii teaches transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic device via a single connector of the communication device (Ishii ¶0011: "Another countermeasure against the complicated external cables is an interface/cable available for both of the MIDI music data codes and the audio data codes. The interface and cable are hereinafter referred to as 'shared interface' and 'shared cable'. USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminals and IEEE1394 terminals are examples of the shared interface. In case where an electronic musical instrument is equipped with the shared interface, both of the MIDI data codes and the audio data codes are transmitted and received between the system components through a single shared cable. This results in reduction in the interface/cable."); and transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic device via the single connector of the communication device (Ishii ¶0058: "Thus, the MIDI music data codes and audio data codes are multiplexed into the digital modulated music data signal in the music data source 11, and are demultiplexed from the digital modulated music data signal in the tone generator module 12. For this reason, only one digital audio cable 17 is required for the data transmission from the music data source 11 and the tone generator module 12.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of Osakabe by adding the radio communication module of Ito to solve the problem of cumbersome wiring and connection of cables (Ito ¶¶0005-0006) and the single connector of Ishii to reduce the interface and cabling required (Ishii ¶0011).
Regarding claim 9, Osakabe teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that, when executed, causes least one processor of a communication device to perform operations (Osakabe col. 9, lines 36-39: "FIG. 2 shows a basic structure of the converter. The converter 20 is provided with a physical layer block (PHY) 21 for the IEEE-1394 serial bus, a link layer block (LINC) 22, a CPU 23 and a digital audio I/O 24.") comprising: mutually converting the MIDI data and a first signal for a communication interface ((Osakabe col. 13, lines 55-65: "The converters 37 to 40 performs mutual conversion between the MIDI signal and the protocol of the IEEE-1394 serial bus. For example, a MIDI signal inputted to IN of the converter 37 from OUT of the MIDI musical instrument 31 is converted into the IEEE-1394 isopacket or asynchronous packet in the converter 37 and is sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus. Conversely, a packet which has been sent out to the IEEE-1394 serial bus from another MIDI musical instrument through another converter and received by the converter 37 is converted here into the MIDI signal and sent from OUT to IN of the MIDI musical instrument 31.") and converting the audio data into a second signal for the communication interface (Osakabe col. 17, lines 20-25: "Further, it is also possible to input the digital signal outputted from the tone synthesis portion 60 to the converter from OUT of MIDI signal output through the switch 61, to convert it into the format of isochronous data transmission of the IEEE-1394 serial bus and to feed it back to an equipment on the bus."), wherein the communication device is configured to communicate with an electronic device via the communication interface (Osakabe col. 13, lines 37-49: "A second embodiment of a bidirectional data transmission system applied with the present invention is shown in FIG. 14. In this data transmission system, there are provided MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34, a CD player 35, an MD recorder 36, MIDI/IEEE-1394 converters (hereinafter referred to simply as converters) 37 to 40, a personal computer 41 and a hard disk unit 42. Then, OUTs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to INs of the converters 37 to 40, by MIDI cables, respectively, and INs of the MIDI musical instruments 31 to 34 are connected to OUTs of the converters 37 to 40 by MIDI cables, respectively."), and wherein the first signal includes the MIDI data, and the second signal includes the audio data (Osakabe col. 6, line 61 - col. 7, line 5: "Furthermore, it is preferable that a header which belongs to a packet of an isochronous transmission format is made common to a plural types of digital data (such as linear digital audio, non-linear digital audio and music/musical instrument signals). Further, an identification code for identifying a mode of transmitting synchronously with an isochronous transmission cycle and a mode of transmitting asynchronously therewith on a plural types of digital data may be provided in the header. Furthermore, it is also possible to add an identification code for identifying the types of digital data to the data of the isochronous transmission format.").
Osakabe does not explicitly disclose mutually converting Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data and a radio signal of MIDI data and converting a radio signal of audio data into audio data; transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic device via a single connector of the communication device; and transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic device via the single connector of the communication device.
However, Ito teaches mutually converting Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data and a radio signal of MIDI data (Ito ¶0044: "Bluetooth module 77 receives audio signals and MIDI data from Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in other music apparatus such as electronic musical instruments, sequencers, and microphone apparatus connected by wireless, and transmits audio signals and MIDI data to Bluetooth modules 79 incorporated in the aforesaid other music apparatus.") and converting a radio signal of audio data into audio data (Ito ¶0032: "Decoder 13 decodes (decompresses) the audio signals that are encoded (compressed) by mixer apparatus 40 and outputs the decoded audio signals.").
Furthermore, Ishii teaches transmitting and receiving the first signal for the communication interface to and from the electronic device via a single connector of the communication device (Ishii ¶0011: "Another countermeasure against the complicated external cables is an interface/cable available for both of the MIDI music data codes and the audio data codes. The interface and cable are hereinafter referred to as 'shared interface' and 'shared cable'. USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminals and IEEE1394 terminals are examples of the shared interface. In case where an electronic musical instrument is equipped with the shared interface, both of the MIDI data codes and the audio data codes are transmitted and received between the system components through a single shared cable. This results in reduction in the interface/cable."); and transmitting the second signal for the communication interface to the electronic device via the single connector of the communication device (Ishii ¶0058: "Thus, the MIDI music data codes and audio data codes are multiplexed into the digital modulated music data signal in the music data source 11, and are demultiplexed from the digital modulated music data signal in the tone generator module 12. For this reason, only one digital audio cable 17 is required for the data transmission from the music data source 11 and the tone generator module 12.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Osakabe by adding the radio communication module of Ito to solve the problem of cumbersome wiring and connection of cables (Ito ¶¶0005-0006) and the single connector of Ishii to reduce the interface and cabling required (Ishii ¶0011).
Regarding claim 10, Osakabe (in view of Ito and further in view of Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Ishii further teaches that the connector does not include multiple connectors (Ishii ¶0058: "Thus, the MIDI music data codes and audio data codes are multiplexed into the digital modulated music data signal in the music data source 11, and are demultiplexed from the digital modulated music data signal in the tone generator module 12. For this reason, only one digital audio cable 17 is required for the data transmission from the music data source 11 and the tone generator module 12.").
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable Osakabe in view of Ito, and further in view of Ishii and Bell et al. (US 20150122111 A1, May 7, 2015), hereinafter Bell.
Regarding claim 4, Osakabe (in view of Ito further in view of and Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Osakabe (in view of Ito and Ishii) does not explicitly disclose that the single connector is mounted on one of outer circumferences of the electronic musical instrument.
However, Bell teaches that the single connector is mounted on one of outer circumferences of the electronic musical instrument (Bell ¶¶0013-0014: "In various embodiments, MIDI connector 102 connects to a music device. In various embodiments, the music device may be musical instrument (e.g., piano, keyboard, synthesizer, drum machine, etc.), controller (e.g., drum and percussion controllers, stringed instrument controllers, performance controllers, etc.), etc. In various embodiments, MIDI connector 102 includes an input circuit and an output circuit (not shown). In some embodiments, the input circuit enables MIDI connector 102 to provide information to an input of a music device. In some embodiments, the output circuit enables MIDI connector 102 to receive information from an output of a music device.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication device of Osakabe (as modified by Ito and Ishii) by adding the single connector of Bell to avoid having too many cables connected to the cabinet (Ishii ¶0007).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Osakabe in view of Ito, and further in view of Ishii and Thompson et al. (US 20180302964 A1, October 18, 2018), hereinafter Thompson.
Regarding claim 5, Osakabe (in view of Ito and further in view of Ishii) teaches a communication device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Osakabe (in view of Ito and Ishii) does not explicitly disclose that the single connector is disposed such that a longitudinal direction of the single connector is substantially perpendicular to a board surface of a board.
However, Thompson teaches that the single connector is disposed such that a longitudinal direction of the single connector is substantially perpendicular to a board surface of a board (Thompson ¶0057: "In one example, and as depicted in FIG. 5-FIG. 8, the USB connector 24 is mounted orthogonally to the first surface 56 and the second surface 58 of the PCB 22. In other words, the longitudinally extending top surface 72 and bottom surface 74 of the USB connector 24 are perpendicular to the vertically extending first surface 56 and second surface 58 of the PCB 22.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the communication device of Osakabe (as modified by Ito and Ishii) by adding the perpendicular PCB board arrangement of Thompson to position the device closer to the electronic instrument (Thompson ¶0057).
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 PHILIP SCOLES whose telephone number is (703)756-1831. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30 ET.
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/PHILIP G SCOLES/
Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/DEDEI K HAMMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Prosecution Insights