Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. It would be of great assistance to the office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
i. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
ii. Group art unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
iii. Filing date.
iv. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
v. Title of invention.
vi. Confirmation number (See MPEP § 503).
3. The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
4. Claim interpretation: When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations doesn’t have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional.
Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 102
5. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 are rejected under 35 USC 102 as being clearly anticipated by Reibner et al (Pub No. US 2023/0114196).
Regarding claim 1, Reibner et al discloses communication device comprising: a Bluetooth earphone device including an earphone body configured to capture and play back sounds (Para. 20-24 & 33 & Fig. 1: BT headset device for two-way communication), and a first Bluetooth transceiver connected to said earphone body (Fig. 4 & Para. 60 & 63 & 68: Bluetooth transceiver in the hearing device), and configured to transmit and receive voice signals that correspond to the sounds using Bluetooth technology (Para. 36-37 & 67: Earphone voice communication over BT technology); a Bluetooth controller device including a controller operation button, and a first Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver connected to said controller operation button (Para. 53-54 & Fig. 3-4: Control switch-309 using BLE protocol), and configured to transmit a controller talk signal using Bluetooth Low Energy technology when said controller operation button is triggered (Para. 53-55: Controller talk signal using Bluetooth Low Energy by using button pressing); and a walkie-talkie device including a walkie-talkie body configured to transmit and receive wireless communication signals (Para. 26-28 & 39 & Fig. 1 & 4: Push to talk functionality[Wingdings font/0xE0] walkie-talkie enable wireless communication), a second Bluetooth transceiver connected to said walkie-talkie body (Para. 55: Bluetooth module 320 can include a wireless transceiver 322), and a second Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver connected to said walkie-talkie body (Fig. 4: 2nd communication component-474 & Push to talk-470 & Para. 65-66 & 37: PTT with Bluetooth Low Energy); when said walkie-talkie body receives the controller talk signal from said first Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver through said second Bluetooth Low Energy transceiver, said walkie-talkie body receiving the voice signal that is transmitted by said first Bluetooth transceiver through said second Bluetooth transceiver (Fig. 4 & 5: Push to talk Bluetooth communication from one device to another. Voice signals received by the device through low energy protocol and transmit the audio signal through the device & Para. 35 & 66-68), and transmitting the wireless communication signal that corresponds to the voice signal thus received (Para. 24-26 & 60: sending electrical signals includes voice and control command).
Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reibner et al (Pub No. US 2023/0114196) and further in view of Escobar K’David (Pub No. 2019/0274022).
Regarding claim 2, Reibner et al discloses said Bluetooth earphone device connected to said first Bluetooth transceiver and an earphone operation button (Fig. 1 & 4 & Para. 33: Bluetooth earphone having transceiver & Fig. 3: earphone button-309 & 314); said first Bluetooth transceiver is further configured to transmit an earphone talk signal using Bluetooth technology when said earphone operation button is triggered (Para. 34: earphone BT communication & Fig. 4 & Para. 53-54: push to talk and BT communication); and when said walkie-talkie body receives the earphone talk signal from said first Bluetooth transceiver through said second Bluetooth transceiver, said walkie-talkie body receives the voice signal that is transmitted by said first Bluetooth transceiver through said second Bluetooth transceiver (Fig. 4 & 5: Push to talk Bluetooth communication from one device to another. Voice signals received by the device through low energy protocol and transmit the audio signal through the device & Para. 35 & 66-68), and transmits the wireless communication signal that corresponds to the voice signal thus received (Para. 24-26 & 60: sending electrical signals includes voice and control command).
Reibner et al does not explicitly disclose earphone operation button that is connected to said first Bluetooth transceiver.
In a similar field of endeavr, Escobar K’David discloses earphone operation button that is connected to said first Bluetooth transceiver (Para. 25-27: Bluetooth hearing device with user interface-233 & control communication ckt-234. Device directly or wirelessly connected to the BT transceiver).
At the time of filling, it would have been obvious to use Bluetooth connection system to pair the deice with another device in the vicinity to transfer wireless signal by using short range communication and conserve energy in the device.
Regarding claim 3, Reibner et al discloses said walkie-talkie device further includes a walkie-talkie operation button that is connected to said walkie-talkie body (Fig. 1 & 4: Walkie Talkie push to talk components); and when said walkie-talkie operation button is triggered, said walkie-talkie body receives the voice signal that is transmitted by said first Bluetooth transceiver through said second Bluetooth transceiver (Fig. 4 & 5: Push to talk Bluetooth communication from one device to another. Voice signals received by the device through low energy protocol and transmit the audio signal through the device & Para. 35 & 66-68), and transmits the wireless communication signal that corresponds to the voice signal thus received (Para. 24-26 & 60: sending electrical signals includes voice and control command).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MD K TALUKDER whose telephone number is (571)270-3222. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur from 10 am to 6 pm.
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/MD K TALUKDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648