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 § 102
1. 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.
2. Claims 1-6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR1020210074924 (KR ‘924).
With respect to claim 1, KR ‘924 discloses a refrigerator (1) comprising: a main body (10); a storage compartment (20, Fig.2); a door (31-34) configured to open and close the storage compartment; and a speaker device (100) embedded in the door (Fig.4), wherein the door comprises: an upper door (31/33), and a lower door (32/34, Fig.2), and wherein the speaker device (100) comprises: at least one first speaker (110, Fig.3, Fig.4) facing a first direction that is a user handle space (40, Fig.4) direction, and configured to output sound in a full-range frequency band (“the tweeter corresponding to the first speaker 110 is a speaker for outputting a high sound range, and can generally produce a sound having a high frequency of a band of 3 kHz or higher” see translation pg.6 paragraph 3), and at least one second speaker (120, FIg.5) facing a second direction (Fig.5) that is a door inner wall surface direction as a direction different from the first direction (Fig.4), and configured to output sound in a full-range frequency band (“first speaker 120 and second speaker 110 may be…super tweeters”; see translation pg.6 second paragraph).
With respect to claim 2, a passive radiator (150) arranged at an opposite side to the at least one second speaker (120) and facing a third direction opposite to the second direction (the front of the passive radiator faces forward and the back faces readwards).
With respect to claim 3, wherein the speaker device (100) is installed inside the upper door (31), wherein the first direction (Fig.4) is a direction from the upper door (31) to the lower door (34), wherein the second direction (Fig.5) is a direction toward a front side of the refrigerator in the upper door (31, Fig.5), and wherein the third direction is a direction toward a rear side of the refrigerator (passive radiator faces towards the front and the back of the upper door, Fig.6).
With respect to claim 4, wherein the speaker device (100) is embedded in a vertical direction of the upper door (Fig.4), and wherein the speaker device has a first certain space (space behind speaker 120, FIg.5) in the second direction between the at least one second speaker and an inside wall surface of the upper door of the refrigerator.
With respect to claim 5, wherein a width of the first certain space differs in the vertical direction of the upper door (31, Fig.5).
With respect to claim 6, wherein a width of the first certain space increases downward in the vertical direction of the upper door (31, Fig.5, width between back of the speaker 120 and the inner wall of the refrigerator increases from the middle of the space to the bottom of the space, Fig.5).
With respect to claim 8, wherein the at least one first speaker (110) is exposed in a direction from the upper door (31) of the refrigerator toward the lower door (34, Fig.4).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR1020210074924 (KR ‘924) in further in view of US 2018/0187951 A1 (SEO).
With respect to claim 9, KR ‘924 doesn’t show a grill. SEO shows a grill (290, Fig.9) covering a front side of the at least one first speaker (272, Fig.9). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a grill to cover the front side of the first speaker, such as taught by SEO, in order to protect the speaker and internal components from foreign particles while still allowing sound to pass through.
5. Claims 10-13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR1020210074924 (KR ‘924) in further in view of US 2016/0029116 A1 (Jenkins).
With respect to claim 10, KR ‘924 shows a refrigerator (1, Fig.2) comprising: a main body (10); a storage compartment (20); a door (31-34) configured to open and close the storage compartment; and a speaker device (100, Fig.3) embedded in the door, wherein the door comprises: an upper door (31/33, FIg.2), and a lower door (32/34), and wherein the speaker device comprises: at least one first speaker (110) configured to output high-band sound (“the tweeter corresponding to the first speaker 110 is a speaker for outputting a high sound range, and can generally produce a sound having a high frequency of a band of 3kHz or higher”, see translation pg.6 paragraph 3), facing a first direction (downward) that is a direction toward a handle (40) of the door, at least one second speaker (120, Fig.5) configured to output low-band sound (“the second speaker 120 maybe a woofer” “the woofer corresponding to the second speaker 120 is a speaker for outputting a low sound range, and can generally produce a sound having a low frequency of 40 Hz to 3 kHz” see translation pg.6 paragraph 4), facing a second direction (forward) that is a direction toward an inner wall surface (31c) of the door (Fig.5) and a passive radiator (150). KR ‘924 doesn’t show the passive radiator is in a rear side of the second speaker. Jenkins shows a passive radiator (2, FIg.3b) in a rear side of the second speaker (1), facing a third direction that is opposite to the second direction (Fig.3b). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a passive radiator to a rear side of the second speaker of KR ‘924, such as taught by Jenkins, in order to enhance audio performance of the second speaker.
With respect to claim 11, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the speaker device (100) is installed inside the upper door (31), wherein the first direction (Fig.4) is a direction from the upper door (31) to the lower door (34), wherein the second direction (Fig.5) is a direction toward a front side of the refrigerator in the upper door (31, Fig.5), and wherein the third direction is a direction toward a rear side of the refrigerator.
With respect to claim 12, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the speaker device (100) is embedded in a vertical direction of the upper door (31, Fig.4), and wherein the speaker device has a first certain space (space between speaker 120 and back inner wall of the door 31) in the second direction between the at least one second speaker and an inside wall surface of the upper door.
With respect to claim 13, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein a width of the first certain space between the at least one second speaker and an inner wall surface of the upper door increases downward in the vertical direction of the upper door (the width of the space increases from middle of the space towards the bottom of the space, FIg.5).
With respect to claim 15, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the at least one first speaker (110) is exposed in a direction from the upper door (31) toward the lower door (34).
6. Claims 10-13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR1020210074924 (KR ‘924) in further in view of WO2020/222803 A1 (WO ‘803).
With respect to claim 10, KR ‘924 shows a refrigerator (1, Fig.2) comprising: a main body (10); a storage compartment (20); a door (31-34) configured to open and close the storage compartment; and a speaker device (100, Fig.3) embedded in the door, wherein the door comprises: an upper door (31), and a lower door (34), and wherein the speaker device comprises: at least one first speaker (110) configured to output high-band sound (“the tweeter corresponding to the first speaker 110 is a speaker for outputting a high sound range, and can generally produce a sound having a high frequency of a band of 3kHz or higher”, see translation), facing a first direction (downward) that is a direction toward a handle (40) of the door, at least one second speaker (120, Fig.5) configured to output low-band sound (“the second speaker 120 maybe a woofer” “the woofer corresponding to the second speaker 120 is a speaker for outputting a low sound range” see translation), facing a second direction (forward) that is a direction toward an inner wall surface (31c) of the door (Fig.5) and a passive radiator (150). KR ‘924 doesn’t show the passive radiator is in a rear side of the second speaker. WO ‘803 shows a passive radiator (112, FIg.2) in a rear side of the second speaker (110), facing a third direction that is opposite to the second direction (Fig.2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a passive radiator to a rear side of the second speaker of KR ‘924, such as taught by WO ‘803, in order to enhance audio performance of the second speaker.
With respect to claim 11, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the speaker device (100) is installed inside the upper door (31), wherein the first direction (Fig.4) is a direction from the upper door (31) to the lower door (34), wherein the second direction (Fig.5) is a direction toward a front side of the refrigerator in the upper door (31, Fig.5), and wherein the third direction is a direction toward a rear side of the refrigerator.
With respect to claim 12, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the speaker device (100) is embedded in a vertical direction of the upper door (31, Fig.4), and wherein the speaker device has a first certain space (space between speaker 120 and back inner wall of the door 31) in the second direction between the at least one second speaker and an inside wall surface of the upper door.
With respect to claim 13, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein a width of the first certain space between the at least one second speaker and an inner wall surface of the upper door increases downward in the vertical direction of the upper door (the width of the space increases from middle of the space towards the bottom of the space, FIg.5).
With respect to claim 15, modified KR ‘924 shows wherein the at least one first speaker (110) is exposed in a direction from the upper door (31) toward the lower door (34).
7. Claims 1, 4, 5, 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0187951 A1 (SEO) in further view of US 2015/0146904 A1 (CHIEN).
With respect to claim 1, SEO shows a refrigerator (1, Fig.2) comprising: a main body (10); a storage compartment (20); a door (31, 32, 33, 34, Fig.2) configured to open and close the storage compartment; and a speaker device (170, Fig.3/270, Fig.9) embedded in the door (33), wherein the door comprises: an upper door (33), and a lower door (34), and wherein the speaker device (170) comprises: at least one first speaker (172, FIg.6/272, FIg.9) facing a first direction that is a user handle space (between 33 and 34, Fig.4) direction, and at least one second speaker (other 172/272, Fig.6, Fig.9) facing a door inner wall surface direction.
With respect to claim 1, SEO doesn’t show the second speaker faces a second direction that is different from the first direction; and that the first and second speakers are configured to output full-range frequency band. Chien shows a second speaker (12, Fig.2) that faces a second direction different from a first direction of the first speaker (14, Fig.2, abstract). Chien further teaches the first speaker is configured to output full-range frequency band (“second speaker 14 is used as a high frequency speaker of the audio output device 10”, section 0020). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to make the second speaker face a second direction different from the first direction of the first speaker, such as taught by Chien, in order to create a wide and expansive soundfield and provide improved sound clarity and audio performance. It would have been obvious in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to configure the first and second speaker to output sound in a full-range frequency band, such as taught by the first speaker of Chien, in order to provide a more natural and coherent sound for accurate sound production and high quality audio experience.
With respect to claim 4, the combination (SEO) shows wherein the speaker device (170, FIg.5) is embedded in a vertical direction of the upper door (33), and wherein the speaker device has a first certain space (at 185, Fig.5) in the second direction between the at least one second speaker and an inside wall surface of the upper door of the refrigerator.
With respect to claim 5, the combination (SEO) shows wherein a width of the first certain space (185) differs in the vertical direction of the upper door (33, FIg.5).
With respect to claim 8, the combination (SEO) shows wherein the at least one first speaker (172/272) is exposed in a direction from the upper door of the refrigerator toward the lower door (Fig.5/FIg.8).
With respect to claim 9, the combination (SEO) shows a grill (290, Fig.9) covering a front side of the at least one first speaker (272).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 14 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 base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/HIWOT E TEFERA/Examiner, Art Unit 3637