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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202321984074.4, filed on 26 July 2023.
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, 6-13, and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn (US 11,416,026 B2) in view of Weiss et al. (US 2023/0324698 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Ahn discloses a knob headgear applied to a VR head-mounted display (Knob assembly 400; Col. 10, Lines 1-35; Fig. 3. Device 101 with hologram display in 201; Col. 5, Lines 60-67; Fig. 1. Housing 200 surrounds head; Col. 8, Lines 1-15; Fig. 2 ), comprising:
two rack belts respectively connected to two sides of the VR head-mounted display (Belt bands 310 and 320 with rack 313 and 323 connect to two sides 202a and 202b of display in 201; Col. 9, Lines 50-67; Fig. 2-3);
a knob assembly provided at one end of the two rack belts away from the VR head-mounted display and in meshing connection with the two rack belts, wherein the knob assembly is configured to adjust the tightness of the two rack belts (Fig. 3: See knob assembly 400 at ends 313/323 of belts 310/320; Col. 9, Lines 64-67; Col. 10, Lines 1-35);
wherein the knob assembly comprises a housing and a gear, a rotary wheel, a pawl, and a ring provided in the housing (Housing 401a-b, gear 410, wheel 420, pawl 440/450 ; Col. 10, Lines 34-60; Fig. 3-4. Ring 4222 inserted into 4220 of wheel 420; Col. 14, Lines 8-16; Fig. 4B); the gear is rotatably mounted and is in meshing connection with two rack belts (Gear 410 connected to belts 310/320; Fig. 4A); the rotary wheel is coaxially connected to the gear and the outside of the rotary wheel is exposed from the outside of the housing (Wheel 420 connected to gear 410; Fig. 4A. Top of wheel 420 exposed from outside of housing 202; Col. 10, Lines 34-57; Fig. 2); the ring is fixed in the housing (Ring 4222 may be formed integrally with housing 401b of Fig. 3; Col. 15, Lines 50-67; Col. 16, Lines 1-6; Fig. 8A); the pawl is provided on the rotary wheel and is located on an inner ring of the soft rubber ring ; and the pawl abuts against the inner ring of the soft rubber ring (Pawls 440/450 abuts interior of inner ring 4222; Col. 14, Lines 8-16; Fig. 8A).
Ahn fails to explicitly disclose the knob (400; Fig. 3) as a mute knob and the ring (4222; Fig. 8A) as a soft rubber ring. However, Weiss et al. (US 2023/0324698 A1) teaches a mute knob and a soft rubber ring (Weiss: Knob assembly 100 comprises ring 112 made of flexible material rubber that decreases/mutes level of sound associated with pawl 118; Para. 0023; Fig. 1). Weiss et al. and Ahn are in similar fields comprising adjustable headgear. Modifying Ahn with teachings of Weiss et al. would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a mute knob and a soft rubber ring for the purpose of avoiding detractions from a user’s virtual reality experience while adjusting size of the headgear via the knob (Weiss: Para. 0008).
Regarding Claim 2, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a base housing and an outer housing which are in covering connection with each other, and two of the rack belts are slidably inserted into the housing at an end remote from the VR head-mounted display and in meshing connection with the gear (Base housing 401b connects to outer housing 401a; Col. 10, Lines 36-58; Fig. 3. Belts 310/320 between housing 401b and 401a in connection with gear 410 Col. 10, Lines 58-67; Col. 11, Lines 15-25; Fig. 3,4A. See area 420 remote from display 201 in Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 3, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 2, wherein the base housing is provided an opening, and the soft rubber ring is fixedly provided on the opening (Base housing 401b with surface opening 406 with ring 4222; Col. 12, Lines 10-15; Fig. 4B). Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. fails to explicitly disclose the opening as an annular ring opening. However, this would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, since it has been held by the courts that a change in shape or configuration, without any criticality, is nothing more than one of numerous shapes that one of ordinary skill in the art will find obvious to provide based on the suitability for the intended final application. See In re Dailey, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1976). It appears that the disclosed device would perform equally well shaped as disclosed by Ahn.
Regarding Claim 4, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 3, wherein the rotary wheel is sandwiched between the base housing and the outer housing (Wheel 420 between base housing 401b and outer housing 401a; Fig. 3), and the knob assembly further comprises a mounting cover that covers the rotary wheel from the annular ring opening to retain the pawl within the rotary wheel (Wheel 420 between base housing 401b and outer housing 401a; Fig. 3. Knob assembly 400 comprising mounting cover 470 covers wheel 420 and retains part of pawls 440/450; Col. 18, Lines 10-26; Fig. 3,13).
Regarding Claim 6, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. and disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 4, wherein the rotary wheel is provided with an arcuate groove position and the soft rubber ring is in the arcuate groove position (Wheel 420 with arcuate groove 4220 for ring 4222; Col. 14, Lines 5-16; Fig. 3,6B,8A).
Regarding Claim 7, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 6, wherein the rotary wheel is provided with a pawl groove in communication with the arcuate groove position, and the pawl is mounted in the pawl groove and abuts against the inner ring of the soft rubber ring (In Fig. 7A-B: Wheel 420 with pawl groove 4223/4224 of 4320 in communication with arcuate groove position 4220; In Fig. 8A-B: Pawls 440/450 in pawl groove 4223/4224 of 4320 and abuts inner ring of 4222; Col. 14, Lines 50-67; Col. 16, Lines 1-30).
Regarding Claim 8, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 7, wherein a plurality of pawl grooves are provided and distributed in a circumferential direction, and a plurality of pawls are provided and mounted in the plurality of pawl grooves in a one-to-one correspondence manner (See Fig. 7B,8B: Each pawl 440/450 in respective pawl groove 4223/4224 of 4320).
Regarding Claim 9, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 7. Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. fails to explicitly disclose wherein the pawl (440/450; Fig. 3) is provided with an elastic portion that abuts against an inner wall of the pawl groove and forms an elastic force to lift the pawl toward the inner ring of the soft rubber ring so that the pawl elastically abuts against the inner ring of the soft rubber ring. However, Weiss et al. further teaches wherein the pawl is provided with an elastic portion that abuts against an inner wall of the pawl groove and forms an elastic force to lift the pawl toward the inner ring of the soft rubber ring so that the pawl elastically abuts against the inner ring of the soft rubber ring (In structure of Weiss’ pawl 116 being of elastic material: when knob 108 is rotated, 116 abuts inner wall 126 to bend towards particular location of inner ring of 112 and when knob 108 is not actively rotated, 118 of 116 contacts 112 to prevent moving; Para. 0024-0026,0031; Fig. 1). Modifying Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. with additional teachings of Weiss et al. would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention wherein the pawl is provided with an elastic portion that abuts against an inner wall of the pawl groove and forms an elastic force to lift the pawl toward the inner ring of the soft rubber ring so that the pawl elastically abuts against the inner ring of the soft rubber ring for the purpose of tightening and/or loosening headgear while minimizing noise of the pawl disengaging and engaging (Weiss: Para. 0008,0025).
Regarding Claim 10, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose a VR head-mounted display comprising the mute knob headgear of claim 1 (Knob assembly 400; Col. 10, Lines 1-35; Fig. 3. See knob 420 of device 101 with hologram display in 201; Col. 5, Lines 60-67; Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 2. Claim 11 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 2; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 12, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 3. Claim 12 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 3; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 13, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 4. Claim 13 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 4; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 15, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 6. Claim 15 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 6; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 16, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 7. Claim 16 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 7; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 17, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 8. Claim 17 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 8; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Regarding claim 18, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 9. Claim 18 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 9; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Claim(s) 5 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn (US 11,416,026 B2) in view of Weiss et al. (US 2023/324698 A1) and Klotz et al. (US 9,572,392 B2).
Regarding Claim 5, Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. disclose the mute knob headgear of claim 4. Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. fails to explicitly disclose wherein the outer housing (401a; Fig. 3) is provided with a connecting post extending through the gear and rotary wheel and connected to the mounting cover. However, Klotz et al. (US 9,572,392 B2) teaches wherein the outer housing is provided with a connecting post extending through the gear and rotary wheel and connected to the mounting cover (Klotz: Outer housing 78 with connecting post 54/60 extends through 18’s gear 20 and wheel 12 and connected to mounting cover 62; Col. 7, Lines 10-35; Col. 4, Lines 55-61; Fig. 2,5-6). Klotz et al, Weiss et al., and Ahn are in similar fields comprising adjustable headgear. Modifying Ahn as modified by Weiss et al. with teachings of Klotz et al. would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention wherein the outer housing is provided with a connecting post extending through the gear and rotary wheel and connected to the mounting cover for the purpose of aligning and centering various components within the housing during assembly (Klotz: Col. 9, Lines 1-11).
Regarding claim 14, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 5. Claim 14 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 5; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 8359672 B2, US 11185120 B2, US 20220404627 A1, US 12066148 B1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNIFER B OLSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3041. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am -4:00pm.
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/JENNIFER B OLSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/DEDEI K HAMMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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