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 1-3 and 12-14 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: an acoustical component [113]; and a wearing component [12, 115] (see Figs. 3, 6, and 8), connected to the acoustical component [113], the acoustical component [115] and the wearing component [12, 115] jointly form an acoustic chamber [114] (see Fig. 6), the wearing component [12, 115] comprises a positioning portion [802], a sound output surface [110] and an acoustic sound outlet [128], the acoustic sound outlet [128] is located on the sound output surface [110] and communicated with the acoustic chamber [114] (see Fig. 6), when the earphone [10] is worn on the ear, the positioning portion [802] extends into the ear and abuts against a cavum conchae of the ear (col. 6 lines 50-55), the sound output surface [110] faces an ear canal of the ear (see Figs. 4 and 6).
As to Claim 2, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that when the earphone [10] is worn on the ear, a tragus of the ear covers the positioning portion [802] (col. 9, lines 23-25; see Figs. 4 and 7A-7D).
As to Claim 3, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that an extension axis of the acoustical component [113] is different from an extension axis of the wearing component [12, 113] (see Fig. 6).
As to Claim 12, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that the wearing component [12, 113] comprises a support structure [12] and a wearing body [113], the support structure [12] is connected to the wearing body [113], the acoustical component [113] is connected to the wearing body [113] (see Fig. 6), the positioning portion [802] is located on the support structure [12] (see Figs. 7A-7C).
As to Claim 13, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 12. Silvestri further discloses that the support structure [12] comprises a first portion [12] and a second portion [20], the first portion [12] is connected to the wearing body [113] (col. 9, lines 34-35; see Fig. 6), the second portion [20] comprises two opposite ends [26, 28], the two ends [26, 28] are connected to the first portion [12], a hollow structure is formed between the second portion [20] and the first portion [12] (see Figs. 3 and 5).
As to Claim 14, Silvestri remains as applied to Claim 1. Silvestri further discloses that the wearing component [12, 115] comprises a support structure [12] and a wearing body [115], the support structure [12] is connected to the wearing body [115] and adapted to connect the ear (col. 4, lines 49-50), the acoustical component [113] is connected to the wearing body [115], the positioning portion [810] is located on the wearing body [115] (see Figs. 6 and 7A-7D).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-11 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 4 recites the unique features of the atmosphere sound inlet being located on the sound input surface, and the atmosphere sound outlet being located on the sound output surface. The closest prior art does not disclose or suggest such features.
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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