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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama et al, WO 2018155518 A1, in view of Kuroda et al, US Patent Pub. 20090003630 A1.
Re Claim 1, Akiyama et al discloses an exciter-equipped glass diaphragm (2nd paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters), comprising: a glass plate structure (2nd paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters); and a first exciter and a second exciter, which are attached to the glass plate structure (2nd paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters), wherein, when a lowest resonant frequency of the first exciter is F1(0) (Hz), and a lowest resonant frequency of the second exciter is F2(0) (Hz) (2nd paragraph of ‘(Glass plate structure)’ section: low resonant characteristics are ensured implying that the resonance frequencies of the vibrators will be as low as possible), but fails to disclose the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm satisfies: 3≤.Math.F1(0)-F2(0).Math.≤100(Hz). However, Kuroda et al teaches the concept of piezoelectric actuators generating vibrational resonance frequencies in the low region of 100 Hz or less (Kuroda et al, para 0051). Since Akiyama et al seeks to utilize vibrators with low resonant frequencies (2nd paragraph of ‘(Glass plate structure)’ section: low resonant characteristics are ensured implying that the resonance frequencies of the vibrators will be as low as possible) where the greater difference between the resonance frequencies is desired (2ND to 5th paragraph of the ‘(Plate and glass plate)’ section:
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), it would have been obvious to modify Akiyama et al such that its low resonance of its vibrators are 100 Hz or less as taught in Kuroda et al such that
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of Akiyama will be less than 100 Hz for the purpose of optimizing the advantages of having low resonant frequencies for the vibrators.
Re Claim 2, the combined teachings of Akiyama et al and Kuroda et al disclose the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm of claim 1, wherein each of the lowest resonant frequency F1(0) of the first exciter and the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter is 200 Hz or lower (Kuroda et al, para 0051: resonant frequency being 100 Hz or less implies the resonant frequency is also less than 200 Hz).
Re Claim 3, the combined teachings of Akiyama et al and Kuroda et al disclose the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm of claim 1, wherein the first exciter and the second exciter are fixed to the glass plate structure at a distance from each other (Akiyama et al, 2nd paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters, where the vibrators can be mounted on opposite sides of the glass structure) but fails to explicitly disclose via a single mount provided at one main surface of the glass plate structure. Official Notice is taken that both the advantages of utilizing a single mount for vibrators are on a surface are well known. It would have been obvious to modify Akiyama et al such that it includes a single mount to mount the vibrators/excitors at a distance at opposite ends for the purpose of simplifying the mounting structure.
Re Claim 4, the combined teachings of Akiyama et al and Kuroda et al disclose the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm of claim 1, wherein the glass plate structure is vehicle window glass (Akiyama et al, 2nd and 9th – 10th paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters; where the glass can be the glass of an automobile).
Re Claim 5, the combined teachings of Akiyama et al and Kuroda et al disclose the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm of claim 1, wherein the glass plate structure is glass that is used for at least one of a moving body, a building, a partition separating individual persons, a casing of a device, or a soundproof wall (Akiyama et al, 2nd and 9th – 10th paragraph of ‘(Diaphragm, opening member)’ section: diaphragm on a glass plate structure is interpreted a glass diaphragm with the plurality of vibrators mounted upon the glass structure being read as the plurality of exciters; where the glass can be the door glass that separate persons or door glass of a building and the glass of an automobile is glass of a moving body; whereby partition separating individual persons, building and moving body are selected from the Markush claim language).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-17 are allowed.
The following are examiner’s statement of reasons for allowable subject matter:
Referring to claim 6, the Akiyama et al reference (WO 2018155518 A1) discloses a control system for an exciter-equipped glass diaphragm. The Akiyama et al reference taken alone or in combination with another, do not disclose, teach or fairly suggest the control system as a whole comprising: an exciter-equipped glass diaphragm, including a glass plate structure, and a first exciter and a second exciter, which are attached to the glass plate structure, wherein, when a lowest resonant frequency of the first exciter is F1(0) (Hz), and a lowest resonant frequency of the second exciter is F2(0) (Hz), the exciter-equipped glass diaphragm satisfies: 3≤|F1(0)−F2(0)|≤100 (Hz); and a control device configured to control a voltage input to each of the first exciter and the second exciter so as to: reduce the voltage input to the first exciter required for the first exciter to generate vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F1(0) of the first exciter to lower than the voltage input to the second exciter required for the second exciter to generate vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F1(0) of the first exciter, and, in conjunction with reducing the voltage input to the first exciter, increase the voltage input to the second exciter corresponding to the lowest resonant frequency F1(0) of the first exciter so as to compensate for an amount of reduction from vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F1(0) of the first exciter that was planned to be generated by the first exciter; and reduce the voltage input to the second exciter corresponding to the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter required for the second exciter to generate vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter to lower than the voltage input to the first exciter corresponding to the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter required for the first exciter to generate vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter, and, in conjunction with reducing the voltage input to the second exciter, increase the voltage input to the first exciter corresponding to the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter so as to compensate for an amount of reduction from vibration at a frequency in the vicinity of the lowest resonant frequency F2(0) of the second exciter that was planned to be generated by the first exciter as recited in claim 6.
Claim 12 is allowed for the same reason as claim 6.
Claims 7-11 depend on claim 6. Claims 13-17 depend on claim 12.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEORGE C MONIKANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1190. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri., 9AM-5PM, ALT. Fridays off.
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/GEORGE C MONIKANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692 08/28/2026
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