DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to claim amendment communication filed on January 20, 2026 and wherein claims 1, 3-13 amended and dependent claim 14 added.
In virtue of this communication, claims 1-14 are currently pending in this Office Action.
With respect to the objection of claims 1-13 due to formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, the claim amendment, and argument, see paragraph 2 of page 7 in Remarks filed on January 20, 2026, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the objection of claims 1-13 due to the formality issues, as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
With respect to the rejection of claim 13 under 35 USC §101, as set forth in the previous Office Action, the Applicant’s amendment, and argument, see paragraph 3 of page 7 in Remarks filed on January 20, 2026, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of claim 13 under 35 USC §101, as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
With respect to the rejection of claims 7, 9 under 35 USC §112(b), as set forth in the previous Office Action, the claim amendment, and argument, see paragraph 4 of page 7 in Remarks filed on January 20, 2026, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of claims 7, 9 under 35 USC § 112(b), as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Claim Interpretation
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergmann et al. (US 20160360326 A1, hereinafter Bergmann) and in view of reference Lovitt et al. (US 20200134026 A1, hereinafter Lovitt).
Claim 1: Bergmann an earphone noise reduction mode switching method (title and abstract, ln 1-34 and methods in figs. 2-4, switching from normal listening mode to partner mode automatically or manually, for better speech perception in noisy surroundings, para 9) applied to a first earphone (earphone comprised in hearing device, para 75) worn by a first user (a user U2 worn a earphone device HD21/HD22 in figs. 1A/1B) and operating in an active noise reduction mode (normal listening mode for picking up environment sound picked up by microphones M1/M2, and applying beamformer noise reduction system BFNRS with look vector d0, para 169), the earphone noise reduction mode switching method comprising:
determining that a second user wearing a second earphone (short-range link or transmission triggered by an own voice activity detection from user U1 to U2, para 25, i.e., user U1 must wear his/her own earphone for picking his/her own voice by microphones M1/M2 in figs. 1A/1B) has a conversation demand if the second user is speaking (own voice is detected, discussed above in figs. 1A/1B);
sending a first conversation to the first earphone after the second earphone establishes a link with the first earphone (transmitting low power, 2.4 GHz or 5.8GHz bands, from HD1 to receiving hearing device HD2 in figs. 1A/1B, para 122), in an event that the second earphone detects that the second user has the conversation demand (detected own voice and transmitting the own voice signal to the person wearing the hearing aid system from electric input signals, para 19); and
in response to receiving the first conversation from the second earphone, switching, by the first earphone, the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode to obtain outside sounds (conversation in noisy environment having non-target sound sources, e.g., in a vehicle or an aeroplane, etc., para 10 and compared to normal listening mode, para 169), such that the first user wearing the first earphone is in a state to heave a normal conversation with the second user wearing the second earphone (through the wireless link WL-PP, other than pickup locally by the microphones M1/M2 of user 1 or U2 in fig. 1A/1B, i.e., partner mode, para 23-26).
However, Bergmann does not explicitly teach where the conversation transmitted from one user to another user via wireless link is conversation request and does not explicitly teach wherein the first earphone comprising a target orientation earphone for the second user.
Lovitt teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing an earphone noise reduction mode method (title and abstract, ln 1-16, method steps 5 and executed in a system in fig. 6), and wherein a first earphone is disclosed (headset 630A having output transducers 306A/306B in fig. 3 and worn by a listening user 603 in fig. 6, para 75) and wherein the first earphone comprising a target orientation earphone for the second user (upon direction of the listener user is looking at the moment, via eye tracker or gaze detector, para 62, e.g., speaking person 606 wearing a first headphone 630B in fig. 6, para 75 and listening person 603 perceiving the spoken words from the direction of the speaking user 606, para 81 and the sound source is tracked and turn head to the speaker, i.e., making the head turn for interesting attention, and headset to be used to listen the spoken words by the speaking person, i.e., headset at a target orientation state, para 83) and wherein determining that a second user wearing a second earphone has a conversation demand if the second user is speaking is disclosed (the speaking user 606 sends spoken words to the first user 603 through personalization engine 600 in fig. 6, para 78 and serving for conversation, para 4) and sending a first conversation to the first earphone after the second earphone establishes a link with the first earphone (through transceiver bidirectionally, para 66) in an event that the second earphone detects that the second user has the conversation demand (speaking person to provide audio input and location information 612 in fig. 8, para 81-82 and personalization engine translates or converts the spoken words to a form the listening user can understand, para 77-78 and the listening user 603 turns and looks at the speaking user to actively listen to them, para 83) for benefits of improving the headphone performance (by enhancing the listening user’s understanding of the conversation in a greater ease manner, para 4, by enhancing the accuracy of the user’s interaction with desired person virtually and practically, para 55, and by increasing the accuracy of user interaction in noisy environment, para 40).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied wherein the first earphone comprising the target orientation earphone for the second user, as taught by Lovitt, to the first earphone in the earphone noise reduction mode switching method, as taught by Bergmann, for the benefits discussed above.
However, the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt does not explicitly teach wherein the first conversation is a first conversation request.
It has been a recognized problem and need in the art, which may include a design need to solve the problem for performing conversation in noisy environment with worn headphones or headsets with microphones and wireless link and there had been a finite number of identified, predictable potential conversation contents:
a conversation request from one participant to another for starting a conversation through a wireless link in noisy environment or acoustic transmission in the air in quite environment,
an ending request of the conversation from one participant to another for ending a conversation through the wireless link in the noisy environment or ending a conversation through acoustic waveform in the air in the quite environment,
maintaining the conversation communication between two participants for maintaining the conversation through the wireless link in the noisy environment and through the acoustic waveform in the air in the quite environment,
it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have pursued the known potential solutions with a reasonable expectation of success, or obvious to try for the purposes above, see MPEP 2141, III.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the conversation request from one participant to another in acoustic waveform form in the quite environment or in wireless link in noisy environment, as taught by obvious to try above, to the first conversation from the second earphone to the first earphone after the second earphone establishes the link in the earphone noise reduction mode switching method and switching among modes in the earphone noise reduction mode switching method, as taught by the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 11 has been analyzed and rejected according to claim 1 above and the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches an earphone noise reduction mode switching device (Burgmann, hearing device HD21/HD22 in figs. 1A/1B and Lovitt, the listening headset 630A worn by the listening user 604 in fig. 6), applied to a first earphone which is in an active noise reduction mode (Bergmann, including adaptive directional mode, e.g., beamform mode, for noise reduction, para 53 and via input audio transducers 110 to capture audio in user’s environment, para 35), comprising a conversation request receiving module (Bergmann, microphone M1/M2, VAD, analysis and control unit ACT in fig. 4, para 162 and Lovitt, discussed in claim 1 above) and a noise reduction mode switching module (Bergmann, including BF and SC-NR included in BFNRS in fig. 4 and Lovitt, pausing active noise cancellation for the words understood by the listening user, i.e., change the operation mode while quite environment, para 12 and the discussed in claim 1 above) to implement method steps of claim 1.
Claim 12 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 11 above and the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches earphone body (Burgmann, U1/U2 in figs. 1A/1B, fig. 4 and Lovitt, 630A/630B in fig. 6 and body in figs. 1-2), comprising a memory (Bergmann, memory elements, para 95 and Lovitt, memory device, para 92), and a processor (Bergmann, a processor with program code means, para 91 or microprocessor, etc., para 108 and at least one processor 402 in fig. 4, para 65 and Lovitt, microprocessors and softcore processors, physical processor, para 93) wherein the memory and processor are provided in the earphone body (Lovitt, the personal engine 600, memory storing the instructions and executed, para 93), and wherein: the memory is configured for storing computer program (Bergmann, memory for executing programs and storing parameters, para 95 and Lovitt, software applications executed by computing device, para 94); and the processor is configured for implementing an earphone noise reduction mode switching method according to claim 1 when executing the computer program (Bergmann, the microprocessors, DSPs, FPGAs, etc., used for executing computer program, para 108 and Lovitt, the computing device with microprocessors and physical processor configured to execute application software, para 93-94).
Claim 13 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 11-12 above.
Claim 14: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, determining that a second user wearing a second earphone has the conversation demand by spoken word (discussed in claim 1 above), except if content spoken by the second user is identified is person’s name.
It has been a recognized problem and need in the art, which may include a design need to solve the problem for making called person’s attention in noisy environment with worn headphones or headsets with microphones and wireless link and there had been a finite number of identified, predictable potential choices to achieve the effectiveness:
the spoken word is the name of listening person if the speaking person knows the name,
the spoken word may be “Hi” if the speaking person does not know the name,
the spoken word may be other defined English words as desired by the speaking person,
it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have pursued the known potential solutions with a reasonable expectation of success, or obvious to try for the purpose above, see MPEP 2141, III.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the spoken word is the name of listening person if the speaking person knows the name, as taught by obvious to try above, to the spoken words in the conversation communication in the earphone noise reduction mode switching method, as taught by the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt, for the purpose above.
Claim 2: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein before switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode, the method further comprises:
determining whether the first user wearing the first earphone is a target user of the first conversation request (Bergmann, partner mode to configure the beamformer unit to retrieve own voice signal of the user wearing the hearing aid system, abstract and Lovitt, the listening person turning the head to or eye tracking the speaker person is determined by gaze detector or eye tracker, para 62, 83); and
if the first user is the target user of the first conversation request (Bergmann, beamformer unit is configured to point beam to the user’s mouth by using predefined own-voice beamformer, para 38 and Lovitt, discussed above), then performing switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode (Bergmann, switching to a user speaking mode or conversational mode, para 53 and Lovitt, using the transceiver of communication module 404 including the personalization engine 600 in figs. 4, 6, para 83 and spoken words by microphone on the computer system 401 or head set at the listening user in fig. 4 or received at a microphone on an electronic device associated with the speaking user 408, para 67).
Claim 3: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 2 above, the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprising:
in an event that the first user is not the target user of the first conversation request, ignoring the first conversation request, or returning a response refusal message to the second earphone (Bergmann, if the dedicated partner mode of operation is not detected, beamformer is adaptively configured to the environment sound beamformer, i.e., ignoring the fixed user-own voice beamform equivalently, para 40-41 and Lovitt, beamforming performed via the microphone array, para 46).
Claim 4: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 2 above, wherein said determining whether a first user wearing the first earphone is a target user of the first conversation request comprises:
identifying by the first earphone, voice information in the first conversation request (Bergmann, voice activity detection of the received wireless signal, para 24 and at listening side, spoken words recognized via the personalization engine in fig. 6, and discussion in claim 1 above); and
if the voice information is consistent with preset switching trigger information, then determining the first user wearing the first earphone to be the target user of the first conversation request (Bergmann, the voice activity detector used for identifying time-segment containing own voice of the user, para 44 and the speaking word detected at the microphone of the speaking user, para 67),
wherein the switching trigger information comprises a common name of the first user (obvious to try, the discussed in claim 14 above).
Claim 5: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein after switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode, the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprises:
controlling, by the first earphone, a sound pickup direction based on an orientation of the second user (Bergmann, narrow or wider beamformer to point to the user’s mouth and Lovitt, DOA to the speaking person by analyzing microphone signals on the earphone of the listening user, para 47) so as to pick up voice of the second user based on an orientation of the second user (Bergmann, the face of the user U1 oriented to the face of the user U2 and picked up voice by microphones at the speaking user U1, e.g., via beamforming in figs. 1A/1B, and Lovitt, the eye of the listening user is tracked to the speaking user and discussed in claim 1 above).
Claim 6: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprising:
in an event that a first user wearing the first earphone has a conversation demand (Lovitt, gaze detector to monitor the listening user gazed to the speaking person, para 62 and eye tracked to associated with the movement of the sound source, para 83), establishing a link with a third earphone and sending a second conversation request to the third earphone, such that the third earphone switches the active noise reduction mode to the aware mode or the voice enhanced mode in an event that the third earphone receives the second conversation request, and the third earphone comprises a target orientation earphone of the first user in the active noise reduction mode (similar to the claim 1, Bergmann, wherein the functions of third earphone in claim 6 is performed by the functions of the first earphone while the functions of first earphone in claim 6 would be performed by the second earphone of claim 1, etc. and Lovitt, a third earphone joined in the conversation environment in fig. 11, para 85-86).
Claim 7: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 6 above, wherein the target orientation earphone of the first user is determined by:
detecting a relative angle between each of a plurality of earphones and the first user within a pre-set distance range (Bergmann, narrow beam and wide beam determined in figs. 1A/1B); and
determining an earphone with a relative angle within a pre-set angle range as the target orientation earphone of the first user (Bergmann, dynamically look vector d can be determined as an eigenvector, and VAD combined with the noisy signal regions, para 181).
Claim 8: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 6 above, wherein the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprising:
in an event that the first user has a conversation demand, switching the active noise reduction mode to the aware mode or the voice enhanced mode (the discussion in claim 1 above, e.g., Burgmann, switching based on the location range, para 9, and Lovitt, based on the tracked eye to the speaking user and the discussion in claim 1 above).
Claim 9: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein after switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode, the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprises:
if the voice information of the first user wearing the first earphone is not detected within a pre-set period of time, then switching the aware mode or the voice enhanced mode to the active noise reduction mode (Bergmann, a certain hysteresis applied to avoid unintended switching between the dedicated partner mode and other modes of operation, para 45).
Claim 10: the combination of Bergmann and Lovitt further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein after receiving a first conversation request from a second earphone and before switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode, the earphone noise reduction mode switching method further comprises:
determining whether the first earphone is in a distraction free mode;
if the first earphone is not in the distraction free mode, then performing switching the active noise reduction mode to an aware mode or a voice enhanced mode (tracking the eye of the listening user or gaze detector to the speaking user, i.e., not in the distraction free mode, and the conversation maintained or started, the discussion in claim 1 above); or
if it is in the distraction free mode, then returning a distraction free response information to the second earphone (no teach, but read under Markush, MPEP 2117).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on January 20, 2026 have been fully considered and but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the applicant amendment. Although a new ground of rejection has been used to address additional limitations that have been added to claims 1, 11-13, a response is considered necessary for several of applicant’s arguments since reference Bergmann will continue to be used to meet several claimed limitations.
With respect to the prior art rejection of independent claim 1, similar to claim 11-13, under 35 USC §103(a), as set forth in the Office Action, applicant argued: “Bergmann at least fails to disclose or suggest sending a first conversation request to the first earphone after the second earphone establishes a link with the first earphone in an event that the second earphone detects second user has the conversation demand and the first earphone comprises a target orientation earphone for the second user”, because Bergmann teaches “enter the dedicated partner mode of operation when the own-voice of one of the first and second persons is detected”, etc., as asserted in paragraph 4 of page 10 in Remarks filed on January 20, 2026.
In response to the argument cited above, the Office respectfully disagrees because Bergmann’s detected voice content can be a conversation request, a request for ending the conversation, or request for continuous conversation as a finite number of identified, predictable potential limitations which, as discussed in the office action above, would be not patentable distinction each other as obvious to try, MPEP 2141, III and Bergmann further teaches argued “detects that the second user has the conversation demand” by, as indicated by the applicant, detecting own voice and facing to the listening user (U2), which is sufficient disclosure of claimed “demand” above and thus, the argument is moot. Although Bergmann does not explicitly teach “first earphone comprises a target orientation earphone for the second user”, Lovitt teaches this feature as discussed in the office action above, and thus, the prior art rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) maintained. For the at least similar reasons discussed above, the prior art rejection of other independent claim 11-13 and dependent claims 2-10 maintained.
As to added claim 14, both prior arts Bergmann teaches own voice and Lovitt teach spoken words converted to a form the listening user can understand (Lovitt, by personalization engine in fig. 6), and therefore, the conversation content of whether a name of the person as claimed, word “Hi”, “Please”, or other similar words and phrases, would be less weight to patentable distinction, but merely designer’s choice or obvious to try, as discussed in the office action above.
In the response to this office action, the Office respectfully requests that support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line numbers in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the Office in prosecuting this application.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESHUI ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5589. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6:30amp-4:00pm EST.
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/LESHUI ZHANG/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2695
Prosecution Insights