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
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.
Claims 1 – 4, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Van ‘T Hof et al. (US 11,291,586).
With respect to claims 1, 15 and 16, Van ‘T Hof et al. teach an acoustic device (Fig.1) comprising a housing; a sound channel (Fig.1, Item 20) extending through the housing and between a sound inlet (Fig.1, Item 23a) configured to receive sound input from an external environment, and a sound outlet (Fig.1, Item 21a) configured to deliver sound output that has passed through the sound channel to an ear canal; a resonance cavity (Fig.1, Item 22) enclosed within the housing and in acoustic communication with the sound channel for causing an acoustic resonance in a frequency transmission spectrum of sound passing through the sound channel; and an adjustment mechanism (Fig.1, Item 15) configured to adjust a size of the resonance cavity for controlling a frequency of the acoustic resonance in the frequency transmission spectrum (Col.5, Line 62 – Col.6, Line 6 and Col.6, Line 46 – Col.7, Line 13).
With respect to claim 2, Van ‘T Hof et al. teach wherein the resonance cavity (Fig.1, Item 22) is arranged in line with the sound channel (Fig.1, Item 20), and wherein the resonance cavity forms part of a shortest acoustic path between the sound inlet (Fig.1, Item 23a) and the sound outlet (Fig.1, Item 21a).
With respect to claims 3 and 4, Van ‘T Hof et al. teach wherein the adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust the size of the resonance cavity in a continuous range of values between a maximum size and minimum size; or wherein the adjustable size of the resonance cavity is determined by an adjustable length of the resonance cavity (Fig.1; Col.5, Line 62 – Col.6, Line 6 and Col.6, Line 46 – Col.7, Line 13).
Claims 1 and 5 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by De Jong et al. (US 11,622,890).
With respect to claims 1, 5 and 15, De Jong et al. teach an acoustic device (Fig.1) comprising a housing; a sound channel (Fig.6A, Item 7) extending through the housing and between a sound inlet (Fig.6A, Item 3) configured to receive sound input from an external environment, and a sound outlet (Fig.6B, Item 14) configured to deliver sound output that has passed through the sound channel to an ear canal; a resonance cavity (Fig.6B, Items 21 – 23) enclosed within the housing and in acoustic communication with the sound channel for causing an acoustic resonance in a frequency transmission spectrum of sound passing through the sound channel; and an adjustment mechanism (Fig.2 Item 3) configured to adjust a size of the resonance cavity for controlling a frequency of the acoustic resonance in the frequency transmission spectrum (Col.5, Lines 24 – 63); and wherein the resonance cavity is formed by a tubular chamber extending along a circular trajectory (Figs.6B), wherein a length of the tubular chamber along the circular trajectory is adjustable by the adjustment mechanism (Fig.2, Item 3) for controlling the frequency of the acoustic resonance in the frequency transmission spectrum (Col.5, Lines 24 – 63).
With respect to claim 6, De Jong et al. teach wherein the adjustment mechanism (Fig.2, Item 3) comprises or couples to a rotatable part of the acoustic device (Fig.2).
With respect to claims 7, 8, 16 and 17, De Jong et al. teach wherein the housing comprises a first part (Fig.2, Item 3) and a second part (Fig.2, Item 9), wherein the first part is rotatably connected with respect to the second part (Fig.1); wherein the adjustment mechanism is configured to effect a rotation of the first part with respect to the second part; wherein the rotation of the first part with respect to the second part changes the size of the resonance cavity; and wherein the first part is configured to rotate with respect to the second part along a circular trajectory, wherein the circular trajectory coincides with a part of the sound channel forming the resonance cavity (Fig.6B; Col.5, Lines 24 – 63).
With respect to claims 9 and 18, De Jong et al. teach wherein the first part (Fig.2, Item 3) of the housing is fixedly connected to the sound inlet (Fig.2, Item 7) and the second part (Figs.2 and 6B, Item 9) is fixedly connected to the sound outlet (Fig.6B, Item 14).
With respect to claims 10 and 19, De Jong et al. teach wherein the resonance cavity is bounded at a first end of the circular trajectory by a first channel block (Fig.5, Item 17), and bounded at a second end of the circular trajectory by a second channel block (Fig.6B, Items 11 – 13); wherein the first channel block is configured to rotate inside the sound channel along the circular trajectory when the first part of the housing is rotated with respect to the second part of the housing; wherein the second channel block remains static inside the sound channel when the first part of the housing is rotated with respect to the second part of the housing (Col.5, Lines 24 – 63).
With respect to claims 11 and 20, De Jong et al. teach wherein the first channel block (Fig.5, Item 17) is arranged adjacent to the sound inlet (Fig.5, Item 7); and wherein the second channel block (Fig.6B, Items 11 – 13) is arranged adjacent to the sound outlet (Fig.6B, Item 14).
With respect to claims 12 and 13, De Jong et al. teach wherein the adjustment mechanism (Fig.1, Item 3) is externally accessible from outside the housing for manually adjusting the size of the resonance cavity, or wherein the adjustment mechanism comprises a knob (Fig.1, Item 3) or slider for adjusting the size of the resonance cavity (Col.5, Lines 24 – 63).
With respect to claim 14, De Jong et al. teach wherein the sound outlet is formed by an outlet part protruding from the housing for connection with an ear plug (Fig.1, Item 5).
Conclusion
The attached hereto PTO Form 892 lists prior art made of record that the Examiner considered it pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDGARDO SAN MARTIN whose telephone number is (571)272-2074. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 - 5:00 M - F.
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/Edgardo San Martin/
Edgardo San Martín
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2837
September 26, 2026
