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 .
This Office Action is in response to applicant’s claim amendment filed on March 16, 2026 and wherein claims 1-2, 4, 7, 9-10, 15-16, 20 amended.
In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently pending in this Office Action.
With respect to the specification objection due to formality issue, as set forth in the previous Office Action, the specification replacement sheet submitted on March 16, 2026, and argument, see paragraph 3 of page 10 and paragraph 1 of page 11 in Remarks filed on March 16, 2026, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the specification objection due to the formality issue, as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
With respect to the objection to application drawings due to formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, the applicant argument, see paragraph 2 of page 11 and paragraph 1 of page 12 in Remarks filed on March 16, 2026, has been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the objection of drawings due to the formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
With respect to the objection of claims 7-9, 20 due to formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, the claim amendment, and argument, see paragraph 2 of page 12 in Remarks filed on March 16, 2026, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the objection of claims 7-9, 20 due to the formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
The Office further appreciates the particular support comments by paragraph numbers and written in the Remarks with respect to the newly added limitations in claims, which undoubtedly assisted the Office in prosecuting this application.
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.
Claims 1-6, 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ivey et al. (US 20140305734 A1, hereinafter Ivey) and in view of reference Ivey et al. (US 20160366501 A1, hereinafter Ivey501).
Claim 1: Ivey teaches a ceiling mountable speaker enclosure (title and abstract, ln 1-11, manually operated flip dog mountable ceiling speaker enclosure in fig. 1-10) comprising:
a speaker support (including annual trim ring 140, circumferential wall 206, and annular support flange 104, speaker enclosure 102, etc. in figs. 1, 3, 13) at least partially defining the speaker enclosure (the speaker enclosure 102 in fig. 2) and including a mounting flange (annular support flange 104 in figs. 2, 13) extending outwardly from the speaker support (outwardly from the circumferential wall 206 in fig. 13), the mounting flange defining an outwardly facing side, an inwardly facing side (the flange 104 having two sides, facing up and facing down in fig. 13), and a plurality of flange openings extending through the mounting flange (opening 124 on the flange 104 in fig. 12, at least four openings to accept at least four handles 146, individually, in fig. 1) and affording fluid communication between the inwardly facing side and the outwardly facing side (the openings 124s allow airflow up-down through the flange 104 in fig. 12, para 57); and,
a clamp assembly (four flip dogs 126, 128, 202 and 402 in fig. 7, including barrel 142, dog 108, pull rod 116, etc., in figs. 4, 7, 12) coupled to the mounting flange (supported by the annular support flange 104 in fig. 4, 12, para 57) and including a clamp foot (dog 108 in figs. 4, 12) and an actuator rod (pull rod 116 in figs. 4, 12) having a first end engageable with the clamp foot (through buttressed second sidewall 118 withcurved portion for rotating the dog 108 in figs. 4, 12, para 43) and a second end including a handle (connecting the handle 122 to the pull rod 116 in fig. 4), the handle including a resilient seal (the handles 122, 146 made of a resilient plastic and sized to snap into openings 124 so that handles 122/146 are retained, para 43) and being operable to afford movement of the clamp foot relative to the mounting flange (enabling the dog 108 to move downward to engage the ceiling panel with bottom dog surface 134 fig. 14, para 44), the handle having a stowed position (the handle 146/122 snapped into the openings 124 and the handles 122/146 are retrained in fig. 1, para 43-45) in which the resilient seal engages the mounting flange to limit fluid communication via the plurality of flange openings between the inwardly facing side and the outwardly facing side of the mounting flange (an opening 124 to accept a pull rod 116, and when the handle 122 completed snapped into opening 124, the airflow crossing the opening 124 through the push rod is limited in fig. 12) and the handle is either in unloaded position with respect to the hole 124 (the handle 122 with the hole 124 in fig. 1) or in stowed position (the elements 122 fully filled in the hole 124 in fig. 1 and the T-handle aligned with and filled in the cavity 144 in fig. 1).
However, Ivey does not explicitly teach wherein the plurality of flange openings is a pair of flange openings and the handle covers the pair of flange openings while the handle having a stowed position.
Ivey501 teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing a ceiling mountable speaker enclosure (title and abstract, ln 1-12 and an improved flip dog mountable ceiling speaker enclosure in fig. 1) and wherein a pair of flange openings is disclosed (a rectangular hole 132 and a round hole 130 for each of T-handles 126 in fig. 1) and wherein the pair of flange openings is comprised in the mounting flange (104 in fig. 1, through a penetrating hole 824 that aligns with opening 132 in fig. 1 and the round hole 130 on the flange 104 in fig. 1 and discussed above) and wherein the handle covers the pair of flange openings while the handle having a stowed position (stowed T-handle for clamping flip dog foot 116 to the resilient portion 118 in fig. 13A, para 57) and limiting fluid communication via the pair of flange openings between the inwardly facing side and the outward facing side of the mounting flange (at stowed T-handle position, the hole 132 is inserted latch 128 and thus, air flow is blocked between the inwardly and outwardly surfaces of the mounting flange 104 in fig. 13A and stowed T-handle also filled with O-ring seal 1302 to keep T-handle 126 stowed in fig. 13C, para 59) for benefits of improving the stability of ceiling mountable speaker enclosure assembly (by reducing chance of fatigue of mechanical components of the assembly, para 4, and obtaining a long-term biasing mechanism, para 5 and by providing two stowed alignment in pair of holes in fig. 13C) in a convenient and cost-less manner (rapidly mounting and dismounting so that labor cost can be reduced, para 2, 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the pair of flange openings for the handle and the handle covers the pair of flange openings while the handle having the stowed position, as taught by Ivey501, to the plurality of flange openings and the stowed position of the handle in the ceiling mountable speaker enclosure, as taught by Ivey, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 2: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein the mounting flange defines a recess that opens toward the outwardly facing side (Ivey, around by the annual trim ring 140 fixed to underside of annular support flange, para 42 and Ivey501, around rigid annular rim 104 in fig. 1), wherein the pair of flange openings (Ivey, the openings 124 in fig. 10 and Ivey501, the holes 146 and 130 in fig. 1) are positioned within the recess (Ivey, around by the annual trim ring in fig. 10 and the holes above within the rigid annular ring 104 in fig. 1), and wherein when the handle is in the stowed position the handle is at least partially received within the recess (Ivey, the handle 122 fitted into the opening 124 in fig. 10 and Ivey501, and aligned and filled in the cavity within the rigid annual ring 104 in fig. 1).
Claim 3: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 2 above, wherein the recess defines a perimeter wall having a first perimeter profile (Ivey, edge of the opening cut of the flange 104 in fig. 10 and Ivey501, and opening cut of the flange 104 in fig. 1), and wherein the resilient seal has second perimeter profile (Ivey, the handle 122 made of resilient material and discussed above) that corresponds to the first perimeter profile such that when the handle is in the stowed position the resilient seal is compressed against the perimeter wall (Ivey, snaping the handle 122 into the opening 124 in fig. 10, para 43, 45 and Ivey501, T-handle in stowed position in fig. 13C).
Claim 4: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein the clamp assembly includes a release lever (Ivey, a tool sleeve 1352 for a rod inserted from below to disengage the upward-pointing ratchet teeth 1310 with the dog 1308 as top part of the pull rod 1316 from the downward-pointing ratchet teeth 1332 in fig. 13, para 59 and Ivey501,) that is operable to release the clamp foot (Ivey, the dog 1308 in fig. 13 and Ivey501, a tool for disengaging the ratchets and releasing the flip dog foot 116 from the clamping position, para 39) for movement from an engaged position toward a disengaged position (Ivey, disengaging the upward-pointed ratchet teeth 1310 with the dog 1308 from the downward-pointing ratchet teeth 1332 in fig. 13, para 59 and Ivey501, disengaging the ratches, para 39), and wherein the release lever extends from the inwardly facing side through one of the plurality of flange openings to the outwardly facing side (Ivey, through the insertion of the rod from below, and engaging and pushing up on outward sloping extension 1354 of clip 1360 of leaf spring 1322 in fig. 13, para 59 and Ivey501, in fig. 11 and 13C).
Claim 5: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 4 above, wherein the handle defines a handle opening (Ivey, the handle 122 fitted into the opening 124 in fig. 10 and Ivey501, ), wherein the resilient seal extends into and surrounds the handle opening (Ivey, resilient-made handle snapped into the opening, para 43, i.e., the resilient extends from the handle to the wall of opening inherently and Ivey501, a small portion 1118 of diminished diameter in fig. 11, para 55), and wherein when the handle is in the stowed position the release lever extends into the handle opening and engages the resilient seal to limit fluid communication through the handle opening (Ivey, the element 124 and 122 at a fitted position in fig. 10, para 43 and the discussion in claim 1 above and Ivey501, through the disengagement aperture 146, para 39).
Claim 6: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 4 above, wherein when the handle is in the stowed position, the handle engages the release lever to prevent operation of the release lever (Ivey, the handle 122 fitted into the opening 124 in fig. 10, and thus, there is no chance to inserting a tool into tool sleeve 1352 from below inherently, i.e., prevent operation of the tool sleeve 1352 as the release lever, para 59 and Ivey501, through the hole to fill-in the latch into the opening 824 in fig. 9A-9B).
Claim 15 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 4 above.
Claim 16 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 15, 2 above.
Claim 17 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 16, 3 above.
Claim 18 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 15, 5 above.
Claim 19 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 15, 6 above.
Claims 7-8, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ivey (above) and in view of references Ivey501 (above) and Stewart et al. (US 20110311085 A1, hereinafter Stewart).
Claim 7: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein the speaker support supports a speaker assembly (Ivey, including a loudspeaker having a surround 138, diaphragm 136, and dust cap 106, in an output end of the enclosure 102 in fig. 1, para 42 and Ivey501, speaker diaphragm 108 with a driver in fig. 1, para 38), and the ceiling mountable speaker enclosure (Ivey, discussed in claim 1 above and Ivey501, including speaker can 102 in fig. 11 and Ivey501, including a speaker can 102 with a cylindrical and three indentations 134, para 38), except explicitly teaching wherein the speaker enclosure further comprising an outer housing into which the speaker support is removably installable, wherein when the speaker support is installed within the outer housing, the mounting flange and the clamp foot cooperate to secure the speaker support within the outer housing, and the outer housing, the speaker support, the speaker assembly, the handle, and the resilient seal cooperate to define a speaker enclosure volume.
Stewart teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing a ceiling mountable speaker enclosure (title and abstract, ln 1-25 and an apparatus in fig. 3 and disassembled in fig. 6) and wherein a speaker enclosure is disclosed to comprise an outer housing (an outer shield 310 in fig. 4) into which a speaker support is removably installable (including a cartridge frame 601 in fig. 6), wherein when the speaker support is installed within the outer housing (under the outer shield, the assembly in fig.6), the mounting flange (a flange 602 in fig. 6) and the clamp foot cooperate to secure the speaker support (rotatable flip dog 622, flip top cap 622, etc., in fig. 6) within the outer housing (with back box assembly in figs. 11A-11C), and the outer housing (back box assembly 375 in fig. 11A-11C), the speaker support (the cartridge frame 601 in fig. 6 ), the speaker assembly (speaker assembly in fig. 7), the handle (flip top cap placed on the top of the dog in fig. 6), and the resilient seal (tightening bottom screw 1510 in fig. 16A) cooperate to define a speaker enclosure volume (a volume covered by the element 310 in fig. 4) for benefits of enhancing a quality of the speaker enclosure (by improving acoustic response with light of weight, by adding tweeters 615 in the speaker enclosure, para 41).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied wherein the speaker enclosure further comprising the outer housing into which the speaker support is removably installable, wherein when the speaker support is installed within the outer housing, the mounting flange and the clamp foot cooperate to secure the speaker support within the outer housing, and the outer housing, the speaker support, the speaker assembly, the handle, and the resilient seal cooperate to define the speaker enclosure volume, as taught by Stewart, to the speaker enclosure in the ceiling mountable speaker enclosure, as taught by Ivey and Ivey501, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 8: the combination of Ivey, Ivey501, and Stewart further teaches, according to claim 7 above, wherein the clamp foot is located inside the speaker enclosure volume (Ivey, the dog and discussed in claim 1 above, and Stewart, the rotatable flip dog 620 within the outer shield 310 in figs. 3-4, 6).
Claim 20 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 15, 7 above.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ivey (above) and in view of reference Ivey501 (above).
Claim 9: the combination of Ivey and Ivey501 further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein the clamp foot (Ivey, the dog 108 in fig. 1 and Ivey501, resilient portion 118 in fig. 1) includes an arm (Ivey, foot 148 in fig. 1 and Ivey501, the foot 116 in fig. 1) having a top surface (Ivey, a top surface of the foot 148 in fig. 1 and Ivey501, a top surface of the foot 116 in fig. 1) and a first contact surface (Ivey, the bottom surface 134 in fig. 1 and Ivey501, the surface of the resilient portion 118 in fig. 1) spaced a first distance from the top surface (Ivey, a foot length between the bottom surface 134 to the top surface of the foot 148 in fig. 1 and Ivey501, a foot length with two surfaces located at the bottom being closed to the element 118 and the surface above the foot 116 in fig. 1), except explicitly teaching a clamp foot extension detachably securable to the claim foot and the clamp foot extension having a second contact surface, wherein when the clamp foot extension is secured to the clamp foot the second contact surface is spaced a second distance from the top surface that is greater than the first distance.
Ivey in a second embodiment further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein the clamp foot (part of the dog 1308 in fig. 13, similar to element 148 in fig. 1) includes an arm (barrel 1342 in fig. 13) having a top surface (a surface accepting a socket 1306 in fig. 13) and a first contact surface (the bottom surface of the dog 1308 in fig. 13, similar to dog bottom surface 134 in fig. 1) spaced a first distance from the top surface (a distance between the element foot bottom surface to the top surface of the dog 1308 in fig. 13), and the speaker enclosure further comprising a clamp foot extension (including the resilient contact piece 1350 in fig. 13) detachably securable to the clamp foot (coupled to the bottom surface of the dog 1308 in fig. 13, and compared to the embodiment of fig. 1, with no resilient contact piece on the foot bottom surface in fig. 1) and having a second contact surface (the bottom surface of the resilient contact piece 1350 in fig. 13), wherein when the clamp foot extension is secured to the clamp foot (the element 1350 attached to the foot bottom surface in fig. 13) the second contact surface is spaced a second distance from the top surface that is greater than the first distance (because the resilient piece has a height in fig. 13) for benefits of improving a performance of mounting speaker assembly (by using elastic resilient material for absorbing the pressure applied on the foot 1308, para 58).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the clamp foot extension detachably securable to the claim foot and the clamp foot extension having the second contact surface, wherein when the clamp foot extension is secured to the clamp foot the second contact surface is spaced the second distance from the top surface that is greater than the first distance, as taught by Ivey’s second embodiment above, to the clamp foot of the clamp assembly in the ceiling mountable speaker enclosure, as taught by Ivey and Ivey501 in the embodiment above, for the benefits discussed above.
Claims 10-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ivey (above) and in view of references Ivey501 (above), Stewart (above), and Miyata et al. (US 20170134847 A1, hereinafter Miyata).
Claim 10: the combination of Ivey, Ivey501, and Stewart further teaches the speaker support (discussed in claims 7 and 1 above) and the clamp assembly (Ivey, Ivey501, including clamp foot, etc. and Stewart, the rotatable flip dog 622, flip top cap 622, etc., in fig. 6), except an inwardly extending flange of the outer housing is clamped between the mounting flange and the clamp foot to secure the speaker support within the outer housing.
Miyata teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing a ceiling mountable speaker enclosure (title and abstract, ln 1-11, and a sound production device in fig. 1) and an outer housing is disclosed (cylinder portion 11 in fig. 3) to have an inwardly extending flange (a portion of the cylinder portion 11 protruded into a second resonant chamber and form a cylindrical wall 14 in fig. 3, para 34) and wherein the inwardly extending flange of the outer housing is clamped between a mounting flange (a cover 2 with a protrusion up to the clearance 64 and touched to a bottom wall of opposite to the wall 14 of resonant chamber in fig. 3) and a clamp foot (a portion of the conical diaphragm 41 inserted into a top wall of the opposite to the wall 41 in fig. 3) to secure the speaker support (the cover 2 in fig. 3) within the outer housing (securing the cover 2 having the diaphragm 41 with the base cylinder portion 11 in fig. 1) for benefits of improving the sound emission performance (by securing a large sound emission area, para 6 and by improving sound pressure level at higher frequency range, solid curve compared to the dashed curve in fig. 7, para 54-55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the outer housing having the inwardly extending flange and wherein the inwardly extending flange of the outer housing is clamped between the mounting flange and the clamp foot to secure the speaker support within the outer housing, as taught by Miyata, to the outer housing, the mounting flange, and the clamp foot in the ceiling mountable speaker enclosure, as taught by the combination of Ivey, Ivey501, and Stewart, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 11: the combination of Ivey, Ivey501, Stewart, and Miyata further teaches, according to claim 10 above, wherein the outer housing includes hanger brackets (Stewart, back box 305 in fig. 3) for supporting the outer housing (covered by and supported to the outer shield 310 in fig. 3), and electrical terminals connectable with an audio source (Stewart, through electric terminal 340 in fig. 3 and to an external audio source, para 10), and wherein when the speaker support is installed within the outer housing (Ivey, annual trim ring 140, circumferential wall 206, and annular support flange 104, speaker enclosure 102, etc. as the speaker support, and Stewart, the cartridge frame 601 in fig. 6), the hanger brackets and electrical terminals are located outside of the speaker enclosure volume (Stewart, fig. 3, the volume enclosed by the back box 305 in fig. 3).
Claim 12: the combination of Ivey, Ivey501, Stewart, and Miyata further teaches, according to claim 10 above, wherein when the speaker support is installed within the outer housing the clamp foot is positioned inside the speaker enclosure volume (Ivey, the discussion in claim 10 based on claim 1 above, and Stewart, the discussion in claim 10 based on claim 7 above).
Claim 13 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 10, 2 above.
Claim 14 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 13, 3 above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on March 16, 2026 have been fully considered and but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the applicant amendment. The Office has thoroughly reviewed Applicants' arguments but firmly believes that the cited references to reasonably and properly meet the claimed limitations.
In the response to this office action, the Office respectfully requests that support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line numbers in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the Office in prosecuting this application.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESHUI ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5589. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6:30amp-4:00pm EST.
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/LESHUI ZHANG/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2695
Prosecution Insights