Prior art

Here is an analysis of the most relevant prior art for U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518, based on the references cited during its prosecution as available on Google Patents. Many of these citations are part of the same patent family, meaning they share common inventive subject matter and priority claims. While within a patent family, an earlier patent may not strictly be "prior art" under 35 U.S.C. § 102 to a later-filed application if the later application claims valid priority to the earlier one, for the purpose of identifying potential anticipation, this analysis assumes the technical disclosure of the cited patent is compared against the claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518.

The independent claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518 are:

• Claim 1: "A pair of glasses for a user, comprising: an eyewear frame; a first switch at the frame, the first switch having at least two operational states, and the operational states of the switch being configured to be changed by a user touching a surface of the frame, without moving any mechanical part at least partially exposed to the outside of the frame; and a first electrical component in the frame configured to be electrically coupled to the first switch to perform a function."
• Claim 13: "A pair of glasses for a user, comprising: an eyewear frame; electrical circuitry at least partially in the eyewear frame; and a touch sensitive input surface on the eyewear frame configured to provide an input to the electrical circuitry to perform a function via touching the touch sensitive input surface."

Based on the abstracts, the following cited patents are highly relevant as they explicitly disclose the core features of claims 1 and 13.

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Most Relevant Prior Art References

1. U.S. Patent No. 7,500,747 (US7500747B2)

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,500,747 B2, titled "Head-worn device with connection region," issued March 10, 2009, to inventors Thomas A. Howell, David Chao, C. Douglass Thomas, and Peter P. Tong, and assigned to Ingeniospec LLC.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed July 15, 2005; Issued March 10, 2009.
• Brief Description: The abstract describes "A pair of glasses with one or more embedded or partially embedded electrical components. In one embodiment, a touch sensitive input surface on the eyewear frame is configured to provide an input to the electrical circuitry to perform a function via touching the touch sensitive input surface. In another embodiment, a switch at the frame has at least two operational states, and the operational states of the switch are configured to be changed by touching a surface of the frame, without moving any mechanical part at least partially exposed to the outside of the frame. The switch is electrically coupled to a first electrical component in the frame configured to perform a function."
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: This patent's abstract directly and explicitly describes all elements of both independent Claim 1 and independent Claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518. Therefore, US7500747B2 potentially anticipates Claims 1 and 13.

2. U.S. Patent No. 7,806,525 (US7806525B2)

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,806,525 B2, titled "Eyeglass frame with electrical components," issued October 5, 2010, to inventors Thomas A. Howell, David Chao, C. Douglass Thomas, and Peter P. Tong, and assigned to Ingeniospec LLC.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed October 11, 2006; Issued October 5, 2010.
• Brief Description: The abstract states, "An eyewear for a user includes an eyewear frame, a first switch at the frame, the first switch having at least two operational states, and the operational states of the switch being configured to be changed by a user touching a surface of the frame, without moving any mechanical part at least partially exposed to the outside of the frame, and a first electrical component in the frame configured to be electrically coupled to the first switch to perform a function. In another embodiment, an eyewear for a user includes an eyewear frame, electrical circuitry at least partially in the eyewear frame, and a touch sensitive input surface on the eyewear frame configured to provide an input to the electrical circuitry to perform a function via touching the touch sensitive input surface."
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102: Similar to US7500747B2, this patent's abstract directly and explicitly describes all elements of both independent Claim 1 and independent Claim 13 of U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518. Therefore, US7806525B2 potentially anticipates Claims 1 and 13.

3. U.S. Patent No. 6,882,290 (US6882290B2)

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 6,882,290 B2, titled "Method and apparatus for facilitating control of portable electronic device functions by interaction between the portable electronic device and a user's eyeglasses," issued April 19, 2005, to inventors Thomas A. Howell and Peter P. Tong, and initially assigned to Oakley, Inc., then later to Ingeniospec LLC.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed October 12, 2004; Issued April 19, 2005.
• Brief Description: The abstract discloses: "A portable electronic device and a user's eyeglasses are configured to interact with each other to facilitate the control of at least one function of the portable electronic device. The eyeglasses include an electrical component (e.g., a speaker) that is electrically coupled to the portable electronic device when the portable electronic device and the eyeglasses are coupled together (e.g., via a connector). The eyeglasses may also include a sensor (e.g., touch-sensitive switch) that allows the user to interact with the eyeglasses to control a function of the portable electronic device."
• Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:
  • Claim 1 (US11829518): This patent discloses an "eyeglass" (eyewear frame), an "electrical component (e.g., a speaker)" in the frame, and a "touch-sensitive switch" on the eyeglasses to control a function. While the abstract does not explicitly state "without moving any mechanical part at least partially exposed to the outside of the frame," the nature of a "touch-sensitive switch" inherently suggests operation without mechanical movement. The full specification would likely confirm this detail. Thus, US6882290B2 potentially anticipates Claim 1.
  • Claim 13 (US11829518): This patent discloses "eyeglasses" (eyewear frame) with "electrical component" (electrical circuitry) and a "touch-sensitive switch" (touch sensitive input surface) to control a function. This aligns with the elements of Claim 13. Thus, US6882290B2 potentially anticipates Claim 13.

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Relationship to U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518:

It is important to note that U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518 claims a priority date of July 28, 2004, and specifically claims priority to several earlier U.S. applications, including U.S. application Ser. No. 11/183,256 (which matured into US7500747B2) and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/546,685 (which matured into US7806525B2). This indicates that US11829518 is a continuation of, or otherwise related to, these earlier patents. The shared inventorship and assignee further reinforce this family relationship.

While these patents appear to anticipate the claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,829,518 based on their disclosures, their status as "prior art" for a 35 U.S.C. § 102 anticipation challenge against US11829518 would depend on whether the claims of US11829518 are entitled to a priority date that predates these references, or if there are any priority breaks or new matter introduced. Nevertheless, their explicit descriptions make them highly relevant for understanding the scope of the invention and its development over time.