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 .
Response to Amendment
In response to the Office Action mailed October 1, 2025, applicant submitted an amendment filed on December 22, 2025, in which the applicant amended and requested reconsideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicants argue that Stamenovic does not teach two or more further sound processing devices performing learning. However, according to fig. 2 with p. 0028, 0033, 0041,0045-0046, there are several audio processing devices, for example microphones 222 and 250, accessory device 202, wearable device 204, just to list a few, that work together as a distributed learning system. Therefore, Applicants arguments have been considered, but are not persuasive.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-11, 13 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gui et al. (PGPUB 2022/0021978), hereinafter referenced as Gui in view of Stamenovic et al. (PGPUB 2021/0289296), hereinafter referenced as Stamenovic.
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Gui discloses a sound processing device and method, hereinafter referenced as a device comprising:
at least one interface for communicating with one or more further sound processing devices (p. 0203); and
processing circuitry (audio circuitry; p. 0125), configured to:
obtain a sound processing model (p. 0209, 0213),
receive, from the one or more further sound processing devices, one or more local adjustments to the sound processing model determined by the one or more further sound processing devices based on sound recorded locally by the one or more further sound processing devices (local audio adjustment; abstract with p. 0249-0277),
adjust the sound processing model based on the one or more local adjustments (local audio adjustment; abstract with p. 0249-0277), and
process sound recorded locally by the sound processing device using the sound processing model (p. 0249-0277), but does not specifically teach that the adjustments to the sound processing model is determined by distributed learning by at least two of the one or more further processing device.
Stamenovic discloses a device wherein the adjustments to the sound processing model are determined by distributed learning by at least two of the one or more further processing device, (fig. 2 with p. 0028, 0033, 0041,0045-0046), to deliver more targeted data.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method as described above, to assist with extracting and identifying sound features.
Regarding claim 2, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured use the sound processing model to perform a sound processing task, with the processing circuitry being configured to provide information on the sound processing task to the one or more further sound processing devices, and the one or more local adjustments begin determined based on the sound processing task (sound processing task; p. 0030-0033, 0206-0207, 0215-0221).
Regarding claim 3, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to repeatedly receive updates to the one or more local adjustments from at least a subset of the one or more further sound processing devices (update; p. 0265-0267, 0284-0285).
Regarding claim 4, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to repeatedly adjust the sound processing model based on the repeatedly received updates to the one or more local adjustments (repeatedly adjusting; p. 0277).
Regarding claim 5, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a usefulness of the one or more local adjustments for the sound processing device, and to ignore or cease receiving updates from another sound processing device based on the usefulness of the local adjustment of the other sound processing device for the sound processing device (update; p. 0265-0267, 0284-0285).
Regarding claim 7, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to obtain the sound processing model from a central registry (cloud; p. 0036).
Regarding claim 8, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to obtain the sound processing model from another sound processing device, or wherein the processing circuitry is configured to generate the sound processing model, and/or or wherein the processing circuitry is configured to provide the sound processing model to the one or more further sound processing devices (p. 0249-0277).
Regarding claim 9, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to provide one or more requests to the one or more further sound processing devices to provide the one or more local adjustments and/or the sound processing model (local audio adjustment; abstract with p. 0249-0277).
Regarding claim 10, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to obtain information on a presence of sound processing devices in a general location of the sound processing device from a central registry (cloud; p. 0036), and to provide the one or more requests based on the information on the presence of the sound processing devices in the general location of the sound processing device (location of device; p. 0074, 0078, 0255-0269, 0281).
Regarding claim 11, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a presence of the one or more further sound processing devices in a general location of the sound processing device, and to provide the one or more requests based on the determination of the presence of the one or more further sound processing devices (proximate devices location; p. 0255-0269).
Regarding claim 13, Gui discloses a device wherein the one or more local adjustments are based on one or more embeddings designed to alter at least one aspect of the sound recorded locally, such as an impact of local speech or an impact of a location of the respective further sound processing device (location; p. 0074, 0078, 0255-0269, 0281).
Regarding claim 15, Gui discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to process the sound recorded locally using the sound processing model and using a second sound processing model, with the sound processing model being a task-agnostic sound processing model and the second sound processing model being a task-specific sound processing model (sound processing task; p. 0030-0033, 0206-0207, 0215-0221).
Regarding claims 16 and 18, it is interpreted and rejected for similar reasons as set forth above. In addition, Gui discloses a device, comprising: at least one interface for communicating with a further sound processing device; and
processing circuitry (audio circuitry; p. 0125), configured to:
obtain a sound processing model (p. 0209, 0213),
obtain information on a sound processing task being performed by the further sound processing device, determine a local adjustment to the sound processing model based on sound recorded locally by the sound processing device and based on the sound processing task (local audio adjustment; abstract with p. 0249-0277),
provide the local adjustment to the further sound processing device (local audio adjustment; abstract with p. 0249-0277). Furthermore, Stamenovic discloses a device wherein the distributed learning is between the sound processing device and the further sound processing device (fig. 2, elements 222 and 250 with p. 0045-0046).
Regarding claims 19 and 20, Gui discloses a computer program having a program code for performing the method, when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor, or a programmable hardware component (p. 0043, 0195).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gui in view of Stamenovic and in further view of Lyren (PGPUB 2022/0391899), hereinafter referenced as Lyren.
Regarding claim 6, Gui in view of Stamenovic disclose a device as described above, but does not specifically teach wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform real-time processing or near-real-time processing of the sound recorded by the sound processing device using the sound processing model.
Lyren discloses a device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform real-time processing or near-real-time processing of the sound recorded by the sound processing device using the sound processing model (p. 0200-0203), to assist with processing and uploading audio.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method as described above, to assist with audio spatialization.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gui in view of Stamenovic and in further view of Benaloh et al. (PGPUB 2019/0147188), hereinafter referenced as Benaloh.
Regarding claim 14, Gui in view of Stamenovic disclose a device as described above, but does not specifically teach wherein the one or more local adjustments are based on a privacy budget imposed by a differential privacy algorithm.
Benaloh discloses a device wherein the one or more local adjustments are based on a privacy budget imposed by a differential privacy algorithm (p. 0077), to assist with securing data.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method as described above, to avoid malicious activity.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 JAKIEDA R JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 6:30a-2:30p.
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/JAKIEDA R JACKSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2657
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