DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the application filed on 25 May 2023.
Claims 1-6 are under examination.
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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Baalu et al. (US20140071280A1) (“Baalu”).
Regarding claim 1, Baalu discloses:
• A mobile body comprising: an apparatus; and an information processing device — a vehicle safety system (VSS) implemented in a mobile body, including microphones (apparatus) and a processor-based module (information processing device with memory and processor) (Fig. 3; para. [0038]).
• The processor configured to acquire a first signal and a second signal that are transmitted from the apparatus — microphones 302 (plural) record multiple sound signals and provide them to the processor (para. [0038]).
• The processor configured to determine a relevance between the first signal and the second signal — the direction processing module 310 analyzes the multiple sound signals to determine locations of objects producing the sounds or directions from which the sounds are arriving, i.e., a relationship (relevance) between the signals (para. [0038]).
• The determination being on the basis of a first spectrum of a frequency component of the first signal and a second spectrum of a frequency component of the second signal — the sound signals are passed through a noise filter 304, band pass filter 306, and band resolution filter 308 to isolate and enhance spectral frequency components, which are then analyzed by the direction processing module (para. [0038]).
Claim 4 recites an information processing device corresponding to the mobile body of claim 1, and is thus similarly rejected.
Claim 5 recites an information processing method performed by an information processing device, corresponding to the mobile body of claim 1, and is thus similarly rejected.
Claim 6 recites a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing an information processing device to perform the information processing method, corresponding to the mobile body of claim 1, and is thus similarly rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 3 are 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.
Claim 2 requires that the processor determine the relevance between the first and second signals on the basis of a degree of linearity between a logarithm of a ratio of the first spectrum and the second spectrum to each frequency and a logarithm of a frequency. Baalu does not disclose or suggest this specific mathematical computation.
Claim 3 requires storing communication message IDs associated with the first and second signals and issuing a warning when a relevance between subsequent communication messages falls below a threshold. Baalu does not disclose or suggest the use of communication message IDs or the threshold-based warning mechanism.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure (see form 892).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUAT T PHUNG whose telephone number is (571)270-3126. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9 AM - 6 PM.
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/Luat Phung/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468