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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanabe (US8485310) in view of Mendoza (US20230286639) and Wood (US11668236).
With respect to claim 1 Tanabe discloses a system, comprising:
A reconfigurable surface (surface shown in figure 5 the reconfiguration thereof happens by means of element 7 a slide member) configured for sound absorption of an incoming acoustic wave, the reconfigurable surface comprising:
A first surface (1) comprising respective first air cavities within a first support, the respective first air cavities corresponding to respective neck ports of respective first resonator portion, the respective neck ports having respective neck port dimension; and
A second surface (5) comprising respective second air cavities within a second support, the respective second air cavities corresponding to respective chambers of respective second resonator portions, the respective chambers having respective chamber dimensions, wherein the second surface is configured to physically coupled to the first surface (see again figure 5 they are so coupled), with the respective neck ports configured to respectively align with the respective chambers,
Wherein when the first surface is physically coupled to the second surface, the reconfigurable surface comprises respective Helmholtz resonators, formed from the respective neck ports and respective chambers, that resonate at a resonant frequency, based on the respective chamber dimensions and respective neck port dimensions responsive to being exposed to the incoming acoustic wave.
Tanabe does not expressly disclose the surface as being a meta surface.
Mendoza (paragraph 90) discloses the use of resonant structures in a meta surface for the purpose of reducing sound waves.
Wood (column 10 lines 5-35) discloses Helmholtz resonators for the purpose of phase shifting sound waves so as to interact destructively with the incoming waves to cancel the sound waves.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing to combine the teachings of Wood to phase cancel and thew teachings of Mendoza to provide a metasurface for sound cancellation with the device of Tanabe to enhance the sound reduction in a way that utilizes only a small amount of volume and thus improve the flow through by reducing restriction.
With respect to claim 2 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the incoming acoustic wave is a first acoustic wave, wherein the respective neck ports are respective first neck ports having respective first neck port dimensions, wherein the respective Helmholtz resonators are respective first Helmholtz resonators that resonate at a first resonant frequency, and further comprising:
A third surface, the third surface comprising respective third air cavities (see Mendoza for additional surfaces of cavities ) within a third support, the respective third air cavities corresponding to respective second neck ports of respective third resonator portions (see again Mendoza necks) the respective neck ports having respective neck port dimensions that are different from respective first neck port dimensions (see Tanabe figure 5 for differing neck port sizes and figure 8 for differing chamber sizes),
Wherein, when the third surface is physically coupled to the second surface and the first surface is decoupled from the second surface, the reconfigurable metasurface comprises respective second Helmholtz resonators, formed from the respective neck ports and the respective chambers, that resonate at a second resonant frequency, based on the respective chamber dimensions and the respective neck port dimensions, to phase cancel a second incoming acoustic wave responsive to being exposed to the second incoming acoustic wave (That is to say that as the respective components are all taught and all taught to function in the manner as claimed the interchanging of the layers would have been an obvious matter. This would constitute only a rearrangement and reconnection of the already taught parts, and it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
With respect to claim 3 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first neck port dimensions comprise respective first nek widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions (see again Tanabe which discloses the slide element 7 to produce different neck widths).
With respect to claim 4 Tanabe as modified discloses the invention as claimed except expressly wherein the respective first neck port dimensions comprise respective first lengths that are longer than respective second neck port dimensions. As the two defining variables of a neck of a Helmholtz resonator are the width and the length, given the teaching to change one of the variables it would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art before the tie of the effective filing to also understand that tuning would occur due to the change of the other of the two variables.
With respect to claim 5 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein at least one of the respective first neck port dimensioned comprise respective first widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions (taught by Tanabe see figures and refer to 7 opening and closing the dimension), or the respective first neck port dimensions comprise respective first lengths that are shorter than respective second lengths of the respective neck port dimensions.
With respect to claim 6 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein at least one of the respective first neck port dimensions comprise respective first widths that are narrower than respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions or the respective first neck port dimensions comprise respective first lengths are at longer than respective second lengths of he respective second neck port dimension (see again Tanabe differing neck port widths are taught).
With respect to claim 7 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the incoming acoustic wave is a first incoming acoustic wave, wherein the respective chambers are respective first chambers having respective first chamber dimension, wherein the respective Helmholtz resonators are respective first Helmholtz resonators that resonate at a first resonant frequency, and further comprising:
A third surface, the third surface comprising respective third air cavities within a third support (see Mendoza for multiple layers) the respective third air cavities corresponding to respective second chambers of respective third resonator portions, the respective second chambers having respective second chamber dimensions that are different from the respective third chamber dimensions (see Tanabe different chamber sizes are taught),
Wherein when third surfaces is physically coupled to the first surface and the second surface is physically decoupled from the first surface, the reconfigurable meta surface comprises respective second Helmholtz resonators formed from the respective neck ports and the respective second chamber, that resonant t a second resonant frequency, based on the respective second chamber dimensions and the respective neck port dimensions, to phase cancel a second incoming acoustic wave responsive to being exposed to the second incoming acoustic wave (as would have been an obvious reconfiguration to arrive at the desired resonator configurations).
With respect to claim 8 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second chamber dimensions (see figure 8 of Tanabe differing widths for different resonators are taught, this would be applicable to an array of resonators as well).
With respect to claim 9 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first heights that are longer than respective second heights (see again figure 8 Tanabe) of the respective second chamber dimensions.
With respect to claim 10 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein at least one of the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second chamber dimensions or the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first lengths that are shorter than respective second lengths of the respective second chamber dimension (see again Tanabe figure 8).
With respect to claim 11 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein at least one of the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first widths that are narrower than respective second widths of the respective second chamber dimensions or the respective first chamber dimensions comprise respective first lengths that are longer than respective second lengths of the respective chamber dimensions (see again Tanabe figure 8 ).
With respect to claim 12 Tanabe as modified discloses a system comprising:
A cavity sheet panel comprising respective chambers within a supporting cavity sheet structure (see Tanabe element 5);
A first interchangeable aperture panel (Tanabe element 1) comprising first neck ports within a first aperture panel supporting structure; and
A second interchangeable aperture panel (see differing neck ports taught by Tanabe, see also different layered members taught by Mendoza) within a second aperture panel supporting structure,
Wherein the cavity sheet panel is configured to be physically coupled to the first interchangeable aperture panel, and is configured to be coupled to the second interchangeable panel and wherein :
When the cavity sheet panel is physically coupled to the first interchangeable aperture panel and decouple form the second interchangeable aperture panel, the respective chambers align with the respective first neck ports for form respective first Helmholtz resonators that resonate at a first frequency that cancels first noise comprised by a first incoming acoustic wave comprising a first frequency, and
When the cavity sheet panel is physically coupled to the second interchangeable aperture panel and decoupled form the first interchangeable aperture panel , the respective chambers align with the respective second neck ports to form respective second Helmholtz resonators that resonate at a second resonant frequency that is different from the first resonant frequency an that cancels second noise comprised by a second incoming acoustic wave comprising a second frequency (refer to the different chambers, different necks taught by Tanabe and the multiple sheet members taught by Mendoza).
With respect to claim 13 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first neck ports comprise respective first neck port dimensions having respective first widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions (see Tanabe teachings of different neck widths).
With respect to claim 14 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first neck ports comprise respective first neck port dimensions having respective first lengths that are longer than respective second lengths of the respective second neck port dimensions (as the defining variables of the neck of a Helmholtz resonate are the neck widths and the neck length it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to apply the teachings of the variation of one of the variables to the variation of the other of the variables. )
With respect to claim 15 Tanabe as modified discloses the invention as claimed except expressly wherein the first interchangeable aperture panel is thicker than the second interchangeable aperture panel. It is considered that the thickness of the panel as taught by Tanabe will serve to determine the lengths of the ports as the necks are through holes with no extension beyond the panel. As such the selection of the thickness of the panel is the same as the selection of the length of the port. The dimension of the port being recognized as result effective variables it would have been obvious to select. That discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
With respect to claim 16 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first neck ports comprise respective first neck port dimensions having at least one of:
Respective first widths that are wider than respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions in conjunction with respective first lengths that are shorter than respective second length of the respective second neck port dimensions (variable sized neck widths are taught the application of the variation to the other controllable variable, the neck port length, would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing),
The respective first widths that are narrower than the respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimensions in conjunction with the respective first lengths that are shorter than the respective second lengths of the respective second neck port dimensions (variable sized neck widths are taught the application of the variation to the other controllable variable, the neck port length, would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing),
the respective first widths that are wider than the respective second widths of the respective second neck port dimension in conjunction with the respective first lengths that are longer than the respective second lengths of the respective second neck port dimensions (as would be an obvious arrangement of the variables which are known to one of ordinary skill to be results effective and thus tunable).
With respect to claim 17 Tanabe as modified discloses a system comprising:
A cavity sheet panel comprising respective chambers within a supporting cavity sheet part (Tanabe element 5) wherein he cavity sheet panel is configured to be physically coupled to an interchangeable aperture panel (1 of Tanabe) of a group of interchangeable aperture panels (see teachings of multiple layers of Mendoza and the teachings of Tanabe multiple aperture sizes), the group of interchangeable panels comprising:
A first interchangeable aperture panel comprising respective first neck ports within a first aperture panel supporting pad, wherein the respective first neck ports have respective first neck port dimension;
And a second interchangeable aperture panel comprising respective second neck ports within a second aperture panel supporting part, wherein the respective second neck ports have respective second neck port dimensions,
Wherein, wherein the cavity sheet panel is physically coupled to the first interchangeable aperture panel and decouple from the second interchangeable aperture panel, the respective chambers align with the respective first neck ports to form a first metasurface of the respective first Helmholtz resonators that resonate at a first resonant frequency, based on the respective first neck port dimensions (implicit in the Helmholtz resonator structure), that cancels noise comprised by a first incoming acoustic wave, and
Wherein when the cavity sheet panel is physically coupled to the second interchangeable aperture panel and decoupled form the first interchangeable aperture panel, the respective chambers align with the respective second neck ports to form a second metasurface of respective second Helmholtz resonators that resonant at a second resonant frequency, based upon the respective second neck port dimensions that cancels second noise comprises by a second incoming wave (again implicit in the Helmholtz resonator structure).
With respect to claim 18 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective chambers are evenly distributed in an array pattern within the supporting cavity sheet part (see array pattern of Mendoza).
With respect to claim 19 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the first metasurface is configured to collectively phase cancel (phase cancel taught by Wood, meta surface taught by Mendoza) at least one incoming acoustic wave respectively emanating from at leats one server (Tanabe column 1).
With respect to claim 20 Tanabe as modified further discloses wherein the respective first neck port dimension comprise respective first widths and respective first lengths (inherently the case as the opening is a three dimensional structure), wherein the respective second neck port dimensions comprise respective second widths and respective second lengths (again inherent) and wherein:
The relationship between the respective widths and lengths is such that one or ordinary skill would have selected any of the claimed relationships. The claimed relationships being the possible combinations, it would have been obvious to select one of them based upon the desired attenuation properties of the device.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen (US20230204047) discloses a fan and housing for attenuation; Prakash (US11214350) discloses a sound attenuation panel; Lee (US20210358468) discloses a sparse acoustic reflector; Guo (US20210074255) discloses a broadband sound absorber; Lee (US20200066245) discloses a duct sound attenuator; Joshi (US20110155503) discloses a system and method of providing airflow and sound attenuation to an electronics device; Kawar (US20060185931) discloses an acoustic reduction means fro computer; Richardson (US5457291) discloses a sound attenuating panel and Trader (US1554179) discloses a sound absorbing material .
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FORREST M PHILLIPS whose telephone number is (571)272-9020. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9:00-5:00.
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, Dedei Hammond can be reached at (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/FORREST M PHILLIPS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Prosecution Insights