DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 and 7 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hu US PG-Pub 2023/0144825.
Regarding claim 1, Hu discloses two fixing parts fixed to both ears of a user (Fig. 1A: the left/right temple of the glasses are fixed to both ear when place on head); and a plurality of at least two microphones held by each of the two fixing parts (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1,110-2, 110-8, 110-9), wherein, when the two fixing parts are fixed to the respective ears, a position of a first microphone of the plurality of microphones arranged on one ear side and a position of a second microphone of the plurality of microphones arranged on the other ear side are asymmetric (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1, 110-2 are asymmetrical to 110-8 and 110-9 on the other ear side).
Regarding claim 2, Hu discloses a first fixing part fixed to one ear of a user; a second fixing part fixed to the other ear of the user; a spectacle-type device held at least on both of the ears of the user (Fig. 1A: the left/right temple of the glasses are fixed to both ear when place on head and the entire glasses/including the front frame is held up on both ears and nose); and a plurality of microphones, wherein at least one of the plurality of microphones is held by the first fixing part (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1,110-2), at least two of the plurality of microphones are held by the second fixing part (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-8, 110-9), at least one of the microphones is held by the spectacle-type device (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-3), and when the first fixing part is fixed to the one ear, the second fixing part is fixed to the other ear, and the spectacle-type device is held by both ears (Fig. 1A: the left/right temple of the glasses are fixed to both ear when place on head and the entire glasses/including the front frame is held up on both ears and nose); the at least one of the plurality of microphones held by the first fixing part and the spectacle-type device respectively are placed arranged on the one ear side (Fig. 1A: microphone 110-1/110-2 and 110-3 are on the right ear side), the at least two of the plurality of microphones held by the second fixing part are placed on the other ear side (Fig. 1A: 110-8 and 110-9), and a position of the at least one of the plurality of microphones arranged on the one ear side and a position of the at least two of the plurality of microphones arranged on the other ear side are asymmetric (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1, 110-2 are asymmetrical to 110-8 and 110-9 on the other ear side).
Regarding claim 8, Hu discloses a plurality of attachment parts attached to a three-dimensional object having an acoustic shielding property (Fig. 1A: the left/right temple and the users/object head); and a plurality of microphones held by the plurality of attachment parts (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1,110-2, 110-8, 110-9 placed on the temple), wherein, when the plurality of attachment parts are attached attaches to the three-dimensional object, at least two of the microphones are arranged at a first attachment position on one side of the three-dimensional object (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1,110-2), at least two of the microphones are arranged at a second attachment position on the other side of the three-dimensional object (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1,110-2, 110-8, 110-9), and positions of the microphones arranged on one side of the three-dimensional object and positions of the microphones arranged on the other side of the three-dimensional object are asymmetric (Fig. 1A: microphones 110-1, 110-2 are asymmetrical to 110-8 and 110-9 on the other ear side).
Regarding claim 4, Hu discloses wherein a position of the at least one of the plurality of microphones disposed on the one ear side and a position of the at least two of the plurality of microphones disposed on the other ear side are planarly asymmetric with respect to a first reference plane located between the one ear and the other ear (Fig. 1A & [0022]: microphones 110-8 and 110-9 can be on the temple/arm of the frame on the top/bottom, inside/outside or any combination).
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 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US PG-Pub 2023/0144825 in view of Glezerman US PG-Pub 2002/0098877.
Regarding claim 3, Hu teaches wherein the second fixing part comprises includes a base part fixed to the other ear; wherein at least one of the microphones is held on the base part (Fig. 1A: the glasses temple is the base and has a microphone 110-8).
Hu failed to teach extension part extending from the base part, and at least one of the microphones is held on the extension part.
However, Glezerman teaches extension part extending from the base part, and at least one of the microphones is held on the extension part (Fig. 1 & Fig. 4: the base on the glasses temple and the extension being a boom with a microphone at the end-140).
Hu and Glezerman are analogous art because they are both in the same field of endeavor, namely microphone devices. Therefore, 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, because adding a boom microphone provide better speech capture from the user as the microphone is closer to the users mouth.
Claim 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US PG-Pub 2023/0144825 in view of Fan US PG-Pub 2016/0112817.
Regarding claim 6, Hu teaches wherein a first microphone of the plurality of microphones is arranged at a position where sound is affected by a head of t user but not affected by an auricle of the user (Fig. 1A: 110-8 is not affected by the auricle of the user as it is forward and pointing up, it will be affected by head of user. As well as 110-1 is affected by head, but being forward will not get affected by auricle of user).
Hu failed to explicitly teach first microphone arranged where a sound observed by a second microphone of the plurality of microphones is affected by a head of the user but is not affected by an auricle of the user.
However, Fan teaches first microphone arranged where a sound observed by a second microphone of the plurality of microphones is affected by a head of the user but is not affected by an auricle of the user (Fig. 3A: microphones 3, 7, 8 will be affected by head, but not auricle of user as they are too far forward/backward from the auricle of user ears).
Hu and Fan are analogous art because they are both in the same field of endeavor, namely microphone devices. Therefore, 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, because selecting specific location for the microphone is an inventor choice and no unexpected result will arise.
Conclusion
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/WILLIAM A JEREZ LORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695