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 .
Response to Amendment
1. This in response to an amendment filed 06/26/2026. Claims 2-5, 7 and 9 have been amended. No claims have been added. No claims have been canceled. Claims 1-10 are still pending in this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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 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.
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 CFR 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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jorasch et al. (Pub.No.: 2021/0374391 A1) in view of Nashida et al. (Pub.No.: 2019/0289285 A1) and further in view of Soltner et al (Pub.No.: 2021/0166675 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Jorasch teaches on-vehicle sound control system (reads on headset 4000 configured to generate sound, see [0207]) installed in a vehicle,
a speaker built into a headrest (reads on headset 4000 includes an earbud may be a component that fits in the ear (e.g., for efficient sound transmission), see [0206]);
a microphone built into th headrest (reads on microphone 4014, see [0214]);
a controller for controlling sound output through the speaker (reads on processor 4055, see [0211]); and
a speaker position determination apparatus for determining the position of the speaker (reads on headset 4000 including an earbud/component configured for sound transmission, see [0206]), the speaker position determination apparatus comprising:
a camera configured to capture an image of the headrest (reads on forward facing cameras 4022a-b may record the actions of a user cleaning parts in the chemical room with acid tanks 6885. The forward-facing cameras record the specific part by reading the part measurements, barcode or image, see [0217]); and
a position determination device configured to determine the position of the speaker based on the image captured by the camera (rangefinder may allow the camera to determine distances to surrounding objects or features, see [0223]), wherein the position determination device determines the position of the speaker based on a feature part of the headrest in the image (reads on identifying safety issues (e.g., an object blocking a pathway), see [0223]).
Jorasch however, does not specifically teach that the “camera is disposed inside a vehicle cabin”, as recited in claim 1 language (i.e., performs the foregoing position determination with respect to a feature portion of a vehicle-seat headrest). Jorasch does not also teach “wherein the vehicle is provided with an occupant seat disposed in a vehicle cabin of the vehicle, the occupant seat includes a seat cushion and a reclining part connected to a rear portion of the seat cushion to be pivotable with respect to the seat cushion, and the reclining part includes a seat back and a headrest provided at an upper end of the seat back” as recited in the preamble of claim 1.
Nashida teaches a system used in a passenger-car interior, including a vehicle seat, a seatback/headrest structure, and a headrest speaker 934 provided in the headrest (see [0184-0187] and [0259-0260]). Nashida further teaches a camera-based displacement/position-information acquisition system in which feature portions or markers of the seat/chair structure are captured by one or more cameras and positional information is calculated from those captured features (see [0195-0200], [0208-0214] and [0259-0260]). Nashida additionally teaches that the feature portion may be a feature point of the predetermined object recognized through image-recognition process (see [0600-0602]).
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jorasch according to Nashida by implementing Jorasch’ s camera-based position determination in Nishida’s vehicle-seat/headrest environment, including using a cabin camera to detect a feature portion or feature point of the headrest/seat structure to determine the position of the speaker fixed thereto, because Nashida expressly teaches determining positional information form detected feature portions of the vehicle-seat structure.
Neither Jorasch or Nashida along or in combination teach “the speaker built into the headrest and configured to output a canceling sound for canceling noise inside the vehicle cabin”, “the microphone built into the headrest and configured to generate an error signal based on the noise and the canceling sound”, and “the controller controlling the speaker based on that error signal”.
Soltner teaches a noise-canceling headrest for a vehicle seat having a loudspeaker (loudspeakers 11a, 11b) and microphone (microphones 17 a and 17b ) integrated in the headrest (reads on headrest 3, as in claim 1 and Figs. 2-6), with a signal-processing circuit configured to receive a noise signal, receive an error signal (reads on error signal 23) form the microphone representative of residual noise, update a noise-correction function using the error signal’ generate a noise-correction signal and generate a control signal for the loudspeaker so that the loudspeaker outputs sound for canceling the noise (note that signal processing 18 comprises an active noise cancellation (ANC) module 22, configured for: [0088] receiving the noise signal 20 from module 19, and determining a noise correction function S(z) by inverting the phase of the noise signal 20, [0089] receiving an error signal 23 from the microphones 17a and 17b, and updating the noise correction function S(z) to take into account the error signal 23, by a feedback loop. The adaptive filter 24 is configured to be driven by the noise correction function S(z) from module 22, and furthermore to receive the duplicated noise signal 20 from module 19.The adaptive filter 24 is thus able to apply the noise correction function S(z) to the noise signal 20 so as to generate a noise correction signal 25, and the loudspeakers are thus configured to emit noise-canceling sound waves to cancel the noise in the internal zone 8, so that the user 7 is not disturbed by external noise (see Fig. 6 and [0077-0097]).
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the Jorasch/Nashida system according to Soltner by providing the headrest-mounted speaker and microphone with Soltner ‘s active-noise-cancellation control architecture, because Soltner teaches using such an arrangement to reduce vehicle noise in the region of the occupant’s head, thereby predictably providing localized noise cancellation while retaining the image-based speaker-position determination taught by Jorasch and Nashida.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the feature part includes at least three feature points provided on a surface of the headrest (reads on determining distances to surrounding objects or features, see Jorasch [0223]) at equal distances from a center of the speaker (reads on determining distances to surrounding objects, see Jorasch [0223]), and
the position determination device determines a center of a polygon having vertices at the feature points as a position of the center of the speaker (see Jorasch [0223]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the feature part includes a grille provided on the surface of the headrest to cover the speaker (reads on outward speakers 4074 which can generate a sound, see Jorasch [0207]), and
the position determination device determines the position of the speaker based on a position of the grille (reads on identify object blocking pathway, see Jorasch [0223]).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the headrest has a microphone built therein (reads on microphone 4014, see Jorasch [0214]),
the surface of the headrest is provided with a microphone hole (reads on microphone boom 4016, see Jorasch [0211]), and the position determination device determines the position of the speaker based on a position of the microphone hole (reads on camera determining the distances to surrounding objects or features, see Jorasch [0223]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches an on-vehicle sound control system (reads on headset 4000 generate a sound, see Jorasch [0207]) wherein the camera is disposed to further capture an image of a head of an occupant seated in the occupant seat on which the headrest is provided (reads on forward facing cameras 4022a-b may capture the movements of the user, see Jorasch [0213]),
the position determination device further determines a position of the head of the occupant from the image (reads on accelerometers detecting the orientation, head movement, see Jorasch [0214]), and
the controller controls the speaker to output the canceling sound based on the position of the head of the occupant and the position of the speaker (reads on processor 40505interepreting the information and providing alert to user, see Jorasch [0211]- [0212]).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the position determination device determines presence or absence of a blocking object that blocks a path from the speaker to the occupant's ear in the image (reads on identifying safety issues, e.g., an object blocking a pathway, see Jorasch [0233]), and
the controller controls the speaker based on the presence or absence of the blocking object (reads on processor 4055... providing an alert/audible alert in speakers, see Jorasch [0211]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches
a control filter configured to generate a control signal for controlling the speaker (reads on processor 4055 provide information, see Jorasch [0211]); and
an adaptive update unit configured to perform adaptive update of the control filter based on the error signal (reads on processor 4055 performing analysis, see Jorasch [0215]),
wherein the adaptive update unit stops the adaptive update of the control filter when the blocking object is present (see object blocking a pathway in [0223] of Jorasch).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the surface of the headrest is provided with a grille covering the speaker (see outward speaker 4074, see Jorasch [0211]), and
the position determination device determines that the blocking object is present when the grille is hidden in the image (reads on identifying an object blocking a pathway, see Jorasch [0223]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the surface of the headrest is provided with a microphone hole (reads on microphone boom 4016, see Jorasch [0211]), and the position determination device determines that the blocking object is present when the microphone hole is hidden in the image (see Jorasch [0223]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Jorasch, Nashida and Soltner teaches wherein the position determination device determines that the blocking object is present when the occupant's ear is hidden in the image (reads on detecting orientation head movement, see Jorasch [0214] and identifying object blocking a pathway, see Jorasch [0223]).
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments for independent claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
4. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 date of this final action.
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rasha S. AL-Aubaidi whose telephone number is (571) 272-7481. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ahmad Matar, can be reached on (571) 272-7488.
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/RASHA S AL AUBAIDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
