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 .
Status of Application
This communication is responsive to the applicant's preliminary amendment filed 04/03/2026.
Claims 1, 3-11, 14, and 16-22 are pending. Claims 2, 12, 13, and 15 have been cancelled.
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) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fisher et al (US-2017/0127204, hereinafter, Fisher).
Regarding claim 21, Fisher discloses a method (see Figs. 1-4) comprising: receiving, at a first speaker (106), audio from a computer game audio source and from a Bluetooth audio source simultaneously; receiving, at a second speaker (130), from the computer game audio source and from the Bluetooth audio source simultaneously such that the first and second speakers establish a stereo audio system to simultaneously play audio from both sources in stereo (see Fig. 1 and 3, para [0022], [0023], where multiple audio sources is received, and front left speaker 106 and front right speaker 130 for playing audio source in stereo, see para [0018], [0025]); responsive to determining that a housing of the first and second speaker is engaged with a charging sock of a charging dock to charge a battery in the housing (see Fig. 2, para [0021]), altering at least one speaker setting of one of the first speaker and the second speaker (see Fig. 4, and para [0028], [0033]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-11, 14, and 16-20 are allowable over prior art of record.
Claim 22 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 an Examiner's Statement of Reasons for Allowance:
The closest prior art of Fisher et al fails to disclose the limitations as recited in claims 1, 14, and 22 regarding the charging dock including “at least two base surfaces on which the charging dock can rest, an obtuse angle being established between the base surfaces of the charging dock”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sim et al, Curtis et al, Gengler et al, Prommersberger et al, Cheney et al, Kleeman et al, Buchholz et al, and Jones et al disclose various speaker systems that including charging docks for battery and power charging.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XU MEI whose telephone number is (571)272-7523. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 10-6:30 est.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached on 571-272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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 the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/XU MEI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695 08/08/2026
Prosecution Insights