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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant is advised that the new art unit number is 2692. Please use the new art unit number for all future communications.
This Office action is in response to the Election filed on 5/8/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/11/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species I in the reply filed on 5/8/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that (i) Figs. 4b, 4c, and 6 are usable together in a single apparatus; and (ii) there is no justification of search and/or examination burden. This is not found persuasive because (i) the examiner’s interpretation of the specification is that Figs. 4b/c is a separate embodiment from (and thus a separate species from) Fig. 6, and applicant does not have possession of an apparatus that uses Figs. 4b/c and 6 together in a single apparatus because there are no figures showing how such a combination would be configured structurally, and thus that there is a lack of enablement for creating such a combination; and (ii) the search burden is the different search queries that would be necessary to search for prior art to cover the different species such as “ratchet” and “spring plunger” in various combinations with other keywords and classifications.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 11 and 19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 5/8/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-11 and 20) in the reply filed on 5/8/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is not a search burden because Groups I and II are similar. This is not found persuasive because the inventive parts of Groups I and II (e.g., the non-bolded parts in the table provided by Applicant) are different which creates a search burden because different search queries would be necessary to search for the different inventive parts as well as other parts that have been combined with the inventive parts.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 12-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 5/8/2026.
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, 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Song (CN 208158805 using an English machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Song discloses a microphone comprising:
a microphone capsule (inherent element of 21); and
a rotatable positioning member (30) configured to bias the microphone capsule against a surface of an audio output device (when microphone is placed near an audio output device, rotating the microphone capsule via 30 will cause the microphone capsule to have an angle with respect to a surface of the audio output device that changes based on the degree of rotation);
wherein the rotatable positioning member is configured to offset a force caused by a tension in a cable connected to the microphone based on the rotatable positioning member being rotated from a first position to a second position (paragraph spanning pages 8-9: 30 includes a control nut 33, and with control nut’s alignment mark set to uppermost point or lowermost point, 30 can be set so that microphone only rotates in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, respectively, which will offset a force from cable tension in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction, respectively. Control nut 33 can also be set to central position which locks all rotation which will offset force from cable tension in both counterclockwise and clockwise direction.).
Regarding claim 7, Song discloses the microphone of claim 1, wherein the rotatable positioning member is configured to securely orient the microphone capsule in a plurality of intermediate positions between the first position and the second position (Fig. 3: each ratchet groove 131 offers a position).
Regarding claim 8, Song discloses the microphone of claim 1 further comprising a microphone stand integral to the microphone (Figs. 1-2 and page 8, lines 20-25: microphone stand integrates via support rod 12).
Regarding claim 9, Song discloses the microphone of claim 1, wherein the rotatable positioning member is integral to a housing of the microphone (see Figs. 1-2).
Regarding claim 10, Song discloses the microphone of claim 1, wherein the rotatable positioning member comprises a ratcheting assembly (see Fig. 3 and paragraph spanning pages 5-6).
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-9, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mathis (US 2014/0233764).
Regarding claim 1, Mathis discloses a microphone (Fig. 1: at least 12 and 16) comprising:
a microphone capsule (inherent element of 12); and
a rotatable positioning member (16) configured to bias the microphone capsule against a surface of an audio output device (see Fig. 8) (¶ 0033-0034);
wherein the rotatable positioning member is configured to offset a force caused by a tension in a cable (24 and 26; or alternatively the cable connected to the right end of 12 that is not shown in Fig. 1 but that is shown in Fig. 7) connected to the microphone based on the rotatable positioning member being rotated from a first position to a second position (it is inherent that 16 offsets the force caused by cable tension in order to rotate and hold a position rotated to).
Regarding claim 2, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 1 wherein the microphone further comprises a housing (16), the housing further comprising:
on a first end of the housing, a substantially flat face (22); and
on a second end of the housing opposite the first end, a connector (input jack) for connection of the cable to the housing (Fig. 1 and ¶ 0025).
Regarding claim 3, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 2, wherein the rotatable positioning member is configured to allow the substantially flat face to rotate independently of the connector (Fig. 1 and ¶ 0025).
Regarding claim 4, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 2, wherein a diameter of the substantially flat face is greater than a width of the second end of the housing (diameter of 22 is greater than the vertical width of 18, as depicted in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 7, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 1, wherein the rotatable positioning member is configured to securely orient the microphone capsule in a plurality of intermediate positions between the first position and the second position (¶ 0025).
Regarding claim 8, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 1 further comprising a microphone stand (14) (¶ 0025) integral to the microphone (if at least 12, 14, and 16 are considered to be the claimed “microphone”, then 14 forms part of the microphone as seen in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 9, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 1, wherein the rotatable positioning member is integral to a housing of the microphone (if at least 12 and 16 are considered to be the claimed “microphone”, then 16 forms part of the housing of the microphone as seen in Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 20, Mathis discloses a microphone (Fig. 1: at least 12 and 16) comprising:
a microphone capsule (inherent element of 12);
a housing (20) configured for connection to a cable (26 and 24) (¶ 0025);
a rotatable positioning member (16) configured to bias the microphone capsule against a surface of an audio output device (see Fig. 8) (¶ 0033-0034); and
a substantially flat face (22),
wherein the rotatable positioning member and substantially flat face are configured to function in concert to offset a force caused by a tension in the cable based on the rotatable positioning member being rotated from a first position to a second position (it is inherent that 16 and 22 offsets the force caused by cable tension in order to rotate and hold a position rotated to).
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mathis in view of Frenchik (US 2018/0160221).
Regarding claim 5, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 2.
Mathis is not relied upon to disclose wherein the rotatable positioning member comprises a threaded collar and the second end of the housing comprises complementary threads adapted to receive and removably couple to the threaded collar.
In a similar field of endeavor, Frenchik discloses an element (100a) added between a microphone stand (104) and a microphone clip (108) (see Fig. 2A), where the element comprises a threaded collar (Fig. 3D: 116) for connecting to the microphone clip (108) (see Fig. 3D); and an end of the element comprises complementary threads (Fig. 3B: 170) for connecting to the microphone stand (104) (see Fig. 3B), the complementary threads (170) adapted to receive and removably couple to the threaded collar (Figs. 3B/3D and ¶ 0049-0051: 116 is male threaded and 170 is female threaded and thus the threads are complementary and adapted to receive one another).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the rotatable positioning member (16 of Mathis) to comprise a threaded collar for connecting to the microphone clip (seen in Fig. 1 of Mathis); and the second end of the housing to comprise complementary threads for connecting to the microphone stand (14 of Mathis), the complementary threads adapted to receive and removably couple to the threaded collar,
the motivation being to configure the rotatable positioning member to have universal application and/or make it usable with a convention microphone stand (Frenchik - ¶ 0049).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mathis in view of Koster et al. (US 5349880).
Regarding claim 6, Mathis discloses the microphone of claim 2, wherein the rotatable positioning member comprises a servo motor adapted to allow the microphone capsule to rotate independently of the connector (¶ 0025).
Mathis is not relied upon to disclose wherein the rotatable positioning member comprises a plurality of ball bearings and an inner body, wherein the plurality of ball bearings and the inner body are adapted to allow the microphone capsule to rotate independently of the connector.
In a similar field of endeavor, Koster discloses a servo motor (3) comprises a plurality of ball bearings (39) and an inner body (5), wherein the plurality of ball bearings and the inner body are adapted to rotate independently of the housing (35) of the servo motor (see Fig. 2 and detx5, col. 5, lines 34-43).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the servo motor of Mathis with that of Koster,
which would result in: wherein the rotatable positioning member comprises a plurality of ball bearings and an inner body, wherein the plurality of ball bearings and the inner body are adapted to allow the microphone capsule to rotate independently of the connector,
the motivation being to perform the simple substitution of one servo motor for another to obtain predictable results of a servo motor. See MPEP § 2143(B).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-3549. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 1-6, 7:30-11:59pm EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CAROLYN R EDWARDS can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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