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
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.
Claims 1, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda (US 2009/0060251) in view of Ma et al. (CN 208029086 U).
Consider claim 1. MAEDA teaches a loudspeaker (Abstract; para. [0004]-[0005]). MAEDA teaches "In some conventional small loudspeakers for use in portable game devices, or the like, not only the overall height of the magnetic circuit, but also that of the loudspeaker diaphragm, are reduced...") (para. [0005]). See also para. [0028].
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "a driving component configured to generate a vibration based on an electrical signal;". MAEDA teaches a voice coil 5 (para. [0028]-[0029]). MAEDA teaches "An audio signal current supplied to the voice coil 5 generates a driving force in the front-rear direction of the loudspeaker diaphragm 10, whereby the loudspeaker vibration system including the voice coil 5 and the loudspeaker diaphragm 10 vibrates in the front-rear direction" (para. [0029]). See also para. [0028].
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "a vibration component configured to receive the vibration of the driving component to vibrate; wherein". MAEDA teaches a dome portion 11 of the loudspeaker diaphragm 10 (para. [0015]-[0016]). MAEDA teaches "The dome portion is a portion of the loudspeaker diaphragm to which the driving force from the voice coil is transmitted in a desirable manner, and therefore plays a primary role as part of the diaphragm for radiating a sound wave") (para. [0015]). See also para. [0016].
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "the vibration component includes an elastic element and a reinforcing member;". MAEDA teaches a dome portion 11 and ribs 20 (para. [0034]). MAEDA teaches "The dome portion 11 of the loudspeaker diaphragm 10 includes ribs 20 for increasing the rigidity of the dome portion 11") (para. [0034]). See also para. [0033]. The dome portion acts as the elastic element, while the ribs serve as the reinforcing members to increase rigidity.
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "the elastic element includes a central region, a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region, and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region, and the elastic element is configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region; and". MAEDA teaches a concave dome portion 13, a convex dome portion 14, and a voice coil attachment portion 15 (para. [0031]). MAEDA teaches "The dome portion 11 includes a concave dome portion 13 at the center of the dome portion 11, a convex dome portion 14 extending along the outer periphery of the concave dome portion 13, and a voice coil attachment portion 15 extending along the outer periphery of the convex dome portion 14") (para. [0031]). See also para. [0029].
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "the reinforcing member is connected with the central region, and vibrations of the reinforcing member and the elastic element generate at least two resonance peaks within an audible range of human ears." MAEDA teaches depressed ribs 21 connected to the concave dome portion 13 (para. [0034]), where the ribs 21 and 22 constitute the reinforcing part, and the frequency response shows clear resonance peaks at approximately 4.8 kHz and 6.3 kHz (para. [0039]).
MAEDA does not explicitly disclose that the reinforcing member includes a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow parts. Ma teaches a fitting structure diaphragm 12 (reinforcing member) connected with the center portion 11-2 (central region) of a suspension diaphragm 11 (elastic element), wherein the fitting structure diaphragm 12 includes a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow holes 12-1 (hollow parts) (see all figures, see pages 2-3 of the translation). Ma teaches "the utility model provides a pair of fretwork vibrating diaphragm of speaker has set up hollow out construction's vocal vibrating diaphragm, has increased the mechanical structure on vibrating diaphragm ball top for thereby vibrating diaphragm weight makes gentlier that the sound press is higher, tone quality is more clear, has reduced audible distortion.") (The Abstract of the provided machine translation). See all figures. The fitting structure diaphragm 12 and hollow holes 12-1 disclose the claimed limitation of "the reinforcing member includes a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow parts" because the fitting structure diaphragm is embedded on the central region of the suspension diaphragm and contains hollowed-out holes to reduce mass while providing structural reinforcement.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify MAEDA's loudspeaker diaphragm 10 to incorporate Ma's hollowed fitting structure. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate Ma's hollowed fitting structure into MAEDA's central dome portion to reduce the moving mass of the diaphragm assembly while maintaining structural rigidity, thereby improving high-frequency sensitivity and preventing impedance mismatch.
Consider claims 14 and 15. Maeda further discloses the at least two resonance peaks include a first resonance peak within a frequency range of 200 Hz-3000 Hz, a second resonance peak within a frequency range of 3000 Hz-7000 Hz, and a third resonance peak within a frequency range of 5000 Hz-12000 Hz (Maeda fig. 3).
Claim(s) 2-3, 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda (US 2009/0060251) in view of Ma et al. (CN 208029086 U) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yoshiaki et al. (JP57-065096).
Consider claim 2. Maeda in view Ma does not expressly disclose the reinforcing member includes one or more ring structures and one or more strip structures; each of the one or more strip structures is connected with at least one of the one or more ring structures to form the reinforcing part and the plurality of hollow parts; and at least one of the one or more strip structures extends toward a center of the central region. In a related field of invention, Yoshiaki discloses a diaphragm for a speaker (fig. 1) comprising: a reinforcing member (fig. 2, skeleton) includes one or more ring structures (fig. 2, inner and outer rings) and one or more strip structures (4-multiple strips); each of the one or more strip structures is connected with at least one of the one or more ring structures to form the reinforcing part and the plurality of hollow parts (fig. 2); and at least one of the one or more strip structures extends toward a center of the central region (fig. 2 and translation page 3, last para).Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to replace the support structure of Maeda with the support structure of Yoshiaki as a known alternate geometry of the support structure.
Consider claim 3. Yoshiaki further discloses a maximum area of a projection of the one or more ring structures in a vibration direction of the elastic element is less than an area of the central region (Yoshiaki fig. 2, since there are holes in the elastic element, the projection of the ring structures are necessarily less than an area of the central region).
Consider claim 6. Yoshiaki further discloses a count of the one or more ring structures is within a range of 1-10 (Yoshiaki fig. 2).
Consider claim 7. Yoshiaki further discloses the one or more ring structures include a first ring structure and a second ring structure, a radial dimension of the first ring structure is less than a radial dimension of the second ring structure, and the first ring structure is disposed at an inner side of the second ring structure (Yoshiaki fig. 2).
Consider claim 8. Yoshiaki further discloses the one or more strip structures include at least one first strip structure and at least one second strip structure; the at least one first strip structure is disposed at an inner side of the first ring structure and connected with the first ring structure; the at least one second strip structure is disposed between the first ring structure and the second ring structure and connected with the first ring structure and the second ring structure, respectively (Yoshiaki fig. 2).
Consider claim 9. Yoshiaki further discloses the at least one first strip structure and the at least one second strip structure are connected with the first ring structure at different positions (Yoshiaki fig. 2, multiple strips are shown at different positions on the first ring structure).
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over MA et al. (CN 208029086 U) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2021/238072) and Yoshihiko (JP S5824299 A).
Consider claim 26. MA teaches a hollow loudspeaker diaphragm (Abstract). MA teaches a "hollow loudspeaker diaphragm, including a composite suspension structure diaphragm and an embedded structure diaphragm" (Abstract).
MA discloses the limitation of "an elastic element including a central region, a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region, and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region, the elastic element being configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region; and". MA teaches a suspension structure diaphragm 11 including a central portion 11-2 and an outer peripheral folded ring portion 11-1 (page 3, lines 11-13). MA's suspension structure diaphragm 11 is disclosing the claimed limitation of "an elastic element including a central region, a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region, and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region" because the central portion 11-2 corresponds to the central region, the outer peripheral folded ring portion 11-1 corresponds to the folded ring region, and the fixed region is inherently supported by the loudspeaker diaphragm structure and its standard operational physics to mount the diaphragm to the speaker frame. Furthermore, MA's suspension structure diaphragm 11 is configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region to generate sound pressure (Abstract). (e.g., "the suspension structure diaphragm 11 includes an outer peripheral folded ring portion 11-1 and a central portion 11-2") (page 3, lines 11-13; fig. 4).
MA does not explicitly disclose this functional configuration. However, Liu teaches an elastic connection piece with a first connection part, a second connection part, and a deformation part to center a voice coil and ensure stable vertical vibration perpendicular to the central region (e.g., " The voice coil 40 is usually wound by a metal wire. When the voice coil 40 is connected to an electrical signal, it vibrates up and down under the action of ampere force in the magnetic field. The direction in which the voice coil 40 vibrates is represented by the horizontal direction; since the diaphragm 91 and the voice coil 40 are fixedly combined into one body by bonding or other methods, the voice coil 40 will also drive the diaphragm 91 to vibrate when the voice coil 40 vibrates up and down according to electrical signals. ") (page 9).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify MA’s hollow loudspeaker diaphragm using the suspension and voice-coil-centering arrangement of LIU. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the combination to improve the stability, centering, and controlled movement of MA’s diaphragm during operation.
MA discloses the limitation of "a reinforcing member connected with the central region, the reinforcing member including a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow parts; wherein". MA teaches an embedded structure diaphragm 12 fitted to the central portion 11-2 of the suspension structure diaphragm 11, wherein the embedded structure diaphragm 12 features six circular hollow holes 12-1 and a solid portion (page 3, lines 11-13). MA's embedded structure diaphragm 12 is disclosing the claimed limitation of "a reinforcing member connected with the central region, the reinforcing member including a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow parts" because the embedded structure diaphragm 12 is connected to the central portion 11-2, the solid portion acts as the reinforcing part, and the six circular hollow holes 12-1 act as the plurality of hollow parts (e.g., "In the present embodiment, a hollow diaphragm 1 of a speaker includes a composite suspended structure diaphragm 11 and a fitting structure diaphragm 12; the suspension structure diaphragm 11 includes a peripheral folded portion 11-1 and In the center portion 11-2, the fitting structure diaphragm 12 is fitted above the center portion 11-2 (may be below); the fitting structure diaphragm 12 is provided with a hollow hole 12-1") (page 3, lines 11-13; all drawings).
MA does NOT explicitly disclose the limitation of "the reinforcing member is configured such that the vibration component at least generates a resonance peak within a range of 10000 Hz-18000 Hz during vibration.".
However, Yoshihiko teaches attaching a rigid, disc-like reinforcing member 5 to the central part of a sounding body to control resonance peaks and improve the reproducibility of the upper register. Yoshihiko's rigid, disc-like reinforcing member 5 is disclosing the claimed limitation of "the reinforcing member is configured such that the vibration component at least generates a resonance peak within a range of 10000 Hz-18000 Hz during vibration" because it controls resonance peaks to improve high-frequency performance. (e.g., To easily increase the reproducibility of a high frequency range in an audio frequency range, by mounting a rigid and light body at the center part of a piezoelectric oscillator which is supported at the circumference and oscillates in flection oscillation mode, abstract; e.g., a high frequency sound travels out while causing the resonance with the body 5 to obtain excellent high frequency characteristics. Therefore, the piezoelectric speaker has the increased reproducibility of the high frequency range; abstract). It is well-known in the art that the standard human hearing range is 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. A range of 10000 Hz-18000 Hz falls within a high frequency range in an audio frequency range.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of MA with the teachings of Yoshihiko and Liu. One of ordinary skill in the art, recognizing the problem of diaphragm weight and sound quality identified in MA, would have been motivated to apply Yoshihiko's rigid central reinforcing object to MA's hollowed fitting structure to predictably increase the stiffness of the central region while maintaining a low mass, thereby optimizing high-frequency resonance peaks and improving sound pressure level output in a predictable manner.
Claim 42 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda (US 2009/0060251) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2021/238072).
Consider claim 42. MAEDA teaches a loudspeaker diaphragm (Abstract; para. [0015]). MAEDA teaches "The loudspeaker diaphragm of the present invention is obtained by molding a film member of a resin... and is a single-piece diaphragm including a central dome portion and an edge portion" (para. [0015]).
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "an elastic element including a central region, a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region, and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region, the elastic element being configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region; and". MAEDA teaches a loudspeaker diaphragm 10 (Fig. 1; para. [0029]) including a concave dome portion 13, a convex dome portion 14, and a voice coil attachment portion 15 (para. [0031]). MAEDA's loudspeaker diaphragm 10 is disclosing the claimed limitation of "an elastic element including a central region, a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region, and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region, the elastic element being configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region" because the diaphragm 10 is a flexible member capable of undergoing elastic deformation, where the concave dome portion 13 corresponds to the central region, the convex dome portion 14 corresponds to the folded ring region, and the voice coil attachment portion 15 corresponds to the fixed region, with the diaphragm vibrating in a front-rear direction perpendicular to the central region (e.g., "The dome portion 11 includes a concave dome portion 13 at the center of the dome portion 11, a convex dome portion 14 extending along the outer periphery of the concave dome portion 13, and a voice coil attachment portion 15 extending along the outer periphery of the convex dome portion 14") (para. [0031]) and "An audio signal current supplied to the voice coil 5 generates a driving force in the front-rear direction of the loudspeaker diaphragm 10, whereby the loudspeaker vibration system... vibrates in the front-rear direction") (para. [0029]).
MAEDA discloses the limitation of "the folded ring region and the suspension region are configured such that the vibration component at least generates a resonance peak within a range of 3000 Hz-7000 Hz during vibration.". MAEDA teaches a diaphragm configuration that generates a resonance peak at around 4.8 kHz (para. [0039]). MAEDA's diaphragm configuration is disclosing the claimed limitation of "the folded ring region and the suspension region are configured such that the vibration component at least generates a resonance peak within a range of 3000 Hz-7000 Hz during vibration" because 4.8 kHz falls within the claimed range of 3000 Hz to 7000 Hz. (e.g., "With the rigidity of the dome portion 11 being increased in a well-balanced manner, no significant dips are observed, except for a peak at around 4.8 kHz... due to the divided vibrations of the edge portion") (para. [0039]).
MAEDA does NOT explicitly disclose the limitation of "a reinforcing member, wherein a projection area of a maximum contour of the reinforcing member in a vibration direction of the elastic element is less than a projection area of the central region in the vibration direction; and the central region includes a suspension region disposed at a periphery of the reinforcing member".
However, LIU teaches an elastic component with connection and deformation parts and a damping member (e.g., In some embodiments of the present invention, the elastic member includes a first deformation zone and a second deformation zone, the deformation amount of the first deformation zone is greater than the deformation amount of the second deformation zone, and the damping element is arranged at The first deformation zone, page 3, lines 4-6; e.g., Label name 10 Elastic parts 30 Damping parts 1 First connecting part a Long axis 2 Second connecting part b Short axis 3 Deformation part 40 Voice coil 31 First deformation section 80 Bracket 32 Second deformation section 90 Vibration unit 4 First vibration gap 91 Diaphragm 5 Second vibration gap 92 Tow cup 6 The third vibration gap 100 Sound device 7 First line segment 101 Magnetic circuit system 8 Second line segment 1011 Magnetic gap, page 8, lines 4-9, see fig. 1). LIU's damping member and deformation parts are disclosing the claimed limitation of "a reinforcing member, wherein a projection area of a maximum contour of the reinforcing member in a vibration direction of the elastic element is less than a projection area of the central region in the vibration direction; and the central region includes a suspension region disposed at a periphery of the reinforcing member" because the damping member and the varying deformation regions act as a reinforcing member that increases local stiffness, leaving a surrounding suspension region at its periphery (e.g., "In some embodiments of the present invention, the elastic member includes a first deformation zone and a second deformation zone, wherein the amount of deformation of the first deformation zone is greater than the amount of deformation of the second deformation zone, and the damping element is disposed in the first deformation zone.", page 3, lines 4-6, see fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify MAEDA's loudspeaker diaphragm to incorporate LIU's damping and elastic deformation management teachings. One of skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate LIU's damping member and regional deformation configuration into MAEDA's diaphragm to suppress unwanted resonance peaks and divided vibrations, thereby achieving a flatter frequency response and preventing resonance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 12, 13, 16-18 and 20-23 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.
Conclusion
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DUC NGUYEN
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2691
/DUC NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2691
