DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Y The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
This office action is made in response to Applicant’s remarks filed on 3/17/2026. Claims 1-12 and 19-20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments regarding Examiner's rejections under 35 USC 112 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph have been considered, however, Applicant's amendments are not fully responsive to the issues raised in the rejection under 35 USC 112(b) made in the previous action. These rejections regarding non-responsive amendments are accordingly maintained as discussed in further detail below.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Examiner's rejections under 35 USC 102 and 103 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites: "The audio system of claim 2, wherein the at least one audio processor is further programmed to receive a first signal indicative of a command to set the predetermined volume level for comparison to the first entertainment audio from a user interface."
This language is also rejected as vague and indefinite for at least the following reasons:
Intended Use: The claim contains the following language that is vague and indefinite as it is unclear whether the scope of this language is intended to affirmatively require specific performance or whether this language is deliberately articulated as an expression of intended use:
“the predetermined volume level for comparison to the first entertainment audio from a user interface”
Accordingly, this language does not serve to patentably distinguish the claimed structure over that of the reference. See In re Pearson, 181 USPQ 641; In re Yanush, 177 USPQ 705; In re Finsterwalder, 168 USPQ 530; In re Casey, 512 USPQ 235; In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458; Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ 2nd 1647.
Although the following language does not necessarily cure the issues discussed above, for purposes of examination under 35 USC 102 and 103, Examiner will interpret this language as reading:
"The audio system of claim 2, wherein the at least one audio processor is further programmed to receive a first signal indicative of a command to set the predetermined volume level [intended for comparison to the first entertainment audio from a user interface]."
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qi (CN 206100419 U. For purposes of this examination, Examiner will refer to the English language translation of this reference provided with this Office Action).
Regarding claim 1, Qi discloses an audio system (see e.g. at least Abstract, Fig. 1-2, and related text) comprising:
one or more microphones configured to capture an audio input signal including at least one of a captured entertainment audio and a speech output from at least one occupant positioned in a vehicle (e.g. at least microphone 101, e.g. at least ¶ 21, Fig. 1-2, and related text);
at least one audio processor (e.g. at least digital signal processing circuit 104, volume control module 105, id.) programmed to:
transmit first entertainment audio into a cabin of the vehicle via one or more loudspeakers (e.g. at least speaker 103, id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 22-24);
receive the audio input signal from the one or more microphones (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 28, obtaining vehicle sound signal from the microphone);
receive a reference signal indicative of the first entertainment audio that is being transmitted into the cabin of the vehicle (id., obtaining the sound of the speaker);
apply the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio such that the captured entertainment audio is at least partially removed from the audio input signal (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 29-31, isolating both the user sound signal and the music signal, using a transfer function, in order to separate both the music signal and the user sound from the entire signal collected by the microphone via signal subtraction);
detect a voice activity in the speech output after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio (see e.g. at least ¶ 9, 28, 34, judging, via a comparator 1044, whether user talk voice average volume is (or is not) greater than a set volume value); and
attenuate the first entertainment audio in response to the result of the detection of a voice activity in the speech output (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, when comparator output result is greater than zero, reducing the sound volume).
Additionally, Graf teaches limitations not expressly disclosed by Qi including namely: detect a voice activity by comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold [after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio] (see e.g. at least § 2, ¶ 2-5, extracting features from a noisy speech signal to achieve a representation that discriminates between speech and noise and making a determination that speech is detected when a feature exceeds a threshold); and
[attenuate a first entertainment audio in response to the] detecting a voice activity when the loudness of the speech output exceeding the loudness threshold (id.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teaching of Qi by [detecting a voice activity by] comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio; and attenuate the first entertainment audio in response to [detecting voice activity when] the loudness of the speech output exceeds the loudness threshold as taught by Graf in order to exclude speech components from the noise estimates, reduce artifacts caused by aggressive noise reduction during speech, and improve latency, thereby enabling a driver to control devices using spoken commands and dictate text without being distracted from road traffic (Graf:§ 1).
Regarding claim 2, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to compare a volume of the first entertainment audio to a predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 9, 28, 34, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 3, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to attenuate the first entertainment audio based on the comparison of the loudness of the speech output to the loudness threshold and the comparison of the volume of the first entertainment audio to the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 4, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to attenuate the first entertainment audio in response to the loudness of the speech output exceeding the loudness threshold and the volume of the first entertainment audio exceeding the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 5, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to refrain from attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to at least one of the loudness of the speech output being less than the loudness threshold or the volume of the first entertainment audio being below the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 6, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to receive a first signal indicative of a command to set the loudness threshold to a predetermined loudness level from a user interface (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 7, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to receive a first signal indicative of a command to attenuate the first entertainment audio by a predetermined attenuation level from a user interface (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 8, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to receive a first signal indicative of a command to set the predetermined volume level [intended for comparison to the first entertainment audio from a user interface] (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 9, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to determine whether the speech output is present on the audio input signal (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 10, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to refrain from attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to determining that the speech output is not present on the audio input signal (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 11, Modified Qi teaches that the at least one audio processor is further programmed to at least partially remove the captured entertainment audio from the audio input signal by applying the reference signal that is indicative of the first entertainment audio that is being transmitted into the cabin (see e.g. at least ¶ 29-31, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 12, Qi discloses a method (see e.g. at least Abstract, Fig. 1-2, and related text) comprising:
receiving an audio input signal including at least one of captured entertainment audio and a speech output from at least one occupant positioned in a vehicle (see e.g. at least ¶ 21, Fig. 1-2, and related text, obtaining the sound in the vehicle including the sound originating from the speaker 103 and the user speech);
transmitting first entertainment audio into a cabin of the vehicle via one or more loudspeakers (e.g. at least speaker 103, id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 22-24);
receiving, via at least one audio processor (e.g. at least digital signal processing circuit 104, volume control module 105, id.), a reference signal indicative of the first entertainment audio that is being transmitted into the cabin of the vehicle (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 28, obtaining vehicle sound signal from the microphone);
applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio such that the captured entertainment audio is at least partially removed from the audio input signal (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 29-31, isolating both the user sound signal and the music signal, using a transfer function, in order to separate both the music signal and the user sound from the entire signal collected by the microphone via signal subtraction);
detecting a voice activity in the speech output after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio (see e.g. at least ¶ 9, 28, 34, judging, via a comparator 1044, whether user talk voice average volume is (or is not) greater than a set volume value); and
attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to the result of the detection of a voice activity in the speech output (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, when comparator output result is greater than zero, reducing the sound volume).
Additionally, Graf teaches limitations not expressly disclosed by Qi including namely: detecting a voice activity by comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold [after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio] (see e.g. at least § 2, ¶ 2-5, extracting features from a noisy speech signal to achieve a representation that discriminates between speech and noise and making a determination that speech is detected when a feature exceeds a threshold); and
[attenuating a first entertainment audio in response to the] detecting a voice activity when the loudness of the speech output exceeding the loudness threshold (id.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teaching of Qi by [detecting a voice activity by] comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio; and attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to [detecting voice activity when] the loudness of the speech output exceeds the loudness threshold as taught by Graf in order to exclude speech components from the noise estimates, reduce artifacts caused by aggressive noise reduction during speech, and improve latency, thereby enabling a driver to control devices using spoken commands and dictate text without being distracted from road traffic (Graf:§ 1).
Regarding claim 13, Modified Qi teaches comparing a volume of the first entertainment audio to a predetermined volume level prior to attenuating the first entertainment audio (see e.g. at least ¶ 9, 28, 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 14, Modified Qi teaches that attenuating the first entertainment audio based at least on the comparison of the loudness of the speech output to the loudness threshold further includes attenuating the first entertainment audio based on the comparison of the loudness of the speech output to the loudness threshold and the comparison of the volume of the first entertainment audio to the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 15, Modified Qi teaches that attenuating the first entertainment audio based on the comparison of the loudness of the speech output to the loudness threshold and the comparison of the volume of the first entertainment audio to the predetermined volume level further includes attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to the loudness of the speech output exceeding the loudness threshold and the volume of the first entertainment audio exceeding the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 16, Modified Qi teaches refraining from attenuating the first entertainment audio in response to at least one of the loudness of the speech output being less than the loudness threshold or the volume of the first entertainment audio being below the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 17, Modified Qi teaches receiving a first signal indicative of a command to set the loudness threshold to a predetermined loudness level from a user interface (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 18, Modified Qi teaches receiving a first signal indicative of a command to attenuate the first entertainment audio by a predetermined attenuation level from a user interface (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 19, Modified Qi teaches receiving a first signal indicative of a command to set the predetermined volume level (see e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, Fig. 1-2, and related text).
Regarding claim 20, Qi discloses a computer-program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that is stored in memory, and wherein at least one audio processor in an audio system is programmed by the computer-program product (see e.g. at least Abstract, Fig. 1-2, and related text) to:
receive an audio input signal including at least one of captured entertainment audio and a speech output from at least one occupant positioned in a vehicle (see e.g. at least ¶ 21, Fig. 1-2, and related text, obtaining the sound in the vehicle including the sound originating from the speaker 103 and the user speech);
transmit first entertainment audio into a cabin of the vehicle via one or more loudspeakers (e.g. at least speaker 103, id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 22-24);
receive a reference signal indicative of the first entertainment audio that is being transmitted into the cabin of the vehicle (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 28, obtaining vehicle sound signal from the microphone);
apply the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio such that the captured entertainment audio is at least partially removed from the audio input signal (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 29-31, isolating both the user sound signal and the music signal, using a transfer function, in order to separate both the music signal and the user sound from the entire signal collected by the microphone via signal subtraction);
detect a voice activity in the speech output after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio (see e.g. at least ¶ 9, 28, 34, judging, via a comparator 1044, whether user talk voice average volume is (or is not) greater than a set volume value); and
attenuate the first entertainment audio in response to the result of the detection of a voice activity in the speech output (id., see also e.g. at least ¶ 34-36, when comparator output result is greater than zero, reducing the sound volume).
Additionally, Graf teaches limitations not expressly disclosed by Qi including namely: detect a voice activity by comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold [after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio] (see e.g. at least § 2, ¶ 2-5, extracting features from a noisy speech signal to achieve a representation that discriminates between speech and noise and making a determination that speech is detected when a feature exceeds a threshold); and
[attenuate a first entertainment audio in response to the] detecting a voice activity when the loudness of the speech output exceeding the loudness threshold (id.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teaching of Qi by [detecting a voice activity by] comparing a loudness of the speech output to a loudness threshold after applying the reference signal to the captured entertainment audio; and attenuate the first entertainment audio in response to [detecting voice activity when] the loudness of the speech output exceeds the loudness threshold as taught by Graf in order to exclude speech components from the noise estimates, reduce artifacts caused by aggressive noise reduction during speech, and improve latency, thereby enabling a driver to control devices using spoken commands and dictate text without being distracted from road traffic (Graf:§ 1).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 CHARLES J HAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-3980. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th and every other F (7:30 AM - 5 PM).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christian Chace can be reached on 571-272-4190. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 900-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHARLES J HAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
Prosecution Insights