DETAILED ACTION
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements submitted are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
3. Claims 14-20 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being substantial duplicates of claims 1-7.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 1, 2, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bristol et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0255386 (hereinafter Bristol) in view of Hatfield et al, U.S. Patent No. 12,019,248 (hereinafter Hatfield).
Regarding claim 1, Bristol discloses a strap assembly of a head-mounted device, comprising:
a fixed shell (from paragraph 0020, see FIG. 1 is an example perspective view of a HMD attached with a strap system, in accordance with an embodiment. The HMD includes, among other components, a front rigid body 100 (or “body 100”) and a facial interface 118 attached to the body 100. The body 100 includes various components such as a display panel, optical elements and circuits (not shown). The facial interface 118 is made of a material softer than the body 100 and comes into contact with a user's face when the HMD is worn by the user. In some embodiments, the HMD includes a different type of housing than the body 100);
a strap shell rotatably arranged on the fixed shell (from paragraph 0026, see The strap arm 120 can rotate relative to the body 100 about the center of the boss 310);
and a speaker (from paragraph 0024, see The speaker 612 is positioned within the body portion 232 and/or back volume unit 210, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7) arranged inside the strap shell, the speaker and the strap shell define front and rear sound cavities that are spaced apart, the strap shell has a sound output hole (from paragraph 0030, see The sound generated by the speaker 612 travels through the audio passages 512A, 512B to the audio port 412. Furthermore, some or all of the sound generated by speaker 612 may be enhanced by the back volume unit 210, and then directed by the trap arm 120 through the audio passages 512A, 512B to the audio port 412. The audio port 412 is placed and oriented so that that the sound from the audio port 412 is forwarded or directed toward a user's ear when the user wears the HMD. The body portion 232 of the base portion 620 is covered by the cover portion 630, as shown in FIG. 6) that is in communication with the front sound cavity.
Still on the issue of claim 1, Bristol does not clearly teach the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface. All the same, Hatfield discloses the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface (from column 10, see The interface of the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include one or more of a variety of engagement mechanisms. For example, the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and/or the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include slides, rails, channels, pins, openings, snaps, detents, latches, catches, magnets, friction couplings, locks, flexures, and the like. Adjustments between the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can be manual (e.g., by the user) and/or automated (e.g., controlled by the HMD module 110). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bristol wherein the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface as taught by Hatfield. This modification would have improved comfort experienced by the user by providing one or more different types of adjustment capabilities as suggested by Hatfield (see column 3).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Bristol and Hatfield discloses the strap shell is in a nested arrangement with the fixed shell, an inner peripheral wall of the fixed shell is in sealing-fit with an outer peripheral wall of the strap shell through a sealing member (from column 10 of Hatfield, see (from column 10, see The interface of the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include one or more of a variety of engagement mechanisms. For example, the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and/or the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include slides, rails, channels, pins, openings, snaps, detents, latches, catches, magnets, friction couplings, locks, flexures, and the like. Adjustments between the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can be manual (e.g., by the user) and/or automated (e.g., controlled by the HMD module 110).
Regarding claim 14, Bristol discloses a head-mounted device, comprising the strap assembly of the head-mounted device, wherein the strap assembly comprises:
a fixed shell (from paragraph 0020, see FIG. 1 is an example perspective view of a HMD attached with a strap system, in accordance with an embodiment. The HMD includes, among other components, a front rigid body 100 (or “body 100”) and a facial interface 118 attached to the body 100. The body 100 includes various components such as a display panel, optical elements and circuits (not shown). The facial interface 118 is made of a material softer than the body 100 and comes into contact with a user's face when the HMD is worn by the user. In some embodiments, the HMD includes a different type of housing than the body 100);
a strap shell rotatably arranged on the fixed shell (from paragraph 0026, see The strap arm 120 can rotate relative to the body 100 about the center of the boss 310);
and a speaker (from paragraph 0024, see The speaker 612 is positioned within the body portion 232 and/or back volume unit 210, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7) arranged inside the strap shell, the speaker and the strap shell define front and rear sound cavities that are spaced apart, the strap shell has a sound output hole (from paragraph 0030, see The sound generated by the speaker 612 travels through the audio passages 512A, 512B to the audio port 412. Furthermore, some or all of the sound generated by speaker 612 may be enhanced by the back volume unit 210, and then directed by the trap arm 120 through the audio passages 512A, 512B to the audio port 412. The audio port 412 is placed and oriented so that that the sound from the audio port 412 is forwarded or directed toward a user's ear when the user wears the HMD. The body portion 232 of the base portion 620 is covered by the cover portion 630, as shown in FIG. 6) that is in communication with the front sound cavity.
Still on the issue of claim 14, Bristol does not clearly teach the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface. All the same, Hatfield discloses the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface (from column 10, see The interface of the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include one or more of a variety of engagement mechanisms. For example, the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and/or the HMD module engagement elements 196 can include slides, rails, channels, pins, openings, snaps, detents, latches, catches, magnets, friction couplings, locks, flexures, and the like. Adjustments between the tilt strap engagement elements 262 and the HMD module engagement elements 196 can be manual (e.g., by the user) and/or automated (e.g., controlled by the HMD module 110). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bristol wherein the fixed shell having a concave arc surface and the strap shell having a convex arc surface that is in sliding-fit with the concave arc surface as taught by Hatfield. This modification would have improved comfort experienced by the user by providing one or more different types of adjustment capabilities as suggested by Hatfield (see column 3).
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 3-13 and 16-20 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 bae claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLISA ANWAH whose telephone number is 571-272-7533. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 6 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edwards can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2600.
Olisa Anwah
Patent Examiner
January 21, 2026
/OLISA ANWAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
Prosecution Insights