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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1 and 8-10 are rejected
Claims 2-7 and 11-18 are objected to
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Song et al (US PUB 20190387304, hereinafter Song).
Regarding Claim 1, Song discloses a device for detecting a wearing status of a headphone (e.g. a headset 100), (see at least the abstract and figure 1), comprising: a sensor (e.g. sensor 311 of a wearing status sensing module 31), (see figure 2), a player (e.g. a player of a sound control system 30), an acoustic detection assembly (e.g. sound collection module 34), and a microprocessor (e.g. a control module 32), wherein the acoustic detection assembly is connected to the player through a digital-to-analog converter (e.g. a DAC within the main control unit 321), and the microprocessor is connected to the sensor and the acoustic detection assembly separately (see figure 4); the sensor is configured to determine, in combination with the microprocessor, a wearing status (e.g. wearing status sensing module 31) of the headphone within a period of time after current time in a case where the headphone is in a worn status at the current time (e.g. the actual wearing time period of the headset 100 in case the headset 100 is in a worn state is determined through via an optical sensor); and the acoustic detection assembly is configured to determine, in combination with the microprocessor and the player, the wearing status of the headphone within the period of time after the current time in a case where the headphone is in a non-worn status at the current time (e.g. the time period at which the headset 100 has been taken-off is also determined via the optical sensor when it is discovered that the headset 100 is in a no-wearing state), (see Song, [0012], [0023]-[0026], [0031], [0033]-[0034], [0052] and [0054], also figures 1-4).
Regarding Claim 9, Song discloses a method for detecting a wearing status of a headphone (e.g. a headset 100), the method being performed by a device for detecting a wearing status of a headphone of claim 1 (e.g. using the device according to figures 1-4), and comprising: in a case where the headphone is in a worn status at current time, determining a wearing status of the headphone (e.g. via wearing status sensing module 31) within a period of time after the current time through the sensor (an optical sensor); and in a case where the headphone is in a non-worn status at current time, determining a wearing status of the headphone within a period of time after the current time through the player and the acoustic detection assembly (see Song, [0024], [0052] and [0054], also figures 3-4).
Claim(s) 8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song in view of Hayashi et al (US PUB 20170142522, hereinafter Hayashi).
Regarding Claim 8, Song discloses a device for detecting a wearing status of a headphone (e.g. a headset 100), (see at least the abstract and figure 1), comprising: a sensor (e.g. sensor 311 of a wearing status sensing module 31), (see figure 2), a player (e.g. a player of a sound control system 30), (e.g. sound collection module 34), an acoustic detection assembly (e.g. sound collection module 34) and a microprocessor (e.g. a control module 32), wherein the acoustic detection assembly is connected to the player through a digital-to-analog converter (e.g. a DAC within the main control unit 321), and the microprocessor is connected to the sensor and the acoustic detection assembly separately; and the acoustic detection assembly is configured to, receive an audio signal by a receiver (e.g. a speaker 20) in the acoustic detection assembly (see figure 4), wherein the audio signal is played by the player (see Song, [0012], [0023]-[0026], [0031], [0033]-[0034], [0052] and [0054], also figures 1-4).
Song does not explicitly teach the sensor is configured to send a trigger signal to the microprocessor after sensing that the headphone leaves an ear; the microprocessor is configured to trigger the acoustic detection assembly to detect the wearing status of the headphone after receiving the trigger signal, and convert the audio signal from a time domain signal to a frequency domain signal, and identify the frequency domain signal after conversion to determine the wearing status of the headphone.
However, Hayashi in the same field of endeavor teaches a device for detecting a wearing status of a headphone (e.g. a headphone 1), (see figure 3), comprising a sensor (e.g. a sensor positioned on housing 10 of the headphone) is configured to send a trigger signal to a microprocessor (e.g. DSP 106) after sensing that the headphone leaves an ear; the microprocessor is configured to trigger the acoustic detection assembly to detect the wearing status of the headphone after receiving the trigger signal, and convert the audio signal from a time domain signal to a frequency domain signal, and identify the frequency domain signal after conversion to determine the wearing status of the headphone (e.g. a signal converting unit 121 executes signal processing of converting a signal from a time domain into a frequency domain on an audio signal 2 to be supplied to the headphone and the audio reproduction signal output from the microphone amplifier 104), (see Hayashi, [0053]-[0054] and [0089]-[0090], also figure 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to any person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to incorporate a triggering event, and the ability to convert the audio signal from time domain to frequency and identify the frequency domain signal as taught by Hayashi in the teachings of Song, in order to simplify the different signal processing steps, and further improve accuracy of the wearing status determination outcome.
Regarding Claim 10, Song as modified by Hayashi discloses the method for detecting a wearing status of a headphone, the method being performed by the device for detecting a wearing status of a headphone of claim 8 and comprising: triggering the acoustic detection assembly after the sensor senses that the headphone leaves an ear; receiving, by the receiver of the acoustic detection assembly, an audio signal played by the player; and converting, by the acoustic detection assembly, the audio signal from a time domain signal to a frequency domain signal, and identifying the frequency domain signal after conversion to determine the wearing status of the headphone (see Hayashi, [0053]-[0054] and [0089]-[0090], also figure 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 11 and 15-18 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record provided on PTO 892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/OYESOLA C OJO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695