DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the other end” is believed to be in error for --an other end--. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claims 2-3 are 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.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 2 recites the broad recitation “a USB interface”, and the claim also recites “a TYPE-C interface” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi CN 109555997A in view of Li 2018/0292058 and Hu CN 213759725 U.
In regards to Independent Claim 1 and Dependent Claim 5, Shi teaches a Bluetooth speaker table lamp (figure 1) with essential oil aromatherapy (abstract), comprising a base (3 and 9), an aromatherapy mechanism (10) arranged on the base (mounted within 3 and 9 in figure 2), a lamp panel arranged around the aromatherapy mechanism (lamps 8), a lampshade sleeved on the lamp panel and abutting against a top of the base (2 arranged on top of 3 in figure 1), and an aromatherapy control board arranged at a top of the aromatherapy mechanism (fragrance circuit is mounted in 10, page 4, where it is not claimed that other components of the aromatherapy mechanism cannot be placed above the control board); a main control board (main control chip, Page 2), a speaker cavity (cavity in figure 2 housing speaker 7), and a speaker arranged on the speaker cavity are arranged in the base (speaker 7 within base and cavity in figure 2); and the main control board is provided with a Bluetooth module (Bluetooth module connects to main control chip in figure 4). However, Shi does not teach that the aromatherapy mechanism comprises an essential oil bottle, a microporous tube B communicating with the essential oil bottle, a silicone pad of the essential oil bottle that is arranged on a bottle mouth of the essential oil bottle, an aromatherapy chamber detachably connected to the bottle mouth of the essential oil bottle, an air pump motor arranged beside the essential oil bottle, and a microporous tube A with one end communicating with the air pump motor; the other end of the microporous tube A penetrates through the aromatherapy chamber and is opposite to a top of the microporous tube B penetrating through the aromatherapy chamber. Li teaches an aromatherapy mechanism (figure 2A) comprises an essential oil bottle (107), a microporous tube B (118) communicating with the essential oil bottle (118 inserted into 107), a pad of the essential oil bottle that is arranged on a bottle mouth of the essential oil bottle (elastic element 119, which may be rubber, paragraph [0056]), an aromatherapy chamber detachably connected to the bottle mouth of the essential oil bottle (105, where the components are shown connected together), an air pump motor arranged beside the essential oil bottle (106), and a microporous tube A with one end communicating with the air pump motor (tube 110, where 110 and 118 are shown at a 90 degree angle in figure 2A); the other end of the microporous tube A penetrates through the aromatherapy chamber and is opposite to a top of the microporous tube B penetrating through the aromatherapy chamber (as shown in figure 2A). Hu teaches either rubber or silicone can be used for connectors of an essential oil bottle that require a certain elasticity (paragraph [0040]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the invention to use the aromatherapy mechanism of Li in the lamp of Shi, in order to fully atomize the fragrance that is being emitted into the air (paragraph [0054] of Li), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the invention to substitute the rubber pad of Shi in view of Li with a component made of silicone, as taught by Hu, in order to obtain predictable results, which in this case would be providing a sealing component with similar elasticity as recognized by Hu (paragraph [0040] of Hu, which teaches using either silicone or rubber for the sealing component of an aromatherapy bottle), KSR, 550 U.S. at ___, 82 USPQ2d at 1396, MPEP 2141 III (B).
Regarding Dependent Claim 2, Shi in view of Li and Hu teaches the invention as claimed and discussed above, and Shi further teaches that the lamp shade (1) is provided with control buttons and interfaces (control panel 14); the control buttons are opposite to the speaker cavity (control buttons are outside 1, and speaker cavity is within 1), and the speaker cavity is arranged about the main control board (board within 10, and speaker 7 in figure 2); and the interfaces comprise TYPE-C interface and a USB interface (page 3, where a USB interface can comprise any type of USB interface suitable for charging the combination speaker, lamp, and aromatherapy device, where USB-C is only an interface standard of USB and was designed legacy in 2014 by the IEC). However, Shi in view of Li and Hu does not teach that the control buttons and interface are on the base, or that the speaker cavity is above the main control board. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the invention to place the speaker cavity of Shi in view of Li and Hu above the main control board of Shi in view of Li and Hu, and to move the control buttons and interface from the shade of Shi in view of Li and Hu to the base of Shi in view of Li and Hu, because it has been held that merely rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art - MPEP 2144.04 (VI-C). In this case, moving the control buttons does not change the function of the controls, and changing the relative position of components within the lamp does not change the function of the components.
Regarding Dependent Claim 7, Shi in view of Li and Hu teaches the invention as claimed and discussed above, and Shi further teaches that the main control board is provided with a main control circuit (main control chip, page 2), an audio power amplifier circuit (sound circuit, page 2), a button switch circuit (circuit associated with input keys, page 3), a storage circuit (fragrance circuit can act as storage circuit, where circuits comprise storage, page 2), an interface circuit (speaker circuit interfaces between at least the speaker and an input, page 2), and a lamp panel circuit (circuitry that must connect to each light 8 of the lamp); and corresponding ports of the main control circuit are electrically connected to corresponding ports of the audio power amplifier circuit, the button switch circuit, the storage circuit, and the Bluetooth module (figure 4 shows connection between circuits, page 4).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shi in view of Li and Hu as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Kim KR 102151076 B1.
Regarding Dependent Claim 3, Shi in view of Li and Hu teaches the invention as claimed and discussed above. However, Shi in view of Li and Hu does not teach that the USB interface is for charging components of the system. Kim teaches using a USB port (28) for charging the battery (22) that provide power to components of a combined diffuser, speaker, and lamp (abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the invention to use the USB interface of Shi in view of Li and Hu to recharge the battery of Shi in view of Li and Hu, as taught by Kim, in order to reduce the number of inputs into the system of Shi in view of Li and Hu. It is very well known in the art and in general that USB is used for both carrying power and data into and/or out of systems that it is connected to, and that is the purpose of the USB standard. See dictionary.com/browse/usb for the definition of USB as an interface standard for connecting components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6, and 8-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: prior art fails to teach, in combination with the other limitations of dependent claim 4, that the aromatherapy control board is arranged at the aromatherapy control board mounting hole and is opposite to the air pump motor below; and prior art fails to teach, in combination with the other limitations of dependent claim 8, that the main control circuit comprises a main control chip CA51F005 and a peripheral circuit. There are no examples of the specific chip designated CA51F005 being used in a system similar to a Bluetooth speaker table lamp, or equivalents thereof.
Conclusion
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/STEVEN M SUTHERLAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752