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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 01/12/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected set of apparatus and method claims, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/12/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “180” has been used to designate both “parametric array speaker” and “parametric array loudspeaker”. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 9, “stop” should be corrected to “step”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, it recites the limitation “parametric array loudspeaker”, however in previous claims, it was referred to as a “parametric array speaker”. Narrowing the limitation would render the claim indefinite. There is also a mention of “the parametric array”, it is suggested to keep the claim consistent to avoid confusion.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 3, 5 and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Norris et al. (US 20170171677 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Norris et al. teaches a method for treating hearing impairment and/or tinnitus (“a tinnitus treatment device”, abstract) of a user in a bed (“provide therapy to a listener in bed”, paragraph [0008]), the method comprising:
Aiming a parametric array speaker (“ultrasonic emitters can be used in combination with conventional audio speakers”, paragraph [0108]) in a direction of a head of a user in a bed (“audio modulated…signals directed toward himself or herself…toward one side of the bed”, paragraph [0107], “one mechanism that may be utilized to orient an emitter in a desired position, e.g., relative to a user’s ear/ear canal”, paragraph [0114]; ultrasonic headphone housing 146a, Fig. 12) and
Delivering a focused acoustic beam from the parametric array speaker to the user’s head (“the audio content is carried in an air beam of silent ultrasound energy”, paragraph [0039]).
Regarding claim 3, Norris et al. teaches manually aiming the parametric array speaker (“emitter may be configured to be adjustable in one or more directions…in any desired position or orientation”, paragraph [0113]).
Regarding claim 5, Norris et al. teaches detecting ambient sound using a microphone (“microphone can be configured to pick up sounds such as speech, music, or other sounds and provide those sounds to an ultrasonic audio system”, paragraph [0132]), and
Driving the parametric array speaker using the ambient sound detected by the microphone (“the high precision targeting of such systems minimizes the levels of noise pollution…can be configured to cut through other ambient noise so the targeted area gets a clear high-fidelity audio content…cuts through or reduces the perceptions of ambient noise”, paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 8, Norris et al. teaches driving the parametric array speaker using a pre-recorded sound file (“audio content from an audio source…memory, a data storage device, streaming media source”, paragraph [0051]).
Regarding claim 9, Norris et al. teaches accepting a selection of a pre-recorded sound file from a user, wherein the pre-recorded sound file selected by the user (“the listener might choose from among a variety of audio content available or prescribed”, paragraph [0105]) is used to drive the parametric array speaker (“subject can adjust the ultrasonic audio system parameters (including the audio content, if any) to improve or optimize the treatment”, paragraph [0129]).
Regarding claim 10, Norris et al. teaches driving the parametric array speaker with a noise signal (“ultrasonic signals can be unmodulated ultrasonic signals or ultrasonic signals modulated with audio content…audio content can include one or more tones, white noise, brown noise, gray noise, pink noise, or other audio artifacts…ultrasonic signals can have a range of carrier frequencies”, paragraph [0034]).
Regarding claim 11, Norris et al. teaches the noise signal not including noise in a frequency notch corresponding to the tinnitus frequencies. The noise signal does not include noise in a frequency notch (paragraph [0120]).
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.
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Norris et al. in view of Malchano et al. (US 20180133507 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Norris et al. teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as well as electronically steering the focused acoustic beam (“the adjustment mechanism to allow the orientation of the emitter to be changed can be controlled electronically using external signaling”, paragraph [0115]), but does not teach tracking a movement of the user’s head and steering the focused acoustic beam accordingly.
However, Malchano et al. teaches tracking a movement of the user’s head (“monitoring an orientation of at least one of a head or a body of the subject”, paragraph [0110]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the device with electronic steering of the focused acoustic beam of Norris et al. with the device with tracking a movement of the user’s head of Malchano et al. in order to electronically steer the focused acoustic beam to compensate for the movement of the user’s head, ensuring that the user retrieves stimulation by the acoustic beam during their sleep despite movement (“attentiveness parameter including…a head position”, paragraph [0133]).
Regarding claim 4, Norris et al. teaches all the limitations of claim 3, but does not teach the parametric array being manually aimed using a laser diode.
However, Malchano et al. teaches the parametric array being manually aimed using a visual indicator output by a laser diode mounted to the parametric array speaker (“the light source includes a laser, or a laser diode”, paragraph [0261]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the device of Norris et al. with the laser diode mounted to the parametric array speaker of Malchano et al. in order to assist the user in aiming the array of the parametric array speaker (“diodes configured to drive the power supply to provide electricity…to drive the electrodes to output or discharge an electric current with desired characteristics”, paragraph [0514], Malchano et al.)
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Norris et al. in view of Stubbemann (US 20140058189 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Norris et al. teaches all the limitations of claim 5, but does not teach filtering ambient noise by the microphone to remove a frequency notch depending on a user’s tinnitus frequencies, which drives the parametric speaker array.
However, Stubbeman teaches filtering the ambient sound (band pass filter 270, notch filter 272, Fig. 2B-2, “sensory stimuli may include…ambient noise cancellation”, paragraph [0031]) detected by the microphone to remove a frequency notch corresponding to the user’s tinnitus frequencies (“sensory stimuli may include music, white noise, or sequenced tones individually notched…for one or more of a patient’s tinnitus frequencies”, paragraph [0025]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the device of Norris et al. with the removal of a frequency notch of Stubbeman wherein the filtered ambient sound is used to drive the parametric speaker array in order to only provide audio stimulus that prevents tinnitus in a user.
Regarding claim 7, Norris et al. in view of Stubbeman teaches inputting an indication of the user’s tinnitus frequencies from the user, wherein the frequency notch corresponds to the indication of the user’s tinnitus frequencies from the user (“the adjustments in step 625 for the patient’s hearing response profile can be in addition to adjusting the tinnitus treatment parameters of the system based on the tinnitus treatment profile and the preferences of the intended tinnitus patient”, paragraph [0130]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARA LINH TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3598. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am-5:00pm M-F.
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/L.L.T./Examiner, Art Unit 3791 /ALEX M VALVIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3791