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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 13-14, 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song et al. (US 2023/0008818 A1, “Song”) in view of Uetabira (US 2022/0375448 A1), and further in view of Su et al. (US 2022/0159369 A1, “Su”).
As to claims 1, 14, 23, Song discloses a voice signal output method, wherein the method is applied to an electronic device (first terminal device 101, Figs. 1, 2; para. 0118), the electronic device comprises a first sound production assembly and a second sound production assembly, the first sound production assembly is a sound production assembly of a screen and is disposed at a first location of the electronic device, the first location is located on the screen and corresponds to a location of an ear of a user when the user holds the electronic device for a call (receiver 1011 outputs a downlink audio signal, received from a second terminal device 102, to the ear 201 of the listener, para. 0119-0123), and the second sound production assembly is disposed at a second location different from the first location (speaker 1012 is disposed at the opposite end of the terminal device 101, para. 0119; Figs. 1, 2), and the method comprises:
generating a first voice signal, wherein the first voice signal is an interfering signal generated based on a downlink voice signal (a masking sound is generated based on the downlink audio signal, para. 0012), wherein the generating the first voice signal comprises:
generating a first power spectral density, wherein the first power spectral density is a power spectral density calculated based on the downlink voice signal (performing spectrum analysis on the downlink audio signal to obtain a spectrum response, para. 0015);
generating a masking signal and a pink noise signal based on the first power spectral density (generating a masking sound signal based on the spectrum response, para. 0016; a pink noise signal may be generated and used as a masking signal, para. 0013, 0157);
adjusting the masking signal and the pink noise signal to a same delay; and
generating the first voice signal based on the masking signal and the pink noise signal that are adjusted to the same delay;
generating a second voice signal, wherein the second voice signal is a voice signal that is obtained after delay processing is performed on the downlink voice signal and that has a same delay as the first voice signal (downlink audio signal is delayed based on the time length for generating the masking sound signal so that the masking sound signal and the downlink audio signal are played in alignment, para.0029-0031, 0066, 0090, 0169, 0179); and
at a same output time, outputting the second voice signal by using the first sound production assembly, and outputting the first voice signal by using the second sound production assembly (downlink audio signal is output by the receiver while the masking sound signal is synchronously output by the speaker, para. 0030-0031, 0066, 0120, 0208).
Song differs from claims 1, 14, 23 in that although it discloses generating a masking sound signal or a pink noise signal (para. 0013, 0157), it does not teach the above underlined limitations, i.e. generating both a masking signal and a pink noise signal. Uetabira teaches suppressing conversation leakage by a mobile phone user (para. 0008) by making use of a masking sound in addition to further superimposing noise such as pink noise on the masking sound (para. 0031, 0102). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Song with the above teaching of Uetabira in order to provide increased privacy for a mobile phone user.
Song in view of Uetabira further differs from claims 1, 14, 23 in that it does not teach the first sound production assembly as being a sound production assembly of a screen. Su teaches the use of a mobile device having a piezoelectric ceramic element to vibrate to generate a sound wave according to a received audio signal (para. 0014), the sound making assembly being fastened to the frame of the display (Fig. 7, para. 0083). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Song in view of Uetabira with the above teaching of Su in order to facilitate a light and thin design, as taught by Su (para. 0004).
As to claim 13, Song in view of Uetabira and Su teaches: wherein the electronic device further comprises a third sound production assembly, the third sound production assembly is disposed at a third location close to different from the first location and the second location, and the method further comprises: generating a third voice signal, wherein the third voice signal is a voice signal that is obtained after delay processing is performed on the downlink voice signal and that has the same delay as the first voice signal; and outputting the third voice signal by using the third sound production assembly at the same output time (Song: speaker 1012 includes two separate speakers at the opposite end of receiver 1011, Fig. 1; Su: three driving diaphragms, Fig. 7, para. 0083).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-12, 16-22 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.
de la Guardia Gonzales (US 2014/0095153 A1) teach providing speech privacy with a masker.
Ferencz et al. (US 2007/0083361 A1) teach providing speech privacy using masking sounds.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stella L Woo whose telephone number is (571)272-7512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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STELLA L. WOO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2693
/Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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