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 Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 11 recites “second sending element” (emphasis added). For the purpose of compact prosecution, “second sending element” will be read as “second sensing element”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 11 and 20 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 11 recites the limitation "the first sound port formed in the substrate" and “the second sound port formed in the substrate”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as there is no previous recitation of the port being formed in the substrate.
Claim 20 recites the limitation "the particular sound ports”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as there is no previous recitation of a more than one particular sound port.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tanaka et al., U.S. Patent No. 8,989,422, patented on March 24, 2015 (Tanaka).
As to Claim 1, Tanaka discloses an acoustic sensor device [1], comprising: a package [1]; a substrate [20] disposed in the package [1] or forming a part of the package [1] (col. 13, lines 1-3; see Fig. 4); a plurality of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) transducers [14, 15] supported by the substrate [20] (col. 8, lines 51-52) and packaged in the package [20]; and a plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] configured to couple the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] to an ambient environment of the acoustic sensor device [1] (col. 12, lines 35-47), wherein the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] are arranged in the package [1] such that respective MEMS transducers, among the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15], exhibit different directional pick-up patterns with respect to sound waves traveling in the ambient environment of the acoustic sensor device [1] (in Fig. 8, first microphone [14] exhibits a pick-up pattern indicated by a dashed line, and second microphone [15] exhibits a pick-up pattern indicated by a solid line; col. 14, lines 56-61).
As to Claim 2, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses that the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] are arranged such that the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] exhibit respective directional pick-up patterns that are orthogonal to each other (the patterns are offset by 90°; col. 15, lines 43-47; see Fig. 8).
As to Claim 3, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses that the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] are arranged in the package [1] such that the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] exhibit respective dipole patterns that are orthogonal to each other (the patterns are bidirectional, and offset by 90°; col. 15, lines 43-47; see Fig. 8).
As to Claim 4, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses that at least one sound port [112], among the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133], comprises a mesh covering [21] (see Fig. 13) configured to cause at least one MEMS transducer [14], among the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15], to exhibit a cardioid pick-up pattern (Fig. 16A) with respect to sound waves traveling in the ambient environment of the acoustic sensor device [1] (the mesh causes the microphone to exhibit an omnidirectional cardioid pick-up pattern; col. 20, lines 4-13; see Fig. 16A).
As to Claim 5, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) [16] configured to read out and process respective electrical signals generated by respective MEMS transducers among the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] (col. 9, lines 46-58).
As to Claim 6, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses a lid [13] attached to the substrate [20] to encapsulate the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] (see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 7, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses that the plurality of MEMS transducers [14, 15] includes a first MEMS transducer [14] and a second MEMS transducer [15], and the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] includes a first sound port [112/123] configured to couple a first side [142b] of the first MEMS transducer [14] to the ambient environment (col. 12, lines 40-44; see Fig. 4), a second sound port [121/133] configured to couple a first side [152b] of the second MEMS transducer [15] to the ambient environment (col. 12, lines 44-47; see Fig. 4), and a third sound port [132] configured to couple a second side [142a] of the first MEMS transducer [14] and a second side [152a] of the second MEMS transducer [15] to the ambient environment (col. 12, lines 35-40; see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 10, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 7. Tanaka further discloses that the first sound port [123], the second sound port [133], and the third sound port [132] are formed in the substrate [20] of the package [1] (see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 11, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 7. Tanaka further discloses that the first MEMS transducer [14] comprises a first sensing element [142] suspended over a first cavity (above [123]), wherein the first MEMS transducer [14] is arranged in the package [20] such that the first cavity (above [123]) is placed over the first sound port [123] formed in the substrate [12] (see Fig. 4); and the second MEMS transducer [15] comprises a second (sensing) element [152] suspended over a second cavity (above [121]), wherein the second MEMS transducer [15] is arranged in the package [20] such that the second cavity (above [121]) is placed over the second sound port [121] formed in the substrate [12] (see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 12, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 7. Tanaka further discloses that at least one of the first sound port [123] and the second sound port [121] includes a mesh covering [21] (a piece of felt [21] covers the port; col. 19, lines 19-24; see Fig. 13).
As to Claim 13, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 1. Tanaka further discloses that a first sound port [101] among the plurality of sound ports is configured to be coupled via an acoustic channel (through [521]) to a further sound port [513] formed in an end product device [51] configured to use the acoustic sensor device [1] (col. 17, lines 27-33; see Figs. 11 and 12).
As to Claim 14, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 13. Tanaka further discloses that the acoustic channel (through [521]) is arranged such that a distance between the further sound port [513] formed in the end product device [51] and a second sound port [133] among the plurality of sound ports of the acoustic sensor device [1] is larger than a distance between the first sound port [101] and the second sound port [133] of the acoustic sensor device [1] (the further sound port [513] is located at a lower position than first sound port [101], therefore the distance from [513] to [133] would be greater; see Fig. 12).
As to Claim 15, Tanaka discloses an acoustic sensor device [1], comprising: a package [1]; a substrate [20] disposed in the package [1] or forming a part of the package [1] (col. 13, lines 1-3; see Fig. 4) a plurality of transducers [14, 15] formed in one or more semiconductor dies (the transducers [14, 15] are MEMS semiconductor transducers; col. 23, lines 64-67), the one or more semiconductor dies [14, 15] supported by the substrate [20] and packaged in the package [1]; and a plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] configured to couple the plurality of transducers [14, 15] to an ambient environment of the acoustic sensor device [1] (col. 12, lines 35-47), wherein the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] are arranged in the package [1] such that respective transducers, among the plurality of transducers [14, 15], exhibit respective directional pick-up patterns that are orthogonal to each other (the patterns are offset by 90°; col. 15, lines 43-47; see Fig. 8).
As to Claim 16, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 15. Tanaka further discloses that the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] are arranged in the package [1] such that the plurality of transducers [14, 15] exhibit respective dipole patterns that are orthogonal to each other (the patterns are bidirectional, and offset by 90°; col. 15, lines 43-47; see Fig. 8).
As to Claim 17, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 15. Tanaka further discloses that the plurality of transducers [14, 15] comprise a plurality of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) transducers (col. 23, lines 64-67).
As to Claim 18, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 15. Tanaka further discloses an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) [16] configured to read out and process respective electrical signals generated by respective transducers among the plurality of transducers [14, 15] (col. 9, lines 46-58).
As to Claim 19, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 15. Tanaka further discloses a lid [13] attached to the substrate [20] to encapsulate the plurality of transducers [14, 15] (see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 20, Tanaka remains as applied above to Claim 15. Tanaka further discloses that a particular sound port [132] among the plurality of sound ports [112, 132, 133] is shared by multiple transducers [14, 15] among the plurality of transducers such that the particular sound ports couples the multiple transducers [14, 15] to the ambient environment (col. 12, lines 35-40; see Fig. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-9 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 8 recites the unique features of the first sound port and the third sound port being arranged in-plane along a first axis on the substrate and spaced apart from each other along the first axis on the substrate; and the second sound port and the third sound port are arranged in-plane along a second axis and spaced apart from each other along the second axis on the substrate. The closest prior art does not suggest or disclose such features.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryan Robinson whose telephone number is (571) 270-3956. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Fan Tsang, can be reached on (571) 272-7547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/RYAN ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694
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