DETAILED ACTION
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements submitted are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
3. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
4. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. More specifically, the instant rejection is applicable because the claim is directed towards a computer program.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Regarding claims 1-12, Chen et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0084494 (hereinafter Chen) discloses an environmental sound (from paragraph 0002, see Another technique referred to here as (active) transparency can be used to drive the speaker of the headphone to actually reproduce the ambient sound. Transparency is useful in situations where the passive sound isolation is particularly strong yet the wearer sometimes also prefers to hear their ambient environment (without having to remove the headphone) loudspeaker, comprising:
a loudspeaker driver (from paragraph 0004, see a headphone has several reference microphones, an error microphone and a speaker, all in its ear cup housing. A processor i) drives the speaker for acoustic noise cancellation, by processing the reference microphone signals and the error microphone signal, drives the speaker for transparency);
a first microphone pair, the first microphone pair comprising a first microphone and a second microphone being positioned a distance d apart, the first microphone and the second microphone being positioned diametrically opposite each other and equidistant relative to a center of the loudspeaker driver (from paragraph 0014, see FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an ear cup housing 6 (for example that of a left ear cup or a right ear cup of a headset, also referred to as headphones.) The ear cup housing 6 has an outside face joined to an inside face along a side perimeter of the ear cup housing 6. Note that the term “perimeter” is defined here as encompassing not just a side wall of the housing 6 but also the corner or curve that is partially part of the side wall and partially part of the outside face. There are two or more external or reference microphones integrated in the perimeter of the housing, in this case three reference microphones. For example, as seen in FIG. 1, reference microphone 1, reference microphone 2, and reference microphone 3 are positioned equidistant from each other, e.g., d13=d32=d12, while in the alternative 4-microphone arrangement shown in FIG. 2 there is also reference microphone 4, e.g., d12=d23=d34=d41. The equidistant positioning or spacing of the microphones may achieve a desirable balance between sensitivity and coverage angle for the combined sound pickup response (of the microphones acting together), especially useful for picking up directional sound sources); and
a signal processor configured to: receive a first input signal from the first microphone and a second input signal from the second microphone, each input signal representing a recorded sound; determine an output signal based on the first and second input signals; and provide the output signal to the loudspeaker driver (from paragraph 0018, see The digital processor 9 may also process the reference microphone signals as part of an ambient sound enhancement subsystem, that reproduces the ambient sound (that is detected by the microphone signals), by driving the earpiece speaker 7. This is also referred to here as a transparency function or transparency subsystem which lets the wearer of the ear cup better hear their ambient environment (to thereby not be completely isolated from their ambient sound environment when wearing headphones.) A feedback signal from the error microphone 5 may be used to improve the users experience during operation of the transparency function. For instance, the output of a feedback filter 10 which is operating upon an audio signal from the error microphone 5 may be added, as shown in FIG. 3, to drive the earpiece speaker 7 in a way that reduces the undesirable occlusion effect experienced by the wearer especially in cases where the ear cup is a closed back design or that otherwise has a tendency to acoustically seal the ear (against the ambient environment). The transparency function is further described below in connection with FIG. 3).
Although Chen discloses a low (frequency) shelf filter can, upon command, either cut or boost frequencies below its fc, cutoff frequency, but above fc the filter will pass its input audio signal without gain adjustment (see paragraph 0028); Chen does not teach the determination of the output signal comprises: inverting the first input signal and combining the inverted first input signal with the second input signal into a combined signal; and amplifying the combined signal and/or the first and second input signals to obtain a high-fidelity signal of environmental sounds captured by the first and/or second microphones for frequencies in an audible frequency range, the amplifying comprising attenuating signals with a frequency higher than a first transition frequency and boosting signals with a frequency lower than a second transition frequency, the first and second transition frequencies being based on the distance d between the first and second microphones.
Regarding claims 13-15 and 17-20, Chen discloses a method for recording, processing and immediately replaying sounds (from paragraph 0003, see Several reference microphones are located on the perimeter of the ear cup housing, while an error microphone and a speaker are located on the inside face of the ear cup housing. A processor is configured to i) drive the speaker for acoustic noise cancellation, ANC by processing reference microphone signals and an error microphone signal, from the reference microphones and the error microphone, and drive the speaker for transparency (to reproduce ambient sounds), by processing the reference microphone signals), the method comprising:
receiving a first input signal from a first microphone and a second input signal from a second microphone, each input signal representing a recorded sound, the first microphone and the second microphone forming a first microphone pair, the first microphone and the second microphone being positioned a distance d apart, the first microphone and the second microphone being positioned diametrically opposite each other and equidistant relative to a center of a loudspeaker driver (from paragraph 0014, see FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an ear cup housing 6 (for example that of a left ear cup or a right ear cup of a headset, also referred to as headphones.) The ear cup housing 6 has an outside face joined to an inside face along a side perimeter of the ear cup housing 6. Note that the term “perimeter” is defined here as encompassing not just a side wall of the housing 6 but also the corner or curve that is partially part of the side wall and partially part of the outside face. There are two or more external or reference microphones integrated in the perimeter of the housing, in this case three reference microphones. For example, as seen in FIG. 1, reference microphone 1, reference microphone 2, and reference microphone 3 are positioned equidistant from each other, e.g., d13=d32=d12, while in the alternative 4-microphone arrangement shown in FIG. 2 there is also reference microphone 4, e.g., d12=d23=d34=d41. The equidistant positioning or spacing of the microphones may achieve a desirable balance between sensitivity and coverage angle for the combined sound pickup response (of the microphones acting together), especially useful for picking up directional sound sources);
determining an output signal based on the first and second input signals; and providing the output signal to the loudspeaker driver (from paragraph 0018, see The digital processor 9 may also process the reference microphone signals as part of an ambient sound enhancement subsystem, that reproduces the ambient sound (that is detected by the microphone signals), by driving the earpiece speaker 7. This is also referred to here as a transparency function or transparency subsystem which lets the wearer of the ear cup better hear their ambient environment (to thereby not be completely isolated from their ambient sound environment when wearing headphones.) A feedback signal from the error microphone 5 may be used to improve the users experience during operation of the transparency function. For instance, the output of a feedback filter 10 which is operating upon an audio signal from the error microphone 5 may be added, as shown in FIG. 3, to drive the earpiece speaker 7 in a way that reduces the undesirable occlusion effect experienced by the wearer especially in cases where the ear cup is a closed back design or that otherwise has a tendency to acoustically seal the ear (against the ambient environment). The transparency function is further described below in connection with FIG. 3).
Although Chen discloses a low (frequency) shelf filter can, upon command, either cut or boost frequencies below its fc, cutoff frequency, but above fc the filter will pass its input audio signal without gain adjustment (see paragraph 0028); Chen does not teach the determination of the output signal comprises: inverting the first input signal and combining the inverted first input signal with the second input signal into a combined signal; and amplifying the combined signal and/or the first and second input signals to obtain a high-fidelity signal of environmental sounds captured by the first and/or second microphones for frequencies in an audible frequency range, the amplifying comprising attenuating signals with a frequency higher than a first transition frequency and boosting signals with a frequency lower than a second transition frequency, the first and second transition frequencies being based on the distance d between the first and second microphones.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLISA ANWAH whose telephone number is 571-272-7533. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 6 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edwards can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2600.
Olisa Anwah
Patent Examiner
February 23, 2026
/OLISA ANWAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692