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 based on the communications filed July 2, 2024. Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending and considered below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on October 11, 2024 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)(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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1 – 15 and 17 – 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wijetillake et al. (US 2021/0001123 A1), hereinafter Wijetillake.
Claim 1: Wijetillake discloses a method for identifying channel importance of a cochlear implant user, the method comprising:
providing an audio example to the cochlear implant user (see at least, “Both stimulation strategies are applied to the same hypothetical acoustic signal,” Wijetillake [0004]);
masking one or more channels of the cochlear implant during the audio example, wherein a masker manipulates the availability of information available from the audio example on the channel to obtain a target-to-masker ratio (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The spatial masking contribution may be determined based on spatial masking functions for a given patient which could be derived directly by obtaining objective measurements (such as eCAP) or behavioural psychophysical measures. When using both methods, the procedure could be sped-up by using models of spatial masking that would fit the patient by collecting a smaller number objective or behavioural measurements. Using eCAP, the masking imposed on an electrode emasked by stimulation on an electrode emasker, i.e. one electrode from the other electrodes, can be determined by stimulating on emasker and measuring the eCAP response using electrode emasked . By iteratively varying the electrode emasked, while keeping the stimulating electrode fixed on emasked, the spatial masking function MS(emasked, emasker) caused by stimulation on emasker cancan then be derived. This be repeated for a multiple of stimulating electrodes to derive the masking functions associated with stimulation on each electrode. Alternatively, MS(emasked, emasker) may be determined, when using the 'maskerprobe' eCAP method, by presenting the probe stimulus to emasked and the masking stimulus to emasker and by recording the eCAP response on emasked or on an adjacent electrodes. By repeating this process for different combinations of 'probe' and 'masker' electrodes, a full set of spatial masking functions can be determined. A multitude of behavioural psychophysical tests could be used to also determine spatial functions. An example of such a test could include stimulating on the electrode emasker at a fixed level and determining (using standard psychophysical methods), by stimulating on the electrode emasked with different levels, the minimum level required to detect the stimulus on emasked in the presence of the stimulation on emasker. Once again, by iteratively varying the electrode of emasked, while keeping emasker fixed, the spatial masking functions associated with stimulation on emasker can be derived,” Wijetillake [0091]); and
identifying channel importance by determining the fixed effect of the target-to-masker ratio within each channel to a recognition accuracy of the audio example (see at least, “For the fixed-rate strategy, i.e. FIG. 2A, an event is present on each channel in each time window, and the selection method is able to test the importance of each channel or electrode against the others within any given time window. The channel or electrode with the most important event is therefore selected within all epochs,” Wijetillake [0004], “Thus, by selecting those electrodes which has an importance value larger than or equal to an importance threshold value, and where each importance value is determined based on the pulse energy level, then the user's perceptual ability is improved. The improved perceptual ability is provided by the cochlear implant system being able to select those electrode pulses that convey important information and neglect those electrode pulses which are assumed to include none relevant information, such as noise,” Wijetillake [0072], “In the present context, the cochlear stimulation system or a hearing aid including the cochlear stimulation system refers to a device, which is adapted to improve and/or augment hearing capability of a user by receiving acoustic signals from the user's surroundings, generating corresponding electric audio signals, possibly modifying the electric audio signals and providing the possibly modified electric audio signals as audible signals to at least one of the user's ears via stimulation provided by an array of electrodes,” Wijetillake [0105]).
Claim 2: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the audio example comprises: a. a verbal word; or b. an audio file played on a speaker (see at least, “More generally, a hearing aid comprises an input transducer for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings,” Wijetillake [0106], “conditions where there is speech with high energy low frequency content in the present of higher frequency noise,” Wijetillake [0135]).
Claim 3: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising having the user identify the content of the audio example to determine the recognition accuracy (see at least, “The processing unit may be configured to control the cross-electrode interference based on a subjective measure, such as a questionnaire, being introduced to the user via a graphical user interface. The user may receive one or more questions relating to the users perceivability of the generated stimulation provided to his/hers auditory nerves. The graphical user interface includes an input interface for receiving the user's answers to the questions. The processing unit may receive a command signal which determines the controlling of the cross-electrode interference. The command signal may be determined, based on the questionnaire and the answers from the user, by an external server or a computer connected to the graphical user interface. The command signal may for example include the amount of changing of the pulse time difference and/or the changing of the time windows and/or the delay between the time windows, such as the first time window and the second time window. The graphical user interface may be part of a smartphone, a tablet, or any computational device. The input interface may be separated from the graphical user interface,” Wijetillake [0097]).
Claim 4: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the identifying of the audio example is done verbally, in writing, or via multiple choice (see at least, “The processing unit may be configured to control the cross-electrode interference based on a subjective measure, such as a questionnaire, being introduced to the user via a graphical user interface. The user may receive one or more questions relating to the users perceivability of the generated stimulation provided to his/hers auditory nerves. The graphical user interface includes an input interface for receiving the user's answers to the questions. The processing unit may receive a command signal which determines the controlling of the cross-electrode interference. The command signal may be determined, based on the questionnaire and the answers from the user, by an external server or a computer connected to the graphical user interface. The command signal may for example include the amount of changing of the pulse time difference and/or the changing of the time windows and/or the delay between the time windows, such as the first time window and the second time window. The graphical user interface may be part of a smartphone, a tablet, or any computational device. The input interface may be separated from the graphical user interface,” Wijetillake [0097]).
Claim 5: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the step of masking the channel comprises masking each channel with a pure tone at a middle of that channel’s frequency range (see at least, “The tie-breaker importance value must be different from the importance value or from the importance value previously defined, e.g. in time window TWS, and could include: channel center frequency, pulse energy,” Wijetillake [0144]).
Claim 6: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising deactivating channels of the cochlear implant for channels having low channel importance (see at least, “To mitigate the effect of across-electrode interferences, a number of CI coding strategies employ 'N-of-M' type channel selection methods to limit the number of stimulating electrodes in a given time window (i.e. an epoch of time), to a subset (N) of the total number of available electrodes (Navail). In such schemes, the N electrodes containing 'events' (i.e. pulses or any spectra-temporal signal feature from which electrode pulses are ultimately derived) that convey the most 'important' information from the underlying acoustic input signal in a given time window are selected, and the remaining electrodes are deactivated so as to ensure that when output by the implant, the most important pulses are presented with minimal interference from stimulation on electrodes that do not encode important information,” Wijetillake [0003]).
Claim 7: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the step of masking the channel comprises pseudorandomly selecting a masking level for each channel (see at least, “stimulating on the electrode emasked with different levels, the minimum level required to detect the stimulus on emasked in the presence of the stimulation on emasker. Once again, by iteratively varying the electrode of emasked, while keeping emasker fixed, the spatial masking functions associated with stimulation on emasker can be derived,” Wijetillake [0091]).
Claim 8: Wijetillake discloses a method of improving the performance of a cochlear implant in a user, comprising: identifying channel importance for an implanted cochlear implant of the user by masking channels of the cochlear implant (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The spatial masking contribution may be determined based on spatial masking functions for a given patient which could be derived directly by obtaining objective measurements (such as eCAP) or behavioural psychophysical measures. When using both methods, the procedure could be sped-up by using models of spatial masking that would fit the patient by collecting a smaller number objective or behavioural measurements. Using eCAP, the masking imposed on an electrode emasked by stimulation on an electrode emasker, i.e. one electrode from the other electrodes, can be determined by stimulating on emasker and measuring the eCAP response using electrode emasked . By iteratively varying the electrode emasked, while keeping the stimulating electrode fixed on emasked, the spatial masking function MS(emasked, emasker) caused by stimulation on emasker cancan then be derived. This be repeated for a multiple of stimulating electrodes to derive the masking functions associated with stimulation on each electrode. Alternatively, MS(emasked, emasker) may be determined, when using the 'maskerprobe' eCAP method, by presenting the probe stimulus to emasked and the masking stimulus to emasker and by recording the eCAP response on emasked or on an adjacent electrodes. By repeating this process for different combinations of 'probe' and 'masker' electrodes, a full set of spatial masking functions can be determined. A multitude of behavioural psychophysical tests could be used to also determine spatial functions. An example of such a test could include stimulating on the electrode emasker at a fixed level and determining (using standard psychophysical methods), by stimulating on the electrode emasked with different levels, the minimum level required to detect the stimulus on emasked in the presence of the stimulation on emasker. Once again, by iteratively varying the electrode of emasked, while keeping emasker fixed, the spatial masking functions associated with stimulation on emasker can be derived,” Wijetillake [0091]);
based on the identified channel importance, adjusting the cochlear implant channels (see at least, “For the fixed-rate strategy, i.e. FIG. 2A, an event is present on each channel in each time window, and the selection method is able to test the importance of each channel or electrode against the others within any given time window. The channel or electrode with the most important event is therefore selected within all epochs,” Wijetillake [0004], “Thus, by selecting those electrodes which has an importance value larger than or equal to an importance threshold value, and where each importance value is determined based on the pulse energy level, then the user's perceptual ability is improved. The improved perceptual ability is provided by the cochlear implant system being able to select those electrode pulses that convey important information and neglect those electrode pulses which are assumed to include none relevant information, such as noise,” Wijetillake [0072], “In the present context, the cochlear stimulation system or a hearing aid including the cochlear stimulation system refers to a device, which is adapted to improve and/or augment hearing capability of a user by receiving acoustic signals from the user's surroundings, generating corresponding electric audio signals, possibly modifying the electric audio signals and providing the possibly modified electric audio signals as audible signals to at least one of the user's ears via stimulation provided by an array of electrodes,” Wijetillake [0105]).
Claim 9: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the adjusting the cochlear implant channels comprises deactivating channels having low channel importance (see at least, “To mitigate the effect of across-electrode interferences, a number of CI coding strategies employ 'N-of-M' type channel selection methods to limit the number of stimulating electrodes in a given time window (i.e. an epoch of time), to a subset (N) of the total number of available electrodes (Navail). In such schemes, the N electrodes containing 'events' (i.e. pulses or any spectra-temporal signal feature from which electrode pulses are ultimately derived) that convey the most 'important' information from the underlying acoustic input signal in a given time window are selected, and the remaining electrodes are deactivated so as to ensure that when output by the implant, the most important pulses are presented with minimal interference from stimulation on electrodes that do not encode important information,” Wijetillake [0003]).
Claim 10: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the step of identifying channel importance comprises: providing an audio example to the cochlear implant user (see at least, “Both stimulation strategies are applied to the same hypothetical acoustic signal,” Wijetillake [0004]); masking one or more channels of the cochlear implant during the audio example, wherein a masker manipulates the availability of information available from the audio example on the channel to obtain a target-to-masker ratio (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The spatial masking contribution may be determined based on spatial masking functions for a given patient which could be derived directly by obtaining objective measurements (such as eCAP) or behavioural psychophysical measures. When using both methods, the procedure could be sped-up by using models of spatial masking that would fit the patient by collecting a smaller number objective or behavioural measurements. Using eCAP, the masking imposed on an electrode emasked by stimulation on an electrode emasker, i.e. one electrode from the other electrodes, can be determined by stimulating on emasker and measuring the eCAP response using electrode emasked . By iteratively varying the electrode emasked, while keeping the stimulating electrode fixed on emasked, the spatial masking function MS(emasked, emasker) caused by stimulation on emasker cancan then be derived. This be repeated for a multiple of stimulating electrodes to derive the masking functions associated with stimulation on each electrode. Alternatively, MS(emasked, emasker) may be determined, when using the 'maskerprobe' eCAP method, by presenting the probe stimulus to emasked and the masking stimulus to emasker and by recording the eCAP response on emasked or on an adjacent electrodes. By repeating this process for different combinations of 'probe' and 'masker' electrodes, a full set of spatial masking functions can be determined. A multitude of behavioural psychophysical tests could be used to also determine spatial functions. An example of such a test could include stimulating on the electrode emasker at a fixed level and determining (using standard psychophysical methods), by stimulating on the electrode emasked with different levels, the minimum level required to detect the stimulus on emasked in the presence of the stimulation on emasker. Once again, by iteratively varying the electrode of emasked, while keeping emasker fixed, the spatial masking functions associated with stimulation on emasker can be derived,” Wijetillake [0091]); and identifying channel importance by determining the fixed effect of the target-to-masker ratio within each channel to an audio recognition accuracy of the audio example (see at least, “For the fixed-rate strategy, i.e. FIG. 2A, an event is present on each channel in each time window, and the selection method is able to test the importance of each channel or electrode against the others within any given time window. The channel or electrode with the most important event is therefore selected within all epochs,” Wijetillake [0004], “Thus, by selecting those electrodes which has an importance value larger than or equal to an importance threshold value, and where each importance value is determined based on the pulse energy level, then the user's perceptual ability is improved. The improved perceptual ability is provided by the cochlear implant system being able to select those electrode pulses that convey important information and neglect those electrode pulses which are assumed to include none relevant information, such as noise,” Wijetillake [0072], “In the present context, the cochlear stimulation system or a hearing aid including the cochlear stimulation system refers to a device, which is adapted to improve and/or augment hearing capability of a user by receiving acoustic signals from the user's surroundings, generating corresponding electric audio signals, possibly modifying the electric audio signals and providing the possibly modified electric audio signals as audible signals to at least one of the user's ears via stimulation provided by an array of electrodes,” Wijetillake [0105]).
Claim 11: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the audio example comprises: a. a verbal word; or b. an audio file played on a speaker (see at least, “More generally, a hearing aid comprises an input transducer for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings,” Wijetillake [0106], “conditions where there is speech with high energy low frequency content in the present of higher frequency noise,” Wijetillake [0135]).
Claim 12: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 10, further comprising having the user repeat the audio example to determine the audio recognition accuracy (see at least, “This be repeated for a multiple of stimulating electrodes to derive the masking functions associated with stimulation on each electrode. Alternatively, MS(emasked, emasker) may be determined, when using the 'maskerprobe' eCAP method, by presenting the probe stimulus to emasked and the masking stimulus to emasker and by recording the eCAP response on emasked or on an adjacent electrodes. By repeating this process for different combinations of 'probe' and 'masker' electrodes, a full set of spatial masking functions can be determined,” Wijetillake [0091]).
Claim 13: Wijetillake discloses a method for identifying channel importance of a cochlear implant user, the method comprising:
providing an audio example to the cochlear implant user (see at least, “Both stimulation strategies are applied to the same hypothetical acoustic signal,” Wijetillake [0004]); filtering one or more frequency bands that correspond to one or more channels of the cochlear implant (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The importance value is determined based on the status of an electrode pulse assigned to a given electrode. The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse if the frequency of the electrode pulse is within a subset of frequencies of a frequency range. If the
pulse energy level is increasing, then the importance value would also increase,” Wijetillake [0069], “The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse and applying importance value which depends on the frequency range in the acoustic signal from which the electrode pulse was derived,” Wijetillake [0070]); and identifying channel importance by determining which of the one or more filtered channels affects the cochlear implant user’s hearing (see at least, “For the fixed-rate strategy, i.e. FIG. 2A, an event is present on each channel in each time window, and the selection method is able to test the importance of each channel or electrode against the others within any given time window. The channel or electrode with the most important event is therefore selected within all epochs,” Wijetillake [0004], “Thus, by selecting those electrodes which has an importance value larger than or equal to an importance threshold value, and where each importance value is determined based on the pulse energy level, then the user's perceptual ability is improved. The improved perceptual ability is provided by the cochlear implant system being able to select those electrode pulses that convey important information and neglect those electrode pulses which are assumed to include none relevant information, such as noise,” Wijetillake [0072], “In the present context, the cochlear stimulation system or a hearing aid including the cochlear stimulation system refers to a device, which is adapted to improve and/or augment hearing capability of a user by receiving acoustic signals from the user's surroundings, generating corresponding electric audio signals, possibly modifying the electric audio signals and providing the possibly modified electric audio signals as audible signals to at least one of the user's ears via stimulation provided by an array of electrodes,” Wijetillake [0105]).
Claim 14: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the filtering one or more frequency bands comprises manipulating a presence of speech information within a channel associated with the audio example (see at least, “The processor unit may be configured to determine the status of an electrode pulse, by determining a masking adjusted energy/charge/level including an estimated pulse energy/charge/level of the electrode pulse minus the amount of across-electrode interference induced to the electrode pulse from the one or more electrode pulses of the other electrodes,” Wijetillake [0098], “More generally, a hearing aid comprises an input transducer for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings,” Wijetillake [0106], “conditions where there is speech with high energy low frequency content in the present of higher frequency noise,” Wijetillake [0135]).
Claim 15: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the filtering one or more frequency bands comprises manipulating an absence of speech information within a channel associated with the audio example (see at least, “The processor unit may be configured to determine the status of an electrode pulse, by determining a masking adjusted energy/charge/level including an estimated pulse energy/charge/level of the electrode pulse minus the amount of across-electrode interference induced to the electrode pulse from the one or more electrode pulses of the other electrodes,” Wijetillake [0098], “For example, the importance value may be based on noise level, and the cochlear implant system may define an acceptable noise level of 40 dB SPL. Each electrode which has a noise level above this acceptable level, plus a noise error margin (+3 dB) is not selected. Likewise, a system may also have a noise floor of 20 dB SPL. Each electrode with signal levels below the noise floor will not be selected,” Wijetillake [0045]).
Claim 17: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 13, wherein filtering one or more frequency bands measures an impact of removing each channel on word recognition accuracy (see at least, “More generally, a hearing aid comprises an input transducer for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundings,” Wijetillake [0106], “conditions where there is speech with high energy low frequency content in the present of higher frequency noise,” Wijetillake [0135], “The processing unit may be configured to control the cross-electrode interference based on a subjective measure, such as a questionnaire, being introduced to the user via a graphical user interface. The user may receive one or more questions relating to the users perceivability of the generated stimulation provided to his/hers auditory nerves. The graphical user interface includes an input interface for receiving the user's answers to the questions. The processing unit may receive a command signal which determines the controlling of the cross-electrode interference. The command signal may be determined, based on the questionnaire and the answers from the user, by an external server or a computer connected to the graphical user interface. The command signal may for example include the amount of changing of the pulse time difference and/or the changing of the time windows and/or the delay between the time windows, such as the first time window and the second time window. The graphical user interface may be part of a smartphone, a tablet, or any computational device. The input interface may be separated from the graphical user interface,” Wijetillake [0097]).
Claim 18: Wijetillake discloses a method for identifying channel importance of a cochlear implant user, the method comprising:
providing an audio example to the cochlear implant user (see at least, “Both stimulation strategies are applied to the same hypothetical acoustic signal,” Wijetillake [0004]);
manipulating one or more channels of the cochlear implant during the audio (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The importance value is determined based on the status of an electrode pulse assigned to a given electrode. The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse if the frequency of the electrode pulse is within a subset of frequencies of a frequency range. If the pulse energy level is increasing, then the importance value would also increase,” Wijetillake [0069], “The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse and applying importance value which depends on the frequency range in the acoustic signal from which the electrode pulse was derived,” Wijetillake [0070]); and
identifying channel importance by determining which of the one or more manipulated channels affects the cochlear implant user’s hearing (see at least, “For the fixed-rate strategy, i.e. FIG. 2A, an event is present on each channel in each time window, and the selection method is able to test the importance of each channel or electrode against the others within any given time window. The channel or electrode with the most important event is therefore selected within all epochs,” Wijetillake [0004], “Thus, by selecting those electrodes which has an importance value larger than or equal to an importance threshold value, and where each importance value is determined based on the pulse energy level, then the user's perceptual ability is improved. The improved perceptual ability is provided by the cochlear implant system being able to select those electrode pulses that convey important information and neglect those electrode pulses which are assumed to include none relevant information, such as noise,” Wijetillake [0072], “In the present context, the cochlear stimulation system or a hearing aid including the cochlear stimulation system refers to a device, which is adapted to improve and/or augment hearing capability of a user by receiving acoustic signals from the user's surroundings, generating corresponding electric audio signals, possibly modifying the electric audio signals and providing the possibly modified electric audio signals as audible signals to at least one of the user's ears via stimulation provided by an array of electrodes,” Wijetillake [0105]).
Claim 19: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 18, wherein the step of manipulating the one or more channels of the cochlear implant comprises masking one or more channels of the cochlear implant during the audio example, wherein a masker manipulates the availability of information available from the audio example on the channel to obtain a target-to-masker ratio (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The spatial masking contribution may be determined based on spatial masking functions for a given patient which could be derived directly by obtaining objective measurements (such as eCAP) or behavioural psychophysical measures. When using both methods, the procedure could be sped-up by using models of spatial masking that would fit the patient by collecting a smaller number objective or behavioural measurements. Using eCAP, the masking imposed on an electrode emasked by stimulation on an electrode emasker, i.e. one electrode from the other electrodes, can be determined by stimulating on emasker and measuring the eCAP response using electrode emasked . By iteratively varying the electrode emasked, while keeping the stimulating electrode fixed on emasked, the spatial masking function MS(emasked, emasker) caused by stimulation on emasker cancan then be derived. This be repeated for a multiple of stimulating electrodes to derive the masking functions associated with stimulation on each electrode. Alternatively, MS(emasked, emasker) may be determined, when using the 'maskerprobe' eCAP method, by presenting the probe stimulus to emasked and the masking stimulus to emasker and by recording the eCAP response on emasked or on an adjacent electrodes. By repeating this process for different combinations of 'probe' and 'masker' electrodes, a full set of spatial masking functions can be determined. A multitude of behavioural psychophysical tests could be used to also determine spatial functions. An example of such a test could include stimulating on the electrode emasker at a fixed level and determining (using standard psychophysical methods), by stimulating on the electrode emasked with different levels, the minimum level required to detect the stimulus on emasked in the presence of the stimulation on emasker. Once again, by iteratively varying the electrode of emasked, while keeping emasker fixed, the spatial masking functions associated with stimulation on emasker can be derived,” Wijetillake [0091]).
Claim 20: Wijetillake discloses the method of claim 18, wherein the step of manipulating the one or more channels of the cochlear implant comprises filtering one or more frequency bands that correspond to one or more channels of the cochlear implant (see at least, “Throughout the description 'channel' and 'electrode' are used interchangeably, and 'event' and 'pulse' are used interchangeably,” Wijetillake [0006], “The importance value is determined based on the status of an electrode pulse assigned to a given electrode. The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse if the frequency of the electrode pulse is within a subset of frequencies of a frequency range. If the pulse energy level is increasing, then the importance value would also increase,” Wijetillake [0069], “The status of the electrode pulse of the plurality of electrode pulses may be determined by estimating a pulse energy level of the electrode pulse and applying importance value which depends on the frequency range in the acoustic signal from which the electrode pulse was derived,” Wijetillake [0070]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 16 is 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
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/JOSEPH SAUNDERS JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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