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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3-7 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.
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (A) (1) as being anticipated by Graham et al. (US 11,743,639 B2).
Claim 1, Graham et al. disclosed of an array microphone device to be disposed at an opening portion of a system ceiling instead of a first ceiling panel, the first ceiling panel being disposed at the opening portion of a grid body in the system ceiling (fig.2F2I; col.10 line 25-60/the grid/gap allow the system ceiling to be separate and may be drop to that of the ceiling panel); , the array microphone device comprising: a device main body that houses an array microphone (fig.2G (116); col 9 line 50-60/the array may be a standalone unit); and a frame that is fixed to the device main body and is disposed at the opening portion, wherein the frame disposed at the opening portion supports the device main body by retracting a main body front surface of the device main body upward in a vertical direction relative to a panel front surface of a second ceiling panel in the system ceiling (fig.2E (260); col.10 line 15-25), the panel front surface being a surface on a lower side in the vertical direction, the second ceiling panel being disposed at another opening portion of the system ceiling (fig.2E (260); col.10 line 15-25).
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Graham et al. (US 11,743,639 B2)
Claim 2, the array microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the frame is assembled by connecting four brackets having a same width and a same length to each other in a manner of corresponding to respective sides of a certain dimensional frame forming an outer shape of the device main body (fig.2F (264); col.10 line 15-40)
Nonetheless , Graham et al. never limit such frame to being of a rectangular configuration. However, one of the ordinary skills in the art could have varied the provided configuration frame as mentioned to any other desired dimensions including such specific rectangular frame for achieving the same result as to secure the frame to the ceiling panel accordingly. .
Conclusion
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/DISLER PAUL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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