Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 6 be found allowable, claim 14 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof (in fact, it is an identical duplicate thereof). When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 5-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bye (US 20040204921).
Regarding claim 1, Bye teaches a method of operating a hearing device configured to be at least partially inserted into an ear canal of a user (64, 66, fig 1), the method comprising: receiving an input audio signal (external microphones 344, [0105]); amplifying the input audio signal (signal modifying section 356 which includes attenuator circuits, [0105]); and outputting, by an output transducer included in the hearing device (output transducer selection portion 360, [0108]), an output audio signal based on the amplified audio signal so as to stimulate the user’s hearing (stimulus signals are provided on line 358 to an output transducer, [0108]), characterized by determining, based on an estimate of a measure of a Real Ear Occluded Gain (REOG) (ear occluded response (REOR), [0123]) and a measure of a Real Ear Aided Gain (REAG) (real-ear aided response (REAR), [0123]), a measure of a Real Ear Reducible Gain (RERG) indicative of an amount by which noise contained in the input audio signal can be attenuated in the amplified audio signal (real-ear saturation response, referred to as the RESR, [0123]); and controlling an operation of the hearing device depending on the RERG measure (real-ear system can assess the efficacy of aided hearing response and can interactively adjust hearing aid programming parameters to be applied by the host computer, [0143]).
Regarding claim 2, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, during a time at which the output transducer abstains from outputting the output audio signal, the estimate of the REOG measure (REOR, [0123]); and/or determining, based on a measured ear canal geometry of the user and/or based on a measured acoustic coupling of the hearing device with an environment, the estimate of the REOG measure; and/or receiving, from a memory and/or via a data link with an external data source, the estimate of the REOG measure; and/or determining, during a time at which the output transducer outputs the output audio signal, the estimate of the REAG measure; and/or determining, based on a measured ear canal geometry of the user and/or based on a measured acoustic coupling of the hearing device with the environment, the estimate of the REAG measure; and/or receiving, from a memory and/or via a data link with an external data source, the estimate of the REAG measure.
Regarding claim 5, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the RERG measure is indicative of a difference between the REOG measure and the REAG measure (inherently, the real-ear saturation gain is the difference between the aided gain and the occluded gain since the aided gain is with the hearing aid turned on and the occluded gain is with the hearing aid turned off, Bye, [0123]; so the saturation gain would be indicative of the difference therebetween).
Regarding claim 6, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the RERG measure is determined for a plurality of frequency values (frequency ranges are selectable by parameters provided by the microprocessor 378., [0115]).
Regarding claim 7, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: comparing the RERG measure to a threshold of the RERG measure, wherein the operation is controlled depending on whether the RERG measure falls below or exceeds the threshold (To assess hearing thresholds for speech, an audiometer may also reproduce live voice or recorded speech at selectable calibrated levels. Various complex controls are used to administer varying sound conditions to determine a range of responses for the individual, [0008]).
Regarding claim 8, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the operation comprises: outputting a notification to the user; and/or outputting data indicative of the RERG measure to a computing device; and/or outputting a control signal to a computing device, the control signal instructing the computing device to output a notification (Card Services is event-driven and notifies clients of hardware events and responds to client requests, [0077]).
Regarding claim 9, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising logging data indicative of the RERG measure over time ( real-ear system records the output measured by the probe microphone 508 in the ear canal., [0124]; long term speech spectral shape, [0128]).
Regarding claim 10, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the operation comprises adjusting of a noise attenuator configured to attenuate noise in the input audio signal ( attenuator circuits provide a calibrated amount of attenuation of the stimulus signals so as to ascertain the amount of hearing loss a person has, [0105]; stimulus signals are from the narrow band noise signal source, [0117]).
Regarding claim 11, Bye teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the adjusting of the noise attenuator comprises at least one of: adjusting a noise cancelling algorithm; adjusting a beamformer; adjusting an active noise cancelling (ANC); and adjusting an acoustic coupling of the hearing device with an environment (attenuator circuits provide a calibrated amount of attenuation of the stimulus signals so as to ascertain the amount of hearing loss a person has, [0105]).
Regarding claim 12, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising determining, from the input audio signal, an occurrence of a current acoustic scene ( hearing aid in its most elementary form usually provides for auditory correction through the amplification and filtering of sound provided in the environment with the intent that the individual can hear better than without the amplification., [0006]).
Regarding claim 13, Bye teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the operation is controlled depending on the current acoustic scene (When programming is applied to programmable hearing aids, it is desirable to be able to sample the effectiveness of the programming at the ear of the wearer. To this end, another hearing-related system, referred to as so-called "real-ear" systems, have been employed to sample the output of a programmed hearing aid when in place on the user, [0016]).
Regarding claim 14, Bye teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the RERG measure is determined for a plurality of frequency values (frequency ranges are selectable by parameters provided by the microprocessor 378., [0115]).
Claim 15 is substantially similar to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons.
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) 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bye and Westermann (US 7082205).
Regarding claim 3, Bye teaches the method of claim 1.
Although Bye does not teach wherein the hearing device comprises an ear-canal microphone configured to provide an in-the-ear audio signal indicative of a sound detected inside the ear canal, wherein the REOG measure and/or the REAG measure is determined based on the in-the-ear audio signal, Westermann teaches a feedback microphone (4, Westermann, fig 1) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art use an in-ear microphone to perform the REOG and/or REAG measure of Bye since doing so is the use of a known technique to improve a similar system in the same way.
Regarding claim 4, Bye and Westermann teach the method of claim 3, wherein the hearing device comprises a sealing configured to reduce sound from an environment entering the ear canal, wherein the ear-canal microphone is positioned between the sealing and a tympanic membrane of the ear when the hearing device is at least partially inserted into the ear canal (64,66, fig 1, Bye).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Beuchert (EP 3783921) teaches a frequency dependent gain adjustment for a hearing device (Beuchert, fig 2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kile Blair whose telephone number is (571)270-3544. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at 571-272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KILE O BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691