DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 12 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “origin o of the xoy” and “xoy”. These appear to be a typographical error. The convention is x-y axis. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 7-8, 12-15, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kunimoto et al (US Publication No. 2014/0185822.
Regarding claim 1, Kunimoto teaches a bone conduction speaker, comprising a bracket (23, annular spacer), a vibration plate (16, vibration plate), a flexible face-attached component (14, elastic member), and a driving device (24-29, driving device), wherein the driving device is configured to generate a driving force; and the bracket (23) has a ring structure and is configured to suspend or support the driving device and drive the vibration plate and the flexible face-attached component to vibrate (14).
Kunimoto does not teach the flexible face-attached component is composed of silicone. However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art to configure flexible material using silicone for smooth application to skin.
It would have been obvious matter of design choice to allow the contact parts of Kunimoto to be configured using silicone since Applicant's has not disclosed that having the parts solve any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the flexible members positioned as shown by Kunimoto [In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 188 USPQ 7 (CCPA 1975)].
Regarding claims 4, 7-8, 12, Kunimoto teaches the bone conduction speaker of claim 1, wherein a direction of the driving force of the driving device (fig. 6, up-down arrow) has an angle with a normal line of a contact surface of the face-attached silicone component (14; wherein force arrow is perpendicular to the surface, 14).
Regarding claim 11, Kunimoto teaches the bone conduction speaker of claim 4, wherein the driving device (24-29) comprises a coil (27) and a magnetic system (24-26, 28-29, driving device), an axis of the coil and the magnetic system is not parallel to the normal line of the contact surface, and the axis is perpendicular to at least one of a radial plane of the coil or a radial plane of the magnetic system.
Regarding claims 13-14, Kunimoto teaches the bone conduction speaker of claim 4, wherein a count of driving devices is at least two (fig. 1, headphone device), and a direction of a resultant force composed of driving forces generated by the driving devices has an angle with the normal line of the contact surface of the face-attached silicone component.
Regarding claim 15, Kunimoto teaches a bone conduction earphone, comprising a bone conduction speaker (13), the bone conduction speaker including a bracket (23, annular spacer), a vibration plate (16), a flexible face-attached component (14), and a driving device (24-29), wherein the driving device is configured to generate a driving force; and the bracket (23) has a ring structure and is configured to suspend or support the driving device and drive the vibration plate and the flexible face-attached component to vibrate.
Kunimoto does not teach the flexible face-attached component is composed of silicone. However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is well known in the art to configure flexible material using silicone for smooth application to skin.
It would have been obvious matter of design choice to allow the contact parts of Kunimoto to be configured using silicone since Applicant's has not disclosed that having the parts solve any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the flexible members positioned as shown by Kunimoto [In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d 553, 188 USPQ 7 (CCPA 1975)].
Regarding claim 18, Kunimoto teaches the bone conduction earphone of claim 15, wherein a direction of the driving force of the driving device (fig. 6; up-down arrow) has an angle with a normal line of a contact surface of the face-attached silicone component (14).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2-3, 5-6, 9-10, 16-17, 19-20 is/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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January 9, 2025
/PHYLESHA DABNEY/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2694