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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1 and 13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 5 of Patent 11902731. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because: claim 5 of Patent 11902731 teaches all the limitations in the claims 1 and 13 of instant application because the claims of the instant application are obvious variations of the patented claims. Although the claimed ranges are not identical, the claimed ranges are still within the ranges as taught by the patented claims.
Patent 11902731
Instant Application 18815835
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and a head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to the ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal;
wherein the sound production component and the auricle have a first projection and a second projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of the first projection have a first distance from a highest point of the second projection in a vertical axis direction,
a ratio of the first distance to a height of the second projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.6, the centroid of the first projection has a second distance from an end point of the second projection in a sagittal axis direction, and a ratio of the second distance to a width of the second projection in the sagittal axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.7.
The open earphone of claim 1, wherein the sound production component extends at least partially into a cavity of auricular concha, the ratio of the first distance to the height of the second projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and the ratio of the second distance to the width of the second projection in the sagittal axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.65.
5. The open earphone of claim 2, wherein when the open earphone is not worn, a distance between a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a specific reference plane and a centroid of a projection of the first portion of the ear hook on the specific reference plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal,
wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction,
a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and
in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
13. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and is connected to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal, wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.
Claims 1 and 13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 7 of Patent 11930315. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because: claim 7 of Patent 11930315 teaches all the limitations in the claims 1 and 13 of instant application because the claims of the instant application are obvious variations of the patented claims. Although the claimed ranges are not identical, the claimed ranges are still within the ranges as taught by the patented claims.
Patent 11930315
Instant Application 18815835
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and a head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block an opening of the ear canal, and the sound production component extends at least partially into a cavity of auricular concha; and wherein the sound production component and the auricle have a first projection and a second projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of the first projection has a seventh distance from a projection of a highest point of a connection part between the auricle and the head on the sagittal plane in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the seventh distance to a distance between the projection of the highest point and a projection of a lowest point of the connection part of the auricle and the head on the sagittal plane in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.65, and a ratio of a distance between the centroid of the first projection and an end point of the second projection in a sagittal axis direction to a width of the second projection in the sagittal axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.65.
7. The open earphone of claim 1, wherein when the open earphone is not worn, a distance between a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a specific reference plane and a centroid of a projection of the first portion of the ear hook on the specific reference plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal,
wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction,
a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and
in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
13. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and is connected to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal, wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.
Claims 1 and 13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 15 of Patent 11979701. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because: claim 15 of Patent 11979701 teaches all the limitations in the claims 1 and 13 of instant application because the claims of the instant application are obvious variations of the patented claims. Although the claimed ranges are not identical, the claimed ranges are still within the ranges as taught by the patented claims.
Patent 11979701
Instant Application 18815835
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and a head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to the ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal; wherein the sound production component and the auricle have a first projection and a second projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of the first projection have a first distance from a highest point of the second projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the second projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.6, the centroid of the first projection has a second distance from an end point of the second projection in a sagittal axis direction, and a ratio of the second distance to a width of the second projection in the sagittal axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.7.
2. The open earphone of claim 1, wherein the sound production component at least partially covers an antihelix area, a ratio of the first distance to the height of the second projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and a ratio of the second distance to the width of the second projection in the sagittal axis is within a range of 0.4-0.6.
5. The open earphone of claim 2, wherein when the earphone is not worn, a distance between a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a specific reference plane and a centroid of a projection of the first portion of the ear hook on the specific reference plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.
15. The open earphone of claim 5, wherein when the earphone is not worn, a distance between a farthest point on the sound production component from a plane of the ear hook and the plane of the ear hook is within a range of 26 mm-32 mm.
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal,
wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction,
a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and
in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
13. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and is connected to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal, wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.
Claims 1 and 13 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 13 of Copending application 19/063265. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because: claim 13 of the copending application teaches all the limitations in the claims 1 and 13 of instant application because the claims of the instant application are obvious variations of the patented claims. Although the claimed ranges are not identical, the claimed ranges are still within the ranges as taught by the patented claims.
Copending application 19/063265
Instant Application 18815835
1. A headphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is configured to be hung between an auricle of a user and a head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle, connects with the sound production component, and is configured to place the sound production component at a position close to an ear canal without blocking an opening of the ear canal, and at least a portion of the sound production component is inserted into a concha cavity; wherein the sound production component and the first portion of the ear hook clamp the auricle in a wearing state, and in the wearing state, a minimum distance between the sound production component and the first portion of the ear hook is not less than 2 mm; and in the wearing state, the sound production component has a first projection on a sagittal plane of the user, the auricle has a second projection on the sagittal plane, the centroid of the first projection has a first distance from a highest point of the second projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the second projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6, the centroid of the first projection has a second distance from an end point of the second projection on a sagittal axis direction, and a ratio of the second distance to a width of the second projection in the sagittal axis direction is within a range of 0.4-0.65.
7. The headphone of any one of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the sound production component inserted into the concha cavity includes at least one clamping region in contact with the edge of the concha cavity; and the ear hook includes a clamping fulcrum located at a position with a smallest cross-sectional area on the ear hook, and in the wearing state, a clamping coefficient of the ear hook based on the clamping fulcrum is within a range of 10 N/m-30 N/m.
9. The headphone of claim 7, wherein in the wearing state, a distance between a center of the clamping region and the clamping fulcrum is within a range of 20 mm-40 mm.
10. The headphone of claim 9, wherein in the wearing state, a distance between an ear hook clamping point on the first portion of the ear hook and the clamping fulcrum is within a range of 25 mm-45 mm.
11. The headphone of claim 10, wherein in the wearing state, an included angle between a first connection line from the center of the clamping region to the clamping fulcrum and a second connection line from the ear hook clamping point to the clamping fulcrum is within a range of 6°-12°.
12. The headphone of claim 11, wherein in the wearing state, a distance between the centroid of the first projection and a projection of the first portion of the ear hook on the sagittal plane is within a range of 18 mm-43 mm.
13. The headphone of claim 12, wherein in the non-wearing state, a distance between a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a specific reference plane and a centroid of a projection of the first portion of the ear hook on the specific reference plane is within a range of 15 mm-38 mm.
1. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal,
wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction,
a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and
in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm.
13. An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component; and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and is connected to the sound production component, and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal, wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane, respectively, a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if 1) a terminal disclaimer is filed to overcome the double patenting rejection(s) set forth in this office action.
Cited prior art Jentz (US 2016/0134957) in view of Liu (US 11736850) teaches An open earphone, comprising: a sound production component (Jentz figure 5A); and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence, wherein the first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and the head of the user, the second portion extends toward a front outer side of the auricle and connects to the sound production component (Liu figure 4B), and the sound production component is located close to an ear canal but does not block the opening of the ear canal (Jentz figure 2C), wherein: the open earphone and the auricle have a first projection and an eighth projection on a sagittal plane (Jentz figure 2B), however Jentz in combination with Liu does not teach “a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm” and “a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm.”
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Independent claims 1 is allowed because the closest cited prior art either alone or in combination, fails to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed limitation of “a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance to a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.35-0.6; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a projection of the first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 13 mm-38 mm” in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by the applicant.
Independent claims 13 is allowed because the closest cited prior art either alone or in combination, fails to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed limitation of “a centroid of a portion of the first projection corresponding to the sound production component have a first distance from a highest point of the eighth projection in a vertical axis direction, a ratio of the first distance to a height of the eighth projection in the vertical axis direction is within a range of 0.25-0.4; and in a non-wearing state, a distance from a centroid of a projection of the sound production component on a first plane to a centroid of a projection of a first portion of the ear hook in the first plane is within a range of 10 mm-50 mm” in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) as defined by the applicant.
Consequently, the disclosed independent claims are allowed on behalf of above-discussed reasons. Since the disclosed dependent claims 2-12, 14-20 are dependent on one of the independent claims, therefore they are also patentable
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/NORMAN YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693