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 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 11, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masnadi-Shirazi et al, US PGPub 2021/0390952.
Regarding claim 1, An estimation device comprising: one or more hardware processors (figure 2, audio signal processor 220) configured to function as:
a conversion module configured to perform time frequency conversion on acoustic signals of a plurality of channels to acquire a frequency spectrum (figure 4, subband analysis 410, paragraph 43);
a spatial correlation calculation module configured to calculate a spatial correlation matrix from the frequency spectrum (covariance matrix 420);
a spatial correlation filter module configured to calculate a spatial correlation filter from the spatial correlation matrix (target speech RTF estimation element 430); and
a direction estimation module configured to estimate general direction information from a partial element included in the spatial correlation filter (modified covariance-based localization element 440, paragraph 13, figure 5 step 580).
Regarding claim 8, the estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the general direction information indicates one of a direction indicated by an angle of +θ or -θ, left or right, front or rear, and top or bottom (steps 570 and 580, the TDOA indicates direction with respect to the microphones, e.g. angle).
Regarding claim 11, the estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to function as a control module configured to change control by a voice recognition pattern recognized from the acoustic signals based on the general direction information (paragraph 16; the disclosure can be used for speech recognition or voice command processing).
Regarding claim 14, the method claim is rejected using the same rationale as that used in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, the computer program product claim is rejected using the same rationale as that used in the rejection of claim 1.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 11, 14 and 15 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tateishi, US PGPub 2021/0225379.
Regarding claim 1, An estimation device comprising: one or more hardware processors (figure 3, voice signal processing unit 17) configured to function as:
a conversion module configured to perform time frequency conversion on acoustic signals of a plurality of channels to acquire a frequency spectrum (figure 5, frequency conversion unit 40, paragraphs 106, 107);
a spatial correlation calculation module configured to calculate a spatial correlation matrix from the frequency spectrum (figure 5, voice correlation matrix calculation unit 41, noise correlation matrix 42, eigenvalue decomposition unit 43, paragraphs 109-111);
a spatial correlation filter module configured to calculate a spatial correlation filter from the spatial correlation matrix (figure 5, spatial spectrum calculation unit 46, paragraph 112); and
a direction estimation module configured to estimate general direction information from a partial element included in the spatial correlation filter (figure 5, peak detection unit 49, paragraph 113).
Regarding claim 8, the estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the general direction information indicates one of a direction indicated by an angle of +θ or -θ, left or right, front or rear, and top or bottom (paragraph 113).
Regarding claim 11, the estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to function as a control module configured to change control by a voice recognition pattern recognized from the acoustic signals based on the general direction information (figure 3, control unit 18, paragraph 87, voice recognition to execute a process).
Regarding claim 14, the method claim is rejected using the same rationale as that used in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, the computer program product claim is rejected using the same rationale as that used in the rejection of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 9, 10, and 12-13 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Vilkamo et al, US PGPub 2025/0039602 which discloses a system for providing spatial audio. Nakadai et al, US PGPub 2023/0076123 discloses a system for estimating sound source direction. Tawada, US PGPub 2017/0374453 discloses a signal analysis processor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T Pendleton whose telephone number is (571)272-7527. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30AM - 5:30 PM.
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, Colleen Fauz can be reached at (571) 272-1667. 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.
Brian T. Pendleton
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2425
/Brian T Pendleton/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2425