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 .
Oath/Declaration
The oath or declaration filed on 08/22/2023 is acceptable.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 10/02/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 1, the metes and bounds of the claimed invention, are vague and ill-defined, as a result of limitation “the first protrusion is corresponding to the second protrusion” (Ln 8). The claim is indefinite because it is it is unclear how the “corresponding” is evaluated. Is it in terms of alignment, overlapping, materials, functions, thickness or something else? The specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention, whereby the claims are rendered indefinite. Appropriate clarification and/or correction are/is required within metes and bounds of the claimed invention. For prosecution on merit, Examiner assumes any metrics suitable for evaluation.
Regarding Claims 2-8, those are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b), because of their dependency status from claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Notes: when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, as (100; Fig 1A; [0029]) = (element 100; Figure No. 1A; Paragraph No. [0029]). For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. The primary reference citation may not be preceded by the inventor tag, wherein the other reference citation will carry inventor tag. These conventions are used throughout this document.
Claims 1-4, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Dehe; Alfons et al. (US 20120319217 A1) hereinafter Dehe.
Regarding claim 1, Dehe teaches a MEMS microphone (labeled as a capacitive/silicon MEMS microphone; (Figs 1, 3; [0033, 0020, 0055]), comprising (see the entire document, fig 1A-1B. 3 along with figs 4-5, 11, specifically as cited below)
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Dehe Figure 1A
a substrate (100; Fig 1A; [0029]) with a back cavity (50; [0030]), and
a capacitive system (comprising electrodes 150200; [0048.0055] detailed in Fig 2E/2I as the membrane layer 150 formed an electrode and backplate electrode 200 forming the capacitor that is part of a capacitive microphone) located on the substrate (100), comprising a back plate ({200, 190}) and a diaphragm ({150, 25” Fig 1A-1B; [0029] ) opposite to the back plate , a gap (55; [0030]) formed between the back plate ({200, 190}) and the diaphragm ({150, 25}), wherein
the back plate ({200, 190}) comprises a body portion (190, a bottom portion of ({200, 192}) and a first protrusion (overlying 190, a top portion of 200) extending from the body portion (190) in a direction away from the substrate (100), the diaphragm (150) comprises a main portion (150) and a second protrusion (25) extending from the main portion (150) in the direction away (Fig 1A) from the substrate (100), the first protrusion (200) is corresponding (construed from overlying 25; see rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), in section 1, supra, as well ) to the second protrusion (25), the substrate (100) comprises an upper end (top of 100; hereinafter 100_upper_end) close to the capacitive system ({150,200}) and a lower end (bottom of 100; hereinafter 100_lower_end) away from the capacitive system, an opening of the back cavity (50) at the upper end (100_upper_end) of the substrate (100) is larger (construed from Fig 1A) than an opening at the lower end (100_lower_end) of the substrate (100).
Regarding claim 2, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, further teaches, wherein the diaphragm ({150,190}) is located at a side of the back plate ({200,190)) close (depicted in Fig 1) to the substrate (100).
Regarding claim 3, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 2, further teaches, wherein the first protrusion (200) and the second protrusion (25) are annular structures (Fig 1B, 2O; [0031]: circular type).
Regarding claim 4, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, further teaches, wherein the back plate ({200,190}; Fig 1A) is provided with a plurality of through holes ( hole between two adjacent 200; Fig 1 depicts 9 such hole ) communicating with the outside and the gap (55; [0030]), the through holes penetrate through the first protrusion (200).
Regarding claim 6, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, further teaches, wherein an aperture diameter of the back cavity (50) becomes progressively larger (As depicted in Figs 1A, 3) in a direction from the upper end (100_upper_end) of the substrate (100) to the lower end of (100_lower_end)) the substrate (100).
8. Regarding claim 2, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, further teaches, wherein a sacrificial layer (140; Fig 10F-10G; [0093]) is provided between the diaphragm (150) and the substrate (100) , the sacrificial layer (140) is connected with an outer edge (overlying 100_upper_end)) of the diaphragm (150) and the substrate (100).
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 of this title, 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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dehe; Alfons et al. (US 20120319217 A1) hereinafter Dehe; in view of Suzuki; Yukitoshi et al. (US 20080019543 A1; hereinafter Suzuki.
Regarding claim 5, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, does not expressly disclose, wherein the diaphragm ({150; 25}) is provided with a slit penetrating through the second protrusion (corrugations of 25; [0031]), the gap (55) communicates with the back cavity (50) through the slit.
The difference between Dehe and claimed feature is slit in the projection of diaphragm ({150; 25}).
However, in the analogous art, Suzuki teaches silicon microphones ([0002]), wherein ([0017]) he diaphragm is etched so as to form a slit running through the diaphragm in the thickness direction and more detail in (Figs 17A-17B; [0139-0140]) slit 1222 is formed in the periphery of the diaphragm 1220 so as to surround the center portion. i.e. a sacrifice layer covering the slit is formed on the diaphragm; the plate having a planar portion and a step portion is formed on the sacrifice layer by way of deposition, wherein the planar portion is continuously formed on both sides of the step portion, and wherein the step portion is formed in conformity with the edge of the slit of the diaphragm.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Suzuki’s MEMS microphone slit on diaphragm into Dehe‘s diaphragm ({150; 25}), thereafter, the combination of (Dehe and Suzuki)’s MEMS microphone, wherein the diaphragm ({150; 25}) is provided with a slit (in view of Suzuki), penetrating through the second protrusion (corrugations of 25; [0031]), since this inclusion, at least, provides a communication so that the step portion (second protrusion) of the diaphragm can communicated with cavity and gap.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dehe; Alfons et al. (US 20120319217 A1) hereinafter Dehe; in view of ZHAO, Zhuan-zhuan et al. (CN 111757228 A); hereinafter Zhao.
Regarding claim 7, Dehe as applied to the MEMS microphone described as claim 1, while further teaches, wherein a projection of the second protrusion (of 25) along the vibration direction (up-down) of the diaphragm ({150,25}), but does not disclose “is located in the substrate (100) totally”.
The difference between Dehe and claimed feature is location of second protrusion (of 25) in the substrate (100) totally.
However, in the analogous art, Zhao teaches MEMS microphones ([Technical Field]), wherein (Fig 4) second protrusion of (Dehe 25) projected along 44 is located in the substrate 1.
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Zhao Figure 3
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Dehe MEMS microphone with the teaching of Zhao, and thereafter, the combination of (Dehe and Zhao)’s MEMS microphone, wherein a projection of the second protrusion (of 25) along the vibration direction (up-down) of the diaphragm ({150,25}), “is located (in view of (Zhao) in the substrate (100) totally” since this inclusion, at least, provides a communication so that the step portion (second protrusion) of the diaphragm can communicated with cavity and gap.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOAZZAM HOSSAIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7960. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:30AM - 6:00 PM.
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/MOAZZAM HOSSAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
November 10, 2025