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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08 August 2024 and 16 October 2024 are 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
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 2011004474 (Grover et al.).
Regarding claim 1, Grover et al. discloses: “a call volume adjustment method (FIG. 4; [0011]: “FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for adjusting a volume level”), adapted to a mobile electronic device (FIG. 1:102; [0013]: “The audio communication device 102 can be any device capable of receiving an audio signal/stream, such as a desktop telephone, a cellular telephone”; FIG. 2: 202; [0009]: “FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second illustrative system for adjusting a volume level of a mixed audio signal”), the call volume adjustment method comprising: identifying a callee of a call ([0017]: “The audio adjustment module 124 gets an identifier of the call participant of communication terminal 101A during the call. The identifier could be a caller ID number”); judging whether a call record list comprises the callee ([0033]: “FIG. 3A is an illustrative example of call participant profiles 120 that are used to adjust a volume level”; “A call participant profile 120 contains a name, or other identifier, of a call participant 331, an identifier 332 of communication terminals used by each identified call participant, a type 333 of the identified communication terminal, a level offset 334 for that communication terminal 101 and user combination, a user defined level offset 335, and the like”); and adjusting a call volume of the call according to the callee based on record data in the call record list when the call record list comprises the callee” ([0035]: “FIG. 3B is an illustrative example of a user profile 120 that is used to adjust a volume level. The user profile 140 contains a user's volume level 347. The user profile 140 can also have offsets 346 that are based on other audio communication devices 102/202 (342-344) associated with the owner of the user profile 140. Each audio communication device 102/202 (represented by 342-344) may have different defined audio interfaces 122).
With respect to claim 2, Grover et al. discloses: “wherein the step of adjusting the call volume of the call according to the callee when the call record list comprises the callee comprises: obtaining a preferred volume level (FIG. 3A: 334. 335; FIG. 3B: 140; [0014]: “The user profile 140 (see FIG. 3) is used to store preferences of the user of the audio communication device 102, settings of the audio communication device, and the like”) mapped to the callee (FIG. 3A: 331) in the call record list (FIG. 1: 128; FIG. 3A); and adjusting the call volume of the call according to the preferred volume level” (FIG. 3A: 140, 347; [0023]: “The audio adjustment module 124 can adjust the audio signal volume level by comparing the audio signal volume level and the user's volume level 347”).
Regarding claim 3, Grover et al. discloses: “the step of obtaining the preferred volume level mapped to the callee in the call record list comprises: determining the preferred volume level from the call record list according to the callee and call status information of the call” (FIG. 1: 124, FIG. 2: 124; FIG. 4: 406, 408; [0041]: “The audio adjustment module 124, stores 406 and associates information derived from the measurement of the speech characteristic and the identifier of the call participant in the call participant profile 120. The audio adjustment module 124 initiates 408 an adjustment to a volume level of an audio signal received during the call from the call participant. The adjustment can be based on a determined offset that is the difference between the volume level of the audio signal and a user's volume level 347”).
With respect to claim 4, Grover et al. discloses: “the call status information of the call comprises a call application (FIG. 1: 126; FIG. 2: 126; [0014]: “The audio analyzer 126 is a device/software capable of analyzing/processing audio signals such as a commander, a voice recognition module, a frequency analyzer, a digital signal processor, and the like”) and a type of a sound playing device” (FIG. 1: 122; FIG. 2: 122; [0014]: “The audio interface 122 is a device or mechanism that generates sounds, such as a loud speaker, a speaker in a hand set/cellular telephone, a speaker in a Bluetooth device, a transducer, and the like”).
With respect to claim 10, Grover et al. discloses: “a mobile electronic device (FIG. 1: 102; FIG. 2: 202), comprising: a storage device (FIG. 1: 128; [0014]: “The memory 128 is any type of memory that can store information such as Random Access Memory (RAM), programmable memory, flash memory, cache memory in a processor, and the like”), recording a plurality of commands; a processor (FIG. 1: 126; [0014]: “The audio analyzer 126 is a device/software capable of analyzing/processing audio signals such as a commander, a voice recognition module, a frequency analyzer, a digital signal processor, and the like. The audio adjustment module 124 is any device/software capable of processing and adjusting audio signals”), coupled to the storage device, executing the commands ([0039]: “stored-program-controlled entities, such as in a computer, which performs the method of FIGS. 4-5 by executing a program stored in a storage medium, such as a memory or disk”), and configured to: identify a callee when a call is made via the mobile electronic device (FIG. 1: 102; FIG. 2: 202; [0017]: “The audio adjustment module 124 gets an identifier of the call participant of communication terminal 101A during the call. The identifier could be a caller ID number”); judge whether a call record list comprises the callee ([0033]: “FIG. 3A is an illustrative example of call participant profiles 120 that are used to adjust a volume level”; “A call participant profile 120 contains a name, or other identifier, of a call participant 331, an identifier 332 of communication terminals used by each identified call participant, a type 333 of the identified communication terminal, a level offset 334 for that communication terminal 101 and user combination, a user defined level offset 335, and the like”); and adjust a call volume of the call according to the callee based on record data in the call record list when the call record list comprises the callee” ([0035]: “FIG. 3B is an illustrative example of a user profile 120 that is used to adjust a volume level. The user profile 140 contains a user's volume level 347. The user profile 140 can also have offsets 346 that are based on other audio communication devices 102/202 (342-344) associated with the owner of the user profile 140. Each audio communication device 102/202 (represented by 342-344) may have different defined audio interfaces 122).
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.
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grover et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 20140051404 (Chhaunker et al).
With respect to claim 6, Grover et al. discloses: “obtaining a preferred volume adjustment table (FIG. 3A: 334. 335; FIG. 3B: 140; [0014]: “The user profile 140 (see FIG. 3) is used to store preferences of the user of the audio communication device 102, settings of the audio communication device, and the like”) mapped to the callee (FIG. 3A: 331) in the call record list (FIG. 1: 128; FIG. 3A); and adjusting the call volume of the call according to the preferred volume adjustment table, wherein the step of adjusting the call volume of the call according to the callee when the call record list comprises the callee” (FIG. 3A: 140, 347; [0023]: “The audio adjustment module 124 can adjust the audio signal volume level by comparing the audio signal volume level and the user's volume level 347”).
However, Grover et al. does not clearly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim. To that end, Chhaunker et al. discloses: “detecting an ambient volume through a microphone device (FIG. 1: 104; [0020]: “the mobile communications device 104 may be equipped with an additional microphone that is specifically configured to monitor ambient sound”). It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine Grover et al. with the invention of Chhaunker et al. in order to provide a microphone to monitor ambient sound (e.g., see Chhaunker et al. @ [0020]).
With respect to claim 7, Grover et al. discloses: “adjusting the call volume of the call according to a call volume level corresponding to the one of the volume ranges” ([0037]: “The system has determined, based on prior measurements of an audio signal(s) from USER B's communication terminals 101, an offset range of from -5 to -6. If a call is placed from USER B's home telephone to the cell phone 343 of the owner of the user profile 140 using the Bluetooth audio interface 122, the system will decrease the volume level of the call by a -8 offset (-6 USER B's home phone offset and -2 for cell phone 343 using Bluetooth offset) in relation to the user's volume level 347”), of the preferred volume adjustment table (FIG. 3A: 334. 335; FIG. 3B: 140; [0014]: “The user profile 140 (see FIG. 3) is used to store preferences of the user of the audio communication device 102, settings of the audio communication device, and the like”).
In addition, Chhaunker et al. discloses: “judging that the ambient volume falls within one of a plurality of volume ranges (FIG. 1: 108, 110; [0030]: “Once these settings 110 have been selected by the user, the logic 108 is ready to implement the call functions for incoming calls. Returning to FIG. 2, at step 208, the logic 108 monitors the ambient sound through the device's 104 microphone using the sensing interval settings configured”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8 and 9 are 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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/Myron Wyche/ 29 July 2026
Primary Examiner AU2644
Prosecution Insights