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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant is advised that the new art unit number is 2692. Please use the new art unit number for all future communications.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/6/2024, 10/6/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification - Title
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Examiner’s Comment
Applicant’s provisional application filed 5/11/2022 does not teach a Helmholtz resonator, so claim 7 which includes a limitation about a Helmholtz resonator is considered to not have a filing date of 5/11/2022 (the provisional filing date), and instead gets the filing date of 4/26/2023 (Japanese foreign priority date). Therefore, claim 7 was rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chiba (filing date of 11/10/2022), whereas parent claim 1 appears to get the provisional filing date of 5/11/2022 and thus cannot be rejected using Chiba.
Additionally, applicant should note that amending claim 1 to include subject matter not found in the provisional application would open up the possibility for claim 1 and all claims dependent on claim 1 to be rejected using the Chiba reference.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chiba et al. (US 2026/0172746).
Regarding claim 1, Chiba discloses a loudspeaker device (Figs. 7-8) comprising:
a loudspeaker unit (111); and
a casing (112 and 113) that defines an internal space in which the loudspeaker unit is housed (see Fig. 7), wherein
the casing includes a baffle board (113, which includes “plane that is front surface of baffle” as indicated in Fig. 7) to which the loudspeaker unit is fixed in an orientation that exposes a diaphragm of the loudspeaker unit (see Fig. 7),
the baffle board includes one or more first through-holes (“first negative phase sound mission hole” as indicated in Figs. 7 port/vent) that establish communication between an external space outside of the casing and the internal space (see Fig. 7-8), and
sound that is emitted from the one or more first through-holes has a wavelength with an inverted phase relative to sound emitted directly from the diaphragm to the external space (¶ 0071).
Regarding claim 7, Chiba discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1, wherein
the loudspeaker device is a sound absorbing module (¶ 0085, 0111) that forms a Helmholtz resonator (¶ 0069).
Claim(s) 1, 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wikipedia (https://web.archive.org/web/20210325093947/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_reflex).
Regarding claim 1, Wikipedia discloses a loudspeaker device (page 1, first figure) comprising:
a loudspeaker unit (driver); and
a casing (rectangle that contains driver and port/vent) that defines an internal space in which the loudspeaker unit is housed (see first figure), wherein
the casing includes a baffle board (left vertical wall of rectangle) to which the loudspeaker unit is fixed in an orientation that exposes a diaphragm of the loudspeaker unit (see first figure),
the baffle board includes one or more first through-holes (port/vent) that establish communication between an external space outside of the casing and the internal space (see first figure), and
sound that is emitted from the one or more first through-holes has a wavelength with an inverted phase relative to sound emitted directly from the diaphragm to the external space (middle of page 2: “For frequencies below the vent resonance, polarity inversion is not accomplished, and backwave cancellation occurs”).
Regarding claim 2, Wikipedia discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1, wherein
the one or more first through-holes are disposed in a second region (first figure: region where port/vent is disposed) that is other than a first region (first figure: region between port/vent and driver) in the baffle board, the first region extending a predetermined distance from the loudspeaker unit (see first figure).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikipedia in view of Choi et al. (US 2010/0061571).
Regarding claim 3, Wikipedia discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1.
Wikipedia is not relied upon to disclose further comprising:
a first sound absorbing body disposed in the internal space, at a position that is closer to the baffle board of the casing than to a base panel located at a position opposite to the baffle board.
In a similar field of endeavor, Choi discloses a first sound absorbing body (210) disposed in an internal space (space between 120 and 130), at a position that is closer to the baffle board (120) of the casing (120 and 130) than to a base panel (130) located at a position opposite to the baffle board (see Fig. 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: further comprising:
a first sound absorbing body disposed in the internal space, at a position that is closer to the baffle board of the casing than to a base panel located at a position opposite to the baffle board,
the motivation being to reduce complex interference at the baffle in the high frequency range (Choi - ¶ 0052-0053, 0061).
Claim(s) 4, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikipedia in view of Choi in view of Saiki (US 2009/0120715).
Regarding claim 4, Wikipedia-Choi discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 3.
Wikipedia-Choi is not relied upon to disclose wherein
the casing further includes a partition board in which a plurality of second through-holes are provided, the partition board partitioning the internal space into a first space that is closer to the baffle board and a second space that is closer to the base panel.
In a similar field of endeavor, Saiki discloses
a casing further includes a partition board (36) in which a plurality of through-holes (39) are provided, the partition board partitioning an internal space (38 and 40) into a first space (38) that is closer to a baffle board (34) and a second space (40) that is closer to a base panel (bottom of 31) (see Fig. 5b).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein
the casing further includes a partition board in which a plurality of second through-holes are provided, the partition board partitioning the internal space into a first space that is closer to the baffle board and a second space that is closer to the base panel,
the motivation being to obtain the same effect as a case where a capacity of an internal space of the casing is expanded, whereby a reproduction limit of a bass sound can be increased (Saiki - ¶ 0072).
Regarding claim 5, Wikipedia-Choi-Saiki discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 4, and Saiki discloses sound absorbing body (35) disposed in the second space (40) (Fig. 5b).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: further comprising:
a second sound absorbing body disposed in the second space,
the motivation being to obtain the same effect as a case where a capacity of an internal space of the casing is expanded, whereby a reproduction limit of a bass sound can be increased (Saiki - ¶ 0072).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikipedia in view of Meyer et al. (US 2010/0254558).
Regarding claim 6, Wikipedia discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1.
Wikipedia is not relied upon to disclose wherein
the casing includes a third through-hole that is disposed in a portion other than the baffle board and establishes communication between the external space and the internal space.
In a similar field of endeavor, Meyer discloses wherein
a casing includes a through-hole (29) that is disposed in a portion other than a baffle board and establishes communication between the external space and the internal space (Figs. 1B, 3A/B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein
the casing includes a third through-hole that is disposed in a portion other than the baffle board and establishes communication between the external space and the internal space,
the motivation being to achieve a high degree of front-to-back attenuation (Meyer - ¶ 0008) and/or achieve an acceptable cardioid polar response (Meyer - ¶ 0041).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikipedia in view of Baba et al. (WO 2020/0054691 using an English machine translation).
Regarding claim 7, Wikipedia discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1.
Wikipedia is not relied upon to disclose wherein
the loudspeaker device is a sound absorbing module that forms a Helmholtz resonator.
In a similar field of endeavor, Baba discloses forming a Helmholtz sound absorber in a bass reflex port in order to suppress the generation of standing waves at specific frequencies (¶ 0024)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: form a Helmholtz sound absorber in the bass reflex port of the Wikipedia loudspeaker device,
which would result in: wherein
the loudspeaker device is a sound absorbing module that forms a Helmholtz resonator,
the motivation being to suppress the generation of standing waves at specific frequencies (Baba - ¶ 0024).
Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wikipedia in view of Kock (US 2580439).
Regarding claim 8, Wikipedia discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 1.
Wikipedia is not relied upon to disclose further comprising:
an acoustic lens disposed at a position that is outward of the diaphragm and covers the diaphragm.
In a similar field of endeavor, Kock discloses an acoustic lens (19) disposed at a position that is outward of the diaphragm (of 17) and covers the diaphragm (see Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: further comprising:
an acoustic lens disposed at a position that is outward of the diaphragm and covers the diaphragm,
the motivation being to cause sound waves emanating from the loudspeaker (driver in Wikipedia) to converge and meet at a focus (Kock - detx15, paragraph spanning cols. 2-3) to avoid the production of waves outside of the area of interest and/or to utilize the energy of the waves in that area to a maximum (Kock - detx3, col. 1, lines 6-25).
Regarding claim 9, Wikipedia-Kock discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 8, and Kock discloses wherein the acoustic lens includes:
a first route located at a position that coincides with a central axis of the loudspeaker unit (Fig. 2: see central route that goes through all six layers of lens 19); and
a second route that is located in a periphery of the first route and has a length that is shorter than a length of the first route (Fig. 2: any route near 18 that goes through just three layers of lens 19).
The teachings of Kock relied upon above are combinable with Wikipedia-Kock for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 8 rejection.
Regarding claim 10, Wikipedia-Kock discloses the loudspeaker device according to claim 9, and Kock discloses wherein
the acoustic lens includes:
a plurality of tabular components each of which includes a plurality of through holes (see the six layers of 19 in Fig. 2); and
a support component (18) that supports the baffle board and the plurality of tabular components in a state in which the baffle board and the plurality of tabular components are spaced apart from each other (see Fig. 2).
The teachings of Kock relied upon above are combinable with Wikipedia-Kock for the same reasons set forth above in the claim 8 rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-3549. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 1-6, 7:30-11:59pm EST.
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/MARK FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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