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 .
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendment dated 6/11/2024, claims 1-7, and 9 are currently pending in the application.
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 6 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Wang (CN 108377436 A) hereinafter Wang.
The applied reference has a common Assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches An earphone noise cancellation method, applied to a first earphone (“The invention discloses a kind of method, apparatus adjusting active noise reduction earphone gain and active noise reduction earphone” in ¶[Abstract Page 1]), comprising: receiving a second noise cancellation amount of a second earphone corresponding to the first earphone (“The active noise reduction amount of left earphone and right earphone based on acquisition” in [Page 3, ¶[17]]), Wang further teaches wherein the second noise cancellation amount meets the preset noise cancellation condition (“the gain of left earphone and/or right earphone less than default noise reduction threshold” in [Page 3, ¶[0019]); obtaining a first noise cancellation difference value between the first noise cancellation amount and the second noise cancellation amount (“The absolute value for calculating the difference of the active noise reduction amount of left earphone and right earphone, obtains noise reduction difference” in Page 3, ¶[0018]); and adjusting a noise cancellation parameter of at least one selected from a group consisting of the first earphone and the second earphone based on the first noise cancellation amount and the second noise cancellation amount, if the first noise cancellation difference value is greater than a preset difference (“The gain that left earphone and right earphone are adjusted if noise reduction difference is more than preset difference value threshold value, until noise reduction Difference is not more than preset difference value threshold value” in (Page 3, ¶[0019]),
Wang does not specifically disclose the method comprising only starting the collection of the noise cancellation information from the second earphone if a first noise cancellation amount of the first earphone meets a preset noise cancellation condition however,
Since Wang teaches after adjusting the first and second noise reduction amounts to meet the preset conditions, the noise reduction difference is then obtained (See Pages 3 ¶[0017] to Page 4, ¶[0002]), Based on this, the former is used as a condition for executing the latter, and the first noise reduction amount being satisfied with a preset condition is used as a condition for receiving the second noise reduction amount, and Official notice is taken that it is well known in the noise cancellation art to start a noise cancellation process if a certain condition is met , thus it would have been obvious for the designer to modify the device of Wang to use a precondition of the first signal to start the consecutive step if fulfilled for the well known desired benefit of saving battery or power resources.
Regarding claim 2, Wang as modified teaches the method of claim 1, Wang further teaches
Regarding claim 6, claim is rejected for being the method comprising at least the same elements and performing at least the same functions performed by the method of rejected claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above) in addition to the limitation of a “mobile device” (“apparatus adjusting active noise reduction earphone gain and active noise reduction earphone” in Page 1, ¶[Abstract]).
Regarding claim 9, claim is rejected for being the apparatus comprising at least the same elements and performing at least the same functions performed by the method of rejected claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above).
Claim 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Wang (CN 108377436 A) hereinafter Wang in view of Perkmann et al. (US 20200084535 A1) hereinafter Perkmann.
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches the method of claim 1, Wang further teaches determining the first noise cancellation amount of the first earphone based on the first noise signal and the second noise signal (“The gain that left earphone and right earphone are adjusted if noise reduction difference is more than preset difference value threshold value, until noise reduction Difference is not more than preset difference value threshold value” in (Page 3, ¶[0019]), Wang does not specifically disclose the method further comprising wherein before the receiving the second noise cancellation amount of the second earphone corresponding to the first earphone, if the first noise cancellation amount of the first earphone meets the preset noise cancellation condition, the method further comprises: obtaining a first noise signal acquired by a first acquisition device and a second noise signal acquired by a second acquisition device when the first earphone initiates active noise cancellation, wherein the first acquisition device is provided in a front cavity of the first earphone and the second acquisition device is provided in a rear cavity of the first earphone however,
Since it is known in the art as evidenced by Perkmann for a method to further comprise wherein before the receiving the second noise cancellation amount of the second earphone corresponding to the first earphone, if the first noise cancellation amount of the first earphone meets the preset noise cancellation condition, the method further comprises: obtaining a first noise signal acquired by a first acquisition device and a second noise signal acquired by a second acquisition device when the first earphone initiates active noise cancellation, wherein the first acquisition device is provided in a front cavity of the first earphone and the second acquisition device is provided in a rear cavity of the first earphone (“microphone 11 of the ANC circuit is usually arranged in the area of eartip 5 in tip area 6 or in standard frontal volume 2. In one embodiment of the invention, microphone 11 is now arranged in the inner area of additional volume 3, for example at inner position 8, leading to surprisingly favorable results. This measure achieves results as if the microphone were arranged in the tip area, for example at virtual position 13” in ¶[0026] and Mics 11 and 13 in Fig. 1),
An ordinary skilled in the art would be motivated to modify the invention of Wang as modified with the teachings of Perkmann for the benefit of improving the accuracy of the device, therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Wang as modified with Perkmann.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5, 7 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMMAR T HAMID whose telephone number is (571)272-1953. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5, Eastern time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached at (571) 272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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AMMAR T. HAMID
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2695
/AMMAR T HAMID/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695