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 .
Election/Restrictions
In response to the election/restriction requirement mailed on 06/04/2026, applicants elect Group I. (claims 1-13 and 21-27) without traverse.
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claims 7-13 are allowed.
2. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The applicant’s set of claims along with a remark filed on 08/04/2026 have been reviewed by the examiner in view of the prior arts of a search; and it is agreed that the prior arts of the search fail to disclose “a first audio signal at a first time period during which a signal level from the first microphone is greater than or equal to a threshold; receiving, via a second microphone of the microphone assembly, a second audio signal at a second time period during which the signal level from the first microphone is less than the threshold; converting the first audio signal and the second audio signal to frequency domain; applying a transfer function to the second audio signal to generate a third audio signal; sending an output audio signal, wherein the output audio signal is based on subtracting, in the frequency domain, the third audio signal from the first audio signal” as shown in the independent claim 7.
3. Claims 3, 6, 23 and 26-27 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4.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.
5. Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, 21-22 and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM et al. (US 20110075859) in view of RUWISCH et al. (US 20130117016)
Regarding claims 1 and 21, Kim discloses a method comprising: receiving, via a first microphone of a microphone assembly, a first audio signal (Paragraph: 0045 and fig.2, 201: a first acoustic signal received from a first microphone 201); receiving, via a second microphone of the microphone assembly, a second audio signal (Paragraph: 0045 and fig.2, 202: a second acoustic signal received from a second microphone 202); converting the first audio signal and the second audio signal to frequency domain (Paragraphs: 0009, 0014 and 0049: Kim discusses how the acoustic signals having been converted into the signals in the frequency domain. Kim also discusses converting a first acoustic signal and a second acoustic signal received from a first and second microphones into a signal in the frequency domain);
Kim discloses the invention set forth above but does not specifically point out “applying a transfer function to the second audio signal to generate a third audio signal; and sending an output audio signal, wherein the output audio signal is based on subtracting, in the frequency domain, the third audio signal from the first audio signal”
RUWISCH discloses applying a transfer function to the second audio signal to generate a third audio signal (Paragraphs: 0010, 0022 and 0029: RUWISCH discusses noise signal based on the second input signal from the first input signal before calculating the energy transfer function value; and substituting the first input signal with the pre-processed first input signal when calculating the energy transfer function value, calculating the gain value, and generating the noise reduced output signal; and how the system calculating the energy transfer function value, and generating the noise reduced output signal); and sending an output audio signal, wherein the output audio signal is based on subtracting, in the frequency domain, the third audio signal from the first audio signal (Paragraphs: 0022, 0034, 0095 and Claim.10: RUWISCH discusses how the system generating a pre-processed first input signal by subtracting a pseudo noise signal based on the second input signal from the first input signal before calculating the energy transfer function value; and generating the pre-processed second input signal carried out in the frequency domain; and subtracted from the Noise microphone signal spectrum, forming a spectral representation of the voice-reduced Noise microphone signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Kim, and modify a system to apply a transfer function to the second audio signal to generate a third audio signal; and sending an output audio signal, wherein the output audio signal is based on subtracting, in the frequency domain, the third audio signal from the first audio signal, as taught by RUWISCH, thus generating a noise reduced output signal from sound received by a microphone, as discussed by RUWISCH.
Considering claims 2 and 22, RUWISCH discloses the method of claims 1 and 21, wherein the transfer function is based on a ratio of a first frequency response of the first microphone and a second frequency response of the second microphone (Paragraphs: 0011 and 0080: RUWISCH the noise energy ratio between Noise and Voice microphone in each frequency component f; and how the first input signal is a frequency domain signal of audio signal corresponding to the sound received by the first microphone and a second microphone to transform sound received by the second microphone).
Considering claims 4 and 24, RUWISCH discloses the method of claims 1 and 21, wherein: the first microphone is a condenser microphone or a dynamic microphone, and the second microphone is a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) microphone (Paragraphs: 0098-0099 and 0101: the hands-free phone set at least the voice microphone and preferably both the voice with omni-directional characteristic and the noise microphone).
Considering claims 5 and 25, RUWISCH discloses the method of claims 1 and 21, wherein the second microphone has an omnidirectional pickup pattern (Paragraphs: 0101: RUWISCH discusses how the microphones of such a handset can be implemented as having an omni-directional characteristic for recording acoustic sound signals).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOSEF K LAEKEMARIAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5149. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-6:30 M-F.
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, Duc Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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YOSEF K. LAEKEMARIAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2651
/YOSEF K LAEKEMARIAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
