Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . See 35 U.S.C. § 100 (note).
Foreign Priority
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant's claim for foreign priority based on Application EP 23192434.1 filed with the EPO on 21 August 2023. Applicant has not filed a certified copy of the foreign priority application as required by 37 C.F.R. § 1.55. The Office attempted to retrieve a copy of the priority application, but was unable to complete the retrieval. (See Report (21 January 2025)). Applicant is advised to provide a certified copy in order to perfect the claim to foreign priority.
Art Rejections
Obviousness
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.
Claims 1–4, 7, 8 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of US Patent Application Publication 2013/0259237 (published 03 October 2013) (“Oesch”) and US Patent Application Publication 2020/0314568 (published 01 October 2020) (“El Guindi”).
Claims 5, 6, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Oesch; El Guindi; Lu and US Patent Application Publication 2014/0185464 (published 03 July 2014) (“Yang”).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Oesch; El Guindi; Lu and US Patent Application Publication 2021/0063521 (published 04 March 2021) (“Hallonsten”).
Claim 1 is drawn to “a method for adjusting audio sources of a binaural hearing aid system.” The following table illustrates the correspondence between the claimed method and the Oesch reference.
Claim 1
The Oesch Reference
“1. A method for adjusting audio sources of a binaural hearing aid system, the method comprising:
The Oesch reference describes a corresponding method for controlling a binaural hearing aid system (i.e., hearing aids 16) by adjusting a mix of audio from people 11 and their remote transmission units, or sources, 10. Oesch at Abs., ¶¶ 32–33, FIG.1.
“obtaining, by a first hearing aid, an audio signal from a first audio source;
Oesch describes a method for controlling a hearing aid to present audio from multiple remote sources with a spatial impression. Oesch at ¶¶ 20, 37–40. For example, a user of Oesch’s hearing aids 16 may be engaged in a conversation with multiple people 11 equipped with microphone-transmitters 10. Id. at ¶¶ 32, 33, FIG.1. Hearing aids 16 are equipped with receivers 14 to receive wireless signals from each transmitter 11 over an audio link 12. Id.
“determining, by the first hearing aid, a first signal strength of the audio signal;
“obtaining, by a second hearing aid, the audio signal from the first audio source;
“determining, by the second hearing aid, a second signal strength of the audio signal;
“comparing the second signal strength with the first signal strength for determination of a difference between the second signal strength and the first signal strength;
Hearing aids 16 measures the RSSI of signals in the audio link 12 from each transmitter 10 to determine their relative angular with respect to the user’s head. Id. at ¶¶ 61–68. Specifically, the RSSI of each source 10 at the user’s left ear is compared with the RSSI of the source at the user’s right ear. Id. at ¶¶ 45–46, FIG.5. Oesch describes comparing the RSSI values against a criteria to coarsely segment a listening space into several directions—for example, forward, left and right. Id. For example, when the RSSI values are roughly equivalent, the source 10 is in front of the user; when the left RSSI value is greater than the right RSSI value, the source 10 is to the left of the user; and when the right RSSI value is greater than the left RSSI value, the source 10 is to the right of the user. See id.
“obtaining, by the first hearing aid and/or the second hearing aid, accelerometer data;
Oesch does not describe obtaining any type of accelerometer data.
“in accordance with the difference between the first signal strength being and the second signal strength meeting the difference criterion and the accelerometer data being indicative of movement of the first hearing aid and/or the second hearing aid, changing the at least one audio parameter in the first hearing aid and the second hearing aid,
“wherein changing the at least one audio parameter comprises attenuating the audio signal of the first audio source, and
“wherein changing the at least one audio parameter comprises increasing gain of a second audio signal of a second audio source.”
The digital audio signal 19 in each audio link 12 is then modified to reflect the angular position of each transmitter 10 by adjusting, inter alia, the interaural level differences of the sources. Id. at ¶ 40. For example, if there are three sources, with a first being located to the user’s left, a second being located in front of the user and a third being located to the right of the user, each audio signal 19 will be mixed differently for each of the user’s ear. See id. The audio from the first source will be amplified in the left ear and attenuated in the right ear. See id. Audio from the second source will be mixed evenly in both ears. See id. And audio from the third source will be attenuated in the left ear and amplified in the right ear. See id.
Oesch, however, does not describe the use of accelerometer data in determining whether to change an audio parameter.
Table 1
The table above shows that the Oesch reference describes a method that corresponds closely to the claimed method. Oesch does not anticipate the claimed method because it does not describe obtaining and using accelerometer data to change audio parameters.
The differences between the claimed invention and the Oesch reference are such that the invention as a whole would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time this Application was effectively filed. Oesch describes a method for changing audio parameters to create an angular impression based on the position of an audio source 10 relative to a user 13 wearing binaural hearing aids 16. However, Oesch does not describe the obtaining and use of accelerometer data to influence the mixing performed on audio 19 from each source transmitter 10.
The El Guindi reference, like Oesch, is drawn to a binaural hearing aid system and a method for adjusting the mix of audio received from multiple audio sources in order to preserve a spatial presentation of the audio from each source. And like Oesch, El Guindi compares the strength of audio from each source (n.b., El Guindi operates estimates sources from acoustic signals rather than radio signals). El Guindi further teaches and suggests obtaining and evaluating data from an accelerometer to detect a user’s head movement. This allows the user of El Guindi’s hearing aid system to select an audio source for prioritization by fusing both source location and head motion to select an optimal audio rendering mode. For example, El Guindi’s hearing aid system performs audio analysis to detect the position of a source. The system further analyzes accelerometer data to determine if the user turns his head towards the source’s position. In that case, the system will switch from rendering a remote audio source (e.g., music) to ambient audio (e.g., audio from the source).
Read in light of Oesch, the El Guindi reference would have reasonably suggested modifying Oesch’s hearing aid system and method to include a feature similar to El Guindi’s rendering mode selection. For example, if there are multiple audio sources, Oesch’s hearing aid system will determine each source’s position as described by Oesch through a comparison of RSSI values from each source at the left and right ears of user 13. Further, based on a user’s head motion towards one source or the other, audio from each source will be attenuated/amplified accordingly. For example, if two sources are located towards the user’s left and right sides, respectively, and the user turns his head towards the left source, digital audio 19 from the left source will be amplified while audio from the right source will be attenuated. One of ordinary skill would have expected that adding El Guindi’s source selection mechanism would have provided Oesch’s user 13 with control over difficult hearing situations by allowing the user to focus on a preferred source without being distracted by additional sources. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 2 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein determining the first signal strength comprises determining a first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the audio signal and determining the second signal strength comprises determining a second received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the audio signal.”
Similarly, the Oesch reference describes the use of RSSI to determine the strength of signals in links 12. Oesch at ¶¶ 38, 43–46, FIGs.5, 7. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 3 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“further comprising communicating the first signal strength and/or the second signal strength between the first hearing aid and the second hearing aid.”
Oesch also transmits RSSI values from a left hearing aid to a right hearing aid and vice versa. Oesch at ¶¶ 61–63, FIGs.7, 8. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 4 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein changing the at least audio parameter comprises changing from a Bluetooth streaming mode to a hearing aid mode or changing from a hearing aid mode to a Bluetooth streaming mode.”
As shown in the obviousness rejection of claim 1, incorporated herein, it would have been obvious to modify Oesch’s system and method to include El Guindi’s source selection mechanism based on the position of audio sources and a user’s head movement. The El Guindi reference further teaches and suggests using the same mechanism to switch between ambient audio and remote audio, for example, audio received from a remote Bluetooth source. See El Guindi at ¶¶ 21, 39, FIG.6 (describing switching between an ambient mode and a remote audio mode; and describing remote audio as including streamed Bluetooth audio). This would have reasonably suggested further modifying Oesch’s system and method to select among ambient audio sources (i.e., a hearing aid mode) or a remote audio source (i.e., a Bluetooth streaming mode). For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 5 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein determining the first signal strength comprises applying a filter to the audio signal, and wherein determining the second signal strength comprises applying the filter to the audio signal.”
Claim 6 depends on claim 5, and further requires the following:
“wherein the filter is a median filter and/or a low-pass filter and/or a Kalman filter.”
Claims 5 and 6 are treated together. Oesch describes the use of RSSI values to determine the angular position of audio sources relative to a user’s head. Oesch at ¶ 38. The Oesch reference describes that each wireless link 12 utilizes frequency hopping. Id. at ¶ 51. This means that each link 12 operates on multiple time-divided channels. Id. at ¶ 51. The Yang reference teaches and suggests calculating RSSI in such situations by averaging RSSI measurements from each channel in a link. Yang at ¶¶ 42–48. Averaging effectively low-pass filters the RSSI measurements to produce a singular RSSI estimate for a link. Id. These teachings, read in light of Oesch, would have reasonably suggested performing a low-pass filtering on RSSI measurements made by Oesch’s hearing aids 16 to produce a single usable RSSI measurement for each channel 12 to enable an easy comparison of left and right RSSI measurements for each channel and thus enable source position estimation. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch, the El Guindi and the Yang references makes obvious all limitations of the claims.
Claim 7 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein, in accordance with the difference being greater than a difference threshold, the method includes determining the difference meets the difference criterion.”
Claim 8 depends on claim 7, and further requires the following:
“wherein, in accordance with the difference being greater than a difference threshold for a time period, the method includes determining the difference meets the difference criterion.”
Claims 7 and 8 are treated together. Oesch describes comparing left and right RSSI estimates for a source channel 12 to determine the angular position of the source. Oesch at ¶ 46. Oesch recognizes that the differences between left and right RSSI estimates allow a coarse positioning into wide spaces, such as a left space, a right space and a center front space. Id. This teaching reasonably suggests comparing the differences between left and right RSSI estimates to at least one threshold to determine if the differences fall within a first range (i.e., corresponding to a center front space), fall within a second range (i.e., corresponding to a left space) or fall within a third range (i.e., corresponding to a right space). Accordingly, if a first sound source is located to the user’s left for a period of time, the difference between its left RSSI value and right RSSI value will be greater than a second range threshold that indicates that the source is in a left space for a period of time. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claims.
Claim 9 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein obtaining, by the first hearing aid, the audio signal comprises obtaining, by the first hearing aid, the audio signal from a first plurality of channels,
“wherein determining the first signal strength comprises determining, by the first hearing aid, a first average signal strength for each channel of the first plurality of channels,
“wherein obtaining, by the second hearing aid, the audio signal comprises obtaining, by the second hearing aid, the audio signal from a second plurality of channels,
“wherein determining, by the second hearing aid, the second signal strength comprises determining, by the second hearing aid, a second average signal strength for each channel of the second plurality of channels, and
“wherein comparing the second signal strength with the first signal strength comprises comparing the first average signal strength with the second average signal strength.”
Oesch describes the use of RSSI values to determine the angular position of audio sources relative to a user’s head. Oesch at ¶ 38. The Oesch reference describes that each wireless link 12 utilizes frequency hopping. Id. at ¶ 51. This means that each link 12 operates on multiple time-divided channels. Id. at ¶ 51. The Yang reference teaches and suggests calculating RSSI in such situations by averaging RSSI measurements from each channel in a link. Yang at ¶¶ 42–48. Averaging effectively low-pass filters the RSSI measurements to produce a singular RSSI estimate for a link. Id. These teachings, read in light of Oesch, would have reasonably suggested performing a low-pass filtering on RSSI measurements made by Oesch’s hearing aids 16 to produce a single usable RSSI measurement for each channel 12 to enable an easy comparison of left and right RSSI measurements for each channel and thus enable source position estimation. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch, the El Guindi and the Yang references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 10 depends on claim 9, and further requires the following:
“wherein determining the first signal strength comprises removing channels of the plurality of first channels having a fading effect greater than a fading effect threshold, and
“wherein determining the second signal strength comprises removing channels of the plurality of second channels having a fading effect greater than the fading effect threshold.”
The Yang reference further teaches and suggests filtering out channels that exhibit substantial fading. Yang at ¶ 44. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch, the El Guindi and the Yang references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 11 depends on claim 1, and further requires the following:
“wherein: obtaining, by the first hearing aid, the signal comprises obtaining, by the first hearing aid, the audio signal from a first plurality of channels;
“determining, by the first hearing aid, the first signal strength comprises determining, by the first hearing aid, an individual first signal strength for each channel of the first plurality of channels;
“obtaining, by the second hearing aid, the signal comprises obtaining, by the second hearing aid, the audio signal from a second plurality of channels;
“determining, by the second hearing aid, the second signal strength comprises determining, by the second hearing aid, an individual second signal strength for each channel of the second plurality of channels; and
“comparing the first signal strength with the second signal strength comprises comparing each of the individual first signal strength with a corresponding one of the individual second signal strength.”
Oesch describes the use of RSSI values to determine the angular position of audio sources relative to a user’s head. Oesch at ¶ 38. The Oesch reference describes that each wireless link 12 utilizes frequency hopping. Id. at ¶ 51. This means that each link 12 operates on multiple time-divided channels. Id. at ¶ 51. The Hallonsten reference further teaches and suggests obtaining RSSI strengths for each channel. Hallonsten at ¶55. A channel with peak strength in each time period is selected for comparison. Id. In this way, each channel of a first signal (i.e., signals received by a left ear) is compared to a corresponding channel of a second channel (i.e., signals received by a right ear) when the channel has the highest RSSI among all the channels. See id. These teachings, read in light of Oesch, would have reasonably suggested obtaining and comparing each channel’s RSSI as claimed. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch, the El Guindi and the Hallonsten references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Claim 12 is drawn to “a binaural hearing aid system.” The following table illustrates the correspondence between the claimed system and the Oesch reference.
Claim 12
The Oesch Reference
“12. A binaural hearing aid system configured to:
The Oesch reference describes a corresponding system and method for controlling a binaural hearing aid system (i.e., hearing aids 16) by adjusting a mix of audio from people 11 and their remote transmission units, or sources, 10. Oesch at Abs., ¶¶ 32–33, FIG.1.
“obtain, by a first hearing aid, an audio signal from a first audio source;
Oesch describes a method for controlling a hearing aid to present audio from multiple remote sources with a spatial impression. Oesch at ¶¶ 20, 37–40. For example, a user of Oesch’s hearing aids 16 may be engaged in a conversation with multiple people 11 equipped with microphone-transmitters 10. Id. at ¶¶ 32, 33, FIG.1. Hearing aids 16 are equipped with receivers 14 to receive wireless signals from each transmitter 11 over an audio link 12. Id.
“determine, by the first hearing aid, a first signal strength of the audio signal;
“obtain, by a second hearing aid, the audio signal from the first audio source;
“determine, by the second hearing aid, a second signal strength of the audio signal;
“compare the second signal strength with the first signal strength for determination of a difference between the second signal strength and the first signal strength;
Hearing aids 16 measures the RSSI of signals in the audio link 12 from each transmitter 10 to determine their relative angular with respect to the user’s head. Id. at ¶¶ 61–68. Specifically, the RSSI of each source 10 at the user’s left ear is compared with the RSSI of the source at the user’s right ear. Id. at ¶¶ 45–46, FIG.5. Oesch describes comparing the RSSI values against a criteria to coarsely segment a listening space into several directions—for example, forward, left and right. Id. For example, when the RSSI values are roughly equivalent, the source 10 is in front of the user; when the left RSSI value is greater than the right RSSI value, the source 10 is to the left of the user; and when the right RSSI value is greater than the left RSSI value, the source 10 is to the right of the user. See id.
“obtain, by the first hearing aid and/or the second hearing aid, accelerometer data;
Oesch does not describe obtaining any type of accelerometer data.
“in accordance with the difference between the first signal strength being and the second signal strength meeting the difference criterion and the accelerometer data being indicative of movement of the first hearing aid and/or the second hearing aid, change the at least one audio parameter in the first hearing aid and the second hearing aid,
“wherein to change the at least one audio parameter comprises to attenuate the audio signal of the first audio source, and
“wherein to change the at least one audio parameter comprises to increase gain of a second audio signal of a second audio source.”
The digital audio signal 19 in each audio link 12 is then modified to reflect the angular position of each transmitter 10 by adjusting, inter alia, the interaural level differences of the sources. Id. at ¶ 40. For example, if there are three sources, with a first being located to the user’s left, a second being located in front of the user and a third being located to the right of the user, each audio signal 19 will be mixed differently for each of the user’s ear. See id. The audio from the first source will be amplified in the left ear and attenuated in the right ear. See id. Audio from the second source will be mixed evenly in both ears. See id. And audio from the third source will be attenuated in the left ear and amplified in the right ear. See id.
Oesch, however, does not describe the use of accelerometer data in determining whether to change an audio parameter.
Table 2
The table above shows that the Oesch reference describes a hearing aid system that corresponds closely to the claimed system. Oesch does not anticipate the claimed system because it does not describe obtaining and using accelerometer data to change audio parameters.
The differences between the claimed invention and the Oesch reference are such that the invention as a whole would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time this Application was effectively filed. Oesch describes a method for changing audio parameters to create an angular impression based on the position of an audio source 10 relative to a user 13 wearing binaural hearing aids 16. However, Oesch does not describe the obtaining and use of accelerometer data to influence the mixing performed on audio 19 from each source transmitter 10.
The El Guindi reference, like Oesch, is drawn to a binaural hearing aid system and a method for adjusting the mix of audio received from multiple audio sources in order to preserve a spatial presentation of the audio from each source. And like Oesch, El Guindi compares the strength of audio from each source (n.b., El Guindi operates estimates sources from acoustic signals rather than radio signals). El Guindi further teaches and suggests obtaining and evaluating data from an accelerometer to detect a user’s head movement. This allows the user of El Guindi’s hearing aid system to select an audio source for prioritization by fusing both source location and head motion to select an optimal audio rendering mode. For example, El Guindi’s hearing aid system performs audio analysis to detect the position of a source. The system further analyzes accelerometer data to determine if the user turns his head towards the source’s position. In that case, the system will switch from rendering a remote audio source (e.g., music) to ambient audio (e.g., audio from the source).
Read in light of Oesch, the El Guindi reference would have reasonably suggested modifying Oesch’s hearing aid system and method to include a feature similar to El Guindi’s rendering mode selection. For example, if there are multiple audio sources, Oesch’s hearing aid system will determine each source’s position as described by Oesch through a comparison of RSSI values from each source at the left and right ears of user 13. Further, based on a user’s head motion towards one source or the other, audio from each source will be attenuated/amplified accordingly. For example, if two sources are located towards the user’s left and right sides, respectively, and the user turns his head towards the left source, digital audio 19 from the left source will be amplified while audio from the right source will be attenuated. One of ordinary skill would have expected that adding El Guindi’s source selection mechanism would have provided Oesch’s user 13 with control over difficult hearing situations by allowing the user to focus on a preferred source without being distracted by additional sources. For the foregoing reasons, the combination of the Oesch and the El Guindi references makes obvious all limitations of the claim.
Summary
Claims 1–12 are rejected under at least one of 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103 as being unpatentable over the cited prior art. 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 C.F.R. § 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Additional Citations
The following table lists additional references that were found during a search of this Application. These references are not relied on in this Office action, but are relevant to the subject matter disclosed and claimed in this Application.
Citation
Relevance
US 2020/0329316
Combines multiple parameters to gauge user's listening intent. E.g., considers head-turn with gaze direction.
US 2017/0070814
Determines directions by comparing amplitude difference to a threshold
Table 3
Conclusion
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/Walter F Briney III/
Walter F Briney IIIPrimary ExaminerArt Unit 2692
2/4/2026