DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claims 1-21 are pending.
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, 3, 4, 8-9, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Sonova (DE 20 2017 007 658 U1)
Regarding claim 1, 9, Sonova teaches a hearing aid device, comprising: an earplug body (100), wherein a structural profile of the earplug body is mirror symmetrical relative to a plane; a speaker (102, receiver location), disposed in the earplug body; a handle (112, pivots Fig. 2C), extending out of the earplug body from a connection side of the earplug body, and a structural profile of the handle is mirror symmetrical relative to the plane; and at least one microphone (114, 116), disposed in one or both of the handle and the earplug body.
Regarding claim 3, Sonova teaches the hearing aid device according to claim 2, wherein a sound receiving surface of the microphone (114, 116) is exposed from the hearing aid device from the connection side and mirror symmetrical relative to the plane.
Regarding claim 4 and 15, Sonova teaches the hearing aid device according to claim 2 and 9 respectively, wherein a sound receiving surface of the microphone (114, 116) is located at an end of the handle away from the earplug body and mirror symmetrical relative to the plane.
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Sonova teaches the hearing aid device according to claims 7 and 9 respectively, wherein the sound receiving surface (114, 116) faces an extension direction of the handle away from the earplug body, and the speaker (receiver opening faces the ear canal) surface faces away from the connection side and the sound receiving surface.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2, 5-7, 10-14, and 17-21 is/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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July 11, 2026
/PHYLESHA DABNEY/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2694
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