mitDETAILED 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 § 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, 6, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hsu (US PG Pub. 20210306740).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Hsu discloses a projector (projection module 170 of fig. 2) with stand (a neck A2, and a body A3 of fig. 1) including:
a projector (170) including a projection port (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 2);
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a speaker (speaker 140 of fig. 4) disposed in the projector (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 4); and
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a stand (A2 and A3 of fig. 1) configured to support the projector (illustrated in fig. 1), wherein
an acoustic diffusion unit (acoustic reflector 150 of fig. 4) configured to reflect (the acoustic reflector 150) and diffuse sound emitted from the speaker (acoustic reflector has an annular region (partially illustrated in fig. 1) that allows the sound to emanate from the neck of the smart robot 10) is provided on a surface (S1 of plate 130 of fig. 4) of the stand (neck A2 and body A3) facing the projector (illustrated in fig. 4).
Regarding claim 9, Hsu discloses wherein an external shape (head A1 of fig. 1) of the projector is a spherical shape (illustrated in fig. 1).
Regarding claim 10, Hsu discloses a projector (projection module 170 of fig. 2) with stand (a neck A2, and a body A3 of fig. 1) including:
a projector (170) including a projection port (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 2);
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a speaker (speaker 140 of fig. 4) disposed in the projector (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 4); and
wherein the stand (A2 and A3) includes: a sound receiving port (illustrated in fig. 4, plate 130 comprises a hole to which the speaker is mounted) opened on a surface facing the projector (illustrated in fig. 4);
a sound emitting port (openings 161 of fig. 4) opened on a surface different from the surface facing the projector (shown in fig. 4); and
an acoustic transmission path configured to cause the sound receiving port with the sound emitting port to communicate (illustrated in fig. 4).
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 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu (US PG Pub. 20210306740) in view of Taguchi (JP 2007027838A).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Hsu discloses an acoustic reflector (150) protruding to a projector side (illustrated in fig. 4).
Hsu fails to teach wherein the acoustic diffusion unit has a convex shape.
Taguchi discloses a speaker comprising a sound absorbing member 340 of fig. 4 that has a convex shape.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify acoustic reflector of Hsu making it convex as shown by Taguchi so that sound waves can be propagated well to the side (Taguchi; pg. 9 2nd para.).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu (US PG Pub. 20210306740) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Koizumi (US Pat. 5274709).
Regarding claim 4, Hsu discloses a smooth acoustic reflector (150) protruding to a projector side (illustrated in fig. 4).
Hsu fails to teach wherein a plurality of convex sections protruding to the surface of the acoustic diffusion unit.
Koizumi discloses a speaker for a television wherein a plurality of convex sections (acoustic lenses; col. 2 lines 27-28) protruding on a surface of the acoustic diffusion unit (illustrated in fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify acoustic reflector of Hsu with the acoustic lenses of Koizumi in order to control the radiating direction of sound (Koizumi; 27-30).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu (US PG Pub. 20210306740) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mei (US PG Pub. 20180364870).
Regarding claim 5, Hsu discloses a robot comprising a projector (170) located within the head and neck (A1 and A2 of fig. 1) with a speaker (140) mounted below the projector (illustrated in fig. 4); the stand (body A3 of fig. 1); where the speaker (140) and the acoustic diffusion unit (150) face each other (illustrated in fig. 4).
Hsu fails to teach wherein the stand/body rotatably supports the projector, and a rotation range of the projector includes a rotation position.
Mei discloses wherein the body (body 140 of fig. 2) rotatably supports the projector (408), and a rotation range of the projector includes a rotation position (para. 0018; rotation mechanism that allows the main housing body 140 to rotate relative to the transport platform 120).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify the robot with a rotating head of Mei in order to detect people and objects in the environment and display information and interact with people in the right directions (Mei; para. 0018).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu (US PG Pub. 20210306740) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Hyongguk et al. (KR 20200023671A).
Regarding claim 7, Hsu discloses a robot comprising a projector (170) located within the head and neck (A1 and A2 of fig. 1) with a speaker (140) mounted below the projector (illustrated in fig. 4); the stand (body A3 of fig. 1); where the speaker (140) and the acoustic diffusion unit (150) face each other (illustrated in fig. 4), the stand (A2 and A3) supports the projector (170), the speaker and projector remain aligned.
Hsu fails to explicitly teach wherein the stand rotatably supports the projector.
Hyongguk discloses wherein the stand (body 812 of fig. 9a) rotatably supports the projector (projector 850 of fig. 9a; the head 810 which includes the projector 850 is mounted on the body 812 and is rotatably formed (pg. 15 11th para.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify the robot with the projection device of Hsu with the rotatable support of Hyongguk in order to allow the projection device to project images onto a plurality of surfaces.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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.
The subject matter of claim 8 that was found to be allowable because the projector includes a rear surface facing a side opposite to the projection port and includes a pair of side surfaces intersecting with a front-rear direction from the projection port toward the rear surface and facing both sides in a direction intersecting a rotation axis of the projector, the acoustic diffusion unit is provided on the rear surface and the pair of side surfaces, and the stand rotatably supports the projector in a range including a first rotation position where the speaker faces one of the pair of side surfaces, a second rotation position where the speaker faces the rear surface, and a third rotation position where the speaker faces another of the pair of side surfaces.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANELL L OWENS whose telephone number is (571)270-5365. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached at 571-272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANELL L OWENS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2882 /TOAN TON/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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