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.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-1144972 (hereinafter KR ’972) in view of U.S. Patent No. 2008/0317252 (hereinafter ’252 publication).
KR’972 teaches
Claim 1 recites:
“An emergency public address system, comprising: an emergency public address device that switches between an arbitrary regular public address and an emergency public address, both public addresses including an audio signal, the emergency public address including an emergency alarm”
KR ’972 teaches emergency guidance broadcasting device 99 configured to perform ordinary guidance broadcasting and emergency guidance broadcasting including emergency alarm operation. See KR ’972 0037-0057; Fig. 4.
KR ’972 further teaches emergency broadcast sensing unit 104 configured to detect emergency sirens and emergency broadcasts. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
“one or more speaker units interrelated with the emergency public address device via a speaker line”
KR ’972 teaches speaker 107 connected through broadcasting/speaker lines to emergency guidance broadcasting device 99. See KR ’972 0037-0057; Fig. 4.
“each speaker unit including: a speaker that receives the audio signal of the regular public address and the audio signal of the emergency public address”
KR ’972 teaches speaker 107 reproducing:
• ordinary broadcasts,
• emergency broadcasts,
• siren broadcasts.
See KR ’972 0037-0057.
“a power reception circuit that extracts DC power from the audio signal of the emergency public address”
The ’252 publication teaches rectification and extraction of DC operating power from an audio/broadcast signal line. See the ’252 publication 0017-0023.
More specifically:
• ¶0017 teaches converting a received broadcast/audio signal into electrical operating power,
• ¶0018 teaches rectifying the received signal,
• ¶0019 teaches supplying operating voltage to local circuitry from the rectified signal,
• ¶0021 teaches smoothing/filtering associated with the rectified voltage.
Thus, the ’252 publication teaches extracting DC operating power from the audio signal carried on the broadcast/speaker line.
Specifically, the ’252 publication teaches converting an audio signal carried on a broadcast line into DC operating voltage for local circuitry.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to incorporate the audio-line DC extraction circuitry of the ’252 publication into the emergency speaker units of KR ’972 in order to eliminate separate local power supplies and simplify distributed emergency guidance speaker installation.
“a lighting controller that controls a lighting of a light-emitting element using the DC power”
KR ’972 teaches:
• emergency broadcast sensing unit 104,
• power supply unit 103,
• emergency guidance display unit 108,
wherein emergency indication lighting is controlled responsive to emergency broadcasts. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
“wherein the light-emitting element does not light during the regular public address and lights during the emergency public address”
KR ’972 teaches emergency guidance display unit 108 activated during emergency broadcasting operation and inactive during ordinary broadcasting operation. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
Claim 10 recites substantially corresponding speaker-unit limitations and is rejected for substantially the same reasons discussed above regarding claim 1.
REJECTION OF CLAIMS 2 AND 16 UNDER 35 U.S.C. §103
Claims 2 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over KR ’972 in view of JP 2015-231185 (hereinafter JP ’185) and further in view of the ’252 publication.
Claim 2 recites:
“the speaker line includes a common line that transmits a reference level, a normal signal line that transmits the audio signal of the regular public address, and an emergency signal line that transmits the reference level during the regular public address and transmits the audio signal only during the emergency public address”
JP ’185 teaches:
• common line C,
• normal broadcast line N,
• emergency broadcast line R.
See JP ’185 0027, 0058-0068; Figs. 3-4.
JP ’185 further teaches:
• the emergency line carries emergency broadcasts during emergency operation,
• the emergency line maintains a reference level during ordinary operation.
See JP ’185 0058-0068.
“the speaker receives the audio signal from the normal signal line during the regular public address and receives the audio signal from the emergency signal line during the emergency public address”
JP ’185 teaches speaker device 16 selectively receiving normal broadcasts and emergency broadcasts through separate signal lines. See JP ’185 0058-0068.
“the power reception circuit extracts the DC power from the audio signal only on the emergency signal line”
The ’252 publication teaches extracting DC operating power from the broadcast audio signal. See 0017-0023.
It would have been obvious to incorporate the emergency/normal signal-line architecture of JP ’185 into KR ’972/’252 publication in order to improve separation between ordinary broadcasts and emergency broadcasts while enabling reliable emergency-only power extraction from the emergency signal line.
Claim 16 recites substantially corresponding emergency-line limitations and is rejected for substantially the same reasons discussed above regarding claim 2.
REJECTION OF CLAIMS 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, AND 13 UNDER 35 U.S.C. §103
Claims 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over KR ’972.
Claim 3 recites:
“the lighting controller identifies whether the emergency public address device is performing the emergency public address based on a signal level”
and
“the light-emitting element lights in sync with the emergency public address”
KR ’972 teaches emergency broadcast sensing unit 104 detecting emergency broadcasts and controlling emergency guidance display unit 108 responsive thereto. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
Claim 4 recites:
“the lighting controller identifies whether the emergency alarm is being output”
and
“the light-emitting element lights in sync with the emergency alarm”
KR ’972 teaches emergency sensing responsive to emergency sirens/alarm broadcasts and synchronized emergency indication. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
Claim 5 recites:
“an alarm identifier that identifies whether the emergency alarm is being output ... based on a frequency component contained in the audio signal”
KR ’972 teaches emergency broadcast sensing unit 104 detecting emergency sirens and emergency broadcast frequencies. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
Claim 7, 8, 9 and 13 recites substantially corresponding synchronization with emergency public-address operation or emergency alarm operations. See the rejections above and the rejection of claim 4.
Claim 13 recites substantially corresponding emergency alarm frequency detection limitations.
Claims 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over KR ’972 in view of th U.S. Patent No. 8,217,798 (hereinafter ’798 patent).
Claim 6 recites:
“a public address type receiver that receives a public address type signal indicating either the regular public address or the emergency public address”
and
“a pair of type signal lines that transmit the public address type signal”
KR ‘972 teaches the claimed limitations except for emergency/public-address type signaling and emergency-mode signaling associated with distributed speaker systems. Note the ’798 patent teaches emergency/public-address type signaling and emergency-mode signaling associated with distributed speaker systems. See Col. 5:20-60; Col. 6:1-25.
It would have been obvious to incorporate public-address type signaling as by the ‘798 patent into KR ’972 in order to improve reliability of emergency/non-emergency mode determination at distributed speaker units.
Claim 17 recites substantially corresponding public-address type receiver limitations and is rejected for substantially the same reasons discussed above regarding claim 6.
REJECTION OF CLAIM 11 UNDER 35 U.S.C. §103
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over KR ’972 in view of the ’252 publication.
Claim 11 recites:
“a rectifier circuit that rectifies the audio signal”
and
“a capacitance that smooths an output voltage of the rectifier circuit”
The ’252 publication teaches rectification and smoothing circuitry associated with converting a broadcast audio signal into DC operating power. See 0017-0021.
“a current suppression circuit that suppresses a generation of harmonics of the audio signal in the speaker line”
The ’252 publication further teaches filtering/suppression circuitry associated with the power extraction circuitry.
It would have been obvious to incorporate smoothing and suppression circuitry as taught by ‘252 publication into the extracted-power system of KR’972 in order to improve DC power quality and reduce distortion on the speaker line.
Claim 12 recites:
“a public address device that selectively operates in an emergency mode or a non-emergency mode”
KR ’972 teaches ordinary guidance broadcasting and emergency guidance broadcasting operation. See KR ’972 0037-0057.
“one or more speakers connected to the public address device via a speaker line”
KR ’972 teaches speaker-line-connected emergency speaker units. See KR ’972 0037-0057.
“a light-emitting element”
KR ’972 teaches emergency guidance display unit 108.
“a power reception unit that extracts DC power from the audio signal on the speaker line”
The ’252 publication teaches extracting DC power from an audio/broadcast signal line. See 0017-0021.
“a controller that enables DC power extraction by the power reception unit based on the audio signal of the emergency public address only in the emergency mode and disables the DC power extraction in the non-emergency mode”
KR ’972 teaches emergency-only activation of emergency indication functionality responsive to emergency broadcast detection. See KR ’972 0053-0056.
It would have been obvious to enable DC power extraction only during emergency operation in order to reduce unnecessary power consumption during ordinary broadcasting while maintaining reliable emergency indication functionality.
Claim 15 recites:
“the emergency alarm has a greater volume than a guidance message”
KR ’972 teaches emergency siren/alarm operation distinct from ordinary guidance broadcasting.
It would have been obvious that emergency alarms are output at greater effective volume than ordinary guidance messages in order to maximize emergency audibility during emergency conditions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim14 is 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 because the prior art of record fails to teach or render obvious:
“an attenuator including a transformer to provide volume control of the audio signal on the speaker line”
together with:
“the attenuator attenuates the volume of the audio signal of the regular public address based on a user selection of one of output taps in the transformer and does not attenuate the volume of the audio signal of the emergency public address regardless of the user selection of the output taps”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Note the Abstracts and Figs. of the additional references cited on the accompanying 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Deane whose telephone number is 571 - 272- 7484. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - FRIDAY from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ahmad Matar, can be reached on 571-272-7488. The official fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -273-8300. However, unofficial faxes can be direct to the examiner's computer at 571 272-7484. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about PAIR system, see https://pair-direct.uspto.gov.
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30May2026
/WILLIAM J DEANE JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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