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 January 02, 2025, is 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 § 102
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 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) 27-29, 39 and 41-42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masuda (US 2004/0252856 A1).
As to claim 27, Masuda discloses a speaker device [FIG. 1], comprising:
an enclosure [Cabinet 70 on FIG. 1] comprising one or more sides and an internal space [“The cabinet is assembled with the sheets of plywood to form a cubical box having an inner space and a rectangular sound emission opening in the front section.” § 0052]; and
a bass driver, mounted at an oblique angle in the internal space of the enclosure [3 on FIG. 2], the bass driver for generating a bass output [71 in FIG.2], wherein the bass driver includes a diaphragm and a perimeter mounting plate [72 on FIG. 2] around the diaphragm, wherein the perimeter mounting plate is adjacent to the one or more sides of the enclosure [“ A circular woofer mounting section is formed in the center of the baffle plate, and the corn-type woofer is mounted on the mounting section to direct the emitting direction toward the sound emission opening. The baffle plate is disposed to slant to the front at the elevation angle of 60 degrees and to cause the emitting direction of the corn-type woofer to slant forward and downwardly at 30 degrees.” § 0052].
As to claim 28, Masuda discloses the speaker device of claim 27, further comprising an electronic processor [Baffle plate], the electronic processor being coupled to the bass driver for receiving and processing input audio signals to be rendered by the bass driver [“The baffle plate is disposed to slant to the front at the elevation angle of 60 degrees and to cause the emitting direction of the corn-type woofer to slant forward and downwardly at 30 degrees.” § 0052].
As to claim 29, Masuda discloses the speaker device of claim 28, wherein the electronic processor is coupled to a network interface, a power supply unit, and/or an audio amplifier [“In this multiway loudspeaker system, the dividing network divides an input signal into three bands and outputs to respective loudspeaker apparatuses. The mid-high range loudspeaker apparatus then reproduces the frequency band of about 800 Hz or greater, the horn-type midbass reproduces 200-800 Hz, and the bass loudspeaker apparatus of the present invention reproduces 200 Hz or less.” § 0051].
As to claim 39, Masuda discloses the speaker device of claim 27, further comprising one or more forward-firing high frequency tweeters in the enclosure [“In this multiway loudspeaker system, the dividing network divides an input signal into three bands and outputs to respective loudspeaker apparatuses. The mid-high range loudspeaker apparatus then reproduces the frequency band of about 800 Hz or greater, the horn-type midbass reproduces 200-800 Hz, and the bass loudspeaker apparatus of the present invention reproduces 200 Hz or less.” § 0051].
As to claim 41, Masuda discloses the speaker device of claim 27, wherein the oblique angle is 45 degrees [“In the trial model, good results are obtained in the angle range between 50 and 70 degrees.” § 0030].
As to claim 42, Masuda discloses the speaker device of claim 27, wherein the bass driver is a subwoofer driver [“In this multiway loudspeaker system, the dividing network divides an input signal into three bands and outputs to respective loudspeaker apparatuses. The mid-high range loudspeaker apparatus then reproduces the frequency band of about 800 Hz or greater, the horn-type midbass reproduces 200-800 Hz, and the bass loudspeaker apparatus of the present invention reproduces 200 Hz or less.” § 0051].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 43-57 are allowed.
Claims 30-38 and 40 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form.
Honda et al. (US 2018/0242061 A1) discloses a loudspeaker device including: a loudspeaker housing; a first loudspeaker unit provided in a first wall of the loudspeaker housing; and an acoustic tube communicating an inside and an outside of the loudspeaker housing to each other.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GERALD GAUTHIER whose telephone number is (571)272-7539. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CAROLYN R EDWARDS can be reached at (571) 270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GERALD GAUTHIER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
September 17, 2026
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