Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/640,018

WEARABLE APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §103§112
Filed
Apr 19, 2024
Examiner
DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
Art Unit
2693
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Aac Acoustic Technologies (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
85%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
705 granted / 853 resolved
+20.6% vs TC avg
Minimal +2% lift
Without
With
+2.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
18 currently pending
Career history
871
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.1%
-29.9% vs TC avg
§103
43.1%
+3.1% vs TC avg
§102
14.8%
-25.2% vs TC avg
§112
12.3%
-27.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 853 resolved cases

Office Action

§103 §112
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 . Drawings The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the Wearable apparatus; Main body; A driving unit; A central processing unit; An audio codec; A driving amplifier array; Output end of the central processing unit; Input end of the audio codec; Output end of the audio codec; Input end of the driving amplifier array; output end of the driving amplifier array; A power supply module; and A charging module; must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The above- mentioned features need numerals in the specification. In addition, a few paragraphs are not in idiomatic English and are awkward. For example, note paragraph 0048. There are only two sentences in this entire paragraph. In addition, note paragraphs 0034 0036. More awkward paragraphs. 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. Claim 9 is 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. Specifically, claim 9 makes no sense. As best as can be determined, because of all the problems with the drawings, the specification and claims noted above, the following rejection appears to be appropriate. 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 – 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 116300133 (hereinafter CN). CN discloses: A wearable apparatus, comprising: a support (8); at least one first speaker (1); and at least one second speaker (2); wherein the at least one first speaker and the at least one second speaker are disposed in the support; the at least one first speaker outputs a first sound wave signal, propagation directions of the first sound wave signal comprises a first direction and a second direction (note the different openings 5, 6 and 7 this gives different directions for the sound to pass through), an included angle between the first direction and the second direction satisfies 90°<0≤180° (although the CN reference does not cite the angles noted in the instant claim, note the position of openings 5 and 6 which are positioned 180 degrees apart. If this is argued then it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to position the openings that gave the desired result. In addition, it would have been obvious to angle the openings in the legs to obtain the desired angle); and the at least one second speaker is disposed on one side of the at least one first speaker, the one side of the at least one first speaker is in the second direction; the at least one second speaker outputs a second sound wave signal, a propagation direction of the at least one second speaker is the second direction, a waveform of the second sound wave signal is the same as a waveform of the first sound wave signal, and a phase of the second sound wave is opposite to a phase of the first sound wave. Note the paragraph in the English version of the CN reference that recites the following: In this application, an auxiliary speaker is installed on the front side of the main speaker installed in the smart glasses and from the Abstract the primary speaker is configured to produce a far-field audio signal when in operation, and the auxiliary speaker is configured to produce a muffling audio signal having a phase opposite to that of the far-field audio signal for canceling the far-field audio signal. With respect to claim 2, note the main body 9. The rest of the claim is duplicative of the above arrangement above wherein only one support was mentioned. With respect to the rotatable connection, a rotatable connection or hinge connecting the supports or arms or legs of the glasses to the main body (where the lens are inserted) of the glasses is old in the art, no art need be supplied. With respect to claim 3 is only duplicative of the arrangement discussed above. With respect to claim 4, a driving unit would be inherent in the CN reference. With respect to claim 5, the claim contains all the limitations that were not shown in the drawings. Such limitations are inherent or would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill. With respect to claim 6, note the following paragraph from the CN reference In this solution, the main speaker 1 and the auxiliary speaker 2 capable of outputting noise-cancelling audio signals are applied to the current common wearable VR glasses to provide users with an immersive and private audio-visual experience. The inner edge of the wearing body 9 has a structure that fits the contours of the human glasses, and the inner surface is provided with a display screen component for the user to watch with both eyes. The wearing body 9 contains control circuit modules and working circuits required for the normal operation of the VR glasses. Modules, lenses, power supply modules, etc.; the above- mentioned structures are all common conventional settings at present, so I won’t repeat them here. With respect to claim 7, a charging nodule or recharging module is so notoriously old in the art that incorporating such. whenever or wherever, would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. With respect to claim 8, such is inherent in the CN reference. If this is argued, such a rotating shaft (hinge) is so notoriously old in the art that incorporating such, whenever or wherever, would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. With respect to claim 9, see rejection of claim 9 under 112 second shown above. With respect to claim 10, note the first two paragraphs under, “Background technique” of the CN reference repeated below. The speaker device is an electro-acoustic conversion device, which is widely used in various electronic devices such as automobiles, mobile phones, AR or VR devices, and smart glasses. Existing AR, VR equipment and smart glasses mostly use external audio as the speaker device. However, external speakers have high requirements on the size of the indoor space and the effect of sound insulation, and are inconvenient to use and cost too much. Therefore, more and more portable and wearable electronic devices such as AR and VR glasses, smart glasses, etc., the choice will rise. The sound device is integrated inside itself, providing built-in audio, earphones, etc., which make the use of the product cheaper and more convenient, and the privacy is also better. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Note the Figs and Abstracts of the additional references cited on the accompanying 892. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Deane whose telephone number is 571 - 272- 7484. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - FRIDAY from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ahmad Matar, can be reached on 571-272-7488. The official fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -273-8300. However, unofficial faxes can be direct to the examiner's computer at 571 273 -7484. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). 06Mar2026 /WILLIAM J DEANE JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 19, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103, §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
85%
With Interview (+2.0%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 853 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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