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 .
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Olson (US 2,228,886).
Regarding claim 1, Olson discloses in Fig. 13, a sound collecting device (tubular tubes1-5) comprising: formed in a tubular shape and having a sound collecting opening formed at one end portion; and a microphone (7) disposed at an other end portion of each of the resonant tubes (tubular tubes 1-5), wherein each of the resonant tubes has a reflecting surface (expanded sections 61-65 comprises reflecting surfaces at their end portions) extending toward an inside of the resonant tube at a predetermined distance from the sound collecting opening and the microphone.
Regarding claim 2, Olson discloses the sound collecting device according to claim 1, wherein each of the resonant tubes (1-5) includes a sound collecting resonator the sound collecting opening, the reflecting surface, and a section extending from the sound collecting opening to the reflecting surface, and a narrow tube portion (the section of the tubes 1-5 that are between the expanded sections 61-65 and the microphone 7) that is formed with a smaller cross- sectional area than the sound collecting resonator and connects the sound collecting resonator to the microphone.
Regarding claim 3, Olson discloses the sound collecting device according to claim 2, wherein the narrow tube portion is formed with a smaller cross- sectional area than an outer shape of the microphone (Fig. 14, the section of the tubes 1-5 that are between the expanded sections 61-65 and the microphone 7 is smaller than the outer shape of the microphone 7).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Olson in view of Kamata et al (WO 2024/202344 A1 filed in IDS) .
Olson discloses the sound collecting device according to claim 2, but fails to disclose that the plurality of the narrow tube portions are combined and connected to the microphone. However, Kamata et al disclose in Fig. 9 narrow tube portions 832a-832c are combined and connected to the microphone 820b. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to incorporate Kamata et al.’s teaching to Olson for the purpose of reducing the number of connections to the microphone.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 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.
Conclusion
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/SINH TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2637
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