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 .
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 IDS filed on 07/07/2026 . 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/07/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-19, 22 are presented for examination.
DETAILED ACTION
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-9, 11-19, 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumar et.al. (U.S Patent Application Publication 2010/0162019; hereinafter “Kumar”; Reference cited by applicant ) in vie wof Ganong III et.al. (U.S Patent Application Publication 2014/0278435; hereinafter “Ganong”; Reference cited as prior art in previous office action )
Regarding claims 1, 12, Kumar discloses,, a media processing apparatus, applied to an intelligent terminal, wherein:
A media processing apparatus, applied to an intelligent terminal, wherein: the apparatus comprises a central processing unit (CPU), an audio digital signal processor (DSP), and a video processor, [ “ audio IP, Video IP.. host CPU”, 0042;” digital signal processors (DSPs) 108 for processing digital signals sent and received by the HE device 100…”, 0026; Fig.1,3] ;
wherein the CPU is configured to run a base operating system to ensure normal operation of the intelligent terminal in a low power mode [” the device memory 118 includes a profile registry 124, applications 126, an operating system (OS) 128, and other programs and data 130. The OS 128 is typically a set of programs used to maintain and execute programs related to the HE device 100.”, 0029;0042; the active standby mode corresponds to a mode of operation of the HE device where the user may perceive the HE device to be switched off, but the HE device may still be functioning, for example, exchanging data, as the HE device is still plugged in. In this mode of operation, power is provided to components that are functioning while the rest of the components are placed in a low power mode, thereby reducing the power consumption on the whole”, 0019; “The OS drivers are used for controlling components supported by the OS 128, hereinafter referred to as OS supported components. For example, in Linux, the Ethernet driver is a part of the OS. Also, for the customized drivers, the power driver 120 may interface directly by registration and call back functions. For the drivers of the OS supported components, if the OS 128 supports power management, the power driver 120 uses their exposed application programming interfaces (APIs); otherwise, the power driver 120 can implement the low power modes for the OS supported components not having OS power management support”, 0043;”.. The execution of the user interface 302 is made possible in the active standby mode by running the CPU services 312 on reduced clocks…”, 0050 ( i.e. OS is executing to ensure normal operation in active and active standby mode/ low power mode)]
the intelligent terminal comprises the low power mode, a speaker mode, and an on mode, [ 0019; “ the active mode is a fully functional mode, where all the components of the of the HE device 100 are functional and supplied with power. The active standby mode corresponds to a mode of operation of the HE device 100, where power is supplied to those components that are functioning while the rest of the components are powered down, thereby reducing the overall power consumption.”, 0028 ( i.e. the active mode corresponds to on mode); “The low power mode can be explained as the condition where the selected components of the SOC hardware 310 stop functioning and hence consume minimal power. The power driver 120 may also instruct the clock driver 122 to place common clocks, i.e., clocks shared between various processors, such as the host processors 312 and the co-processors 314 in the scaled down mode, if required in the determined profile. In this way, the HE device 100 is placed into an active standby mode. In one embodiment, the power driver 120 may automatically place the HE device 100 in the active standby mode when it receives no input from the user for a long period of time. In such a case, the control unit 206 may trigger the active standby mode by sending a signal to the user interface 302. “, 0049 ; (i.e active standby mode corresponds to low power mode); “ the power driver 120 sets various components in a state desired by the received input. Such a state is set based on the profiles, registered and stored in the profile registry 124, corresponding to the applications 126 associated with the received input…”, 0034; “For example, in response to a request for recording only the audio broadcast, the power driver 120 can invoke call back functions so that only the audio drivers function normally while other drivers are scaled down or switched off depending on the profile settings. ...”, 0032; ( i.e audio / speaker mode) and is configured to switch between any two of the low power mode, the speaker mode, and the on mode[0043-0046;” Based on the determined profile, the power driver 120 selects the components associated with applications 126 that need to be stopped and instructs the power subsystems to place the selected components in the low power mode.”, 0047; “ In order to resume control from the active standby mode, the user interface 302 waits for an "Out of Standby" event in the form of a wake up signal through the I/O interfaces 104, via the control unit 206. The user interface 302 determines a wake up reason on receiving the wake up signal. ..”, 0050 ; “On determining the wake up reason, the user interface 302 can instruct the power driver 120 to go into ON mode and restore those components that are associated with the applications 126 required for the wake up. The components to be restored are determined from the profiles of the applications 126…”, 0051; (i.e switching between any two modes)];
wherein in the low power mode, the CPU in an on state, the audio DSP and the video processor are in an off state [ “The various subsystems include .. audio subsystem 308-2, video subsystem 308-3, “, 041; “The corresponding IPs on SOC hardware 310 can include Dmod IP 310-1, audio IP 310-2, video IP 310-3”, 0042; “In order to resume control from the active standby mode, the user interface 302 waits for an "Out of Standby" event in the form of a wake up signal through the I/O interfaces 104, via the control unit 206. The user interface 302 determines a wake up reason on receiving the wake up signal. The execution of the user interface 302 is made possible in the active standby mode by running the CPU services 312 on reduced clocks. The wake up reason can be either a request for running one of the applications 126 received from a user, from a broadcaster or from a remote device through an Ethernet connection”, 0050; (i.e. CPU is an on state in the active standby mode); “On determining the wake up reason, the user interface 302 can instruct the power driver 120 to go into ON mode and restore those components that are associated with the applications 126 required for the wake up. The components to be restored are determined from the profiles of the applications 126. For example, if the wake up reason is due to a user providing a command to record an audio or video file, the power driver 120 will retrieve the profile corresponding to active mode of operation of the application for audio or video recording. Based on the retrieved profile, the power driver 120 instructs power subsystems 308 to resume control of the various components. For example, the power driver 120 can instruct the audio video subsystems 308-2 and 308-3 to restore the power of the corresponding IPs 310-2 and 310-3.”, 0051;( i.e. the audio and video IP cores / subsystems are turned off in the active standby mode if their functionality is not required )];
in the speaker mode, the CPU, the audio input/output, and the audio DSP are in an on state, and the video processor is in an off state, and [0028; 0043; “..the power driver 120 selects the components associated with applications 126 that need to be stopped and instructs the power subsystems to place the selected components in the low power mode.”, 0047; “the subsystems 308 can place their components and clocks in the low power mode so that the associated IPs consume minimal power.”, 0048; ” For example, an application for performing recording can have one profile for recording an audio broadcast and one profile for recording both the audio and video broadcast. Both the profiles will include all components related to audio/video broadcast; however, they may be set at different states of operation. In both the cases, the power driver 120 will invoke related drivers for performing the desired application. For example, in response to a request for recording only the audio broadcast, the power driver 120 can invoke call back functions so that only the audio drivers function normally while other drivers are scaled down or switched off depending on the profile settings..”, 0032; “.. The execution of the user interface 302 is made possible in the active standby mode by running the CPU services 312 on reduced clocks…”, 0050-0051; “the subsystems 308 place their SOC hardware 310 and clocks in the low power mode. “, 0054; ( i.e CPU is active and components related audio applications are active . It is apparent that if the audio broadcast is active, only components related to audio subsystems are active and video subsystem is off . Hence entering a speaker mode) ];
in the on mode, the CPU, the audio input/output, the audio DSP, and the video processor are all in an on state [ 0042; (i.e respective audio, video processors); “..Thus, in the active mode all the SOC hardware 310 are connected to the power supply 114”, 0052.; Fig.3] and
when the intelligent terminal is in the low power mode, the CPU is configured to: control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the speaker mode[0050-0051; 0054]
However Kumar does not expressly disclose an audio input/output, wherein in the low power mode, audio input/output are in an on state; when the intelligent terminal is in the low power mode, the CPU is configured to: receive a first voice instruction through the audio input/output and in response to the first voice instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the speaker mode.
In the same field of endeavor (e.g. power management of a mobile device by controlling the processing stages of a first and second processor based on a voice command) , Ganong teaches, an audio input/output [“..transducers 130 may include one or more speakers and/or one or more microphones arranged on the mobile device to allow input/output (I/O) of acoustic information”, 0041] wherein in the low power mode, the audio input/output are in an on state [“..the voice response system may be configured to keep as many components in a low power mode as possible to reduce the impact on the battery of the mobile device. As such, the voice response system may incrementally or progressively transition the mobile device from a low power mode to an active mode by activating resources only as needed…”, 0074-0075; “..When operating in a low power mode, one or more of the microphones may be powered down or turned off to conserver power, while at least one microphone remains at least partially on so as to continue to monitor the acoustic environment to receive acoustic input when the mobile device is operating in a low power mode. When the voice response system determines that the acoustic input likely includes speech and/or a voice command, the voice response system may turn on one or more additional microphones.”, 0076; (i. atleast one microphone are in an on state )];
receive a first voice instruction through the audio input/output and in response to the first voice instruction[“..one or more microphones may sense acoustic activity in the environment and obtain the resulting acoustic input for further processing to assess whether the acoustic input includes a voice command”, 0047; 0048-0049], control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the speaker mode [0053; 0057; “The voice response system may then be readied to process subsequent acoustic input expected to follow the explicit voice trigger, or to further process the acoustic input if it includes an actionable voice command in addition to the explicit voice trigger. The further processing may engage the primary processor to assist in understanding the voice command and/or to carry out the directives of the voice command.”, 0132; “FIGS. 8A and 8B, explicit voice detection 820 determines that the user spoke a permissible explicit voice trigger. In response, voice response system 850 may transition the mobile device from the low power mode to an active mode (e.g., the voice response system may incrementally wake-up the mobile device as appropriate, or fully activate the mobile device). The extent to which the voice response system wakes-up the mobile device may depend free upon the design of the voice response system. According to some embodiments, thevoice response system may wake-up the mobile device to the same extent the mobile device is activated when a user performs the manual actions required to wake-up the device (e.g., the voice response system may turn on the display, activate the primary processor and/or otherwise ready the mobile device to perform any of its available functions)”, 0166;0170 Fig.8B ; ( i.e activating the primary processor upon detecting a voice trigger)] .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kumar with Ganong Ganong’s teaching of controlling the processing stages based on a voice command will substantially enhance the user experience and power management of Kumar’s system, to engage with a mobile device via voice activation even when the mobile device is operating in a low power mode by facilitating hand’s free interaction and controlling power to the respective processors.
Regarding claims 2, 13 Kumar discloses wherein the CPU is specifically configured to: in response to the first voice instruction, wake up the audio DSP, and turn on an audio player to control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the speaker mode [0032;0034;0047; 0050]
Ganong teaches in response to the first voice instruction, wake up the audio DSP, and turn on an audio player to control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the speaker mode [ 0074-0077; 0132].
Regarding claims 3, 14, wherein when the intelligent terminal is in the speaker mode, the CPU is further configured to: control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the low power mode, in response to the instruction control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the low power mode [ 0025; 0032; 0041;0043-0044; 0047; 0053];
Ganong teaches receiving voice instructions [0027; 0163].
Regarding Claims 4, 15, Kumar teaches wherein when the intelligent terminal is in the speaker mode, the CPU is further configured to: if no audio play service is performed , within preset duration control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the low power mode [ 0032; 0043-0046; “..HE device 100 in the active standby mode when it receives no input from the user for a long period of time…”, 0049; 0050-0051]
Ganong teaches , if no voice instruction is received, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the low power mode [ 0034; (determining the voice input in stages and determining the activation of the components on as needed basis);” .. determine whether acoustic input includes a voice command.”, 0075]. “a voice response system may be enabled to monitor the acoustic environment both in active and low power modes, while in some embodiments, monitoring the acoustic environment is limited to either active or lower power modes. ...”, 0050; “. Otherwise, the mobile device may discontinue further processing of the acoustic input and ignore it as spurious acoustic activity (e.g., non-speech sounds, background noise, speech not corresponding to a voice command or, according to some embodiments, speech from one or more people that are not the user of the mobile device, as discussed in further detail below). The voice response system may then continue to monitor the acoustic environment to obtain further acoustic input (e.g., the voice response system may return to or continue to perform act 210).”, 0058; ( i.e., determining no voice instruction is received by detecting non-speech sounds )].
Regarding claims 5, 16, Kumar discloses, wherein the CPU is specifically configured to turn off the audio DSP to control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the low power mode [0032;0043-0047; 0051;( i.e. the audio and video IP cores / subsystems are turned off in the active standby mode if their functionality is not required].
Ganong teaches turn off an audio player[“
Regarding claims 6, 17, Kumar discloses in the on mode display of the intelligent terminal is in an on state [“..home entertainment (HE) device implementing power management support. The HE device 100 may be implemented as any of a variety of electronic devices including, for example, set top boxes, digital video disc (DVD) players ..”, 0024; 0028]
Ganong teaches , in the low power mode and the speaker mode, the display of the intelligent terminal is in an off state[ 0072-0076; 0158; 0166].
Regarding claims 7, 18, Kumar teaches , wherein when the intelligent terminal is in the speaker mode[0032; 0047;] the CPU is further configured to: in response to a received first power-on instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the on mode[0028;0050-0051], wherein the controlling the intelligent terminal to switch from the speaker mode to the on mode comprises turning on the display, and turning on the video processor.[ 0039; “….the audio video subsystems 308-2 and 308-3 to restore the power of the corresponding IPs 310-2 and 310-3”, 0051; 0059-0060; 0085].
Regarding claims 8, 19, Kumar, Ganong teaches the limitations outlined in claim 1, 6.
However Kumar, Ganong does not expressly disclose wherein when the intelligent terminal is in the on mode, the CPU is further configured to: receive a speaker mode switching instruction through the audio input/output, and in response to the speaker mode switching instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the on mode to the speaker mode; or receive a sleep instruction through the audio input/output, and in response to the sleep instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the on mode to the low power mode
Kumar teaches wherein when the intelligent terminal is in the on mode, the CPU is further configured to: receive a speaker mode switching instruction, and in response to the speaker mode switching instruction[0032;0043-0047; 0051], control the intelligent terminal to switch from the on mode to the speaker mode; or receive a sleep instruction, and in response to the sleep instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the on mode to the low power mode [ 0039; “... The user interface 302 may receive a request for entering the passive standby mode through the I/O interfaces 104, via the control unit 206. The user interface 302 instructs the power driver 120 to go into the passive standby mode. The power driver 120, in turn, first redirects all the subsystems 308 to go into the low power mode by invoking callback functions of the customized drivers and function calls for the OS supported components.”, 0053; 0054-0055].
Ganong teaches receiving instruction through the audio input/output [ 0047-0049; 0058-0059]
Regarding claims 9, 22, Kumar teaches, in response to a received second power-on instruction, control the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the on mode[0028;0047; 0050-0051], wherein the controlling the intelligent terminal to switch from the low power mode to the on mode comprises turning on the display, and turning on the audio DSP and the video processor.[ 0039; “….the audio video subsystems 308-2 and 308-3 to restore the power of the corresponding IPs 310-2 and 310-3”, 0051; 0059; 0085; Fig.7].
Regarding claim 11, Ganong teaches , when the intelligent terminal is in the low power mode, a voice wakeup process in the CPU is in an enabled state[ 0072-0073]; and when the intelligent terminal is in the speaker mode, an audio decoding and play process in the CPU is in an enabled state[ 0077;0144-0145] .
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kumar in view of Ganong as applied to claim 6 further in view of Smith et.al. (U.S Patent Application Publication 2009/0204835; hereinafter “Smith”; Reference cited as prior art in previous office action )
Regarding claim 10, Kumar , Ganong teaches the limitations outlined in claims 1, 6. However Kumar, Ganong does not expressly disclose the CPU comprises a plurality of CPU cores; and when the intelligent terminal is in the low power mode, a part of CPU cores in the CPU are in an operating state, and an operating frequency of the part of CPU cores in the operating state is less than an operating frequency of a CPU core corresponding to a case in which the intelligent terminal is in the on mode.
In the same field of endeavor (e.g. In the same field of endeavor ( e.g., an integrated circuit device with plurality of power modes based on turning on / off of the power islands with respect to the requested device functionality to optimize power efficiency), Smith teaches,
the CPU comprises a plurality of CPU cores; and when the intelligent terminal is in the low power mode[“in a deep sleep mode, the voltage rail 262 and the domain 222 can be shut down. The components of the always on domain 221 will remain active, waiting for a wake-up signal.”, 0040], a part of CPU cores in the CPU are in an operating state, and an operating frequency of the part of CPU cores in the operating state is less than an operating frequency of a CPU core corresponding to a case in which the intelligent terminal is in the on mode[ 0004; 0023; 0026-0027].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kumar in view of Ganong with Smith. Smith’s teaching of plurality of power domains and turning on/ off the power for a selected one or more power domains will substantially improve the power efficiency of Kumar in view of Ganong’s system to minimize the leakage current by power gating or clock gating the functional blocks based on the device functionality.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Crespi, U.S Patent Application Publication 2019/0198043,, teaches audio signal processing, and more particularly for example, to detecting voice activity in low power environments.
Conroy et. al., U.S Patent Application Publication 2010/0030928, teaches A media processing system and device with improved power usage characteristics, improved audio functionality and improved media security is provided. Embodiments of the media processing system include an audio processing subsystem that operates independently of the host processor for long periods of time, allowing the host processor to enter a low power state. Other aspects of the media processing system provide for enhanced audio effects such as mixing stored audio samples into real-time telephone audio. Still other aspects of the media processing system provide for improved media security due to the isolation of decrypted audio data from the host processor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GAYATHRI SAMPATH whose telephone number is (571)272-5489. The examiner can normally be reached on 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, Jaweed Abbaszadeh can be reached on 5712701640. 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 the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GAYATHRI SAMPATH/ Examiner, Art Unit 2176
/JAWEED A ABBASZADEH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2176
Prosecution Insights