Appeal No. 1998-2719
Application No. 08/535,404
We refer to the Final Rejection (mailed Feb. 3, 1997) and the Examiner's Answer
(mailed Dec. 23, 1997) for a statement of the examiner's position and to the Brief (filed
Oct. 16, 1997) for appellant's position with respect to the claims which stand rejected.
OPINION
Fatovic discloses, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and described at pages 3 and 4 of
the specification, a telephone handset having openings 13 and 14 at the transmit end 11.
Opening 13 is in front surface 15, and opening 14 is in rear surface 16. Transparent grills
25 and 26 cover the front 13 and back 14 openings, and retain an acoustically transparent
foam covering 22. An electroacoustic transducer 20 housed in a capsule 21 is surrounded
and supported by the foam covering 22.
The Answer, at pages 4 through 6, applies the language of instant claim 1 to the
apparatus disclosed by Fatovic. In view of the statement of the rejection, and the
annotation of Figs. 1 and 2 of Fatovic in the attachment to the Answer, three walls are
purported to be present. However, it is unclear to appellant, and to us, the extent and
location of the purported walls.
In view of the examiner's commentary in the paragraph bridging pages 12 and 13 of
the Answer, wall "Z" is a circular wall. Wall “Z” therefore must be the cylindrical wall
defining the opening in which foam 22 is placed within housing 10. "Wall X is a convex
wall sloping upward and outward from the capsule's geometric center to the top of wall Z."
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