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 .
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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Silvestri et al., U.S. Patent No. 8,311,253, patented on November 13, 2012 (Silvestri).
As to Claim 1, Silvestri discloses an earphone [10], adapted to be worn on an ear (col. 4, lines 63-65), the earphone [10] comprising: a wearing component [12, 113, 126] (see Figs. 3, 6, and 8), comprising a front positioning portion [802] and an acoustic channel [126] (acoustic channel [126] is a nozzle; col. 7, lines 52-53; see Figs. 6 and 8), the front positioning portion [802] is located on an extension axis of the wearing component [12, 113, 126] (see Figs. 7A-7D); and an acoustical component [115], connected to the wearing component [12, 113, 126] (see Fig. 6), the acoustical component [115] comprises an acoustic chamber [114], the acoustic chamber [114] is communicated with the acoustic channel [126] (the acoustic channel [126] extends from the acoustic chamber [114] col. 7, lines 52-53; see Fig. 6), when the earphone [10] is worn on the ear, the front positioning portion [802] is covered by a tragus of the ear (col. 9, lines 23-25; see Figs. 4 and 7A-7D) and exerts a first positioning force on the tragus, to position the wearing component [12, 113, 126] in a cavum conchae of the ear (col. 6 lines 50-55), the acoustic channel [126] corresponds to an ear canal of the ear (the acoustic channel [126] extends to the entrance of the ear canal; col. 7, lines 52-53)..
As to Claim 2, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that the wearing component [12, 113, 126] comprises a rear positioning portion [20] (see Figs. 4 and 5), when the earphone [10] is worn on the ear, the rear positioning portion [20] exerts a second positioning force on a rear edge of the cavum conchae (the rear positioning portion engages the cymba concha, which is the rear edge of the cavum conchae, to retain the earphone in the ear; col. 6, lines 24-29; see Fig. 4).
As to Claim 3, Silvestri remains as applied above to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that the wearing component [12, 113, 126] comprises a wearing body [113, 126] and a support component [12] connected to each other (see Fig. 6), the acoustic channel [126] is located in the wearing body [113, 126], and the acoustical component [115] is connected to the wearing body [113, 126] (see Fig. 6).
As to Claim 4, Silvestri remains as applied above to Claim 3. Silvestri further discloses that the support component [12] comprises a support body [12], the wearing component [12, 113, 126] comprises a rear positioning portion [20], the front positioning portion [802] is located on one side of the support body [12] (see Figs. 7A-7D), two ends [26, 28] of the rear positioning portion [20] are connected to another side of the support body [12], a hollow structure is formed between the rear positioning portion [20] and the support body [12] (see Figs. 3 and 5), the support body [12] is connected to the wearing body [113, 126] (col. 9, lines 34-35).
As to Claim 5, Silvestri remains as applied above to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that the wearing component [12, 113, 126] comprises a sound output surface [118], an acoustic sound output hole [128] of the acoustic channel [126] is located on the sound output surface [118] (see Fig. 6), when the earphone [10] is worn on the ear, the sound output surface [118] faces an ear canal of the ear (see Fig. 4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryan Robinson whose telephone number is (571) 270-3956. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Carolyn Edwards, can be reached on (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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/RYAN ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2694
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