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 .
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, 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oto (WO 2020235231 A1), and further in view of Mathur (US 20220093076 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Oto (WO 2020235231 A1) discloses an active noise control system (Oto, ¶ [0001]) comprising:
a structure having a front surface and a back surface (Oto, Fig. 1, item 80; ¶ [0108]);
a first piezoelectric speaker disposed on the front surface and configured to radiate a sound wave for sound reduction (Oto, Fig 1, items 80, 10; ¶ [0108]).
However, Oto fails to disclose a second piezoelectric speaker disposed on the back surface and configured to radiate a sound wave for sound reduction.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Mathur (US 20220093076 A1) discloses a second speaker disposed on the back surface and configured to radiate a sound wave for sound reduction (Mathur, Fig. 4, items 18; ¶ [0022]:” the second loudspeaker have a second amplitude and a second phase” opposite to the first speaker. The structure is represented by the enclosure 16. Electromechanical loudspeakers could be replaced by piezoelectrical).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Mathur with Oto to apply the ANC to cancel at least some waveforms emanating from the back side of the first loudspeaker, using active control.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Oto and Mathur discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Oto further discloses an active noise control system (Oto, ¶ [0001]), wherein
the first piezoelectric speaker has a first radiation surface (Oto, Fig 1, items 80, 10; ¶ [0030]),
the active noise control system comprises a controller (Oto, Fig. 13A, item 110A)
the controller has a control mode of controlling a frequency of sound to be output from the first piezoelectric speaker to a value within a first specified frequency range (Oto, ¶ [0029]: “The control device 110 controls the frequency of the sound output from the speaker 10 to a value within the above frequency range. The frequency range is, for example, 20 Hz to 20,000Hz, and may be 20 Hz to 6,000 Hz.”), and
when a wavelength of sound having an upper limit for the first specified frequency range is defined as a first reference wavelength (Oto, ¶ [0031]: “the upper limits of the first margin M1 and the second margin M2 may be set to be greater than 1/10 of the reference wavelength.), a margin between a left end portion of the first radiation surface and a left end portion of the structure is defined as a first left margin, a margin between a right end portion of the first radiation surface and a right end portion of the structure is defined as a first right margin, and a margin between an upper end portion of the first radiation surface and an upper end portion of the structure is defined as a first upper margin (Oto, Fig. 10, items M1, M2, ¶ [0030]: “a first margin M1 between the first end 15j and…a second margin M2 between the second end 15k” …¶ [0031]: “the upper limits of the first margin M1 and the second margin
M2 may be set to be greater than 1/10 of the reference wavelength.”
at least one of an absolute value of a difference between the first left margin and the first upper margin and an absolute value of a difference between the first right margin and the first upper margin is 1/8 or less of the first reference wavelength (Oto, ¶ [0031]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Oto and Mathur discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Oto further discloses an active noise control system (Oto, ¶ [0001]), wherein
the first piezoelectric speaker has a first radiation surface (Oto, Fig 1, items 80, 10; ¶ [0016]), and
when a margin between a left end portion of the first radiation surface and a left end portion of the structure is defined as a first left margin (Oto, Fig. 9, item M1), a margin between a right end portion of the first radiation surface and a right end portion of the structure is defined as a first right margin (Oto, Fig. 9, item M2) , and a margin between an upper end portion of the first radiation surface and an upper end portion of the structure is defined as a first upper margin (Oto, Fig. 11, item M1),
at least one of an absolute value of a difference between the first left margin and the first upper margin and an absolute value of a difference between the first right margin and the first upper margin is 86 cm or less (Oto, Fig. 11, item M1 and left margin, the absolute difference can be selected to be between 86 or 0 cm. Therefore, it would have been obvious to select such relation since such relation would have been able to determined based on designer’s preference and/or needs since applicant has not disclosed any unexpected benefits because of the use of such relation).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Oto and Mathur discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Oto further discloses an active noise control system (Oto, ¶ [0001]), wherein
the first piezoelectric speaker has a first radiation surface, and when a ratio of a dimension of the first radiation surface in a long direction to a dimension of the first radiation surface in a short direction is defined as a first aspect ratio, the first aspect ratio is 1.2 or more (Oto, Fig. 10; ¶ [0041-0044]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to select such relation since such aspect ratio would have been able to determined based on designer’s preference and/or needs since applicant has not disclosed any unexpected benefits because of the use of such aspect ratio).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 and 11 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.
Claims 2, 3 and 4 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance of claims 2-3 and 4:
None of the prior art neither anticipates nor renders obvious to the claim limitations as listed below:
Claims 2 and 4: “a front space overlapping the front surface in plan view of the front surface, the front surface, the back surface, and a back space overlapping the back surface in plan view of the back surface are arranged in this order”.
Claim 3 allowed for being dependent allowed claim 2.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/FRIEDRICH FAHNERT/
Examiner
Art Unit 2692
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