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 .
Claims 1-6 and 16-19 has been withdrawn and cancelled.
Claim 7, 8, 12, and 20 are amended.
Claims 21-30 are new.
Claims 7-15 and 20-30 are pending.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 13, 24, and 27 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 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, 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 7-9, 11-12, 20-23, 25-26, and 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Visser et al. (US PGPUB #2011/0038489) in view of Chen et al. (US PBPUB #2022/0084495) further in view of Benattar (US #2022/0240045).
Regarding Claim 7, Visser discloses a method for headset audio processing, the method comprising:
generating a recommended aperture (Visser ¶0268 discloses to achieve [such] desired speaker localization and/or spatial discrimination of sound, it may be desirable to generate narrow spatial sectors [i.e., aperture] in different directions around the microphone array in order to accurately determine the position of a sound source [e.g., the user]. With two microphones, relatively narrow sectors can typically only be created in endfire directions, while broadside sectors are typically much wider. With three, four, or more microphones, however, narrower sectors are typically possible in all directions. ¶0271 discloses in another example, a carkit application is implemented to include a sector oriented toward the driver's head, a sector oriented between the driver's head and the middle, a sector oriented toward the middle, and a sector oriented toward the front-seat passenger's head, towards the door, window, and the like) while a wearer of a headset is looking at a first direction (Visser ¶0318 discloses [to achieve such a result], it may be desirable to regularize the converged beams to unity gain in the desired look direction using a normalization procedure over all look angles. ¶0264 discloses [for some applications], the expected range of directions of arrival of the desired sound [i.e., in look direction] is typically limited to a relatively narrow range. In such cases [e.g., for a typical headset or handset application], a single directional masking function may be wide enough to include the expected range of directions of arrival of the desired sound in the corresponding dimension, yet narrow enough to provide a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio [SNR] for reliable detection of a wideband coherent signal. figs. 6 and 24A-25D).
Visser may not explicitly disclose producing a transparency audio signal that is to drive a speaker of the headset, wherein the transparency audio signal is produced by processing a plurality of microphone signals, produced by a plurality of microphones in the headset, to perform speech enhancement or speech isolation within the recommended aperture; expanding the recommended aperture in response to the wearer of the headset looking away from the first direction in a different, second direction; and then shrinking the recommended aperture so long as the wearer of the headset continues to look in the second direction.
However, Chen (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches producing a transparency audio signal that is to drive a speaker of the headset (Chen ¶0021 discloses the transparency function which may use all of the reference microphone signals at once remains effective even in a windy environment, reproducing less wind noise. ¶0024 discloses the sum of the microphone signals is also provided to the input of a transparency filter A, which may reduce noise in the ambient sound that is to be reproduced. The outputs of the feedforward filter 14 and the transparency filter A are then converted into sound by driving the earpiece speaker 7; fig. 3), wherein the transparency audio signal is produced by processing a plurality of microphone signals (Chen ¶0021 discloses the wind mitigation algorithm configures the processor 9 to detect which one or more of the microphone signals is suffering from wind noise and in response attenuates [e.g., mutes] that microphone signal but not others), produced by a plurality of microphones in the headset (Chen ¶0018 discloses 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 perform speech enhancement (Chen ¶0017 discloses to further reduce any ambient noise [undesired sound] that leaks past this barrier, an acoustic noise cancellation, ANC, subsystem may be added. The ANC subsystem has a digital processor 9 that is configured to process the microphone signals as part of an ANC algorithm that produces anti-noise by driving one or more earpiece speakers 7 that are in the inside face of the ear cup housing 6) or
Visser and Chen are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify headset device (as taught by Visser) to use transparency filter in a headphone audio system (as taught by Chen, ¶0024) to improve performance of both an ANC subsystem and a transparency function (Chen, ¶0024).
And Benattar (title, abstract, figs. 1-4) teaches speech isolation (Benattar ¶0069 discloses the system is capable of customizing the listening experience of a user and may include at least some portion of the ambient audio or artificially-generated position specific audio. The system may be provided so that the audio spatialization applied may maintain orientation with respect to a fixed frame of reference as the listener moves and tracks movement of an actual or apparent audio source even when the speakers and sensor are not maintained in the same relative position and orientation to the listener. For example, the system may operate to identify and isolate audio emanating from a source located in a particular position) within the recommended aperture (Benattar ¶0071 discloses in one use case, a user may be listening to music in an office, in a restaurant, at a sporting event or in any other environment in which there are multiple people speaking in various directions relative to the user. The user may be utilizing one or more detached microphone arrays or other sensors in order to identify and, when desired, stream certain sounds or voices to the user. The user may wish to quickly turn in the direction relative to the user from where the desired sound is emanating or from where the speaker is standing in order to show recognition to the speaker that he/she is heard and to focus visually in the direction of such sound source [i.e., recommended aperture]);
expanding the recommended aperture in response to the wearer of the headset looking away from the first direction in a different, second direction (Benattar ¶0069 discloses the system is designed so that the apparent location of audio from a set of personal speakers can be configured to remain constant when a user and/or the sensors tum or move. For example, if the user turns to the right, the personal speakers will tum with the user. The system may apply a modification to the spatialization so that the apparent location of the audio source will be moved relative to the user, i.e., to the user's left and the user will perceive the audio source remaining stationary even while the user is moving relative to the source. This may be accomplished by motion sensors detecting changes in position or orientation of the user and modifying the audio spatialization in order to compensate for the change in location or orientation of the user [i.e., expanding the recommended aperture], and in particular the ear speakers being used. The system may also use audio source tracking to detect movement of the audio source and to compensate so that the user will perceive the audio source motion); and then
shrinking the recommended aperture so long as the wearer of the headset continues to look in the second direction (Benattar ¶0071 discloses in one use case, a user may be listening to music in an office, in a restaurant, at a sporting event or in any other environment in which there are multiple people speaking in various directions relative to the user. The user may be utilizing one or more detached microphone arrays or other sensors in order to identify and, when desired, stream certain sounds or voices to the user. The user may wish to quickly turn in the direction relative to the user from where the desired sound is emanating or from where the speaker is standing in order to show recognition to the speaker that he/she is heard and to focus visually in the direction of such sound source [i.e., shrinking the recommended aperture]).
Visser, Chen, and Benattar are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Visser in view of Chen in light of the teachings of Benattar to identify and isolate audio emanating from a source located in a particular position (as taught by Benattar, ¶0069) to provide the audio spatialization applied to maintain orientation with respect to a fixed frame of reference as the listener moves and tracks movement of an actual or apparent audio source even when the speakers and sensor are not maintained in the same relative position and orientation to the listener (Benattar, ¶0069).
Regarding Claim 8, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7. But Visser in view of Chen may not explicitly disclose wherein the once expanded encompasses the first direction and the second direction.
However, Benattar (title, abstract, figs. 1-4) teaches wherein the once expanded encompasses the first direction and the second direction (Benattar ¶0069 discloses the system is designed so that the apparent location of audio from a set of personal speakers can be configured to remain constant when a user and/or the sensors tum or move. For example, if the user turns to the right [i.e., first direction], the personal speakers will tum with the user. The system may apply a modification to the spatialization so that the apparent location of the audio source will be moved relative to the user, i.e., to the user's left [second direction] and the user will perceive the audio source remaining stationary even while the user is moving relative to the source).
Visser, Chen, and Benattar are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Visser in view of Chen in light of the teachings of Benattar to design a system so that the apparent location of audio from a set of personal speakers can be configured to remain constant when a user and/or the sensors tum or move (as taught by Benattar, ¶0069) to provide the audio spatialization applied to maintain orientation with respect to a fixed frame of reference as the listener moves and tracks movement of an actual or apparent audio source even when the speakers and sensor are not maintained in the same relative position and orientation to the listener (Benattar, ¶0069).
Regarding Claim 9, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7. But Visser in view of Chen may not explicitly disclose wherein the recommended aperture shrinks according to a decay parameter.
However, Benattar (title, abstract, figs. 1-4) teaches wherein the recommended aperture shrinks according to a decay parameter (Benattar ¶0065 discloses this computed scaling factor can estimate the time delay as function of the direction and elevation for any given individual. ¶0066 discloses parameter λ).
Visser, Chen, and Benattar are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Visser in view of Chen in light of the teachings of Benattar to design a system so that the apparent location of audio from a set of personal speakers can be configured to remain constant when a user and/or the sensors tum or move (as taught by Benattar, ¶0069) to provide the audio spatialization applied to maintain orientation with respect to a fixed frame of reference as the listener moves and tracks movement of an actual or apparent audio source even when the speakers and sensor are not maintained in the same relative position and orientation to the listener (Benattar, ¶0069).
Regarding Claim 11, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7 wherein processing the plurality of microphone signals, to perform speech enhancement or speech isolation within the recommended aperture (Visser ¶0268 discloses to achieve [such] desired speaker localization and/or spatial discrimination of sound, it may be desirable to generate narrow spatial sectors [i.e., aperture] in different directions around the microphone array in order to accurately determine the position of a sound source [e.g., the user]. With two microphones, relatively narrow sectors can typically only be created in endfire directions, while broadside sectors are typically much wider. With three, four, or more microphones, however, narrower sectors are typically possible in all directions. ¶0230 discloses for example, apparatus A10 may be implemented on a processor of device D10 that is also configured to perform a spatial processing operation as described above on the processed multichannel signal [e.g., one or more operations that determine the distance between the audio sensing device and a particular sound source, reduce noise, enhance signal components that arrive from a particular direction, and/or separate one or more sound components from other environmental sounds]), comprises
a beamforming algorithm that suppresses sound pickup in directions that are outside of the recommended aperture (Visser ¶0206 discloses some multichannel signal processing operations that use information from more than one channel of a multichannel signal to produce each channel of a multichannel output. Examples of such operations may include beamforming and blind-source-separation operations).
Regarding Claim 12, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7
wherein the once expanded is one of a plurality of predetermined apertures (Visser ¶0268 discloses to achieve [such] desired speaker localization and/or spatial discrimination of sound, it may be desirable to generate narrow spatial sectors [i.e., aperture] in different directions around the microphone array in order to accurately determine the position of a sound source [e.g., the user]. With two microphones, relatively narrow sectors can typically only be created in endfire directions, while broadside sectors are typically much wider. With three, four, or more microphones, however, narrower sectors are typically possible in all directions. ¶0271 discloses in another example, a carkit application is implemented to include a sector oriented toward the driver's head, a sector oriented between the driver's head and the middle, a sector oriented toward the middle, and a sector oriented toward the front-seat passenger's head, towards the door, window, and the like).
Regarding Claim 20, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7 wherein the recommended aperture shrinks but does not become smaller than a minimum non-zero aperture (Visser ¶0268 discloses to achieve [such] desired speaker localization and/or spatial discrimination of sound, it may be desirable to generate narrow spatial sectors [i.e., aperture] in different directions around the microphone array in order to accurately determine the position of a sound source [e.g., the user]. With two microphones, relatively narrow sectors can typically only be created in endfire directions, while broadside sectors are typically much wider. With three, four, or more microphones, however, narrower sectors are typically possible in all directions. ¶0271 discloses in another example, a carkit application is implemented to include a sector oriented toward the driver's head, a sector oriented between the driver's head and the middle, a sector oriented toward the middle, and a sector oriented toward the front-seat passenger's head. In a further example, a carkit application is implemented to include a sector oriented toward the driver's door or window, a sector oriented toward the driver's seat or head, and a sector oriented toward the middle [i.e., between the driver and the front-seat passenger]. Such an application may also include a sector oriented toward the passenger's head).
Claims 21-23, 25-26, and 29-30 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claims 7-9, 11-12, and 20.
Claims 14-15 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Visser et al. (US #2011/0038489) in view of Chen et al. (US #2022/0084495) further in view of Benattar (US #2022/0240045) and Sporer et al. (US #2022/0159403).
Regarding Claim 14, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7 but may not explicitly disclose wherein expanding the recommended aperture is in response to detecting a head tilt by the wearer.
However, Sporer (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) teaches wherein expanding the recommended aperture is in response to detecting a head tilt by the wearer (Sporer ¶0084 discloses if the recording means [microphones] is connected to the head, the positions of the objects vary with movements of the head. ¶0184 discloses subsystem 1 includes a tracking device to obtain tracking data concerning a position and/or orientation of a user. For example, the tracking data concerning the position and/or the orientation of the user may be used to determine translational positions of the user and the head posture of the user in the room. Up to 6DoF [six degrees of freedom, e.g. x-coordinate, y-coordinate, z-coordinate, pitch angle, yaw angle, roll angle] may be measured. ¶0185 discloses the tracking device can be positioned at the head of a user).
Visser, Chen, Benattar, and Sporer are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Visser in view of Chen and Benattar in light of the teachings of Sporer to determine translational positions of the user and the head posture of the user in the room (as taught by Sporer, ¶0084) to incorporate and combine different techniques for assisted hearing in technical systems such that an enhancement of the sound quality and quality of life [e.g. desired sound is louder, desired sound is more quiet, better speech comprehensibility] is achieved for people with normal hearing and people with damaged hearing (Sporer, ¶0047).
Regarding Claim 15, Visser in view of Chen and Benattar discloses the method of claim 7 but may not explicitly disclose wherein processing the plurality of microphone signals comprises using a machine learning (ML) model to perform speech enhancement or speech separation.
However, Sporer (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) teaches wherein processing the plurality of microphone signals comprises using a machine learning (ML) model to perform speech enhancement or speech separation (Sporer ¶0084 discloses signal separation is carried out by means of deep learning models [e.g. CNN, RCNN, LSTM, Siamese network], and simultaneously processes the information from at least two microphone channels, wherein there is at least one microphone in each hearable. According to the invention, several output signals [according to the individual sound sources] are determined together with their respective spatial position through the mutual analysis. If the recording means [microphones] is connected to the head, the positions of the objects vary with movements of the head. This enables natural focusing on important/ unimportant sound, e.g. by the turning towards the sound object. ¶0112 discloses embodiments combine concepts for detection, classification, separation, localization, and enhancement of sound sources).
Visser, Chen, Benattar, and Sporer are analogous art as they pertain to headphone conversation detection. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Visser in view of Chen and Benattar in light of the teachings of Sporer to determine translational positions of the user and the head posture of the user in the room (as taught by Sporer, ¶0084) to incorporate and combine different techniques for assisted hearing in technical systems such that an enhancement of the sound quality and quality of life [e.g. desired sound is louder, desired sound is more quiet, better speech comprehensibility] is achieved for people with normal hearing and people with damaged hearing (Sporer, ¶0047).
Claim 28 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claim 14.
Conclusion
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/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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