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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/13/2025 and 05/27/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 24-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slater (US 20170208380 A1), and further in view of Thoen (US-20180098144-A1).
Regarding claim 24, Slater (US 20170208380 A1) discloses a system comprising:
an ear-cup configured to be placed in proximity to a user's ear (Fig. 5, item 500), the ear-cup defining a cavity (Fig. 5, item 520) configured to accommodate an ear-bud (Fig. 5, item 550), said ear-bud configured to be placed in proximity to a user's ear canal (Fig. 5, items 550, 555; ¶ [0036]).
However, Slater fails to disclose an the ear-cup comprises a first power source and the ear-bud comprises a second power source, and wherein the second power source is configured to be charged wirelessly based on energy stored in the first power source.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Thoen discloses a first power source (Fig. 1, items 102, 112 and 118, ¶ [0054]) and a second power source (Fig. 1, items 100, 126 and 132), and wherein the second power source is configured to be charged wirelessly based on energy stored in the first power source (Thoen, Fig. 3, item 302, ¶ [0072], ¶ [0082]: “the earbud includes: … a wireless charge receiver”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of first power source and the ear-bud comprises a second power source, and wherein the second power source is configured to be charged wirelessly as taught by Thoen in Slater invention. The motivation is to recharge inductively the battery in the earbud without the use of additional cabling thereby improving the functionality of the device.
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Slater and Thoen discloses all the limitations of claim 24.
Slater further discloses, wherein the ear-cup comprises a microphone configured to capture an audio that is used for noise cancelling (Slater, Fig. 5, items 560, 570, ¶ [0042]), by one or more components of the ear-cup.
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Slater and Thoen discloses all the limitations of claim 25.
Slater further discloses, wherein the audio is transmitted to the earbud (Slater, Fig. 5, item 510, ¶ [0042-0043]: “first speaker (transmits audio) to cancel out the undesired audio signal entering the first acoustic chamber ”) for additional noise cancelling.
Regarding claim 27, the combination of Slater and Thoen discloses all the limitations of claim 26.
Slater further discloses, wherein the audio is transmitted using a first audio emitter in the ear-cup (Slater, Fig. 5, item 510, ¶ [0042-0043]: “first speaker (emits audio) to cancel out the undesired audio signal entering the first acoustic chamber ”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRIEDRICH FAHNERT whose telephone number is (571)270-7797. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 am-4:00 pm.
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/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/FRIEDRICH FAHNERT/
Examiner
Art Unit 2692
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