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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2-3, 7 are allowed.
Claim (s) 6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: although, the art never mentioned such aspect as related to an overamplitude prevention apparatus of a speaker for preventing overamplitude of a vibration system of the speaker with respect to an input signal, the overamplitude prevention apparatus comprising: a displacement detector configured to detect a displacement of the vibration system of the speaker; an amplitude controller to which the input signal is input, the amplitude controller being provided corresponding, wherein each of the amplitude controllers includes: a gain adjuster configured to adjust the input signal of the corresponding band by a set gain and output the input signal; a displacement predictor configured to predict the displacement of the vibration system of the speaker based on the input signal of the corresponding band; a predicted displacement corrector configured to correct the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor; and a gain setter configured to set the gain in the gain adjuster, the gain being for attenuating the displacement corrected by the predicted displacement corrector to a displacement not exceeding a predetermined displacement width, wherein the predicted displacement corrector calculates a difference between the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor in the past and, and corrects the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor by an amount according to the calculated difference, and the mixer combines the input signals of the respective bands output from the gain adjuster of each of the amplitude controllers, and outputs the combined signal to the speaker.
But, none of the prior art specify as a band divider configured to divide the input signal into input signals of respective bands and the amplitude controller to which the input signal is input, the input signal being of a corresponding band obtained by the division by the band divider, wherein each of the amplitude controllers includes: a gain adjuster configured to adjust the input signal of the corresponding band by a set gain and output the input signal to a mixer; and the mixer combines the input signals of the respective bands output from the gain adjuster of each of the amplitude controllers, and outputs the combined signal to the speaker.
Claim (s) 3, similarly, although the prior art disclose as in claim 2 above most of the feature regarding the overamplitude prevention apparatus comprising: a displacement detector and amplitude controller, however, the prior art never specify such aspect related to a band divider configured to divide the input signal into an input signal of a low-frequency side and an input signal of a high-frequency side and particular processing related to low frequency side and including an amplitude controller to which the input signal is input, the input signal being of the low-frequency side obtained by the division by the band divider; and a mixer and a gain adjuster configured to adjust the input signal of the low-frequency side by a set gain and output the input signal to the mixer; and the mixer combines the input signal of the low-frequency side output from the gain adjuster of the amplitude controller with the input signal of the high-frequency side obtained by the division by the band divider, and outputs the combined signal to the speaker.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a (1) as being anticipated by Doy (US 2024/0048897 A1).
claim(s) 1, the prior art as in Doy disclose of an overamplitude prevention apparatus of a speaker for preventing overamplitude of a vibration system of the speaker with respect to an input signal, the overamplitude prevention apparatus comprising: a displacement detector configured to detect a displacement of the vibration system of the speaker (fig.6 (614); par [70]); and an amplitude controller to which the input signal is input (fig.6 (600); par [71]), wherein the amplitude controller includes: a gain adjuster configured to adjust the input signal by a set gain and output the input signal to the speaker (fig.6 (612); par [70, 80]); a displacement predictor configured to predict the displacement of the vibration system of the speaker based on the input signal (fig.6 (608); par [73]); a predicted displacement corrector configured to correct the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor (fig.6 (616); par [82-83]); a gain setter configured to set the gain in the gain adjuster, the gain being for attenuating the displacement corrected by the predicted displacement corrector to a displacement not exceeding a predetermined displacement width (fig.6 (610, 612, 618); par [70, 77]/with feedback the gain for attenuation is based on the corrector), wherein the predicted displacement corrector calculates a difference of the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor in the past with respect to the displacement detected by the displacement detector corresponding to the input signal used for predicting the displacement, and corrects the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor by an amount according to the calculated difference (fig.6 (616); par [82-83]).
4. The overamplitude prevention apparatus of the speaker according to claim 1, wherein the predicted displacement corrector corrects the displacement predicted by the displacement predictor by a maximum value of the difference calculated until a current time (par [82-83]).
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doy (US 2024/0048897 A1).
5. The overamplitude prevention apparatus of the speaker according to claim 1, wherein the gain setter sets, to the gain adjuster, a gain for attenuating the displacement corrected by the predicted displacement corrector to a displacement not exceeding a predetermined displacement width (par [76, 80, 83]).
Although, the art never limit such aspect as when the gain for attenuating the displacement to the displacement not exceeding the predetermined displacement width is smaller than the gain currently set in the gain adjuster.
However, it would have been obvious for one of the ordinary skills in the art to have modified the aspect related to having such a gain for attenuating the displacement to the displacement (par [78-80, 90, 92-93]). Thus, one of the ordinary skills in the art could have varied the mentioned gain associated with attenuating displacement by specifying such gain for attenuating the displacement to the displacement not exceeding the predetermined displacement width is smaller than the gain currently set in the gain adjuster for achieving the same result as to control audible clipping artifact.
Conclusion
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/DISLER PAUL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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