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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/10/2024 and 01/29/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION. —The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3, 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 states “wherein the vibrator is disposed on a surface of a seat on which the user sits, or inside the seat, or both”. In other words, the claim recites an embodiment that the vibrator is disposed on a surface of a seat and inside the seat. This embodiment is confusing because a single vibrator cannot be disposed on the surface of a seat, and inside the seat.
Claim 4 states “wherein the vibrator is disposed on a seating surface of the seat, or a backrest of the seat, or both”. In other words, the claim recites an embodiment that the vibrator is disposed on a seating surface of the seat, and a backrest of the seat. This embodiment is also confusing because a single vibrator cannot be disposed on a seating surface of the seat, and a backrest of the seat.
Claim 5 states “wherein the speaker is disposed on a surface of a headrest of a seat on which the user sits, or inside the headrest, or both”. In other words, the claim recites an embodiment that the speaker is disposed on a surface of a headrest of a seat, and inside the headrest of the seat. This embodiment is confusing as well because a single speaker cannot be disposed on a surface of a headrest of a seat, and inside the headrest of the seat.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC Code § 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Immonen et al. (US 2024/0284103 A1 and hereafter Immonen).
Regarding Claim 1, Immonen discloses: A bodily-sensible acoustic device (sound and vibration reproduction arrangement 100, Fig.1) that outputs sounds and vibrations to a user according to audio signals, the bodily-sensible acoustic device comprising: an operation part (input control in Fig.2 and ¶ 31, 77, and 78) that is operated by a user; a speaker (speaker of 130, Fig.1, ¶ 22, line 2) arranged in a position that allows the user to hear a sound output from the speaker; an amplifier (amplifier of 130, Fig.1, ¶ 27, line 9) configured to amplify an input audio signal at a first gain (second amplification in ¶ 31, line 3 ) to output the amplified input audio signal; a vibrator (actuator of 130, Fig.1, ¶ 22, line 9) arranged in a position that enables vibrations of the vibrator to be transmitted to the user; a vibration driver (vibration driver of 130, Fig.1, ¶ 22) configured to vibrate the vibrator according to a signal obtained by amplifying the input audio signal at a second gain (first amplification in ¶ 31, line 2) ; and a gain setting part (gain setting part 114 and second gain setting part 116 of 110, Fig.2, ¶ 31 line 11-19) configured to set the first gain and the second gain according to an operation amount (control input of 120, Fig.2, ¶ 27,line 9, and ¶ 78) of the operation part, where the first gain and the second gain are set to have different gain characteristics (¶ 32,33 and Fig.3).
Regarding claim 2, Immonen discloses: “a first gain setting part configured to set the first gain corresponding to the operation amount, and a second gain setting part configured to set the second gain corresponding to the operation amount, where, when the operation amount is changed, the second gain setting part sets a change in the second gain to be smaller than a change in the first gain” (¶ 50-53).
Immonen teaches that the mapping function may result it at least one of the following: the first amplification may be larger than the second amplification for second amplifications that are smaller than a predefined threshold, The first amplification can be considered the second gain as they both pertain to the vibration signal. The second amplification can be considered the first gain as they both pertain to the audio signal. Therefore, Immonen teaches that the first amplification (second gain) may be smaller than the second amplifications (first gain) that are larger than the predefined threshold.
Regarding claim 3, Immonen discloses: “wherein the vibrator is disposed on a surface of a seat on which the user sits, or inside the seat, or both.” (¶ 26, line 4-11). Regarding claim 4, Immonen discloses: “wherein the vibrator is disposed on a seating surface of the seat, or a backrest of the seat, or both.” (¶ 26, line 4-11).Regarding claim 5, Immonen discloses: “wherein the speaker is disposed on a surface of a headrest of a seat on which the user sits, or inside the headrest, or both.” (¶ 26, line 4-11).
Claim 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Hashimoto et al. (and hereafter Hashimoto, US 20200389730 A1). Regarding claim 1, Hashimoto discloses: “Claim 1: A bodily-sensible acoustic device (Vibration output apparatus 1, Fig. 1) that outputs sounds and vibrations to a user according to audio signals, the bodily-sensible acoustic device comprising: an operation part that is operated by a user (volume setting device 20, ¶ 56, Fig. 1); a speaker arranged in a position that allows the user to hear a sound output from the speaker (full-range speakers SP1 and SP2, ¶ 57, Fig. 1); an amplifier configured to amplify an input audio signal at a first gain to output the amplified input audio signal (the first amplifier 31, ¶ 58, Fig. 1 ); a vibrator arranged in a position that enables vibrations of the vibrator to be transmitted to the user (subwoofer SW, ¶ 57, Fig. 1); a vibration driver configured to vibrate the vibrator according to a signal obtained by amplifying the input audio signal at a second gain (the second amplifier 32, ¶ 58, Fig. 1); and; a gain setting part (the volume controller 400, ¶ 121, Fig. 1) configured to set the first gain (signal level of sound, ¶ 121) and the second gain (signal level of vibration, ¶ 121) according to an operation amount of the operation part (volume level set by the volume setting device 20, ¶ 121), where the first gain and the second gain are set to have different gain characteristics (¶ 121 - 125).”Regarding claim 6 ”The bodily-sensible acoustic device according to claim 1, wherein each of the first gain and the second gain is in a proportional relationship with the operation amount, where a proportional constant of the first gain and a proportional constant of the second gain are set to be different from each other. (¶ 122 - 123)”.
Conclusion
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/PRADIP C. PODDER/Examiner, Art Unit 2694
/FAN S TSANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2694