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
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, 26 and 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dongsheng Electronics Co. Ltd. Chinese Patent Publication CN 208029086 U (hereafter Dongsheng)(cited by applicant) in view of Maeda U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0060251 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Dongsheng discloses a loudspeaker (Fig. 3), comprising: a driving component configured to generate a vibration based on an electrical signal (41,42,43-magnetic circuit and 2-voice coil); and a vibration component configured to receive the vibration of the driving component to vibrate (1-diaphragm, fig. 1); wherein the vibration component includes an elastic element and a reinforcing member; the elastic element includes a central region (12, fig. 2), a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region (11-1, fig. 2), and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region (11, fig. 2), and the elastic element is configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region (normal operation for a pistonic speaker); and the reinforcing member is connected with the central region, the reinforcing member includes a reinforcing part (12-embeded structure of the vibrating diaphragm) and a plurality of hollow parts (12-1 – hollow holes). Dongsheng does not expressly disclose of the reinforcing member and the elastic element generate at least two resonance peaks within an audible range of human ears. In a related field of endeavor, Maeda discloses a loudspeaker and diaphragm (Fig. 2) comprising: a driving component configured to generate a vibration based on an electrical signal (2-magnetic circuit and 5-voice coil); and a vibration component configured to receive the vibration of the driving component to vibrate (11-diaphragm dome); and vibrations of the reinforcing member (11- diaphragm dome) and the elastic element (12-edge with 18-corrugations) generate at least two resonance peaks within an audible range of human ears (Fig 3, resonance peaks shown at 1 kHz and 5 kHz). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the speaker of Dongsheng will produce resonance peaks as taught by Maeda since both speakers are of the same construction.
Regarding claims 14 and 15, the combination of Dongsheng in view of 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).
Regarding claim 26, Dongsheng discloses a vibration component (Fig. 3), comprising: an elastic element(1-diaphragm, fig. 1) including a central region (11-2 – central part), a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region (11-1 – periphery ring portion), and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region (11 – ring at the edge portion of the diaphragm), the elastic element being configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region (normal operation for a pistonic speaker); and a reinforcing member connected with the central region, the reinforcing member including a reinforcing part and a plurality of hollow parts connected with the central region, the reinforcing member includes a reinforcing part (12-embeded structure of the vibrating diaphragm) and a plurality of hollow parts (12-1 – hollow holes). Dongsheng does not expressly disclose of the reinforcing member and the elastic element generate a resonance peak within a range of 10000 Hz-18000 Hz during vibration. In a related field of endeavor, Maeda discloses a vibration component (Fig. 2) comprising: a driving component configured to generate a vibration based on an electrical signal (2-magnetic circuit and 5-voice coil); and a vibration component configured to receive the vibration of the driving component to vibrate (11-diaphragm dome); and vibrations of the reinforcing member (11- diaphragm dome) and the elastic element (12-edge with 18-corrugations) generate a resonance peak within a range of 10000 Hz-18000 Hz during vibration (Fig 3, a resonance peak shown between 10 kHz and 18 kHz). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the speaker of Dongsheng will produce resonance peaks as taught by Maeda since both speakers are of the same construction.
Regarding claim 42, Dongsheng discloses a vibration component (Fig. 3), comprising:: an elastic element(1-diaphragm, fig. 1) including a central region (11-2 – central part), a folded ring region disposed at a periphery of the central region (11-1 – periphery ring portion), and a fixed region disposed at a periphery of the folded ring region (11 – ring at the edge portion of the diaphragm), the elastic element being configured to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the central region (normal operation for a pistonic speaker); and a reinforcing member, wherein a projection area of a maximum contour of the reinforcing member in a vibration direction of the elastic element (12-embeded structure of the vibrating diaphragm and 12-1 – hollow holes) is less than a projection area of the central region in the vibration direction (the area of the central region with the holes has a smaller area since the holes are present); and the central region includes a suspension region disposed at a periphery of the reinforcing member (11-1 – periphery ring portion). Dongsheng does not expressly disclose of the reinforcing member and the elastic element generate a resonance peak within a range of 3 kHz and 7 kHz during vibration. In a related field of endeavor, Maeda discloses a vibration component (Fig. 2) comprising: a driving component configured to generate a vibration based on an electrical signal (2-magnetic circuit and 5-voice coil); and a vibration component configured to receive the vibration of the driving component to vibrate (11-diaphragm dome); and vibrations of the reinforcing member (11- diaphragm dome) and the elastic element (12-edge with 18-corrugations) generate a resonance peak within a range of 3 kHz and 7 kHz during vibration (Fig 3, a resonance peak shown between 3 kHz and 7 kHz). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the speaker of Dongsheng will produce resonance peaks as taught by Maeda since both speakers are of the same construction.
Claim 2, 3 and 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dongsheng in view of Maeda as applied to claim1 above, and further in view of Yoshiaki et al. Japanese Patent Publication 57-065096 (cited by applicant).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda 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 paragraph).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 the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda with the support structure of Yoshiaki as a known alternate geometry of the support structure.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda in view of 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).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda in view of Yoshiaki further discloses a count of the one or more ring structures is within a range of 1-10 (Yoshiaki fig. 2).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda in view of 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).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda in view of 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).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Dongsheng in view of Maeda in view of 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).
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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/BRIAN ENSEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694 20 February 2026