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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 9/29/2025, with respect to claims 1 and 11 have been fully considered and are persuasive. However, a new ground of rejection are made using the same prior art reference, previously only one earbud was used to show the teaching and now two earbuds, for left and right ear, are used.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 10-14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being
anticipated by Kaller (US 20150256660 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Kaller (US 20150256660 A1) discloses a headset ¶ [0018], comprising:
an acoustic structure (Kaller, ¶ [0002]: “personal audio devices”);
a first microphone located outside the acoustic structure (Kaller, Fig. 1A, item M1A and M1B; ¶ [0022]: “First microphones M1A, M1B is provided on a surface of the housing of respective earbuds EB1, EB2 for receiving the speech of the user, and may alternatively be mounted on a boom, or located within a cord-mounted module”);
a second microphone located inside the acoustic structure (Kaller, Fig. 1A, item M2A and M2B); and
an output driver (Kaller, Fig. 1A, items SPKR1 and SPKR2) configured to receive an antinoise signal based on a combination of input from the first and second microphones (Kaller, Fig. 2, items M1A, M2A and M1B, M2B; ¶ [0030]: “Audio integrated circuit 20A (20B) generates an output for driving speaker SPKR1 (SPKR2)” and ¶ [0033]: “ANC capability is additionally included within audio integrated circuits 20C… that implement sidetone generation in the system”, wherein
a voice signal of a user (sidetone) of the headset is generated using input from the first and second microphones (Kaller, Figs. 2 and 3, items m2 (EB1 and EB2), 36B, 42, st (side tone) ; ¶ [0020]: “the sidetone generating apparatus may equalize the sound level of the user's voice as detected by the first and second microphones and further allow for manual user control of gain offset in order to achieve the most desirable sidetone level.” and ¶ [0022]: “ first microphones M1A, M1B also serve as reference microphones for measuring the ambient acoustic environment. Second microphones M2A, M2B, are provided in order to measure the audio reproduced by respective speakers SPKR1, SPKR2 …Second microphones M2A, M2B may function as error microphones in embodiments that include ANC…providing a measure of the ambient noise canceling performance of the ANC system in addition to estimating the sidetone as heard by the user.” and ¶ [0031]; the same is replicated for the second earbud EB2, as shown in Fig. 2, there are two arrows to item 22 from and to item 20B, which are the equivalent of m1 and ds for earbud EB2) and
a communications interface providing the voice signal of a user of the headset as a voice output from the headset (Kaller, Fig. 4, item 22; ¶ [0030]).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Kaller discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and
11 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and method, wherein the first microphone is a
feed-forward microphone that provides input to a feed-forward filter to produce a filtered feed- forward signal for producing the antinoise signal (Kaller, Fig. 3, item 42; ¶ [0031]).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Kaller discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and
11 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and method, wherein the second microphone
is a feedback microphone that provides input to a feedback filter to produce a filtered
feedback signal for producing the antinoise signal (Kaller, Fig. 3, items m2, 36B, 33, 34A, ¶ [0032]: “The components of source audio and sidetone removed by combiner 36B have been filtered by secondary path adaptive filter 34A to represent the expected source audio and sidetone delivered to error microphone E from microphone signal m2”).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Kaller discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and 11 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and a method comprising an ear tip configured to seal the acoustic structure to an ear canal of the user of the headset (Kaller, ¶ [0020]: “ambient noise reduction can be provided by … earphones sealing the ear canal or sealing over the ear.”).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Kaller discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and
11 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and method comprising an additional microphone located outside the acoustic structure, wherein input from the first and additional microphones is used to produce an array-filtered signal that is used to generate the voice signal of the user of the headset (Kaller, ¶ [0019]: “the voice microphone may be a single microphone provided near the user's mouth, e.g., on a boom or a lanyard”).
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) 5-8 and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kaller (US 20150256660 A1), and further in view of Schevciw (US 20110288860 A1).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Kaller discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and 11 respectively.
However, Kaller fails to disclose headset and a method, wherein the acoustic structure, the first and second microphones, and the output driver are all part of a first earbud or earpiece, and the headset includes a second earbud or earpiece that comprises: an additional acoustic structure; a third microphone located outside the additional acoustic structure; a fourth microphone located inside the additional acoustic structure; and an additional output driver configured to receive an additional antinoise signal based on a combination of input from the third and fourth microphones.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Schevciw (US 20110288860 A1) discloses a headset and a method, wherein the acoustic structure, the first and second microphones, and the output driver (speaker) are all part of a first earbud or earpiece (Schevciw, Fig. 12, items MRE10, MR10 and RLS10), and the headset includes a second earbud or earpiece that comprise (Schevciw, Fig. 12, items MLE10, ML10):
an additional acoustic structure (second earcup);
a third microphone located outside the additional acoustic structure (Schevciw, Fig. 12, item ML10);
a fourth microphone located inside the additional acoustic structure (Schevciw, Fig. 12, item MLE10); and
an additional output driver (Schevciw, Fig. 12, item LLS10) configured to receive an additional antinoise signal based on a combination of input from the third and fourth microphones (Schevciw, Fig. 12; ¶ [0142]: “A210 includes an implementation NCL12 of ANC filter NCL10 that is configured to produce an antinoise signal AN10 based on information from first microphone signal MS10 and from first error microphone signal MS40.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Schevciw with Kaller to improve the voice communication in environments where users are surrounded by other people, with the kind of noise content that is typically encountered where people tend to gather. Such noise tends to distract or annoy a user at the far end of a telephone conversation.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, the combination of Kaller and Schevciw discloses all the limitations of claims 5 and 15 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and a method, wherein the first and second earbuds or earpieces are connected via a cord (Kaller, Fig. 2, ¶ [0029]: “signaling between a single integrated circuit 20 that implements integrated circuits 20A-20B and error microphones E1, E2, reference
microphones R1, R2 and speakers SPKR1, SPKR2 are provided by wired or wireless connections”)
Regarding claims 7 and 17, the combination of Kaller and Schevciw discloses all the limitations of claims 5 and 15 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and a method, comprising processing circuity contained within the first and second earbuds or earpieces (Kaller, Fig. 4, items 20C and 20D).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, the combination of Kaller and Schevciw discloses all the limitations of claims 6 and 16 respectively.
Kaller further discloses a headset and a method, comprising a module attached to the cord (Kaller, Fig. 1An item 7; ¶ [0023]).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, the combination of Kaller and Schevciw discloses all the limitations of claims 5 and 15 respectively.
Kaller discloses a headset and a method, wherein the voice signal of the user of the headset is generated by further using input from the third and fourth microphones (Kaller, ¶ [0019]: “two monaural earphones, each having a speaker, a first microphone to capture the voice of the user, and a second microphone to capture sounds reaching the user's ear.”).
Conclusion
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/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/FRIEDRICH FAHNERT/
Examiner
Art Unit 2692