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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 7/2/25 has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed 9/27/24 are acceptable to the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-3 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Grinnip, III et al. (US 11,706,562 B2).
Re claim 1: Grinnip, III et al. teaches an apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus (see discussion of the processor and memory; column 10, lines 28-55) to receive one or more audio signals (speech) captured by one or more steerable microphone arrays (104), column 5, lines 38-52 and column 8, lines 10-12) situated within an acoustic environment (100);
identify, based on the one or more audio signals and an acoustic source identification model (learning algorithm, column 10, lines 58-60), an acoustic source (such as a sound source, including at least a person (120)) associated with the one or more audio signals;
generate, based on the one or more audio signals, a localization object (position including coordinates; column 9, lines 21-26) associated with the acoustic source within the acoustic environment;
direct, based on the localization object, one or more microphone lobes associated with the one or more steerable microphone arrays toward the acoustic source (column 11, lines 4-24 and lines 57-62);
generate, based on one or more subsequent audio signals, an updated localization object associated with the acoustic source (when tracking a particular object such as a person when moving from an initial position to a subsequent position by the subsequent capturing of audio/speech using the microphones from the person); and
direct, based on the updated localization object, the one or more microphone lobes of the one or more steerable microphone arrays toward the acoustic source (column 11, lines 4-24 and lines 57-62) when steering the lobes of the microphone when the object/person moves from an initial position to a subsequent position
Re claim 2: see figure 1, locations of the microphone arrays within an environment (100)
Re claim 3: note that the object (such as person (12) is within the environment (100) at a given location.
Re claim 14: note that training, i.e. learning algorithm as discussed in column 10, lines 56-60 is based on detected audio from a person (speech)
Re claim 15: note the identified objects can include at least a first source such as a detected person (120)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 16-20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim 1 wherein the one or more microphone lobes are directed toward the acoustic source based on one or more audio signal attributes associated with the one or more audio signals as set forth in claim 4 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claim 5 depend upon those features of claim 4/1. The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim, wherein the one or more microphone lobes are directed toward the acoustic source based on an orientation of the acoustic source relative to a tracking zone associated with a respective steerable microphone array of the one or more steerable microphone arrays as set forth in claim 6 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claim 7 depend upon those features of claim 6/1. The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim 1, wherein a first microphone lobe of a first steerable microphone array is directed toward the acoustic source based on a first plurality of audio signal attributes associated with a first plurality of audio signals as set forth in claim 8 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claim 9 depend upon those features of claim 8/1. The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim 1, wherein the one or more microphone lobes are directed toward the acoustic source based on one or more portions of image data associated with the acoustic source, and wherein the one or more portions of image data are captured by an image capturing device situated in the acoustic environment as set forth in claim 10 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim 1, wherein the instructions that are operable when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to: determine that the acoustic source is navigating toward a second tracking zone associated with a second steerable microphone array as set forth in claim 11 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claims 12-13 depend upon those features of claim 11/1. The claimed apparatus including in combination those features of claim 15/1 16, wherein the instructions that are operable when executed by the at least one processor further cause the apparatus to: determine that the acoustic source is a human speaker; and determine a user audio profile associated with the human speaker as set forth in claim 16 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claims 17-20depend upon those features of claim 16/15/1.
Conclusion
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/ANDREW SNIEZEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
/A.S./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693 6/9/26
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