The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. The 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. 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim s 1 , 2, 8-13, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusunoki (US 8,270,631) considered with Nakayama (US 2013/0315416) . Kusunoki discloses a speaker control system (see figs. 3 & 4, for example), comprising: a speaker matrix 1, including: a de-multiplexer 10 (see col. 8, lines 3 0 - 34 , regarding “the multichannel audio amplification apparatus 1 decodes multichannel audio data input to a terminal adata from a DVD player or the like …”) comprising a first audio control relay (e.g., switch SW11) and a second audio control relay (e.g., switch SW12); a control unit 5, 6 operatively arranged to set a state of the first audio control relay SW11 and a state of the second audio control relay SW12, and determine the state of the first audio control relay SW11 and the state of the second audio control relay SW12 (see col. 11, lines 16-17, regarding “upon operation of the operating circuit 6 to turn on ‘Speaker A’ …”; see also fig. 3, and col. 12, lines 2- 4 , regarding determining and controlling the state of the audio control relay switches SW11-SW14 by switching on and off SW11-SW14 to achieve a desired speaker operation); a first speaker group (e.g., speaker B group of fig. 3 ) connected to the de-multiplexer 10 and associated with the first audio control relay SW11 (speaker B group of fig. 3 is turned on when at least the first audio control relay SW11 is turned on) ; and a second speaker group (e.g., speaker A group of fig. 4 ) connected to the de-multiplexer 10 and associated with the second audio control relay SW12 (e.g., speaker A group of fig. 4 is turned on when at least the second audio control relay switch SW12 is turned on) . Kusunoki discloses the invention as claimed, but fails to specifically teach that the speaker matrix further includes a communication module. Nakayama discloses a speaker control system (see fig. 1) including a communication module 102 (e.g., a wireless receiver) which receives source audio data for audio processing and output to a plurality of speakers 110, in the same field of endeavor, for the purpose of wirelessly receiving source audio data from an audio source. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Kusunoki, in view of Nakayama, such that the speaker matrix further includes a communication module. A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of wirelessly receiving source audio data (e.g., the Multichannel Audio Data or ‘ adata ’) from an audio source. Regarding claims 2 and 13, the communication module is connected to a network. See Nakayama, para. 0018, regarding that the communication module 102 (e.g., wireless receiver) is connected to a network (e.g., “a wireless network”). Regarding claim 8, a plurality of speaker groups (e.g., speaker B group of fig. 3 and speaker A group of fig. 4) is connected to the de-multiplexer 10. Regarding claims 9 and 18, the de-multiplexer 10 is operatively arranged to: receive a multiplexed audio signal (e.g., Multi Channel Audio Data or ‘ adata ’); de-multiplex the multiplexed audio signal into a plurality of individual audio streams; and send the plurality of individual audio streams to at least one of the first speaker group (e.g., speaker B group of fig. 3) and the second speaker group (e.g., speaker A group of fig. 4). Regarding claims 10 and 19, the control unit 5, 6 is operatively arranged to energize an audio control relay of the one or more audio control relays (e.g., turn audio relay SW12 on) to mute a respective speaker group of the plurality of speaker groups (e.g., turn speaker B group off). See fig. 4. Regarding claims 11 and 20, the control unit 5, 6 is operatively arranged to de-energize an audio control relay of the one or more audio control relays (e.g., turn audio relay SW12 off) to allow a respective speaker group of the plurality of speaker groups to produce sound (e.g., turn speaker B group on). See fig. 3. Claim s 3 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusunoki (US 8,270,631) considered with Nakayama (US 2013/0315416), as applied to claim 1 and claim 12 above, in further view of Cheong et al. (US 2023/0071138). Kusunoki, as modified and applied to claim 1 and claim 12 above, discloses the invention as claimed, but fails to specifically teach that the communication module (e.g., wireless receiver) is operatively arranged to communicate with the control unit 5, 6 via a serial peripheral interface (SPI). Cheong discloses an electronic device including a plurality of electronic components which “may be coupled mutually and communicate signals (e.g., commands or data) therebetween via an inter-peripheral communication scheme” such as a serial peripheral interface (see para. 0052), in the same field of endeavor, for the purpose of enabling direct, high-bandwidth communication which is well known for its simplicity, high speed, and lack of complex addressing. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify Kusunoki, in view of Cheong, such that the communication module (e.g., wireless receiver) is operatively arranged to communicate with the control unit 5, 6 via a serial peripheral interface (SPI). A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of enabling direct, high-bandwidth communication which is well known for its simplicity, high speed, and lack of complex addressing. Claim s 6, 7, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusunoki (US 8,270,631) considered with Nakayama (US 2013/0315416), as applied to claim 1 and claim 12 above, in further view of Stieler von Heydekampf et al. (US 2010/0303260). Kusunoki, as modified and applied to claim 1 and claim 12 above, discloses the invention as claimed, but fails to specifically teach an amplifier arranged to transmit a multiplexed audio signal to the de-multiplexer 10. Stieler von Heydekampf discloses an audio mixer (fig. 3) including a preamplifier to control the signal level of the input signal, in the same field of endeavor, for the purpose of ensuring that the signal level of the input signal has an amplitude which is sufficient for subsequent data processing (see para. 0017). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify Kusunoki, in view of Stieler von Heydekampf , such that an amplifier is arranged to transmit a multiplexed audio signal to the de-multiplexer 10. A practitioner in the art would have been motivated to do this for the purpose of ensuring that the signal level of the input signal (e.g., ‘ adata ’) has an amplitude which is sufficient for subsequent data processing. Claims 4, 5, 15, and 16 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. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references cited on the PTO-892 each disclose a speaker or transducer control system. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL W HUBER whose telephone number is (571)272-7588 . If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen , can be reached at telephone number 571-272-7503 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center to authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to the USPTO patent electronic filing system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/InterviewPractice . /PAUL W HUBER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691 pwh December 17, 2025