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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on March 2, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-7, 9-10, 14-16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lyons et al (US 20240163630 A1) in view of Faundez Hoffmann et al (US 20230224663 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Lyons discloses a vehicle audio system, comprising:
a plurality of near-field speakers disposed to direct acoustic energy to a seating position within a vehicle cabin (Par.[0023] a pair of speakers #104 may be located in a headrest of a vehicle to direct sound towards passenger or a driver of the vehicle);
a sensor disposed in the vehicle cabin providing a sensor signal representative of a head size of a user seated in the seating position (Par.[0025] a sensor, such as a camera #128 may be provided to supply a sensor signal; wherein the sensor signal may contain information representing an ear position/location or a head size of the passenger/driver; see Par.[0036]);
a controller configured to drive the plurality of near-field speakers to produce a content signal at the seating position (Par.[0031] a controller in the form of computer #110 executes the functions of the audio system such that audio content is produced by speakers #104 at the seating position of the passenger/driver), and
wherein the controller is configured to provide a drive signal to drive the plurality of near-field speakers such that a binaural effect is created for the user, wherein the drive signal drives the plurality of near-field speakers in an array configuration according to an interaural crosstalk cancellation filter to create the binaural effect (Par.[0067] “interaural crosstalk cancellation filters”; fig.5 #500,550), wherein the drive signal is based, at least in part, on the ear position or the head size of the user in the seating position (Par.[0063-0070] as shown in the process of figure 4, a binaural drive signal is generated based on both binaural rendering #410 and interaural crosstalk cancellation #412; wherein the binaural effect generated by the binaural rendering #410 shown in figure 3 as process #300, is based on sensor signals related to a head position of the user including ear position and head size, and on stored head-related impulse responses HRIRs; see Par.[0044-0047]).
Lyons does not disclose expressly wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected according to the head size of the user such that the drive signal is based, at least in part, on the head size of the user in the seating position, wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected from a plurality of stored interaural crosstalk cancellation filters according to at least the head size of the user.
Faundez Hoffmann discloses a sensor for providing a sensor signal representative of the head size of a user (Par.[0063] a sensor, such as a camera, may be used to determine head dimensions (i.e. head size) of a user), and an interaural crosstalk cancellation filter (fig.4 #414) to create a binaural effect, wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected according to the head size (Par.[0068] cross-talk cancellation filters #414 are selected based on a spherical head model that corresponds to the user), and wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected from a plurality of stored interaural crosstalk cancellation filters according to at least the head size of the user (Par.[0060] “For instance, in some cases, the spatial audio extension system 106 determines one or more dimensions of the user's head and then employs a spherical head model that matches the dimension(s) to determine the interaural time difference model. In some cases, the spatial audio extension system 106 maintains or accesses a database that maps head dimensions to corresponding interaural time difference models. Thus, the spatial audio extension system 106 can locate the measurement of the user's head within the database and determine the corresponding interaural time difference model using the mapping”. Measured head dimensions or “head size” are used to map to interaural time different models stored within a database, therefor the interaural crosstalk cancellation filters #414 are selected from a plurality of stored filters in a database based on the measured head size of the user; Par.[0070]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the present invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to select a crosstalk cancellation filter in the invention of Lyons from a database of a plurality of stored crosstalk cancellation filters, as performed by Faundez Hoffmann. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the required computation power of calculating personalized crosstalk cancellation filters by selecting from a plurality of previously determined crosstalk cancellation filters based on mapping of measured parameters via a model.
With respect to claim 5, Lyons discloses the vehicle audio system of claim 1, wherein the drive signal drives the plurality of near- field speakers according to a virtualization filter such that a spatialized acoustic signal is provided to the user, the spatialized acoustic signal being perceived by the user as originating from at least one location distinct from the plurality of near-field speakers (Par.[0066] the binaural rendering #410 detailed in figure 3, comprises spatializing the acoustic signal according to a perceived origination position (range, azimuth, elevation) of the acoustic signal in relation to the listeners ears; see Par.[0043]).
With respect to claim 6, Lyons discloses the vehicle audio system of claim 5, wherein the virtualization filter is selected from a plurality of virtualization filters according to head size and head position (See: Faundez Hoffmann: Par.[0060] “database” comprises a plurality of filters).
With respect to claim 7, Lyons discloses the vehicle audio system of claim 5, wherein the virtualization filter is updated according to the head size (Par.[0036] the sensor signal may contain information representing an ear position/location or a head size of the passenger/driver).
With respect to claim 9, Lyons discloses the vehicle audio system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is at least one camera directed to the user (Par.[0025] a sensor, such as a camera #128 may be provided to supply a sensor signal).
With respect to claim 10, Lyons discloses at least one non-transitory storage medium storing program that, when executed by at least one processor, outputs drive signals for producing binaural audio with head size adaptation, comprising:
receiving a content signal for playback at a seating position within a vehicle cabin (Par.[0033] “the process 200 receives an audio signal from a signal source (e.g., a pre-recorded or live playback from a computer, wireless source, mobile device and/or another audio source”);
receiving a sensor signal representative of at least one of a head size of a user seated in the seating position (Par.[0025] a sensor, such as a camera #128 may be provided to supply a sensor signal; wherein the sensor signal may contain information representing an ear position/location or a head size of the passenger/driver; see Par.[0036]); and
providing a drive signal, comprising the content signal, to drive a plurality of near-field speakers disposed to direct acoustic energy to a seating position within the vehicle cabin such that a binaural effect is created for the user (Par.[0023] a pair of speakers #104 may be located in a headrest of a vehicle to direct audio content towards a passenger or a driver of the vehicle), wherein the drive signal drives the plurality of near-field speakers in an array configuration according to an interaural crosstalk cancellation filter to create the binaural effect (Par.[0067] “interaural crosstalk cancellation filters”; fig.5 #500,550), wherein the drive signal is based, at least in part, on the ear position or the head size of the user in the seating position (Par.[0063-0070] as shown in the process of figure 4, a binaural drive signal is generated based on both binaural rendering #410 and interaural crosstalk cancellation #412; wherein the binaural effect generated by the binaural rendering #410 shown in figure 3 as process #300, is based on sensor signals related to a head position of the user including ear position and head size, and on stored head-related impulse responses HRIRs; see Par.[0044-0047]).
Lyons does not disclose expressly wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected according to the head size of the user such that the drive signal is based, at least in part, on the head size of the user in the seating position, wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected from a plurality of stored interaural crosstalk cancellation filters according to at least the head size of the user.
Faundez Hoffmann discloses a sensor for providing a sensor signal representative of the head size of a user (Par.[0063] a sensor, such as a camera, may be used to determine head dimensions (i.e. head size) of a user), and an interaural crosstalk cancellation filter (fig.4 #414) to create a binaural effect, wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected according to the head size (Par.[0068] cross-talk cancellation filters #414 are selected based on a spherical head model that corresponds to the user), and wherein the interaural crosstalk cancellation filter is selected from a plurality of stored interaural crosstalk cancellation filters according to at least the head size of the user (Par.[0060] “For instance, in some cases, the spatial audio extension system 106 determines one or more dimensions of the user's head and then employs a spherical head model that matches the dimension(s) to determine the interaural time difference model. In some cases, the spatial audio extension system 106 maintains or accesses a database that maps head dimensions to corresponding interaural time difference models. Thus, the spatial audio extension system 106 can locate the measurement of the user's head within the database and determine the corresponding interaural time difference model using the mapping”. Measured head dimensions or “head size” are used to map to interaural time different models stored within a database, therefor the interaural crosstalk cancellation filters #414 are selected from a plurality of stored filters in a database based on the measured head size of the user; Par.[0070]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the present invention to a person of ordinary skill in the art to select a crosstalk cancellation filter in the invention of Lyons from a database of a plurality of stored crosstalk cancellation filters, as performed by Faundez Hoffmann. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the required computation power of calculating personalized crosstalk cancellation filters by selecting from a plurality of previously determined crosstalk cancellation filters based on mapping of measured parameters via a model.
With respect to claim 14, Lyons discloses the at least one non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the drive signal drives the plurality of near-field speakers according to a virtualization filter such that a spatialized acoustic signal is provided to the user, the spatialized acoustic signal being perceived by the user as originating from at least one location distinct from the plurality of near-field speakers (Par.[0066] the binaural rendering #410 detailed in figure 3, comprises spatializing the acoustic signal according to a perceived origination position (range, azimuth, elevation) of the acoustic signal in relation to the listeners ears; see Par.[0043]).
With respect to claim 15, Lyons discloses the at least one non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, , wherein the virtualization filter is selected from a plurality of stored virtualization filters according to head size and head position of the user (Par.[0045-0046] HRIRs are stored and selected at block #334 according to desired location information).
With respect to claim 16, Lyons discloses the at least one non-transitory storage medium of claim 14, wherein the virtualization filter is updated according to the head size (Par.[0036] the sensor signal may contain information representing an ear position/location or a head size of the passenger/driver).
With respect to claim 18, Lyons discloses the at least one non-transitory storage medium of claim 10, wherein the sensor is at least one camera directed to the user (Par.[0025] a sensor, such as a camera #128 may be provided to supply a sensor signal).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON R KURR whose telephone number is (571)270-5981. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached at (571-272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
JASON R. KURR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2695
/JASON R KURR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
Prosecution Insights