The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 5-7, 11, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chick et al. (US 2006/0291684) considered with Saiki (US 2007/0201712).
Regarding the claims, Chick discloses the invention substantially as claimed in reference to figures 2A and 2B, but fails to specifically teach structural details pertaining to the passive radiator module (located between baffle structures 44 in fig. 2B). However, Chick discloses in a separate embodiment of the invention in reference to figure 8D, a passive radiator module of similar structural design as the passive radiator module of figures 2A and 2B (note also that structural elements in each of the embodiments have the same corresponding number labels). It would have been obvious to incorporate the structural design of the passive radiator module of figure 8D into the audio device of figures 2A and 2B. Specifically, the passive radiator module located between the baffle structures 44 in fig. 2B is modified to have the basic structural design of the passive radiator module of fig. 8D. A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of manufacturing the audio device of figures 2A and 2B, in view of the passive radiator of figure 8D, thereby incorporating all the structural details of the passive radiator module of figs. 8D into the audio device of figs. 2A and 2B.
Further regarding claims 1, 6, and 11, Chick discloses a passive radiator module (located between baffle structures 44 in fig. 2B) and a loudspeaker system comprising the passive radiator module, the passive radiator module comprising: a cavity 32 comprising an upper surface 28A, a lower surface 28B and at least one opening 34, and the at least one opening 34 is positioned between the upper surface 28A and the lower surface 28B (see fig. 8D, for example); and two passive radiators 38A and 38B disposed on the upper surface 28A and the lower surface 28B respectively, each of the two passive radiators 38A and 38B comprising a hang edge, a surrounding part and a diaphragm (see figure below),
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the surrounding part surrounding the diaphragm, and the surrounding part positioned between the hang edge and the diaphragm, wherein each of the upper surface 28A and the lower surface 28B comprises a hollow part (circular openings in fig. 8D), the hang edge of any one of the two passive radiators 38A and 38B is connected to a corresponding one of the upper surface 28A and the lower surface 28B, and the diaphragm of the any one of the two passive radiators 38A and 38B is positioned in the hollow part of the corresponding one of the upper surface 28A and the lower surface 28B (see fig. 8D, for example), wherein the at least one opening 34 is a pair of openings 34 (see para. 0029, regarding “cavity 32 may be … configured so that there are two or more openings from the external environment to the cavity”; see figs. 2A and 2B, which disclose a pair of openings 34), and the pair of openings 34 of the cavity 32 is symmetrically positioned on first opposite sides 22 of a loudspeaker cabinet 26, two speaker drivers 36A and 36B symmetrically positioned on second opposite sides 24A and 24B of the loudspeaker cabinet 26, and the first opposite sides and the second opposite sides are different from each other.
Chick, as explained above, discloses the invention as claimed, including figures which appear to illustrate that the surrounding part as labeled above in the figure 8D is circular (i.e., an aspect ratio of the surrounding part is 1:1), but fails to explicitly disclose that the surrounding part illustrated in the figures is circular and thus has an aspect ratio of 1:1 as claimed. Saiki discloses a passive radiator 22 mounted in a loudspeaker cabinet 20, wherein the passive radiator 22 includes a hang edge, a surrounding part 24, and a diaphragm 23, wherein the passive radiator 22, and the surrounding part 24 of the passive radiator 22, is circular (see para. 0095), in the same field of endeavor, for the purpose of moving air in a symmetrical circular pattern which helps spread sound waves evenly in all directions. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify Chick, in view of Saiki, such that the surrounding part illustrated in the figures is circular and thus has an aspect ratio of 1:1 as claimed. A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of moving air in a symmetrical circular pattern which helps spread sound waves evenly in all directions.
Regarding claims 5 and 14, the at least one opening 34 is a pair of openings 34, and the pair of openings is symmetrically positioned on opposite sides of the cavity 32. See fig. 2A, for example.
Regarding claims 7 and 15, the passive radiator module is disposed across an intermediate region of the loudspeaker cabinet 26. The pair of openings 34 is symmetrically positioned on opposite sides of the cavity 32. The two speaker drivers 36A and 36B are respectively disposed on opposite sides 24A and 24B of the passive radiator module. See figs. 2A and 2B, for example.
Claims 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chick et al. (US 2006/0291684) and Saiki (US 2007/0201712), as applied to claim 1 and claim 6 above, in further view of Ohura (US 2016/0316298).
Chick, as modified and applied to claim 1 and claim 6 above, discloses the invention as claimed, including that each of the two passive radiators 38A and 38B include a hang edge (see figure above), but fails to specifically teach that a surface of the hang edge has at least one reinforcement rib. Ohura discloses a passive radiator (see figs. 14 and 15, for example) including a hang edge 204, a surrounding part 203 and a diaphragm 202, wherein a surface of the hang edge 204 has at least one reinforcement rib 301, 304, in the same field of endeavor, for the purpose of “prevent[ing], for example, deformation or vibration in an oblique direction of the passive radiator caused by unnecessary minute vibration, and can prevent or reduce distortion in low-frequency response” (see para. 0077-0080).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify Chick, in view of Ohura, such that a surface of the hang edge has at least one reinforcement rib. A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of preventing deformation or vibration of the passive radiator caused by unnecessary minute vibration and can prevent or reduce distortion in low-frequency response.
Applicants’ arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL W HUBER whose telephone number is (571)272-7588.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL W HUBER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
pwh
September 15, 2026
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