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 .
Clams 7, 11-17, 28 are cancelled.
Claims 29-30 are new added.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, 18-27, 29-30 are pending.
This action is made final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 18-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over North et al. (hereinafter “North”) (US 20210068302 A1) in view of Li et al. (hereinafter “Li”) (US 20230402027 A1).
As to claim 18, North teaches an electronic device, comprising:
a thermal management component [Fig. 1];
a memory, and one or more processors [Fig. 1] configured to:
obtain information associated with an application that is being actively utilized at the electronic device [0034, 0042-0048, 0057-0059, 0062]; and
operate the thermal management component based at least in part the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized [00341, 0042-0052, 0055-0062].
North teaches a system and method for operating a cooling system for an electrical device based on a specific application is in use and at least a noise level generated by the airflow cooling system during use of the specific application [0034, 0041-0042, 0059, 0062]. North does not explicitly teach obtaining state information for an audio output device that is communicatively coupled to the electronic device; and wherein operating the cooling component further according to the state information for the audio output device.
However, Li teaches an electronic device using a noise masking component as an audio output device to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise of an electronic device, therefore, the cooling fan can be operated at a higher power level to increase air flow to reduce the temperature of the electronic device without worrying the noise from the cooling fan may become a distraction for the user by using the noise masking component to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise. Especially, Li teaches obtaining state information for an audio output device that is communicatively coupled to the electronic device and wherein operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device based on the state information for the audio output device ([0016, 0021-0022, 0024, 0026-0027, 0028-0029, 0035-0046, 0048-0056] The cooling fan 102 may generate noise during operation. If background noise is present, the noise generated by the cooling fan 102 may not be noticeable. However, as the temperature increases within the VR HMD 100, the cooling fan 102 may operate at higher power levels to increase air flow. The higher the power level, the more noise the cooling fan 102 may generate. If the noise level increases well above the background noise level, the noise from the cooling fan 102 may become a distraction for the user of the VR HMD 100….The noise masking component 104 may mask noise generated by the cooling fan 102 to make the noise generated by the cooling fan 102 less noticeable to the user. The noise masking component 104 may be an electrical noise masking component or a physical noise masking component. For example, an electrical noise masking component may generate a masking tone, or a noise masking audio signal to cancel the noise from the cooling fan 102…. The memory 208 may also store a temperature threshold 210 and a noise level to power level profile 210 of the cooling fan 212 (also referred to as the NL/PL fan profile 212 or simply profile 212). The temperature threshold 210 may be a predetermined temperature at which the processor 202 generates a masking tone… as temperatures rise within the VR HMD 200, the cooling fan 204 may increase power to increase airflow to lower the temperature. The noise generated by the cooling fan 204 may increase above the background noise level. The temperature threshold 210 may be correlated to a temperature at which the cooling fan 204 generates an amount of noise greater than the background noise (e.g., more power to increase airflow causes more fan noise due to higher temperatures) such that the processor 202 generates a masking tone…. the profile 212 may be predetermined based on the cooling fan 204. For example, each brand of cooling fan or model number of different cooling fans may have a different predetermined profile 212. The profile 212 may correlate a noise level generated by a cooling fan at different power outputs. The processor 202 may know what power level to apply to the cooling fan 204 for a given temperature to set a proper airflow to reduce the temperature. Thus, the processor 202 may determine an appropriate volume level or masking tone level based on the noise level of the cooling fan 204 obtained from the profile 212 and the desired power level for the measured temperature within the VR HMD 200).
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Li with the teachings of North for the purpose of taking different considerations into account when controlling operating states of cooling elements in the electronic device such as using a noise masking component and/or ambient noise to mask the noise generated by the cooling fan to continue operate the fan at a desired power level to provide desired air flow without lower user experience.
As to claim 19, North teaches the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized comprises information indicating whether the application is a noise-sensitive application or a noise-tolerant application [0042, 0059, 0062].
As to claim 20, North teaches the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized comprises a type of the application [0042, 0059, 0062].
As to claim 21, North teaches the one or more processors are configured to operate the thermal management component based the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized by increasing an operational limit for the thermal management component based on a determination that the information indicates that a user of the electronic device is engaged in a noise-tolerant activity [0042, 0059, 0062].
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 22-24, 26-27, 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over North in view of North et al. (hereinafter “North2016”) (US 20160013745 A1), and further in view of Li.
As to claims 1 and 22, North teaches the invention comprising:
obtaining, by an electronic device having a sound-generating component, a noise level generated by the sound-generating component [provide inputs regarding noise levels generated by the airflow cooling system] [0034, 0058-0059];
obtaining information associated with an application that is being actively utilized at the electronic device [0034, 0042-0048, 0057-0059, 0062];
obtaining thermal information for the electronic device [0029, 0043, 0049, 0057]; and
operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device based at least in part on the noise level, the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized, and the thermal information [0034, 0042-0052, 0055-0062].
North teaches a system and method for operating a cooling system for an electrical device based on a plurality of detected information includes detecting a specific application is in use, device thermal information, and noise levels generated by the airflow cooling system during the specific application is in use. North does not explicitly teach using a microphone to obtain a microphone signal which indicates a noise level generated from the airflow cooling system.
However, North2016 teaches a system and method for active acoustic control of a cooling fan at an information handling system. Especially, North2016 teaches using a microphone to acquisition of sound emanating from the cooling fan to determine a fan noise, and a fan control system to adjust an operating speed of the cooling fan based on at least the fan noise level indicated by the microphone [0015, 00172, 0019-0022, 0024].
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of North2016 with the teachings of North for the purpose of taking different considerations into account when determining an operating speed of fan such as detecting a specific application is in use, device thermal information, ambient noise level, and noise loudness level generated by the fan during the specific application is in use.
North teaches a system and method for operating a cooling system for an electrical device based on a specific application is in use and at least a noise level generated by the airflow cooling system during use of the specific application [0034, 0041-0042, 0059, 0062]. North does not explicitly teach obtaining state information for an audio output device that is communicatively coupled to the electronic device; and wherein operating the cooling component further according to the state information for the audio output device.
However, Li teaches an electronic device using a noise masking component as an audio output device to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise of an electronic device, therefore, the cooling fan can be operated at a higher power level to increase air flow to reduce the temperature of the electronic device without worrying the noise from the cooling fan may become a distraction for the user by using the noise masking component to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise. Especially, Li teaches obtaining state information for an audio output device that is communicatively coupled to the electronic device and wherein operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device based on the state information for the audio output device ([0016, 0021-0022, 0024, 0026-0027, 0028-0029, 0035-0046, 0048-0056] The cooling fan 102 may generate noise during operation. If background noise is present, the noise generated by the cooling fan 102 may not be noticeable. However, as the temperature increases within the VR HMD 100, the cooling fan 102 may operate at higher power levels to increase air flow. The higher the power level, the more noise the cooling fan 102 may generate. If the noise level increases well above the background noise level, the noise from the cooling fan 102 may become a distraction for the user of the VR HMD 100….The noise masking component 104 may mask noise generated by the cooling fan 102 to make the noise generated by the cooling fan 102 less noticeable to the user. The noise masking component 104 may be an electrical noise masking component or a physical noise masking component. For example, an electrical noise masking component may generate a masking tone, or a noise masking audio signal to cancel the noise from the cooling fan 102…. The memory 208 may also store a temperature threshold 210 and a noise level to power level profile 210 of the cooling fan 212 (also referred to as the NL/PL fan profile 212 or simply profile 212). The temperature threshold 210 may be a predetermined temperature at which the processor 202 generates a masking tone… as temperatures rise within the VR HMD 200, the cooling fan 204 may increase power to increase airflow to lower the temperature. The noise generated by the cooling fan 204 may increase above the background noise level. The temperature threshold 210 may be correlated to a temperature at which the cooling fan 204 generates an amount of noise greater than the background noise (e.g., more power to increase airflow causes more fan noise due to higher temperatures) such that the processor 202 generates a masking tone…. the profile 212 may be predetermined based on the cooling fan 204. For example, each brand of cooling fan or model number of different cooling fans may have a different predetermined profile 212. The profile 212 may correlate a noise level generated by a cooling fan at different power outputs. The processor 202 may know what power level to apply to the cooling fan 204 for a given temperature to set a proper airflow to reduce the temperature. Thus, the processor 202 may determine an appropriate volume level or masking tone level based on the noise level of the cooling fan 204 obtained from the profile 212 and the desired power level for the measured temperature within the VR HMD 200).
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Li with the teachings of North and North2016 for the purpose of taking different considerations into account when controlling operating states of cooling elements in the electronic device such as using a noise masking component and/or ambient noise to mask the noise generated by the cooling fan to continue operate the fan at a desired power level to provide desired air flow without lower user experience.
As to claims 2 and 23, North teaches the sound-generating component comprises a fan of the electronic device [Fig. 1] [0034, 0058-0059].
As to claims 3 and 24, North teaches the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized comprises information indicating whether the application is a noise-sensitive application or a noise-tolerant application [0042, 0059, 0062].
As to claims 5 and 26, North teaches determining that the application is being actively utilized based on a detected user interaction with the application [0034, 0041-0042, 0059, 0062].
As to claims 6 and 27, North teaches operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device comprises determining a new setting for the sound-generating component of the electronic device based on the fan noise level, the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized, the thermal information, a current setting of the sound-generating component, and a pre-determined noise profile of the sound-generating component [0034, 0042-0052, 0055-0062]. North2016 teaches using a microphone to acquisition of sound emanating from the cooling fan to determine a fan noise, and a fan control system to adjust an operating speed of the cooling fan based on at least the fan noise level indicated by the microphone [0015, 0017, 0019-0022, 0024].
As to claim 8, North2016 teaches the microphone signal includes a signal component corresponding to a voice of a user of the electronic device, and wherein operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device comprises operating the sound-generating component based a detection of the voice of the user [0017-0020].
As to claim 9, North teaches operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device based at least in part on the fan noise level, the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized, and the thermal information comprises: determining a noise level associated with an ongoing noise source; and modifying the operation of the sound-generating component based on the noise level [0034, 0042-0052, 0055-0062]. North2016 teaches using a microphone to acquisition of sound emanating from the cooling fan to determine a fan noise, and a fan control system to adjust an operating speed of the cooling fan based on at least the fan noise level indicated by the microphone [0015, 0017, 0019-0022, 0024].
As to claim 10, North teaches operating the sound-generating component of the electronic device based at least in part on the fan noise level, the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized, and the thermal information further comprises forgoing modifying the operation of the sound-generating component when a transient noise source is received [0034, 0055, 0058-0059]. North2016 teaches using a microphone to acquisition of sound emanating from the cooling fan to determine a fan noise, and a fan control system to adjust an operating speed of the cooling fan based on at least the fan noise level indicated by the microphone [0015, 0017, 0019-0022, 0024].
As to claim 29, Li teaches obtaining the pre-determined noise profile of the sound-generating component based on the current setting of the sound-generating component; and removing a portion of microphone signal corresponding to the sound-generating component based on the pre-determined noise profile, therefore, the cooling fan can be operated at a higher power level to increase air flow to reduce the temperature of the electronic device without worrying the noise from the cooling fan may become a distraction for the user by using the noise masking component to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise [0016, 0021-0022, 0024, 0026-0027, 0028-0029, 0035-0046, 0048-0056]. North teaches determining new setting for the sound-generating component of the electronic device based on the fan noise level, the information associated with the application that is being actively utilized, the thermal information, a current setting of the sound-generating component, and a pre-determined noise profile of the sound-generating component [0034, 0042-0052, 0055-0062]. North2016 teaches using a microphone to acquisition of sound emanating from the cooling fan to determine a fan noise, and a fan control system to adjust an operating speed of the cooling fan based on at least the fan noise level indicated by the microphone [0015, 0017, 0019-0022, 0024].
Claim(s) 4 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over North in view of North2016 and Li, and further in view of Duenas et al. (hereinafter “Duenas”) (US 20230205658 A1).
As to claims 4 and 25, North teaches running different application at the electronic device includes at least a gaming application and a multimedia application [0059, 0062]. North does not explicitly teach the application is running in a full-screen mode at the electronic device.
However, Duenas teaches a system and method using a platform management profile that includes information defining one or more platform management policies, a given platform management policy among the one or more platform management policies including a provided input from a specified hardware or software sensor and/or a provided output action, therefore the system uses the given platform management policy for controlling operating states of elements in the electronic device such as controls the operating speed of fan. Especially, Duenas teaches determining a application is running in a full-screen mode at the electronic device [Abstract, 0053, 0057].
It would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Duenas with the teachings of North and North2016 and Li for the purpose of taking different considerations into account when controlling operating states of elements in the electronic device such as a current software operating condition.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 30 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/08/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant augured in the remark that “the Office Action does not cite any specific element in Li as corresponding to the "electronic device", the "audio output device", or the "sound-generating component" of claim 7”. However, the examiner respectfully traversed applicant’s argument. As the claim rejections for claim 1 indicated above, Li teaches an electronic device using a noise masking component (claimed "audio output device") as an audio output device to generate sound to mask cooling fan (claimed "sound-generating component") noise of an electronic device, therefore, the cooling fan can be operated at a higher power level to increase air flow to reduce the temperature of the electronic device without worrying the noise from the cooling fan may become a distraction for the user by using the noise masking component to generate sound to mask cooling fan noise. See more detail explanations provided above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIPENG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5437. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-7.
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/ZHIPENG WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 [0034] As described in addition detail with regard to the below embodiments, cooling profiles may be predictively selected based on the context of a user's operation of IHS 100, such as the software applications that are in active use. For instance, based on detecting the initialization of a specific software application, the fan controller 114 may predictively configure the output of the cooling fans 106 to generate an airflow that is suitable for providing cooling during intervals when that specific application is in use. By predictively initiating airflow based on initialization of certain software applications, rapid temperature increases in core temperatures may be mitigated such that the highest, and loudest, fan speed settings are not reached. As described in additional detail below, in certain embodiments, the parameters specified by a cooling profile may be adapted to maintain sufficient cooling while reducing unnecessary airflow, and thus unnecessary noise generated by the airflow cooling system. In additional embodiments, cooling profiles may be further adapted in response to user inputs indicating noise preferences associated with the cooling system, such as indications of undesirable levels of noise being generated by the airflow cooling system.
2 [0017] AC 120 can include a signal processor for analyzing the signal received from the fan microphone 132 and the ambient microphone 122. For example, noise having high-frequency components may be perceived by the human ear as being louder than noise made up of predominately lower frequencies. Accordingly, AC 120 can determine a spectrum of frequencies present in the signal received from fan microphone 130 and determine a weighted loudness of the noise based on frequency information provided by the signal processor. AC 120 can take other considerations into account when determining an operating speed of fan 130. For example, a small increase in cooling can result in lower power dissipation of integrated circuits included at the information handling system, thereby lowering heat generated by these circuits. For another example, a small increase in fan speed can lower operating temperatures at system 200, which can improve reliability and increase the duration of turbo operation, where a clock rate of a central processing unit is momentarily increased to provide greater computational performance.