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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kono (US 20210067024 A1).
Regarding Claim 1: Kono discloses (in at least figures 3 and 7-8, the description, and the claims) a sound output device for a vehicle (fig. 7 and par. 77: vibration output apparatus 4), the sound output device, comprising:
an exterior member body including a portion of an outer shell of the vehicle (fig. 7 and par. 66: vibration plate 100. See par.’s 32-34 and par.’s 36-40. See also par. 37: vehicle door 203 may be used as vibration plate)1;
a vibrator arranged at an inner side of the vehicle with respect to the exterior member body and configured to vibrate when energized (fig. 7 and par.’s 70-75: acoustic vibration output unit/exciter 10. See also par.’s 46-50); and
coupling portions projecting from an inner surface of the exterior member body and connecting the exterior member body to the vibrator (fig. 7 and par. 77: support portions 62-65. See also par. 71 and par. 75),
wherein the sound output device is configured to vibrate the exterior member body using vibration of the vibrator propagated through the coupling portions and output a sound wave generated in accordance with the vibration of the exterior member body to an outside of the vehicle (fig. 7, par.’s 36-37, par. 39, par.’s 43-51, par.’s 70-72, and par. 77: vibration output apparatus/exciter 10 transmits acoustic signals through vibration transmission member 60 and support portions 62-65 to vibration plate 100 which is mounted on, or a portion of, a vehicle.),
the coupling portions are arranged on a circumference of an imaginary circle located on the inner surface of the exterior member body (fig. 7 and par. 77: “[…] circular flat plate may be used as a body plate 61 of a vibration transmission member 60, and multiple support portions 62, 63, 64, and 65 may be integrally formed on the periphery of the body plate 61.”), and
a diameter of the imaginary circle and a frequency of the vibration of the vibrator are set so that vibrations propagated through the coupling portions overlap each other and are intensified in a center of the imaginary circle of the exterior member body (par. 77: “circular flat plate may be used as a body plate 61 of a vibration transmission member 60, and multiple support portions 62, 63, 64, and 65 may be integrally formed on the periphery of the body plate 61. Such a configuration is also able to produce advantageous effects similar to those of the vibration output apparatuses 1 and 2 according to the first and second embodiments.” See par. 46: “vibration plate 100 vibrated by the acoustic vibrations of the exciter 10 returns reactions to the exciter 10. Thus, the exciter 10 outputs acoustic vibrations having an amplitude equal to or greater than that which the exciter 10 itself can vibrate. As a result, the vibration plate 100 may output vibrations that cause a great feeling of distortion” and par. 36: “Changing the hardness or shape of the material of the cushion 30 allows for controlling frequency components absorbed by the cushion 30 and thus controlling the frequency range of acoustic vibrations (the frequency range of sounds) outputted or played back by the vibration plate 100, or the quality of the vibrations.” See also par.’s 61-62).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kono.
Regarding Claim 2: Kono discloses the sound output device according to claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the frequency is greater than or equal to 100 Hz and less than or equal to 2000 Hz, and the diameter of the imaginary circle is greater than or equal to 50 mm and less than or equal to 250 mm.
However, it has been held In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955) that it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine optimization (See MPEP 2144.05(II)A). In the present instance, it would have been obvious for the frequency of the vibration of Kono’s vibrator to be greater than or equal to 100 Hz and less than or equal to 2000 Hz and for the diameter of Kono’s circle to be greater than or equal to 50 mm and less than or equal to 250 mm to allow for the production of said frequency ranges thereby contributing to a sound output device capable of producing sounds catered to the human ear in a vehicle environment (See Kono par. 46).
Furthermore, applicant does not show the criticality of the frequency being greater than or equal to 100 Hz and less than or equal to 2000 Hz, and the diameter of the imaginary circle being greater than or equal to 50 mm and less than or equal to 250 mm. On page 10 paragraph 78 of the specification filed November 14th, 2024 applicant discloses that “ Various changes in form and details may be made to the examples above without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents.”. Nor is it apparent that the prior art would be adversely affected by said change in frequency range or diameter.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the device of Kono to include frequencies greater than or equal to 100 Hz and less than or equal to 2000 Hz, and diameters of the imaginary circle greater than or equal to 50 mm and less than or equal to 250 mm as a matter of design choice without unexpected results.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure includes:
Lee (US 20210352390 A1) discloses the device according to certain limitations of at least claims 1-2.
Kono (WO 2020080311 A1) discloses the device according to certain limitations of at least claims 1-2.
Preisler (US 20220348147 A1) discloses the device according to certain limitations of at least claims 1-2.
Zhang (CN 114333745 A) discloses the device according to certain limitations of at least claims 1-2.
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/EVAN MANCINI/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/KRISTINA M DEHERRERA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855 8/10/26
1 NOTE: The third embodiment as shown in Kono figure 7 incorporates the same fundamental elements and functionality of earlier embodiments. See Kono paragraph 67.
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