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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, line 4, recites the term "the coil” in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this term in the claim.
For examination purposes “the coil” will be read as “a coil.”
Claim(s) 2-22 are rejected due to dependency from claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-2 and 12-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berrezag et al (hereinafter Berrezag), US-PG-PUB No. 2021/0184553, in view of Zhu et al (hereinafter Zhu), Chinese Patent Publication CN 106899122 A.
Regarding claim 1, Berrezag teaches a bone conduction vibration (Wearable haptic delivery through the human skeleton.....¶[0003], lines 9-14; ¶[0004], lines 1-2, ¶[0007]) sound producing apparatus (Generates sound vibrations over a large range…..¶[0005], ¶[0009]), comprising:
a housing (Shown in Fig 12, chassis (110), comprised of plates (120) and (130).....¶[0104], lines 1-6), provided with an accommodating cavity (The chassis holds (in a cavity) a plurality of parts (412, 320));
a vibration assembly (A first moving part (vibration assembly) is formed of magnets (320).....¶[0112], lines 1-5) provided in the accommodating cavity (Shown in Fig. 12);
a coil (412), fixed with respect to the housing (The coil is secured to holder (1202) of the elastic members (160) which extend from the housing (110).....¶[0110], lines 4-6) and surrounding an outer periphery of the vibration assembly (The coil surrounds the magnets),
an external power source for controlling the coils (¶[0074], lines 1-3); and
two elastic members (An elastic member comprised of lateral plate (140) and sub-members (150) and (160) is provided to top and bottom sides of the device.....¶[0106], lines 1-3), the two elastic members being respectively connected to two ends of the vibration assembly (The first moving part (vibration assembly) is constrained at both ends through contact (connection) to the elastic member at lateral plate (140).....¶[0110], lines 6-9), and being both connected to the housing (Elastic members are connected to the housing (110) via lateral plate (140).....¶[0106], lines 5-7).
Berrezag fails to explicitly teach a flexible circuit board connected to the coil being disposed outside the housing, instead broadly teaching an external power and control source to drive the motor.
Zhu teaches a linear motor comprising a flexible circuit board (Flexible printed circuit board (23).....¶[0050], line 5), the flexible circuit board being disposed at an end of the housing (Sidewall (13).....¶[0050], line 5) in a length direction (Sidewall (13) is shown in Fig. 1 as being as at the longest end of the motor), and being configured to be connected to an external control circuit (The PCB connects the vibration coil to an external (control) circuit.....¶[0050], line 6).
Berrezag and Zhu are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of actuating motors with elastic members. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag by Zhu to provide the benefit of making full use of the internal space within the casing for better vibration performance and miniaturization (Zhu, ¶[0020]). Such modification would make obvious the feature(s) of a flexible circuit board connected to the coil being disposed outside the housing, and the flexible circuit board being disposed at an end of the housing in a length direction, and being configured to be connected to an external control circuit.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus is strip-shaped (Visible in Fig. 11), the vibration assembly, the coil, and the elastic members are also strip-shaped (Visible in Fig. 12), and length directions of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus, the housing, the vibration assembly, the coil, and the elastic members are consistent (Visible in Fig. 12, all components identified in the rejection of claim 1 consistently have their longest dimension along the Y axis).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the vibration assembly comprises a magnetic conductive plate (Shown in Fig. 12, (502), paramagnetic spacer…..¶[0024]) and two magnets connected at two ends of the magnetic conductive plate (322, 324), the two magnets are disposed with same poles facing each other (¶[0109], lines 1-4), the coil surrounds an outer periphery of the magnetic conductive plate (See Fig. 12), and the magnets and the magnetic conductive plate are arranged in a vibration direction of the vibration assembly (See Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1, but fail to teach one or more bosses.
Berrezag teaches, in a separate embodiment shown in Figs. 1-4, wherein the housing is provided with one or more bosses (Shown in Fig. 4, brackets (420A, 420B) are affixed and therefore extend from the housing (i.e. “bosses”).....¶[0046], last 4 lines) configured to limit a position of the coil in a height direction (The coil is affixed to the brackets with adhesive, thus limiting movement of the coil in any direction.....¶[0077], lines 2-5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag and Zhu further by Berrezag to provide the benefit of more means by which to tune the resonant frequency of the device (Berrezag, ¶[0114], lines 9-12). Such modification would make obvious the feature(s) wherein the housing is provided with one or more bosses configured to limit a position of the coil in a height direction.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 13.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein a mounting hole (Shown in Fig. 1, the XZ plane of the housing is open, comprising a mounting hole) configured to mount the coil (Second moving part (220) identified in Fig. 2 is provided to the hole as shown in Fig. 1) is opened in an outer peripheral surface of the housing (The XZ plane, as previously discussed), and the mounting hole is a through hole (Shown in Fig. 2, the XZ plane is open on both ends of the housing); and the outer peripheral surface comprises two first side surfaces (The side surfaces in the YZ plane) disposed opposite (opposite each other) and two second side surfaces (The XZ plane as previously indicated) disposed opposite (The two sides are opposite each other), the first side surfaces extend in the length direction of the housing (The YZ plane contains the elastic part which extends in the length direction), the second side surfaces extend in a width direction of the housing (Shown in Fig. 2), and the mounting hole is opened in the second side surfaces. (Shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 14.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein an opening of the mounting hole gradually expands toward an outside (Shown in Fig. 2, the mounting hole extends (expands) from the center of the housing towards the outside of the housing in both directions along the Y axis. As the hole isn’t interrupted and doesn’t have abrupt outcropping features it can be said to be gradual).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 14.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the boss protrudes into the mounting hole (Visible in Figs. 1 and 2, the brackets exist in the space between the openings in the XZ plane of the housing, thus protruding into the mounting hole).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 13.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein some bosses abut against an upper end of the coil, and some bosses abut against a lower end of the coil (Shown in Fig. 4, the coil (410) is sandwiched between upper bracket (420A) and lower bracket (420B).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 14.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the housing is integrally formed (¶[0054], lines 1-6).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Zhu additionally teaches wherein an aspect ratio of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus ranges from 1.2 to 8 (When the dimensions of Fig. 4 are measured, the aspect ratio is shown to be approximately 4:1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag and Zhu further by Zhu to provide the benefit of to provide the benefit of making full use of the internal space within the casing for better vibration performance and miniaturization (Zhu, ¶[0020]). Such modification would make obvious the feature(s) wherein an aspect ratio of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus ranges from 1.2 to 8.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the aspect ratio of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus ranges from 3 to 5 (The aspect ratio is approximately 4, as explained in the rejection of claim 19).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein a material of the housing is plastic (Part (170), comprising housing parts (110), (120) and elastic member parts (140), (150), and (160) may be made of ABS plastic.....¶[0091], full text); and a material of the elastic members is plastic (¶[0091], full text).
Claim(s) 3-7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berrezag and Zhu in further view of Berrezag et al (hereinafter Berrezag B), US-PG-PUB No. 2019/0143371.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the two elastic members are respectively connected to the two ends of the vibration assembly in a vibration direction (The vibration apparatus (320), shown in Fig. 12 to be constrained in an X axis direction between two elastic members (160) vibrates in the X axis direction, between the elastic members (150)), the housing is provided with an opening along the two ends of the vibration assembly in the vibration direction (The sides of the housing (110) open along the X-axis direction to accommodate the elastic members), each elastic member comprises an outer support (706) and a connecting arm (702), the outer support is connected to an end surface of an opening end of the housing ((706) connects to the edge of housing (110) via lateral plate (140)), one end of the connecting arm is connected to the outer support (One end of connecting arm (702) connects to outer support (706) via lateral plate (140)), and the other end of the connecting arm is connected to the vibration assembly (Connecting arm (702) terminates at rectangular plate (704), which constrains the vibration assembly).
Berrezag fails to teach wherein the openings in the housing ends are wide enough to position the vibration assembly, instead teaching where the housing is clasped in two parts around the vibration assembly.
Berrezag B teaches an analogous vibrating actuator, wherein as shown in Figs. 8A, 8B, the actuator is assembled by placing a vibration assembly (8) in a housing (4) via openings along the vibration direction, which are then covered by elastic elements (6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag and Zhu by Berrezag B to provide the benefit of an enhanced guidance of the moving part (vibration assembly) (Berrezag B, ¶[0014], lines 1-4). Such modification would make obvious the feature(s) wherein the vibration assembly may be mounted in the accommodating cavity through the opening.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 3.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the connecting arm (702) extends in a length direction of the elastic members (Along the Y axis).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 3.
Berrezag A additionally teaches wherein the connecting arm comprises a base portion (lateral portion (140)) connected to the outer support, a connecting portion (Rectangular plate (704)) connected to a first end surface of the vibration assembly (As previously discussed, rectangular plate constrains the vibration assembly.....¶[0110], lines 6-9), and an elastic portion connected between the base portion and the connecting portion (702), and the connecting arm extends from the base portion in a length direction of the elastic members (Shown in Fig. 12, the connecting arm extends along the Y axis (the length direction).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 3.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the vibration assembly comprises a plane of symmetry perpendicular to a length direction of the vibration assembly (Shown in Fig. 12, vibration assembly (320) is symmetrical along the Y axis), a connecting portion and a base portion of the elastic members are respectively located on two sides of the plane of symmetry (Each elastic member has the connecting portion (704) and base portion (140) on opposite sides of the Y-axis center line), and the connecting arms of the two elastic members are centrosymmetric with respect to a center of gravity of the vibration assembly (The two elastic members, including connecting arms, are mirrored across the Y axis, providing centrosymmetry).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 5.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the connecting portion protrudes toward a side on which the vibration assembly is located with respect to the elastic portion (The connecting portion (704) is displaced (protrudes) towards the center of the apparatus, and therefore the vibrating actuator.....¶[0107], lines 3-5).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 5.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein at least one hollowed-out hole (Best visible in Fig. 8, but also visible in Fig. 12, a hole exists between portions of connecting arm (702)) is opened in the elastic portion (The hole is in connecting arm (702)), and stiffness and strength of the elastic portion are adjusted by controlling an area of the hollowed-out hole (Indentations of arm (702) are used to control the area of the hole, and also the stiffness, strength, and resiliency of the elastic portion.....¶[0094], lines 20-25).
Claim 8 is are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B in further view of Zhong et al (hereinafter Zhong), US Patent No. 10,547,930.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 3.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the outer support comprises a first surface (The surface facing towards the interior of the apparatus) connected to the housing (The interior facing surface of (702) connects to the housing (120, 130) via (140)) and a second surface disposed opposite to the first surface (The surface facing away from the apparatus interior).
This additional combination fails to explicitly teach wherein in a vibration process of the vibration assembly, the connecting arm does not protrude from the second surface of the outer support.
Zhong teaches an analogous bone conducting speaker (Col. 2, lines 23-25), wherein in a vibration process of the vibration assembly, the maximum amplitude may be limited (Col. 17, lines 18-20), thus limiting the travel range of the vibrating apparatus (analogous to the connecting arm of Berrezag), as vibrational displacement is a function of speaker amplitude.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B by Zhong to provide the benefit of preventing damage from overdriving and damaging the speaker (Zhong, Col. 17, lines 18-20). Such modification would make obvious the feature(s) wherein in a vibration process of the vibration assembly, the connecting arm does not protrude from the second surface of the outer support.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berrezag and Zhu in further view of Silfvast et al, US Patent No. 11,176,925.
Regarding claim 22 the combination of Berrezag and Zhu, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 1.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the device may be worn (¶[0007]) but fails to teach a specific wearable device comprising the apparatus.
Silfvast teaches a wearable headset (Fig. 1, (115)) comprised of bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatuses (135).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Berrezag and Zhu by Silfvast to provide the benefit of a more private conversation mode (Silfvast, Col. 2, lines 55-58). Such modification would make obvious a wearable device comprised of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 10 may be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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:
Search was conducted in the fields of bone conducting headphones and linear actuators housings. Art was located (Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B) that teaches the feature of two elastic members respectively connected to two ends of the vibration assembly, as recited in claim 1, and explained in the rejections of claims 1 and 3. Similar teachings were also located in Zhu et al, US-PG-PUB No. 2019/0379263, and Kang et al (Korean Patent Publication KR20160020593A).
While Zhu, as shown in Fig. 1, teaches a feature that may be interpreted as either an accommodating cavity of a housing, or a cavity configured to accommodate a connecting arm, and additionally teaches wherein the width of the accommodating cavity is wider at the ends than the center, it cannot be considered to teach both.
Similarly, while Berrezag may be considered to teach both an accommodating cavity of a housing and an accommodating cavity for a connecting arm, the necessary features wherein a wider part with a width W1 greater than a width W2 of the remaining part of the accommodating cavity is provided at each of two ends of the accommodating cavity in a length direction, and the wider part is in communication with the end surface of the opening end of the housing adjacent to the wider part; and a width W3 of each of two ends of a cavity configured to accommodate the connecting arm of the outer support in a length direction is greater than a width W4 of the remaining part of the cavity, as recited in claim 9, and as indicated in Figs. 4 and 10 of the present application are not taught, and no other art could be located to remedy this deficiency.
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Berrezag, Zhu, and Berrezag B, as explained above, teach the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus according to claim 5.
Berrezag additionally teaches wherein the outer support is annular (Shown in Fig. 7, outer support comprised of (140) and (160) forms an annular ring around (150)), the outer support comprises two first rod bodies (706) disposed opposite (They are opposite each other in a horizontal direction shown in Fig. 7) and two connecting portions that are respectively connected between the two first rod bodies ((140) and (708)), the first rod bodies and the connecting portions respectively extend in a length direction and a width direction of the bone conduction vibration sound producing apparatus (Shown in Fig. 12).
While the connecting portions of Berrezag may teach, or may be used with additional art to teach the second rod bodies of claim 10, no teachings could be located to arrive at wherein the base portion is connected between the two first rod bodies and are not in contact with the second rod bodies, resulting in the second, smaller opening of the outer support as shown in Fig. 4 of the present application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Asnes, US-PG-PUB No. 2004/0028249 and Liu et al, CN 106169855 B both teach linear motors analogous to the claimed invention, each of which comprise two elastic members.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN M RINEHART whose telephone number is (571)272-2778. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached on (571) 272-7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEAN M RINEHART/Examiner, Art Unit 2694 /ALEXANDER KRZYSTAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694
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