DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the communications filed 6/17/2024, claims 58-77 are pending and have been examined.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/4/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/11/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 58-60, 65-66, 68-69, 72-74, and 77 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al, US Patent No. 10,623,845 B1.
Regarding Claim 58, Kim et al teaches, a headset control apparatus (Title/Abstract), comprising: a detection module configured to detect gesture information (Column 1, Lines 27-30, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”); a signal processing module (FIG. 1A, Signal Processing Circuitry) configured to determine, based on the gesture information, a gesture executed by a user (Column 1, Lines 46-50, “An apparatus for gesture control according to a general configuration includes an acoustic change detector configured to indicate, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”), the gesture information comprising an ambient signal captured by a headset (Column 1, Lines 27-30, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”),
the ambient signal comprising at least one of: an audio signal, a Bluetooth signal, an optical signal, or an ultrasonic signal (Column 7, Lines 54-58, “Hearables worn at each ear of a user may be configured to communicate audio and/or control signals to each other wirelessly (e.g., by Bluetooth® (e.g., as specified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Kirkland, Wash.) or near-field magnetic induction (NFMI)) or by wire.”, Column 13, Lines 30-40, “For example, such elements may be fabricated as electronic and/or optical devices residing, for example, on the same chip or among two or more chips in a chipset. One example of such a device is a fixed or programmable array of logic elements, such as transistors or logic gates, and any of these elements may be implemented as one or more such arrays. Any two or more, or even all, of these elements may be implemented within the same array or arrays. Such an array or arrays may be implemented within one or more chips (for example, within a chipset including two or more chips).”),
and the gesture comprising either of an ear covering gesture that forms a cavity around the headset or a listening gesture that forms an open reflective surface around the headset (Column 7, Lines 25-33, “acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 in a similar manner (e.g., using a detection frequency band of from about five to about ten kHz and/or from about 15 to 18 kHz). In a further example, acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to indicate an orientation of the object (e.g., whether the user's hand is cupped around the ear or is covering the ear) based on spectra of signals IS10 and IS20.”); and a noise reduction control module configured to adjust a mode of the headset to a target mode based on the gesture executed by the user (FIG. 1B, Signal Enhancer SE100, Column 8, Lines 57-64, “Such a control interface may be broadly applied to control of any function. In another application, a user may cover her ear or ears to initiate active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or media playback. For example, such an implementation of device D100 may be configured to allow the user to cover both ears to select ANC, and to cover either ear to select media playback (alternatively, to select different media sources by covering the left or right ear).”).
Regarding Claim 59, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, and further teaches, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of audio signal, the signal processing module is configured to: perform Fourier transform on the audio signal to obtain a frequency domain signal of the audio signal (Column 6, Lines 30-35, “In one example, acoustic change detector CD100 is configured to calculate the distribution of energy of first audio input signal IS10 with respect to frequency by averaging the power spectral density over time from a series of overlapping fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) or short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) of the signal.”); calculate a ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal in a first preset frequency domain range to an energy average value of a frequency domain signal in a full frequency domain (Column 6, Lines 45-53, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect a change in relative energy by comparing a relation (e.g., a ratio) between detection band energy and control band energy to a threshold value, and such comparing may be repeated at an interval of, for example, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, or 1 second. It may be desired to vary one or both of the threshold value and the interval period based on context (e.g., in response to changes in transient signal activity, background signal energy, etc.).”); and when the ratio is greater than a first preset threshold, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture (Column 5, Lines 62-67, and Column 6, Lines 1-6, “When a user holds a hand to her ear, therefore, an abrupt spectrum change may be detected in the output of a microphone at that ear, due to the formation by the hand of the new acoustic cavity (e.g., with the outer ear) having a characteristic resonance. The spectrum change may occur, for example, in a range of about one to about three kilohertz, or a range of about one to about five kilohertz. Acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect such a change in first audio input signal IS10 by comparing, for example, a current average spectrum over time in the signal and a previous average spectrum over time in the signal to decide if a new acoustic cavity has been formed at the ear.”).
Regarding Claim 60, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, and further teaches, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of audio signal, the signal processing module is configured to: perform Fourier transform on the audio signal to obtain a frequency domain signal of the audio signal (Column 6, Lines 30-35, “In one example, acoustic change detector CD100 is configured to calculate the distribution of energy of first audio input signal IS10 with respect to frequency by averaging the power spectral density over time from a series of overlapping fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) or short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) of the signal.”); calculate a similarity value between frequency energy distribution of the frequency domain signal and preset frequency energy distribution (Column 6, Lines 45-53, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect a change in relative energy by comparing a relation (e.g., a ratio) between detection band energy and control band energy to a threshold value, and such comparing may be repeated at an interval of, for example, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, or 1 second. It may be desired to vary one or both of the threshold value and the interval period based on context (e.g., in response to changes in transient signal activity, background signal energy, etc.).”); and when the similarity value is greater than a second preset threshold, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture (Above quotations, as well as Column 7, Lines 11-29, “Apparatus A105 includes an instance of acoustic change detector CD200 that is arranged to receive an audio input signal IS20 that is based on an output signal of microphone MC20 and to indicate detection of the presence of the object (e.g., the predetermined hand gesture) to an instance of signal enhancer SE100 as described herein with reference to acoustic change detector CD100. Acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect the presence of the object (e.g., that the user has made the predetermined hand gesture) by detecting at least one of a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 and a change in a spectrum of audio input signal IS20. Acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 as described above with reference to acoustic change detector CD100, and acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 in a similar manner (e.g., using a detection frequency band of from about five to about ten kHz and/or from about 15 to 18 kHz).”).
Regarding Claim 65, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 59, and further teaches, wherein an energy peak in the frequency energy distribution of the frequency domain signal is in a preset frequency range (Column 6, Lines 18-29, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect the presence of the object (e.g., the user's hand) by detecting a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10, such as a change in an average spectrum over time. Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured, for example, to detect a change in energy of one or more detection frequency bands of first audio input signal IS10, relative to energy of one or more one or more control frequency bands of signal IS10 (e.g., the entire spectrum of signal IS10, or the rest of the spectrum of signal IS10). Examples of detection frequency bands include from about one to about two, three, or five kHz.”).
Regarding Claim 66, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 59, and further teaches, wherein a frequency domain of the audio signal comprises at least a first frequency band, a second frequency band, and a third frequency band (Column 6, Lines 22-29, “for example, to detect a change in energy of one or more detection frequency bands of first audio input signal IS10, relative to energy of one or more one or more control frequency bands of signal IS10 (e.g., the entire spectrum of signal IS10, or the rest of the spectrum of signal IS10). Examples of detection frequency bands include from about one to about two, three, or five kHz.”, while not explicitly stating each individual band, they are subdividing into multiple frequency bands within a range of 1-5 kHz.), a last frequency of the first frequency band is a 1st frequency of the second frequency band, a last frequency of the second frequency band is a 1st frequency of the third frequency band (Column 6, Lines 22-29, “for example, to detect a change in energy of one or more detection frequency bands of first audio input signal IS10, relative to energy of one or more one or more control frequency bands of signal IS10 (e.g., the entire spectrum of signal IS10, or the rest of the spectrum of signal IS10). Examples of detection frequency bands include from about one to about two, three, or five kHz.”, by subdividing a frequency range into multiple bands, they would necessarily be splitting it in a manner in which each band would have an end point equivalent to the next band’s starting point.), and a difference between a seventh ratio of an average energy value of the first frequency band to an average energy value of the second frequency band and an eighth ratio of the average energy value of the second frequency band to an average energy value of the third frequency band is greater than a fifth preset threshold (Column 6, Lines 45-53, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect a change in relative energy by comparing a relation (e.g., a ratio) between detection band energy and control band energy to a threshold value, and such comparing may be repeated at an interval of, for example, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, or 1 second. It may be desired to vary one or both of the threshold value and the interval period based on context (e.g., in response to changes in transient signal activity, background signal energy, etc.).”, compares the values of different energy level ratios, and compares them to a threshold value, to determine signal activity.).
Regarding Claim 68, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, and further teaches, wherein when the gesture executed by the user is the ear covering gesture, the target mode is either of a noise reduction enabled mode and a noise reduction transparent transmission disabled mode (Column 8, Lines 57-62, “Such a control interface may be broadly applied to control of any function. In another application, a user may cover her ear or ears to initiate active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or media playback. For example, such an implementation of device D100 may be configured to allow the user to cover both ears to select ANC,”);
when a current mode of the headset is a noise reduction transparent transmission disabled mode, the target mode is a noise reduction enabled mode; when a current mode of the headset is a noise reduction enabled mode, the target mode is a transparent transmission enabled mode; or when a current mode of the headset is a transparent transmission enabled mode, the target mode is a noise reduction transparent transmission disabled mode (Column 8, Lines 26-38, “In order to maintain a natural control interface and/or for the user to continue to hear a desired sound acoustically, it may be desirable to implement acoustic change detector CD100 (including implementations thereof) to detect the control gesture (e.g., a hand held or cupped to the ear) without requiring the user to cover her ear completely. Alternatively or additionally, acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect a hand fully covering the ear as another control indication that is different from a hand cupped to the ear. Alternatively or additionally, acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect a gesture made at the left ear as a different control function from a similar gesture made at the right ear.”, Column 8, Lines 57-60, “Such a control interface may be broadly applied to control of any function. In another application, a user may cover her ear or ears to initiate active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or media playback.”, Column 12, Lines 33-40, “The first audio input signal is based on information from a first microphone signal that is produced by a microphone worn at an ear of the user, and the object may be, for example, a hand of the user in a predetermined hand gesture. Apparatus F100 also includes means MF200 for increasing a volume level of a signal that is based on the first microphone signal (e.g., as described herein with reference to signal enhancer SE100).” Describes the determination of which mode to enter, based upon the current operating mode, and which gestures the system is currently sensing for.).
Regarding Claim 69, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, and further teaches, wherein when the gesture executed by the user is the ear covering gesture, the target mode is a noise reduction enabled mode (Column 8, Lines 26-38, “In order to maintain a natural control interface and/or for the user to continue to hear a desired sound acoustically, it may be desirable to implement acoustic change detector CD100 (including implementations thereof) to detect the control gesture (e.g., a hand held or cupped to the ear) without requiring the user to cover her ear completely. Alternatively or additionally, acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect a hand fully covering the ear as another control indication that is different from a hand cupped to the ear. Alternatively or additionally, acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect a gesture made at the left ear as a different control function from a similar gesture made at the right ear.”, Column 8, Lines 57-60, “Such a control interface may be broadly applied to control of any function. In another application, a user may cover her ear or ears to initiate active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or media playback.”); and when the gesture executed by the user is the listening gesture, the target mode is a transparent transmission enabled mode (Column 12, Lines 33-40, “The first audio input signal is based on information from a first microphone signal that is produced by a microphone worn at an ear of the user, and the object may be, for example, a hand of the user in a predetermined hand gesture. Apparatus F100 also includes means MF200 for increasing a volume level of a signal that is based on the first microphone signal (e.g., as described herein with reference to signal enhancer SE100).” ).
Regarding Claim 72, Kim et al teaches, A headset control apparatus (Title/Abstract), comprising: a signal capturing module configured to capture an ambient signal around a headset (Column 1, Lines 27-30, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”), the ambient signal comprising at least one of: an audio signal, an optical signal, or an ultrasonic signal (Column 7, Lines 54-58, “Hearables worn at each ear of a user may be configured to communicate audio and/or control signals to each other wirelessly (e.g., by Bluetooth® (e.g., as specified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Kirkland, Wash.) or near-field magnetic induction (NFMI)) or by wire.”, Column 13, Lines 30-40, “For example, such elements may be fabricated as electronic and/or optical devices residing, for example, on the same chip or among two or more chips in a chipset. One example of such a device is a fixed or programmable array of logic elements, such as transistors or logic gates, and any of these elements may be implemented as one or more such arrays. Any two or more, or even all, of these elements may be implemented within the same array or arrays. Such an array or arrays may be implemented within one or more chips (for example, within a chipset including two or more chips).”);
a signal processing module configured to extract a feature of the ambient signal (Column 1, Lines 27-36, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture; and in response to the determining, increasing, relative to a total energy of a source signal that is based on the first audio input signal, an energy of a desired sound component of the source signal. In this method, the first audio input signal is based on information from a first microphone signal that is produced by a microphone worn at an ear of the user.”);
and a noise reduction control module configured to adjust a mode of the headset to a target mode based on energy strength of a preset frequency band in the extracted feature of the ambient signal (Column 5, Lines 23-42, “Examples of use cases for apparatus A100 and/or device D100 include a bar, cafeteria, or other space in which the ambient noise is too loud to allow a user to hear nearby friends well enough to carry on a normal conversation. It may be desirable to use the apparatus and/or device to decrease the volume of the ambient noise and increase the volume of the conversation, and to accomplish this goal using a natural gesture. For example, it may be desirable to provide a user with sufficient control to achieve this goal by making the natural gesture in relation to the hearable device, and to avoid the need for the user to use another device (e.g., a smartphone) to provide a control interface to the hearable device for this purpose. In another example, at least a part of apparatus A100 (e.g., acoustic change detector CD100) is located in a wearable device or “wearable,” which may be configured to communicate wirelessly with a hearable (e.g., to receive the audio input signal and to send a corresponding volume level command). Examples of wearables include (in addition to hearables) watches, head-mounted displays, headsets, fitness trackers, and pendants.”).
Regarding Claim 73, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 72, and further teaches, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of audio signal, the signal processing module is configured to: perform Fourier transform on the audio signal to obtain a frequency domain signal of the audio signal (Column 6, Lines 30-35, “In one example, acoustic change detector CD100 is configured to calculate the distribution of energy of first audio input signal IS10 with respect to frequency by averaging the power spectral density over time from a series of overlapping fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) or short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) of the signal.”), and calculate a ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal in a first preset frequency domain range to an energy average value of a frequency domain signal in a full frequency domain (Column 6, Lines 45-53, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect a change in relative energy by comparing a relation (e.g., a ratio) between detection band energy and control band energy to a threshold value, and such comparing may be repeated at an interval of, for example, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, or 1 second. It may be desired to vary one or both of the threshold value and the interval period based on context (e.g., in response to changes in transient signal activity, background signal energy, etc.).”); and the noise reduction control module is configured to: when the ratio is greater than a first preset threshold, determine that the target mode is a first mode (Column 5, Lines 62-67, and Column 6, Lines 1-6, “When a user holds a hand to her ear, therefore, an abrupt spectrum change may be detected in the output of a microphone at that ear, due to the formation by the hand of the new acoustic cavity (e.g., with the outer ear) having a characteristic resonance. The spectrum change may occur, for example, in a range of about one to about three kilohertz, or a range of about one to about five kilohertz. Acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect such a change in first audio input signal IS10 by comparing, for example, a current average spectrum over time in the signal and a previous average spectrum over time in the signal to decide if a new acoustic cavity has been formed at the ear.”).
Regarding Claim 74, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 72, and further teaches, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of audio signal, the signal processing module is configured to: perform Fourier transform on the audio signal to obtain a frequency domain signal of the audio signal (Column 6, Lines 30-35, “In one example, acoustic change detector CD100 is configured to calculate the distribution of energy of first audio input signal IS10 with respect to frequency by averaging the power spectral density over time from a series of overlapping fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) or short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) of the signal.”), and calculate a similarity value between frequency energy distribution of the frequency domain signal and preset frequency energy distribution (Column 6, Lines 45-53, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to detect a change in relative energy by comparing a relation (e.g., a ratio) between detection band energy and control band energy to a threshold value, and such comparing may be repeated at an interval of, for example, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, or 1 second. It may be desired to vary one or both of the threshold value and the interval period based on context (e.g., in response to changes in transient signal activity, background signal energy, etc.).”); and the noise reduction control module is configured to: when the similarity value is greater than a second preset threshold, determine that the target mode is a first mode (Above quotations, as well as Column 7, Lines 11-29, “Apparatus A105 includes an instance of acoustic change detector CD200 that is arranged to receive an audio input signal IS20 that is based on an output signal of microphone MC20 and to indicate detection of the presence of the object (e.g., the predetermined hand gesture) to an instance of signal enhancer SE100 as described herein with reference to acoustic change detector CD100. Acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect the presence of the object (e.g., that the user has made the predetermined hand gesture) by detecting at least one of a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 and a change in a spectrum of audio input signal IS20. Acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 as described above with reference to acoustic change detector CD100, and acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 in a similar manner (e.g., using a detection frequency band of from about five to about ten kHz and/or from about 15 to 18 kHz).”).
Regarding Claim 77, Kim et al teaches a headset control apparatus, comprising: a memory storing instructions (Column 14, Lines 10-15, “One or more (possibly all) of the tasks may also be implemented as code (e.g., one or more sets of instructions), embodied in a computer program product (e.g., one or more data storage media such as disks, flash or other nonvolatile memory cards, semiconductor memory chips, etc.)”); and at least one processor in communication with the memory (Column 14, Lines 10-20, “One or more (possibly all) of the tasks may also be implemented as code (e.g., one or more sets of instructions), embodied in a computer program product (e.g., one or more data storage media such as disks, flash or other nonvolatile memory cards, semiconductor memory chips, etc.), that is readable and/or executable by a machine (e.g., a computer) including an array of logic elements (e.g., a processor, microprocessor, microcontroller, or other finite state machine). The tasks of an implementation of a method as disclosed herein may also be performed by more than one such array or machine.”), the at least one processor configured, upon execution of the instructions, to perform the following steps: detect a gesture information (Column 1, Lines 27-30, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”);
Determine, based on the gesture information, a gesture executed by a user (Column 1, Lines 46-50, “An apparatus for gesture control according to a general configuration includes an acoustic change detector configured to indicate, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”), the gesture information comprising an ambient signal captured by a headset (Column 1, Lines 27-30, “A method of gesture control according to a general configuration includes determining, based on information from a first audio input signal, that a user has made a predetermined hand gesture;”),
the ambient signal comprising at least one of an audio signal, a Bluetooth signal, an optical signal, or an ultrasonic signal (Column 7, Lines 54-58, “Hearables worn at each ear of a user may be configured to communicate audio and/or control signals to each other wirelessly (e.g., by Bluetooth® (e.g., as specified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Kirkland, Wash.) or near-field magnetic induction (NFMI)) or by wire.”, Column 13, Lines 30-40, “For example, such elements may be fabricated as electronic and/or optical devices residing, for example, on the same chip or among two or more chips in a chipset. One example of such a device is a fixed or programmable array of logic elements, such as transistors or logic gates, and any of these elements may be implemented as one or more such arrays. Any two or more, or even all, of these elements may be implemented within the same array or arrays. Such an array or arrays may be implemented within one or more chips (for example, within a chipset including two or more chips).”), and the gesture comprises either of an ear covering gesture that forms a cavity around the headset or a listening gesture that forms an open reflective surface around the headset (Column 7, Lines 25-33, “acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to detect a change in a spectrum of first audio input signal IS10 in a similar manner (e.g., using a detection frequency band of from about five to about ten kHz and/or from about 15 to 18 kHz). In a further example, acoustic change detector CD200 may be configured to indicate an orientation of the object (e.g., whether the user's hand is cupped around the ear or is covering the ear) based on spectra of signals IS10 and IS20.”);
and adjust a mode of the headset to a target mode based on the gesture executed by the user, when the gesture executed by the user comprises the ear covering gesture, the target mode comprising a noise reduction enabled mode or a noise reduction transparent transmission disabled mode (FIG. 1B, Signal Enhancer SE100, Column 8, Lines 57-64, “Such a control interface may be broadly applied to control of any function. In another application, a user may cover her ear or ears to initiate active noise cancellation (ANC) and/or media playback. For example, such an implementation of device D100 may be configured to allow the user to cover both ears to select ANC, and to cover either ear to select media playback (alternatively, to select different media sources by covering the left or right ear).”).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 67, and 70-71 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al, US Patent No. 10,623,845 B1, in view of Xue et al, WO 2021101674 A1.
Regarding Claim 67, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, but does not further teach, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of Bluetooth signal, the signal processing module is configured to: obtain time strength distribution of the Bluetooth signal based on the Bluetooth signal; and when a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a first time period is lower than a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a second time period in the time strength distribution and the strength of the Bluetooth signal in the first time period is lower than a sixth preset threshold in preset duration, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture, wherein the second time period is earlier than the first time period.
However, Xue et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of Bluetooth signal (See Page 9, “Any of the embodiments of a gesture control system disclosed herein find particular usefulness within the context of radiofrequency communication techniques that employ frequency hopping. According to any of the embodiments disclosed herein, an FHSS system can be incorporated in a hearing device, an accessory electronic device or devices, or both hearing and accessory electrical devices to provide a method for detecting gestures made by the hearing device wearer. For hearing devices and accessory electronic devices that utilize a Bluetooth® protocol, for example, the frequency hops rapidly in accordance with a frequency hopping sequence. Multiple devices can have a Bluetooth® connection with the hearing device.”), the signal processing module is configured to: obtain time strength distribution of the Bluetooth signal based on the Bluetooth signal (See Page 2, “from one or both of the first body -worn electronic device and the second electronic device, two-dimensional (2- D) RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) data comprising an RSSI value as a function of frequency and of time in response to transmission of the signals.”); and when a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a first time period is lower than a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a second time period in the time strength distribution and the strength of the Bluetooth signal in the first time period is lower than a sixth preset threshold in preset duration, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture, wherein the second time period is earlier than the first time period (See Page 2, “The method also comprises collecting, from one or both of the first body -worn electronic device and the second electronic device, two-dimensional (2- D) RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) data comprising an RSSI value as a function of frequency and of time in response to transmission of the signals. The method further comprises detecting a particular input gesture of a plurality of input gestures of the wearer using the 2-D RSSI data, and implementing a predetermined function of at least one of the first body -worn electronic device and the second electronic device in response to detecting the particular input gesture.”, and FIG. 2, Steps 206, 208, 210.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of wherein when the ambient signal is a segment of Bluetooth signal, the signal processing module is configured to: obtain time strength distribution of the Bluetooth signal based on the Bluetooth signal; and when a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a first time period is lower than a strength of a Bluetooth signal in a second time period in the time strength distribution and the strength of the Bluetooth signal in the first time period is lower than a sixth preset threshold in preset duration, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture, wherein the second time period is earlier than the first time period, as taught by Xue et al, with the system as taught by Kim et al. The motivation being that in wireless communications, it is known that physical barriers can impact signal strength. As such, a hand gesture would be known to impact signal strength, and this variation in strength can be utilized to determine user input.
Regarding Claim 70, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, but does not further teach, wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a strength value of the Bluetooth signal of the headset is less than a seventh preset threshold, start to detect the gesture information.
However, Xue et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a strength value of the Bluetooth signal of the headset is less than a seventh preset threshold, start to detect the gesture information (See Pages 9-10, “A gesture control system and method according to any of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used to classify wearer gestures, such as hand or finger motions made in proximity to the hearing device and/or the accessory electronic device(s). It is noted that the gesture detection circuitry can be placed in a left hearing device, a right hearing device or both left and right hearing devices for purposes of detecting wearer gestures. Gesture detection circuitry can also be placed in one or more accessory electronic devices that communicate with the hearing device(s). Gesture detection circuitry can be configured to detect and characterize one or more of changes in an ear-to-ear RSSI pattern, changes in an ear-to-accessory RSSI pattern, and changes in a plurality of ear-to-accessory RSSI patterns. As the wearer’s finger, hand or head moves, the RSSI pattern is perturbed, which can be detected by one or both of the hearing devices and/or the accessory electronic device(s).”, determines when the user makes gestures, which impacts the signal strength value, and determines operation parameters based upon this determination.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a strength value of the Bluetooth signal of the headset is less than a seventh preset threshold, start to detect the gesture information, as taught by Xue et al, with the system as taught by Kim et al. The motivation being that being that in wireless communications, it is known that physical barriers can impact signal strength. As such, a hand gesture would be known to impact signal strength, and this variation in strength can be utilized to determine user input, further, beginning the recognition with this change in strength value, allows the system to only perform this function when necessary.
Regarding Claim 71, Kim et al teaches all the limitations of claim 58, but does not further teach, wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a preset signal is received, start to detect the gesture information, wherein the preset signal indicates that a wearable device detects that the user raises a hand.
However, Xue et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a preset signal is received, start to detect the gesture information, wherein the preset signal indicates that a wearable device detects that the user raises a hand (See Page 11, “When a hand or finger of the wearer (or other individual) moves near the hearing device, for example, it is not necessary that the hand or finger touch the hearing device since the electromagnetic wave travels wirelessly. As a practical matter, the wearer’s hand or finger would not directly touch the antenna since the antenna may be packed and sealed within the hearing device. As the wearer’s hand or finger moves closer to the hearing device, a large perturbation of the antenna’s electrical field occurs, resulting in a corresponding larger variation in the antenna’s transmission scattering parameter (e.g., S21, S12) and, therefore, the corresponding 2-D RSSI data.”, Teaches the usage of the RSSI data to determine that the user is moving their hands, which enables the system to use gesture recognition processing.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of wherein the apparatus further comprises a triggering module, configured to: when a preset signal is received, start to detect the gesture information, wherein the preset signal indicates that a wearable device detects that the user raises a hand, as taught by Xue et al, with the system as taught by Kim et al. The motivation being that being that in wireless communications, it is known that physical barriers can impact signal strength. As such, a hand gesture would be known to impact signal strength, and this variation in strength can be utilized to determine user input, further, beginning the recognition with this change in strength value, allows the system to only perform this function when necessary.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 61-64, and 75-76 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record, Kim et al (US Patent No. 10623845 B1), teaches all the limitations of independent claims 58, 72, and 77, and further teaches, wherein when the ambient signal comprises a first audio signal and a second audio signal, and a capturing time of the first audio signal is earlier than a capturing time of the second audio signal (Column 6, Lines 1-6, “Acoustic change detector CD100 may be implemented to detect such a change in first audio input signal IS10 by comparing, for example, a current average spectrum over time in the signal and a previous average spectrum over time in the signal to decide if a new acoustic cavity has been formed at the ear.” Teaches using a current audio signal and a previous audio signal, to perform comparisons.), the signal processing module is configured to: perform Fourier transform on the first audio signal and the second audio signal respectively to obtain a frequency domain signal of the first audio signal and a frequency domain signal of the second audio signal (Column 6, Lines 30-39, “In one example, acoustic change detector CD100 is configured to calculate the distribution of energy of first audio input signal IS10 with respect to frequency by averaging the power spectral density over time from a series of overlapping fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) or short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) of the signal. In such case, acoustic change detector CD100 may be configured to calculate the energy in a frequency band of the signal as a sum of the squared magnitudes of the FFT or STFT components in the band.”).
Kim et al does not further teach, calculate a first ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the second audio signal in a second preset frequency domain range to an energy average value of a frequency domain signal in a full frequency domain, a second ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the first audio signal in the second preset frequency domain range to the energy average value of the frequency domain signal in the full frequency domain, a third ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the second audio signal in a third preset frequency domain range to the energy average value of the frequency domain signal in the full frequency domain, and a fourth ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the second audio signal in a fourth preset frequency domain range to the energy average value of the frequency domain signal in the full frequency domain, wherein a frequency in the second preset frequency domain range is lower than a frequency in the fourth preset frequency domain range, and a frequency in the third preset frequency domain range is higher than the frequency in the fourth preset frequency domain range; and when the first ratio is greater than the second ratio, if the third ratio is less than the fourth ratio and/or a ratio of the third ratio to the fourth ratio is greater than a ratio of a fifth ratio to a sixth ratio, determine that the user performs the ear covering gesture, wherein the fifth ratio is a ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the first audio signal in the third preset frequency domain range to the average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the full frequency domain, and the sixth ratio is a ratio of an average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the first audio signal in the fourth preset frequency domain range to the average energy value of the frequency domain signal of the full frequency domain.
Further, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the prior art of record in a manner as required by the limitations of the claimed invention. Therefore, claims 61, 62, and 75 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Further, claims 64, 63, and 76, would be allowable based upon their dependence on claims 61, 62, and 75, respectively.
Conclusion
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/DYLAN MAGUIRE NEECE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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