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 .
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
Claims 1-2 recites "an active noise control module" in Fig. 1: 120 and ¶0019.
Claim 2 recites “an active noise target area setting unit”, “a target error signal estimation unit”, and “a control signal generation unit” in Fig. 1: 121, 122, 123 and ¶0019.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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 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) 5 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A).
Regarding Claim 5, Sakamoto discloses an active noise control method (title, abstract, figs. 1-3) comprising:
receiving information on a seat displacement of one or more seats in a seated state (Sakamoto ¶0020 discloses a position sensor 28 outputs seat position p as a position detection signal Sp when the front seat 16 is moved in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 12 [the left-right direction in fig. 1] by the operation of the occupant is disposed below the seating portion 26 of the front seat 16. ¶0021 discloses an angle sensor 31 outputs seat angle of the seatback 30 with respect to the seating portion 26. ¶0047 discloses the same is applicable to the rear seat 18);
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setting an active noise target area based on the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state (Sakamoto ¶0025 discloses the adaptive filter 38 multiplies the reference signal x by the filter coefficient Wfr to generate the control signal Sc. The control signal Sc is a control signal for canceling out noise in the vehicle cabin 14 [vehicle cabin noise] caused by vibration noise generated from the engine 44. ¶0031 discloses the thresholds are thresholds corresponding to the position p of the front seat 16 and the angle Ѳ of the seat back 30 when the signal transmission characteristic Cfr changes, and in the memory of the selector 52, C {circumflex over ()} fr1 is stored as C {circumflex over ()} fr within a range below the thresholds, and C {circumflex over ()} fr2 is stored as C {circumflex over ()} fr within a range above the thresholds. ¶0032 discloses this is because, as shown in figs. 2A and 2B, for example, when the angle Ѳ is changed to 900, 1000, and 1100, respectively, the gain-frequency characteristic and the phase-frequency characteristic of the transfer characteristic Cfr from the speaker 24 [fig. 1] to the microphone 22 change depending on the angle Ѳ, and thus it is necessary to change Ĉfr, which is the internal model characteristic of the ANC controller 32, in accordance with the change in the position p of the front seat 16 in the front-rear direction and the angle Ѳ of the seat back 30. fig. 1: microphone 22, ADC 50, selector 52 [selects position Sp and displacement SѲ], reference signal generator 36, Ĉfr 42, LMS 40, Wfr 42, to DAC 48, speaker 20);
estimating an error signal in the active noise target area (Sakamoto ¶0026 discloses the speaker 24 outputs the control signal Sc into the cabin 14 as a canceling sound for the in-cabin noise, and the microphone 22 detects a mixed sound of the canceling sound from the speaker 24 and the in-cabin noise, and outputs a difference between the canceling sound and the in-cabin noise to an ANC controller 32 as an error signal e);
generating an active noise control signal based on the error signal in the active noise target area (Sakamoto ¶0026 discloses the speaker 24 outputs the control signal Sc into the cabin 14 as a canceling sound for the in-cabin noise, and the microphone 22 detects a mixed sound of the canceling sound from the speaker 24 and the in-cabin noise, and outputs a difference between the canceling sound and the in-cabin noise to an ANC controller 32 as an error signal e); and
generating and outputting an active noise control sound corresponding to the active noise control signal (Sakamoto ¶0035 discloses in the ANC10A, when the silencing control of the vehicle interior noise is switched by the switching of the transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr, if the value of the filter coefficient Wfr is updated to be sequentially decreased or increased in the ANC controller 32 and a fade-out or fade-in operation of smoothly attenuating or amplifying the canceling sound output from the speaker 24 is performed, it is possible to prevent the generation of the uncomfortable vibration noise generated by the switching of the silencing control).
Regarding Claim 10, Sakamoto discloses the active noise control method of claim 5, further comprising:
outputting, using a noise output device disposed within the vehicle, noise corresponding to the active noise control signal (Sakamoto ¶0010 discloses in the active vibration noise control device, at least one of the sound output unit and the sound detection unit is disposed on a seat in a vehicle cabin, and the active vibration noise control device includes a detection unit that outputs a detection signal of a position or an angle of the seat to the control signal generation unit. fig. 1: speaker 20, selector 52 [selects position Sp and displacement SѲ], reference signal generator 36, Ĉfr 42, LMS 40, Wfr 42, to DAC 48); and
performing active noise feedback on collected noise while outputting the active noise control signal (Sakamoto ¶0010 discloses in the active vibration noise control device, at least one of the sound output unit and the sound detection unit is disposed on a seat in a vehicle cabin, and the active vibration noise control device includes a detection unit that outputs a detection signal of a position or an angle of the seat to the control signal generation unit. fig. 1: microphone 22, ADC 50, selector 52 [selects position Sp and displacement SѲ], reference signal generator 36, Ĉfr 42, LMS 40, Wfr 42, to DAC 48, speaker 20).
Claim(s) 5 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kano (WO #2022/163201, used US #2023/0366728).
Regarding Claim 5, Kano discloses an active noise control method (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) comprising:
receiving information on a seat displacement of one or more seats in a seated state (Kano ¶0071 discloses the seat state sensing device includes similarity calculators 21a and 21b and a seat position determination unit 30; fig. 1);
setting an active noise target area based on the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state (Kano ¶0083 discloses in fig. 1, it is assumed that the seat 101a is initially at a position indicated by a dotted line, and is currently moved to a position indicated by a solid line [direction approaching the steering wheel 100]. At this time, the microphone 2a in the seat 101a is closest to the microphone 1b installed in the vehicle body 111a. The same applies to fig. 3. Therefore, a traveling noise during the traveling of the automobile is detected by the microphone 2a and also detected by the microphone 1b at the same time. Thereafter, the similarity calculator 21b calculates a similarity between two signals [noise signals S2a and S1b]. The similarity calculator 21b outputs a signal S2lb indicating the similarity between the noise signals S2a and S1b, and the signal S21b is input to the seat position determination unit 30);
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estimating an error signal in the active noise target area (Kano ¶0059 discloses an update unit that updates the control coefficient based on an error signal as the first vibration signal input from the first vibration detector is further provided. ¶0060 discloses further the silencing effect produced by the active noise control can be improved by updating the control coefficient based on the error signal);
generating an active noise control signal based on the error signal in the active noise target area (Kano ¶0073 discloses here, the microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are noise microphones in the ANC, and the microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b are error microphones. The noise control filter 40 causes a signal processor 41 to process a noise signal indicating a traveling noise detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b so as to reduce noise at positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and reproduce processed signals as control sound respectively from the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b. Then, the traveling noise and the control sound interfere with each other at the positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b detect residual error signals [hereinafter, referred to as error signals]. Normally, the noise control filter 40 uses adaptive signal processing to update its own control coefficient so as to minimize this error signals. The error signals are minimized by repeating this calculation, and the control coefficient for reducing the traveling noise is obtained); and
generating and outputting an active noise control sound corresponding to the active noise control signal (Kano ¶0075 discloses in fig. 2 [inside the noise control filter 40], the noise signals detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are subject to signal processing with the control coefficient in the signal processor 41 by the signal processor 41, and are output as control signals respectively to the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b. At the same time, the noise signals detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are subject to signal processing together with a coefficient in a transmission characteristic corrector 43 by the transmission characteristic corrector 43. ¶0073 discloses seat position detected [i.e., sensed]).
Regarding Claim 10, Kano discloses the active noise control method of claim 5, further comprising:
outputting, using a noise output device disposed within the vehicle, noise corresponding to the active noise control signal (Kano ¶0075 discloses in fig. 2 [inside the noise control filter 40], the noise signals detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are subject to signal processing with the control coefficient in the signal processor 41 by the signal processor 41, and are output as control signals respectively to the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b. At the same time, the noise signals detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are subject to signal processing together with a coefficient in a transmission characteristic corrector 43 by the transmission characteristic corrector 43); and
performing active noise feedback on collected noise while outputting the active noise control signal (Kano ¶0073 discloses here, the microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are noise microphones in the ANC, and the microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b are error microphones. The noise control filter 40 causes a signal processor 41 to process a noise signal indicating a traveling noise detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b so as to reduce noise at positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and reproduce processed signals as control sound respectively from the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b. Then, the traveling noise and the control sound interfere with each other at the positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b detect residual error signals. Normally, the noise control filter 40 uses adaptive signal processing to update its own control coefficient so as to minimize this error signals. The error signals are minimized by repeating this calculation, and the control coefficient for reducing the traveling noise is obtained).
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 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A) in view of Christoph (US #2018/0277090) further in view of Takamatsu et al. (JP #2010/054962).
Regarding Claim 1, Sakamoto discloses an active noise control device (title, abstract, figs. 1-3) comprising:
a seat control device (Sakamoto ¶0020 discloses a position sensor 28 outputs seat position p as a position detection signal Sp when the front seat 16 is moved in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 12 [the left-right direction in fig. 1] by the operation of the occupant is disposed below the seating portion 26 of the front seat 16) configured to sense a seated state of one or more seats within a vehicle and control a seat displacement of each seat (Sakamoto ¶0021 discloses an angle sensor 31 outputs seat angle of the seatback 30 with respect to the seating portion 26. ¶0047 discloses the same is applicable to the rear seat 18);
a microphone disposed at a ceiling of the vehicle (Sakamoto ¶0048 discloses the microphone 22 [fig. 1] is disposed in a roof lining [i.e., ceiling of the vehicle]) and configured to receive noise from an inside and outside of the vehicle and transmit an error signal (Sakamoto ¶0023 discloses … vibration noise such as vibration of the engine 44. ¶0024 discloses a reference signal generation means 36 generates a reference signal x. ¶0025 discloses the adaptive filter 38 multiplies the reference signal x by the filter coefficient Wfr to generate the control signal Sc. The control signal Sc is a control signal for canceling out noise in the vehicle cabin 14 [vehicle cabin noise] caused by vibration noise generated from the engine 44, … and outputs to the speaker 24. ¶0026 discloses the speaker 24 outputs the control signal Sc into the cabin 14 as a canceling sound for the in-cabin noise, and the microphone 22 detects a mixed sound of the canceling sound from the speaker 24 and the in-cabin noise, and outputs a difference between the canceling sound and the in-cabin noise to an ANC controller 32 as an error signal e).
Sakamoto may not explicitly disclose a microphone disposed at a ceiling of the vehicle and configured to receive noise from an inside and outside of the vehicle and transmit an error signal; a plurality of acceleration sensors disposed on a transfer path through which a vibration is transferred to the vehicle and configured to acquire a vibration causing noise on a road surface; an active noise control module configured to (1) receive information on the seat displacement in the seated state from the seat control device and a plurality of reference signals from the plurality of acceleration sensors, (2) set an active noise target area, and (3) generate an active noise control sound in the set active noise target area; and a speaker configured to output the active noise control sound.
However, Christoph (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches a microphone disposed at a ceiling of the vehicle and configured to receive noise from an inside and outside of the vehicle (Christoph ¶0024 discloses the road noise originating from the wheel 201 is mechanically and/or acoustically transferred via a first primary path to the microphone 205 according to a transfer characteristic P1(z). The engine noise originating from the engine 215 is mechanically and/or acoustically transferred via a second primary path to the microphone 205 according to a transfer characteristic P2(z).) and transmit an error signal (Christoph ¶0025 discloses at the same time, an error signal e(n) representing the sound including noise present in the cabin of the vehicle 204 is detected by a microphone 205 which may be arranged within the cabin in a headrest 206 of a seat [e.g., the driver's seat]);
a plurality of acceleration sensors disposed on a transfer path through which a vibration is transferred to the vehicle and configured to acquire a vibration causing noise on a road surface (Christoph ¶0024 discloses noise [and vibrations] that originate from a wheel 201 moving on a road surface are directly picked up by an acceleration sensor 202 which is mechanically coupled with a suspension device 203 of an automotive vehicle 204 and which outputs a noise and vibration signal x1(n) that represents the detected noise [and vibrations] and, thus, correlates with the road noise audible within the cabin. Engine noise control includes another acceleration sensor 214 which is mounted to an engine 215 of the vehicle 204).
Sakamoto and Christoph are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 noise control device (as taught by Sakamoto) to pickup engine noise and road noise and combine them to form a sum signal and supplied to a broadband ANC filter and provide filtered sum signal to the loudspeaker to a listening position, generating at the listening position anti-noise signal (as taught by Christoph, ¶0020) in order to reduce or even cancel the unwanted noise at the listening position (Christoph, ¶0020).
And Takamatsu (title, abstract, figs. 1-16) teaches an active noise control module (Takamatsu fig. 2, ¶0015) configured to (1) receive information on the seat displacement in the seated state from the seat control device (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses as illustrated in fig. 8, with respect to the control space 100 originally set for each seat, a space 110a at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the front side in the front-rear direction perpendicular to the back surface of the seat and a space 110b at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the lower side [or the upper side] in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat are candidates for the control space to be added. In addition, as shown in fig. 9, a space 110c at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the right side [or the left side] in the left-right direction in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat with respect to the control space 100 originally set for each seat is set as a candidate of the control space to be added. Although only the control space 100 corresponding to the driver's seat is illustrated in figs. 8 and 9, candidates for control spaces to be added to the originally set control space 100 in the front-rear direction, the up-down direction, and the left-right direction with reference to the back surface of the seat are similarly set at positions corresponding to the other seats. At this time, priorities are determined in advance for all the seats, and when there is a seat on which no occupant is seated, the control space is expanded preferentially from a seat having a higher priority among the other seats) and a plurality of reference signals from the plurality of acceleration sensors (Takamatsu ¶0015 discloses in addition to the acceleration sensors 10 [10a to 10e] and the actuators 20 [20a and 20b], occupant presence/absence detection sensors 40a and 40b [i.e., presence/absence detection sensors 40] that detect the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat in the vehicle cabin, and control units 30 that control the actuators 20 by calculating control command values for reducing vehicle cabin noise on the basis of signals obtained by the acceleration sensors 10; fig. 2), (2) set an active noise target area (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses as illustrated in fig. 8, with respect to the control space 100 originally set for each seat, a space 110a at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the front side in the front-rear direction perpendicular to the back surface of the seat and a space 110b at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the lower side [or the upper side] in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat are candidates for the control space to be added), and (3) generate an active noise control sound in the set active noise target area (Takamatsu ¶0056 discloses the candidates 110a to 110c of the control space to be added may be set at positions having a small correlation with the original control space 100. For example, the magnitude of the correlation can be calculated by installing a microphone array in the vicinity of the position of the head of the occupant, measuring the noise when the vehicle is traveling with the microphone array, and calculating the correlation coefficient between the microphones. In this method, by setting the candidates 110a to 110c of the control space to be added to positions where the correlative coefficients with respect to the original control space 100 are equal to or less than the predetermined values, it is possible to perform noise control in a wider space); and
a speaker configured to output the active noise control sound (Takamatsu ¶0015 discloses … control units 30 controls the actuators 20 by calculating control command values for reducing vehicle cabin noise based on signals obtained by the acceleration sensors 10. ¶0019 discloses a speaker installed in the vehicle compartment can be used as the actuator 20 [which calculates control command values for reducing vehicle cabin noise]; fig. 2).
Sakamoto, Christoph, and Takamatsu are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 Sakamoto in view of Christoph in light of the teachings of Takamatsu to perform noise control instead of the noise control in a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is not present to a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is present is performed (as taught by Takamatsu, ¶0006) so as to reduce noise in the enlarged control space, so that efficient noise control can be performed, and a noise reduction effect can be reliably obtained at the head position of the human body (Takamatsu, ¶0006).
Regarding Claim 2, Sakamoto in view of Christoph and Takamatsu discloses the active noise control device of claim 1, wherein the active noise control module includes:
an active noise target area setting unit configured to set the active noise target area based on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state (Sakamoto ¶0010 discloses in the active vibration noise control device, at least one of the sound output unit and the sound detection unit is disposed on a seat in a vehicle cabin, and the active vibration noise control device includes a detection unit that outputs a detection signal of a position or an angle of the seat to the control signal generation unit);
a lookup table including a transfer function between the plurality of acceleration sensors and the active noise target area (Sakamoto ¶0010 discloses the control signal generation unit generates the control signal by switching to an internal model characteristic according to the detection signal. ¶0012 discloses the internal model characteristic is a signal transfer characteristic simulating a signal transfer characteristic from the sound output means to the sound detection means, and is set in advance in the control signal generation means. ¶0013 discloses here, it is preferable that the control signal generation unit switches the internal model characteristic to an internal model characteristic corresponding to the position or angle of the seat after the change when the detection signal changes across a preset threshold value. ¶0025 discloses the adaptive filter 38 multiplies the reference signal x by the filter coefficient Wfr to generate the control signal Sc. The control signal Sc is a control signal for canceling out noise in the vehicle cabin 14 [vehicle cabin noise] caused by vibration noise generated from the engine 44. ¶0029 discloses further, the ANC controller 32 includes a selector 52 capable of switching the transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr of the correction unit 42 to a predetermined transfer characteristic according to the position detection signal Sp and/or the angle detection signal S Ѳ. ¶0030 discloses the selector 52 includes a memory [not shown] that stores a first transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr1 and a second transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr2, which are transfer characteristics C {circumflex over ()} fr in a predetermined range in the front-rear direction of the front seat 16 and/or a predetermined angle range of the seat back 30 [i.e., similar to a lookup table] and switches the transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr set in the correction unit 42 from C {circumflex over ()} fr1 to C {circumflex over ()} fr2 when the position p in the front-rear direction of the front seat 16 and/or the angle Ѳ of the seat back 30 exceeds predetermined thresholds based on the position detection signal Sp and/or the angle detection signal S Ѳ);
a target error signal estimation unit configured to estimate an error signal in the active noise target area set using the lookup table (Sakamoto ¶0026 discloses the speaker 24 outputs the control signal Sc into the cabin 14 as a canceling sound for the in-cabin noise, and the microphone 22 detects a mixed sound of the canceling sound from the speaker 24 and the in-cabin noise, and outputs a difference between the canceling sound and the in-cabin noise to an ANC controller 32 as an error signal e); and
a control signal generation unit configured to generate an active noise control signal corresponding to the estimated error signal (Sakamoto ¶0027 discloses the correction means 42 generates a reference signal r by correcting the standard signal x with a transfer characteristic [internal model characteristic] C {circumflex over ()} fr simulating a transfer characteristic [signal transfer characteristic] Cfr from the speaker 24 to the microphone 22 as a correction value, and outputs the reference signal r to the filter coefficient update means 40. The transfer characteristic C {circumflex over ()} fr is a transfer characteristic from the input-side of the DAC48 including the transfer characteristic Ĉfr to the output-side of the AD converter 50. ¶0028 discloses the filter coefficient updating means 40 is constituted by a least-mean-square [LMS] algorithm arithmetic unit, performs adaptive arithmetic processing of the filter coefficient Wfr [arithmetic processing of calculating the filter coefficient Wfr so as to minimize the difference signal e based on the least-mean-square method] based on the reference signal r and the difference signal e converted from analog signals to digital signals by the ADC 50, and sequentially updates the filter coefficient Wfr based on the arithmetic result).
Regarding Claim 3, Sakamoto in view of Christoph and Takamatsu discloses the active noise control device of claim 2,
wherein the lookup table is a result of defining a transfer function between a plurality of active noise target areas formed based on a position of the microphone and the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state (Sakamoto ¶0010 discloses in the active vibration noise control device, at least one of the sound output unit and the sound detection unit is disposed on a seat in a vehicle cabin, and the active vibration noise control device includes a detection unit that outputs a detection signal of a position or an angle of the seat to the control signal generation unit. fig. 1: microphone 22, ADC 50, selector 52 [selects position Sp and displacement SѲ], reference signal generator 36, Ĉfr 42, LMS 40, Wfr 42, to DAC 48, speaker 20).
Regarding Claim 4, Sakamoto in view of Christoph and Takamatsu discloses the active noise control device of claim 1. But Sakamoto in view of Christoph may not explicitly disclose wherein the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state includes: information on a first direction in which the seat moves forward; information on a second direction in which the seat moves rearward, the second direction being opposite to the first direction; information on a third direction in which the seat moves up; information on a fourth direction in which the seat moves down, the fourth direction being opposite to the third direction; information on a first rotation direction in which a backrest of the seat reclines; and information on a second rotation direction in which the backrest rotates to be upright, the second rotation direction being opposite to the first rotation direction.
However, Takamatsu (title, abstract, figs. 1-16) teaches wherein the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state includes:
information on a first direction in which the seat moves forward (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses as illustrated in fig. 8, with respect to the control space 100 originally set for each seat, a space 110a at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the front side in the front-rear direction perpendicular to the back surface of the seat);
information on a second direction in which the seat moves rearward, the second direction being opposite to the first direction (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses as illustrated in fig. 8, with respect to the control space 100 originally set for each seat, a space 110a at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the front side in the front-rear direction perpendicular to the back surface of the seat);
information on a third direction in which the seat moves up (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses a space 110b at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the lower side (or the upper side) in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat);
information on a fourth direction in which the seat moves down, the fourth direction being opposite to the third direction (Takamatsu ¶0055 discloses a space 110b at a position where the control space 100 is moved to the lower side (or the upper side) in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat);
information on a first rotation direction in which a backrest of the seat reclines (Takamatsu ¶0071 discloses the occupant reclines the back surface of the seat); and
information on a second rotation direction in which the backrest rotates to be upright, the second rotation direction being opposite to the first rotation direction (Takamatsu ¶0061 discloses in step S404, a space [space 110b illustrated in fig. 8] in the vertical direction in a plane parallel to the back surface of the seat is added as a new control space from the above-described high-priority seat among the seats on which the occupants are seated. ¶0071 discloses the occupant reclines the back surface of the seat [since the occupant reclines the back surface of the seat, it would have been obvious to rotate the seat in the upright position, i.e., vertical direction]).
Sakamoto, Christoph, and Takamatsu are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 Sakamoto in view of Christoph in light of the teachings of Takamatsu to perform noise control instead of the noise control in a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is not present to a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is present is performed (as taught by Takamatsu, ¶0006) so as to reduce noise in the enlarged control space, so that efficient noise control can be performed, and a noise reduction effect can be reliably obtained at the head position of the human body (Takamatsu, ¶0006).
Claim 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A) in view of Bader et al. (US #2021/0394716).
Regarding Claim 6, Sakamoto discloses the active noise control method of claim 5,
wherein setting the active noise target area based on the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state (Sakamoto ¶0020 discloses a position sensor 28 outputs seat position p as a position detection signal Sp when the front seat 16 is moved in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 12 [the left-right direction in fig. 1] by the operation of the occupant is disposed below the seating portion 26 of the front seat 16. ¶0021 discloses an angle sensor 31 outputs seat angle of the seatback 30 with respect to the seating portion 26. ¶0047 discloses the same is applicable to the rear seat 18) includes receiving current position information of seats based on a CAN (controller area network) communication (A CAN communication is a known feature for communication within the vehicle).
Sakamoto may not explicitly disclose CAN (controller area network) communication.
However, Bader teaches CAN (controller area network) communication (Bader ¶0032 discloses all networked vehicle equipment can be activated via CAN bus, such as user-related seat adjustment).
Sakamoto and Bader are analogous art as they pertain to outside noise in vehicle. 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 noise control device (as taught by Sakamoto) to activate all networked vehicle equipment via CAN bus (as taught by Bader, ¶0032) such as user-related seat adjustment (Bader, ¶0032).
Claim 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A) in view of Takamatsu et al. (JP #2010/054962).
Regarding Claim 7, Sakamoto discloses the active noise control method of claim 5, but may not explicitly disclose wherein setting the active noise target area based on the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state includes: sensing a presence or absence of one or more occupants in some or all of the seats; and estimating the active noise target area of each seat based on the presence or absence of the sensed one or more occupants.
However, Takamatsu (title, abstract, figs. 1-16) teaches wherein setting the active noise target area based on the information on the seat displacement of each seat in the seated state includes:
sensing a presence or absence of one or more occupants in some or all of the seats (Takamatsu ¶0015 discloses in addition to the acceleration sensors 10 [10a to 10e] and the actuators 20 [20a and 20b], occupant presence/absence detection sensors 40a and 40b (i.e., presence/absence detection sensors 40] that detect the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat in the vehicle cabin); and
estimating the active noise target area of each seat based on the presence or absence of the sensed one or more occupants (Takamatsu ¶0015 discloses … control units 30 controls the actuators 20 by calculating control command values for reducing vehicle cabin noise based on signals obtained by the acceleration sensors 10. ¶0019 discloses a speaker installed in the vehicle compartment can be used as the actuator 20 [which calculates control command values for reducing vehicle cabin noise]; fig. 2).
Sakamoto and Takamatsu are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 noise control device (as taught by Sakamoto) to perform noise control instead of the noise control in a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is not present to a control space corresponding to a position where a human body is present is performed (as taught by Takamatsu, ¶0006) so as to reduce noise in the enlarged control space, so that efficient noise control can be performed, and a noise reduction effect can be reliably obtained at the head position of the human body (Takamatsu, ¶0006).
Claim 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A) in view of Kano (WO #2022/163201, used US #2023/0366728).
Regarding Claim 8, Sakamoto discloses the active noise control method of claim 5, but may not explicitly disclose wherein generating the active noise control signal based on the error signal in the active noise target area includes generating the active noise control sound based on transfer functions between a microphone disposed in a first area of the vehicle and a plurality of active noise target areas disposed in a second area of the vehicle based on transfer functions previously stored in a lookup table.
However, Kano (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) teaches wherein generating the active noise control signal based on the error signal in the active noise target area (Kano ¶0073 discloses the microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b are noise microphones in the ANC, and the microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b are error microphones) includes generating the active noise control sound based on transfer functions between a microphone disposed in a first area of the vehicle and a plurality of active noise target areas disposed in a second area of the vehicle based on transfer functions previously stored in a lookup table (Kano ¶0073 discloses the noise control filter 40 causes a signal processor 41 to process a noise signal indicating a traveling noise detected by the noise microphones 1a, 1b, 11a, and 11b so as to reduce noise at positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and reproduce processed signals as control sound respectively from the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b. Then, the traveling noise and the control sound interfere with each other at the positions of the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b, and the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b detect residual error signals. Normally, the noise control filter 40 uses adaptive signal processing to update its own control coefficient so as to minimize this error signals. The error signals are minimized by repeating this calculation, and the control coefficient for reducing the traveling noise is obtained. The control coefficient thus obtained is stored in a coefficient memory 42. ¶0076 discloses here, in the transmission characteristic corrector 43, transmission characteristics between the speakers 3a, 3b, 13a, and 13b and the error microphones 2a, 2b, 12a, and 12b are preset as coefficients. The setting of the coefficient is executed by selecting an appropriate coefficient [a coefficient obtained when the seat 101a is located at a position indicated by a solid line] from a plurality of coefficients stored in advance in the coefficient memory 42 in accordance with the seat position determined [sensed] by the seat position determination unit 30 [sensing unit]).
Sakamoto and Kano are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 noise control device (as taught by Sakamoto) to update the control coefficient based on an error signal as the first vibration signal input from the first vibration detector (as taught by Kano, ¶0059) since an error microphone included in the active noise control can also be used as the first vibration detector, downsizing and cost reduction can be achieved. Further, the silencing effect produced by the active noise control can be improved by updating the control coefficient based on the error signal (Kano, ¶0060).
Claim 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakamoto et al. (JP #2008/149922 A) in view of Kano (WO #2022/163201, used US #2023/0366728) further in view of Hasegawa et al. (JP H05-35281).
Regarding Claim 9, Sakamoto in view of Kano discloses the active noise control method of claim 8, but may not explicitly disclose wherein generating the active noise control sound based on the transfer functions between the microphone disposed in the first area of the vehicle and the plurality of active noise target areas disposed on the second area of the vehicle based on the transfer functions previously stored in the lookup table includes: calculating an average value of the plurality of active noise target areas disposed in the second area or applying a weight to each of the plurality of active noise target areas disposed in the second area; and generating a transfer function using a noise collection device disposed in the first area.
However, Hasegawa (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein generating the active noise control sound based on the transfer functions between the microphone disposed in the first area of the vehicle and the plurality of active noise target areas disposed on the second area of the vehicle based on the transfer functions previously stored in the lookup table (Hasegawa ¶0028 discloses the phase difference and gain difference are calculated in advance as the ratio of the transfer functions of both paths) includes:
calculating an average value of the plurality of active noise target areas disposed in the second area or applying a weight to each of the plurality of active noise target areas disposed in the second area (Hasegawa ¶0024 discloses furthermore, the output side of the other adder 18b is connected to one input terminal of a multiplier 20 via an integrator 19, and the output side of the one adder 18b is also connected to the other input terminal of the multiplier 20, and the output of the multiplier 20 passes through an averaging circuit 21 to become the output of the intensity circuit 13. ¶0027 discloses in the intensity circuit 13, the value of the term (Pa+Pb)∫(Pb−Pa)dt is calculated up to the multiplier 20, and the average value is taken and output to the signal processor 12 as the acoustic intensity K1. ¶0028 discloses the averaging circuit 21 calculates the average value of K1 over a certain period of time [for example, 0.5 seconds] in the past and uses this as an evaluation function. This averaging time should be sufficiently longer than the period of the intensity waveform. ¶0032 discloses the output of this multiplier 20 is input to the next stage averaging circuit 21, which calculates the average value for a predetermined time period, thereby obtaining a more accurate acoustic intensity [active intensity] K1 in digital form); and
generating a transfer function using a noise collection device disposed in the first area (Hasegawa ¶0030 discloses of these, the digital filter 23 receives the reference signal x and generates a filtered reference signal r in accordance with the transfer function between the pair of microphones 7 and the speaker. ¶0031 discloses at this time, the digital filter 23 uses the input reference signal x to calculate a filtered reference signal r corresponding to the transfer function between the microphone 7 and the speaker 9, and outputs the signal r to the microprocessor 25. ¶0034 discloses as a result, the loudspeaker 9 generates a control sound [secondary sound] according to the drive signal y, and this generated acoustic output propagates through the vehicle interior space corresponding to a transfer function estimated in advance based on the directivity of the speaker 9, forming a sound field. Therefore, after the control has converged, the noise transmitted from the engine 3 interferes with the control sound at the two observation points [microphone installation positions] and their vicinity, attenuating the vibration energy of the noise and reducing the noise).
Sakamoto, Kano, and Hasegawa are analogous art as they pertain to road and engine noise in vehicle. 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 Sakamoto in view of Kano in light of the teachings of Hasegawa by installing sensors [on the headrests of the rear seats] or on the ceiling above them, and controlling the control sound source with a control device (as taught by Hasegawa, ¶0013) noise in the headrests of the rear seats or near the heads of the occupants sitting in those seats can be efficiently reduced (Hasegawa, ¶0013).
Conclusion
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/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691