DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This office action is in response to application number 18/901,786 filed on 09/30/2024,
and the amendments and arguments filed on 04/17/2026.
Claims 1 and 10-20 have been amended.
No claims have been added.
No claims have been cancelled.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119
(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in priority Application No. KR10-2023-0114914, filed
on 08/30/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/30/2024, 12/12/2024, 10/27/2025, and 04/10/2026 have been received and considered.
Response to Amendment
6. Applicant' s amendments to the Claims have overcome each and every objection
previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 12/18/2025. Applicants
arguments, see page 14-15 filed on 04/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s)
1-20 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Claim objections and objection to specification has also been fully considered and persuasive. Therefore, the entire rejection has been withdrawn. A new grounds for rejection is made under 35 USC 103 as necessitated by amendment over Jeong (US 11724397 B2) in view of Koyama (WO 2019138619 A1) further in view of Lim (KR 20240002547 A) further in view of Xue (CN 117806305 A) and further in view of Gordon (US 20210156993 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
7. Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 7, 9-11, 14, 16-17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (US 11724397 B2) to Jeong et al. (hereinafter Jeong) in view of Koyama (WO 2019138619 A1) and further in view of Lim (KR 20240002547 A).
Regarding claim 1, Jeong discloses A robot comprising: at least one sensor; a speaker; a microphone; a driver; at least one memory storing one or more instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the one or more instructions, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the robot to: (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-4: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140, a memory 150, a power supply 160, a rotation driver 170, and a controller 190.”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 28-32:“In an embodiment, the input interface 120 may include a camera 121 from which the input interface 120 receives an image signal and a microphone 123 from which the input interface 120 receives an audio signal.”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 6-12: “In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 10, line number 4-9: “The controller 190 may include one or more processors, and may be a module for controlling the components of the robot 100. Here, the controller 190 may refer to, for example, a hardware-embedded data processing device having a circuit that is physically structured to execute functions represented as instructions or codes included in a program.”) […] generate ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects through the speaker, obtain reflectivity information regarding the plurality of objects based on reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects and received through the microphone, and store the reflectivity information, the reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves reflected from each of the objects, (Jeong Column 6, line number 34-44: “However, when a sound signal is reflected off of an obstacle and the reflected sound waves are then received at the plurality of microphones 123 (123a to 123d), it may be difficult for the robot 100 to locate the direction from which the sound originates. For this reason, the accuracy of recognizing the sound is also lowered. As such, the robot 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may detect distortions of sound signals resulting from reflections or deflections caused by obstacles, and may reduce the influence of the distorted sound signal, thereby more accurately locating the sound source and recognizing sounds.”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 49-53: “Meanwhile, when the sound information outputted from the sound source and the direction information on the sound signals are received at the robot 100, the controller 190 may store, in the memory 150, a label presenting the direction information on the sound source”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 13, line number 66-Column 14, line number 3: “The robot 100 may apply an echo cancellation algorithm to obtain a high-frequency sound signal reflected from the obstacle S1130, and may perform filtering (band-pass filtering) to isolate the high-frequency sound signal in the obtained sound signal S114”) based on receiving a user voice through the microphone, (Jeong Column 7, line number 54-57: “In one example, for an utterance sound “ROBOT!”, shown as Dia, spoken by a speaker, shown as Utt, when the sound signals are directly inputted to the plurality of microphones, the robot 100 may immediately store the sound signals.”)
Jeong does not disclose […] generate a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through the at least one sensor, […] obtain, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions, obtain information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions, obtain priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information, and obtain information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information.
However, Xue does teach […] generate a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through the at least one sensor, (Xue Page 13, Paragraph 5: “Wherein, the navigation sensor 403b is used for calculating the position of the robot in the space, and is used for generating the operation map of the robot.”) (Xue Page 13, Paragraph 11: “The family service robot is the representative of intelligent interaction and intelligent hardware, taking the sweeper as the representative, capable of moving independently in different rooms, flexibly avoiding obstacles, building an environment layout map and executing the navigation task based on position.”) […] obtain information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions, obtain priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information, and obtain information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information. (Xue Page 19, Paragraph 9: “Due to the multi-path effect of the room sound transmission, the sound of the same sound source is directly transmitted by the wheat array, and some of the sound is reflected by the wall body to reach the wheat array, so the wheat array can detect the potential orientation of multiple sound sources. Because the sound signal has different degrees of loss through different propagation paths, the signal intensity (Ii) of the potential orientation (Ai) of each sound source has a certain positive correlation with the confidence.”) (Xue Page 20, Paragraph 5: “In a possible implementation, the first information may include a plurality of candidate user positions, so that the third device may determine a plurality of candidate user positions, and according to the target order, by controlling the mobile component, sequentially move to the plurality of second candidate positions, until moving to the correct candidate position in the multiple candidate positions.”) (Xue Page 20, Paragraph 6: “In one possible implementation, the target order is related to at least one of the following: a passing path length between the current position of the third device and each second candidate position of the plurality of second candidate positions; The confidence level of each first candidate position in the plurality of first candidate positions is carried in the first information.”) (Note: Priority order = target order)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to include […] generate a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through the at least one sensor, […] obtain information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions, obtain priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information, and obtain information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information taught by Xue. This would have been for the benefit to provide a device control method, which is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: obtaining first information including a first location of the user relative to the second device; wherein the first position is determined according to the first voice of the user collected by the second device, the first voice indicates the third device to move to the area where the user is; obtaining a second position according to the first information, wherein the second position is the position where the second device is located; the first position and the second position are used for determining the position of the user; and sending the position where the user is located to the third device in order to solve existing technology problems such as the sensing range being small of a microphone array which cannot realize the calling of a user crossing the room level. [Xue Page 2, Paragraph 3 and Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Xue does not teach […] obtain, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions
However, Lim does teach […] obtain, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions, (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 2: “It can be predicted that an audio signal containing a voice command will be output.”) (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 2: “And each directional microphone can acquire audio signals coming from each direction within a preset direction angle and range.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 4: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Xue to include […] obtain, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions, taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 2, Jeong discloses The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: (Jeong Column 15, line number 37-39: “The present disclosure described above may be implemented as a computer-readable code in a medium on which a program is recorded.”) (Jeong Column 15, line number 46-47: “In addition, the computer may include the processor 190 of the robot 100.”) generate ultrasonic waves at preset distance intervals with respect to a wall object among the plurality of objects, and obtain reflectivity information regarding the wall object based on reflected sounds reflected from the wall object and received through the microphone, the reflected sounds reflected from the wall object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated at the preset intervals reflected from the wall object. (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 51-57: “The sensor 130 may include, for example, hardware based sensors such as a satellite-based location receiving sensor, a distance detection sensor, a connector connection detection sensor, an illumination sensor, an acceleration sensor, a magnetic sensor, a gyro sensor, an inertial sensor, an RGB sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a finger scan sensor, an ultrasonic sensor,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “ The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information. ”) (Jeong Column 10, line number 57-65: “Here, the predetermined range may include a distance range in which the sound signals received by the plurality of microphones 123 are distorted or a in which sound is absorbed by the specific obstacle by a predetermined level. However, when the obstacle is a wall and the robot 100 is within a predetermined distance, such as 30 cm, from the wall, the controller 190 may determine or it may be preset that the problem (sound distortion or sound absorption) is likely to occur.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Regarding claim 5, Jeong in view of Xue and further in view of Lim teaches claim 1, accordingly, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated above.
Jeong does not teach The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: identify objects, among the plurality of objects, positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot, and identify a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects.
However, Xue does teach The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: identify objects, among the plurality of objects, positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot, and identify a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects. (Xue Page 19, Paragraph 9: “Due to the multi-path effect of the room sound transmission, the sound of the same sound source is directly transmitted by the wheat array, and some of the sound is reflected by the wall body to reach the wheat array, so the wheat array can detect the potential orientation of multiple sound sources. Because the sound signal has different degrees of loss through different propagation paths, the signal intensity (Ii) of the potential orientation (Ai) of each sound source has a certain positive correlation with the confidence.”) (Xue Page 20, Paragraph 5: “In a possible implementation, the first information may include a plurality of candidate user positions, so that the third device may determine a plurality of candidate user positions, and according to the target order, by controlling the mobile component, sequentially move to the plurality of second candidate positions, until moving to the correct candidate position in the multiple candidate positions.”) (Xue Page 20, Paragraph 6: “In one possible implementation, the target order is related to at least one of the following: a passing path length between the current position of the third device and each second candidate position of the plurality of second candidate positions; The confidence level of each first candidate position in the plurality of first candidate positions is carried in the first information.”) (Priority order = target order)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to include The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: identify objects, among the plurality of objects, positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot, and identify a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects taught by Xue. This would have been for the benefit to provide a device control method, which is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: obtaining first information including a first location of the user relative to the second device; wherein the first position is determined according to the first voice of the user collected by the second device, the first voice indicates the third device to move to the area where the user is; obtaining a second position according to the first information, wherein the second position is the position where the second device is located; the first position and the second position are used for determining the position of the user; and sending the position where the user is located to the third device in order to solve existing technology problems such as the sensing range being small of a microphone array which cannot realize the calling of a user crossing the room level. [Xue Page 2, Paragraph 3 and Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 9, Jeong discloses The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: perform voice recognition on the user voice by performing beam forming in the direction in which the user voice is uttered. (Jeong Column 12, line number 34-39: “In addition, when the sound information from the sound source is speech information, the controller 190 may amplify the sound signal from the sound source by performing beamforming in a direction of the sound source, and as a result, may improve recognition of the speech information based on the amplified sound signal.”)
Regarding claim 10, Jeong discloses A method for controlling a robot, the method comprising: (Jeong Column 1, line number 17-19: “The present disclosure relates to a robot for receiving sound signals through a plurality of microphones and a method for controlling the same.”) […] generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects through a speaker of the robot, obtaining reflectivity information regarding the plurality of objects based on the reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects and received a microphone of the robot, and storing the reflectivity information, the reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves reflected from each of the objects; (Jeong Column 6, line number 34-44: “However, when a sound signal is reflected off of an obstacle and the reflected sound waves are then received at the plurality of microphones 123 (123a to 123d), it may be difficult for the robot 100 to locate the direction from which the sound originates. For this reason, the accuracy of recognizing the sound is also lowered. As such, the robot 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may detect distortions of sound signals resulting from reflections or deflections caused by obstacles, and may reduce the influence of the distorted sound signal, thereby more accurately locating the sound source and recognizing sounds.”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 49-53: “Meanwhile, when the sound information outputted from the sound source and the direction information on the sound signals are received at the robot 100, the controller 190 may store, in the memory 150, a label presenting the direction information on the sound source”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 13, line number 66-Column 14, line number 3: “The robot 100 may apply an echo cancellation algorithm to obtain a high-frequency sound signal reflected from the obstacle S1130, and may perform filtering (band-pass filtering) to isolate the high-frequency sound signal in the obtained sound signal S114”) based on receiving a user voice through the microphone, (Jeong Column 7, line number 54-57: “In one example, for an utterance sound “ROBOT!”, shown as Dia, spoken by a speaker, shown as Utt, when the sound signals are directly inputted to the plurality of microphones, the robot 100 may immediately store the sound signals.”)
Jeong does not disclose […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; […] based on a user voice being received through the microphone, obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information.
However, Koyama does teach […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; (Koyama Page 4, Paragraph 2: "The autonomously operating body 10 can extract a feature point of a ceiling or the like based on, for example, an image captured by a wide-angle camera disposed at the waist, and can realize SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).") (Koyama Page 10, Paragraph 6: "The map information holding unit 360 holds various map information related to the space in which the autonomously operating body 10 exists. The map information described above includes, for example, floor plans, obstacles, and installation conditions of furniture relating to the user's home where the autonomously operating body 10 is installed.")
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to include […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; taught by Koyama. This would have been for the benefit to provide a behavior planning unit that plans a direction-dependent operation of the operating body in accordance with the sound source direction, on the basis of the reliability evaluation results of the evaluation unit and past evaluation results. [Koyama Page 1, Paragraph 1]
Koyama does not teach […] based on a user voice being received through the microphone, obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information.
However, Lim does teach […] based on a user voice being received through the microphone, obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 2: “It can be predicted that an audio signal containing a voice command will be output.”) (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 2: “And each directional microphone can acquire audio signals coming from each direction within a preset direction angle and range.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 4: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information. (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 4: “As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 100 is adjacent to a wall. Due to this, the robot 100 can receive not only the voice directly uttered by the user but also noise generated by the user's voice being reflected on the wall.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 2: “For the above example, to explain again, with respect to the first directional microphone 120-1, the processor 130 has an intensity three times that of the first audio signal received through the first directional microphone 120-1. The audio signal may be input to the pre-processing model identified in response to the first directional microphone 120-1.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 3: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) (Lim Page 14, Paragraph 5: “That is, the processor 130 may move a plurality of audio signals to a candidate location by a preset delay time (or frequency, etc.) and then synthesize the plurality of delayed audio signals to obtain one audio signal. Additionally, the processor 130 can calculate beamforming output power for one acquired audio signal. In this way, the processor 130 can obtain beamforming output power for each of the plurality of candidate locations based on the delay time set for each candidate location. Additionally, the processor 130 may identify a candidate location where the beamforming output power is maximum as the location of the sound source.”) (Note: Pre-processing models are used to filter the reflected noise voiced by the user and these pre-processing models are used to help determine the direction of the user’s voice. Beamforming output power takes these pre-processed audio signals from the pre-processing models that contain voice intensity and filtered reflected noise for each candidate location of the voice and picks the highest beamforming output power as the location of the voice that was uttered by the user.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include […] based on a user voice being received through the microphone, obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 11, Jeong discloses The method of claim 10, wherein generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects further comprises generating ultrasonic waves at preset distance intervals with respect to a wall object among the plurality of objects, and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information regarding the wall object based on reflected sounds reflected from the wall object and received through the microphone, the reflected sounds reflected from the wall object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated at the preset intervals reflected from the wall object. (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 10, line number 57 65: “Here, the predetermined range may include a distance range in which the sound signals received by the plurality of microphones 123 are distorted or a in which sound is absorbed by the specific obstacle by a predetermined level. However, when the obstacle is a wall and the robot 100 is within a predetermined distance, such as 30 cm, from the wall, the controller 190 may determine or it may be preset that the problem (sound distortion or sound absorption) is likely to occur.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Regarding claim 14, Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim teaches claim 10, accordingly, the rejection of claim 10 is incorporated above.
Jeong in view of Koyama does not teach The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects.
However, Lim does teach The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects. (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 2: “At this time, when the objects located around the robot 100 are identified as a person 10 and a wall 20,”) (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 4: “As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 100 is adjacent to a wall. Due to this, the robot 100 can receive not only the voice directly uttered by the user but also noise generated by the user's voice being reflected on the wall.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 2: “For the above example, to explain again, with respect to the first directional microphone 120-1, the processor 130 has an intensity three times that of the first audio signal received through the first directional microphone 120-1. The audio signal may be input to the pre-processing model identified in response to the first directional microphone 120-1.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 3: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) (Lim Page 14, Paragraph 5: “That is, the processor 130 may move a plurality of audio signals to a candidate location by a preset delay time (or frequency, etc.) and then synthesize the plurality of delayed audio signals to obtain one audio signal. Additionally, the processor 130 can calculate beamforming output power for one acquired audio signal. In this way, the processor 130 can obtain beamforming output power for each of the plurality of candidate locations based on the delay time set for each candidate location. Additionally, the processor 130 may identify a candidate location where the beamforming output power is maximum as the location of the sound source.”) (Note: Pre-processing models are used to filter the reflected noise voiced by the user and these pre-processing models are used to help determine the direction of the user’s voice. Beamforming output power takes these pre-processed audio signals from the pre-processing models that contain voice intensity and filtered reflected noise for each candidate location of the voice and picks the highest beamforming output power as the location of the voice that was uttered by the user.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 16, Jeong discloses A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to execute a method of controlling a robot, the method comprising: (Jeong Column 1, line number 17-19: “The present disclosure relates to a robot for receiving sound signals through a plurality of microphones and a method for controlling the same.”) (Jeong Column 15, line number 37-39: “The present disclosure described above may be implemented as a computer-readable code in a medium on which a program is recorded.”) […] generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects through a speaker of the robot, obtaining reflectivity information regarding the plurality of objects based on the reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects and received a microphone of the robot, and storing the reflectivity information, the reflected sounds reflected from each of the objects being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves reflected from each of the objects; (Jeong Column 6, line number 34-44: “However, when a sound signal is reflected off of an obstacle and the reflected sound waves are then received at the plurality of microphones 123 (123a to 123d), it may be difficult for the robot 100 to locate the direction from which the sound originates. For this reason, the accuracy of recognizing the sound is also lowered. As such, the robot 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may detect distortions of sound signals resulting from reflections or deflections caused by obstacles, and may reduce the influence of the distorted sound signal, thereby more accurately locating the sound source and recognizing sounds.”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 49-53: “Meanwhile, when the sound information outputted from the sound source and the direction information on the sound signals are received at the robot 100, the controller 190 may store, in the memory 150, a label presenting the direction information on the sound source”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 13, line number 66-Column 14, line number 3: “The robot 100 may apply an echo cancellation algorithm to obtain a high-frequency sound signal reflected from the obstacle S1130, and may perform filtering (band-pass filtering) to isolate the high-frequency sound signal in the obtained sound signal S114”) based on a user voice being received through the microphone, (Jeong Column 7, line number 54-57: “In one example, for an utterance sound “ROBOT!”, shown as Dia, spoken by a speaker, shown as Utt, when the sound signals are directly inputted to the plurality of microphones, the robot 100 may immediately store the sound signals.”)
Jeong does not disclose […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; […] obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information.
However, Koyama does teach disclose […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; (Koyama Page 4, Paragraph 2: "The autonomously operating body 10 can extract a feature point of a ceiling or the like based on, for example, an image captured by a wide-angle camera disposed at the waist, and can realize SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping).") (Koyama Page 10, Paragraph 6: "The map information holding unit 360 holds various map information related to the space in which the autonomously operating body 10 exists. The map information described above includes, for example, floor plans, obstacles, and installation conditions of furniture relating to the user's home where the autonomously operating body 10 is installed.")
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong to include disclose […] generating a map comprising information regarding a plurality of objects based on sensing information obtained through at least one sensor of the robot; taught by Koyama. This would have been for the benefit to provide a behavior planning unit that plans a direction-dependent operation of the operating body in accordance with the sound source direction, on the basis of the reliability evaluation results of the evaluation unit and past evaluation results. [Koyama Page 1, Paragraph 1]
Koyama does not teach […] obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information.
However, Lim does teach […] obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 2: “It can be predicted that an audio signal containing a voice command will be output.”) (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 2: “And each directional microphone can acquire audio signals coming from each direction within a preset direction angle and range.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 4: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information. (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 4: “As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 100 is adjacent to a wall. Due to this, the robot 100 can receive not only the voice directly uttered by the user but also noise generated by the user's voice being reflected on the wall.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 2: “For the above example, to explain again, with respect to the first directional microphone 120-1, the processor 130 has an intensity three times that of the first audio signal received through the first directional microphone 120-1. The audio signal may be input to the pre-processing model identified in response to the first directional microphone 120-1.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 3: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) (Lim Page 14, Paragraph 5: “That is, the processor 130 may move a plurality of audio signals to a candidate location by a preset delay time (or frequency, etc.) and then synthesize the plurality of delayed audio signals to obtain one audio signal. Additionally, the processor 130 can calculate beamforming output power for one acquired audio signal. In this way, the processor 130 can obtain beamforming output power for each of the plurality of candidate locations based on the delay time set for each candidate location. Additionally, the processor 130 may identify a candidate location where the beamforming output power is maximum as the location of the sound source.”) (Note: Pre-processing models are used to filter the reflected noise voiced by the user and these pre-processing models are used to help determine the direction of the user’s voice. Beamforming output power takes these pre-processed audio signals from the pre-processing models that contain voice intensity and filtered reflected noise for each candidate location of the voice and picks the highest beamforming output power as the location of the voice that was uttered by the user.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include […] obtaining, through the microphone, information on an intensity of the user voice for each of a plurality of directions; obtaining information on a plurality of candidate directions from which the user voice is received from among the plurality of directions based on the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions; obtaining priority order information for the plurality of candidate directions based on a position of the robot and the stored reflectivity information; and obtaining information on a direction in which the user voice is uttered from among the plurality of candidate directions based on the priority order information taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 17, Jeong discloses The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects further comprises generating ultrasonic waves at preset distance intervals with respect to a wall object among the plurality of objects, and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information regarding the wall object based on reflected sounds reflected from the wall object and received through the microphone, the reflected sounds reflected from the wall object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated at the preset intervals reflected from the wall object. (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 51-57: “The sensor 130 may include, for example, hardware based sensors such as a satellite-based location receiving sensor, a distance detection sensor, a connector connection detection sensor, an illumination sensor, an acceleration sensor, a magnetic sensor, a gyro sensor, an inertial sensor, an RGB sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a finger scan sensor, an ultrasonic sensor,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “ The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information. ”) (Jeong Column 10, line number 57-65: “Here, the predetermined range may include a distance range in which the sound signals received by the plurality of microphones 123 are distorted or a in which sound is absorbed by the specific obstacle by a predetermined level. However, when the obstacle is a wall and the robot 100 is within a predetermined distance, such as 30 cm, from the wall, the controller 190 may determine or it may be preset that the problem (sound distortion or sound absorption) is likely to occur.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Regarding claim 20, Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim teaches claim 16, accordingly, the rejection of claim 16 is incorporated above.
Jeong in view of Koyama does not teach The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects.
However, Lim does teach The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects. (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 2: “At this time, when the objects located around the robot 100 are identified as a person 10 and a wall 20,”) (Lim Page 4, Paragraph 4: “As shown in FIG. 1, the robot 100 is adjacent to a wall. Due to this, the robot 100 can receive not only the voice directly uttered by the user but also noise generated by the user's voice being reflected on the wall.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 2: “For the above example, to explain again, with respect to the first directional microphone 120-1, the processor 130 has an intensity three times that of the first audio signal received through the first directional microphone 120-1. The audio signal may be input to the pre-processing model identified in response to the first directional microphone 120-1.”) (Lim Page 13, Paragraph 3: “In this way, the intensity of the audio signals of the plurality of audio signals acquired through the plurality of directional microphones 120 may be different depending on the directivity angle of each directional microphone and the presence or absence of an object within the directive range or the type of the object.”) (Lim Page 14, Paragraph 5: “That is, the processor 130 may move a plurality of audio signals to a candidate location by a preset delay time (or frequency, etc.) and then synthesize the plurality of delayed audio signals to obtain one audio signal. Additionally, the processor 130 can calculate beamforming output power for one acquired audio signal. In this way, the processor 130 can obtain beamforming output power for each of the plurality of candidate locations based on the delay time set for each candidate location. Additionally, the processor 130 may identify a candidate location where the beamforming output power is maximum as the location of the sound source.”) (Note: Pre-processing models are used to filter the reflected noise voiced by the user and these pre-processing models are used to help determine the direction of the user’s voice. Beamforming output power takes these pre-processed audio signals from the pre-processing models that contain voice intensity and filtered reflected noise for each candidate location of the voice and picks the highest beamforming output power as the location of the voice that was uttered by the user.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining the priority order information further comprises: identifying objects among the plurality of objects positioned in the plurality of candidate directions relative to the position of the robot; and identifying a priority order with respect to the plurality of candidate directions based on the respective information on the intensity of the user voice corresponding to each of the plurality of candidate directions and reflectivity information corresponding to the identified objects taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
8. Claim(s) 4, 13, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong (US 11724397 B2) in view of Koyama (WO 2019138619 A1) further in view of Lim (KR 20240002547 A) and further in view of Xue (CN 117806305 A).
Regarding claim 4, Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim teaches claim 1, accordingly, the rejection of claim 1 is incorporated above.
Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim does not teach The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: obtain the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions based on the position of the robot, and identify as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold.
However, Xue teaches The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: obtain the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions based on the position of the robot, (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 5: “The sound propagation reflection path is complex in an indoor environment, and the sound source localization method can generally give several potential positions (and intensities) of the sound source.”) (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 7: “In one possible implementation, the target order is related to at least one of the following:”) (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 7: “a passing path length between the current position of the third device”) and identify as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold. (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 4: “In one possible implementation, the first location comprises: determining a plurality of first candidate positions according to the first speech;”) (Xue Page 19, Paragraph 9: “Due to the multi-path effect of the room sound transmission, the sound of the same sound source is directly transmitted by the wheat array, and some of the sound is reflected by the wall body to reach the wheat array, so the wheat array can detect the potential orientation of multiple sound sources.”) (Xue Page 21, Paragraph 6: “In the embodiment, the sound source orientation greater than the intensity threshold is collected according to the robot main body microphone array as the potential orientation of the user, and the search cost is calculated according to the navigation distance and the confidence intensity. In the current technology, only the maximum intensity direction is taken, and the target navigation point is selected with a fixed threshold interval to explore;”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim to include The robot of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: obtain the information on the intensity of the user voice for each of the plurality of directions based on the position of the robot, and identify as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold taught by Xue. This would have been for the benefit to provide a device control method, which is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: obtaining first information including a first location of the user relative to the second device; wherein the first position is determined according to the first voice of the user collected by the second device, the first voice indicates the third device to move to the area where the user is; obtaining a second position according to the first information, wherein the second position is the position where the second device is located; the first position and the second position are used for determining the position of the user; and sending the position where the user is located to the third device in order to solve existing technology problems such as the sensing range being small of a microphone array which cannot realize the calling of a user crossing the room level. [Xue Page 2, Paragraph 3 and Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 13, Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim teaches claim 10, accordingly, the rejection of claim 10 is incorporated above.
Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim does not teach The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises: identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold.
However, Xue teaches The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises: identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold. (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 4: “In one possible implementation, the first location comprises: determining a plurality of first candidate positions according to the first speech;”) (Xue Page 19, Paragraph 9: “Due to the multi-path effect of the room sound transmission, the sound of the same sound source is directly transmitted by the wheat array, and some of the sound is reflected by the wall body to reach the wheat array, so the wheat array can detect the potential orientation of multiple sound sources.”) (Xue Page 21, Paragraph 6: “In the embodiment, the sound source orientation greater than the intensity threshold is collected according to the robot main body microphone array as the potential orientation of the user, and the search cost is calculated according to the navigation distance and the confidence intensity. In the current technology, only the maximum intensity direction is taken, and the target navigation point is selected with a fixed threshold interval to explore;”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim to include The method of claim 10, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises: identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold taught by Xue. This would have been for the benefit to provide a device control method, which is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: obtaining first information including a first location of the user relative to the second device; wherein the first position is determined according to the first voice of the user collected by the second device, the first voice indicates the third device to move to the area where the user is; obtaining a second position according to the first information, wherein the second position is the position where the second device is located; the first position and the second position are used for determining the position of the user; and sending the position where the user is located to the third device in order to solve existing technology problems such as the sensing range being small of a microphone array which cannot realize the calling of a user crossing the room level. [Xue Page 2, Paragraph 3 and Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Regarding claim 19, Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim teaches claim 16, accordingly, the rejection of claim 16 is incorporated above.
Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim does not teach The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises: identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold.
However, Xue teaches The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises:, (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 5: “The sound propagation reflection path is complex in an indoor environment, and the sound source localization method can generally give several potential positions (and intensities) of the sound source.”) (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 7: “In one possible implementation, the target order is related to at least one of the following:”) (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 7: “a passing path length between the current position of the third device”) identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold. (Xue Page 3, Paragraph 4: “In one possible implementation, the first location comprises: determining a plurality of first candidate positions according to the first speech;”) (Xue Page 19, Paragraph 9: “Due to the multi-path effect of the room sound transmission, the sound of the same sound source is directly transmitted by the wheat array, and some of the sound is reflected by the wall body to reach the wheat array, so the wheat array can detect the potential orientation of multiple sound sources.”) (Xue Page 21, Paragraph 6: “In the embodiment, the sound source orientation greater than the intensity threshold is collected according to the robot main body microphone array as the potential orientation of the user, and the search cost is calculated according to the navigation distance and the confidence intensity. In the current technology, only the maximum intensity direction is taken, and the target navigation point is selected with a fixed threshold interval to explore;”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama and further in view of Lim to include The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the obtaining information on the plurality of candidate directions further comprises: identifying as the plurality of candidate directions a preset number of directions from among the plurality of directions in which the respective intensity of the user voice exceeds a predetermined threshold taught by Xue. This would have been for the benefit to provide a device control method, which is applied to a first device, and the method comprises: obtaining first information including a first location of the user relative to the second device; wherein the first position is determined according to the first voice of the user collected by the second device, the first voice indicates the third device to move to the area where the user is; obtaining a second position according to the first information, wherein the second position is the position where the second device is located; the first position and the second position are used for determining the position of the user; and sending the position where the user is located to the third device in order to solve existing technology problems such as the sensing range being small of a microphone array which cannot realize the calling of a user crossing the room level. [Xue Page 2, Paragraph 3 and Page 2, Paragraph 5]
9. Claim(s) 3, 12, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong (US 11724397 B2) in view of Koyama (WO 2019138619 A1) further in view of Lim (KR 20240002547 A) and further in view of (US 20210156993 A1) to Gordon et al. (hereinafter Gordon).
Regarding claim 3, Jeong discloses The robot of claim 2, wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the robot to: generate ultrasonic waves from […] toward an object among the plurality of objects other than the wall object, (Jeong Column 7, line number 22-24: “In the present disclosure, the obstacle Obst is assumed to be the wall, but may refer to, for example, a person, a structure, or other object.”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “ The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information. ”) […] the reflected sounds reflected from the object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated from the […] that is reflected from the object. (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Jeong in view of Koyama does not teach […] two or more directions […] and obtain reflectivity information regarding the object by obtaining an average value of reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, […] two or more directions
However, Lim does teach […] two or more directions […] two or more directions (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 4: “At this time, the first directional microphone 120-1 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted in the north direction within a directional range of P1 width. Additionally, the second directional microphone 120-2 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the east within a directivity range of P2 width. In addition, the third directional microphone 120-3 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the south direction within a directional range of P3 width. Additionally, the fourth directional microphone 120-4 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the west within a directional range of P4 width. In this way, each of the four directional microphones can acquire audio signals transmitted from different directions.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include […] two or more directions […] two or more directions taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Lim does not teach […] and obtain reflectivity information regarding the object by obtaining an average value of reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone,
However, Gordon does teach […] and obtain reflectivity information regarding the object by obtaining an average value of reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, (Gordon Paragraph 0040: “Some embodiments may include sensors used to detect motion, position, surface type, or environmental context (e.g., nearby objects and/or obstacles, whether a surface is hard or soft, whether a surface is carpeted or not carpeted, whether a surface is clean or dirty, whether a surface is wet or dry, etc.); some examples of these sensors may include, but are not limited to, infrared sensors, cameras, microphones”) (Gordon Paragraph 0045: “Surface type detection sensor 150 may be, a sonic transducer or a sonic emitter paired with a sonic receiver. In some embodiments, surface type detection sensor 150 is an ultrasonic transducer. Surface type detection sensor 150 is configured to emit sonic signals toward a surface and receive sonic returned signals.”) (Gordon Paragraph 0058: “reflectivity metrics, to detect for malfunctions or changes in the operation of a surface type detection sensor (such as changes over time, due to debris and/or dust particle accumulation, due to changes in temperature, aging, damage, humidity, mounting angle, etc.).”) (Gordon Paragraph 0114: “For example, the stored value may be or include the previously calculated reflectivity metric; an average or mean of several recently calculated reflectivity metrics (e.g., the most recent 2, 3, 4, etc.); or an average or mean of reflectivity metrics calculated during a certain rearward looking time period (e.g., −0.5 seconds, −1 second, −2 seconds, −3 seconds, etc.).”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama further in view of Lim to include […] and obtain reflectivity information regarding the object by obtaining an average value of reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, taught by Gordon. This would have been for the benefit to provide a more efficient detection of a surface type that may involve emitting sonic signals toward the surface and processing returned sonic signals to determine the surface type. [Gordon Paragraph 0024]
Regarding claim 12, Jeong discloses The method of claim 11, wherein the generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects further comprises generating ultrasonic waves from […] toward an object among the plurality of objects other than the wall object, (Jeong Column 7, line number 22-24: “In the present disclosure, the obstacle Obst is assumed to be the wall, but may refer to, for example, a person, a structure, or other object.”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “ The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information. ”) […] the reflected sounds reflected from the object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated from […] reflected from the object. (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Jeong in view of Koyama does not teach […] two or more directions […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, […] two or more directions
However, Lim does teach […] two or more directions […] two or more directions (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 4: “At this time, the first directional microphone 120-1 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted in the north direction within a directional range of P1 width. Additionally, the second directional microphone 120-2 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the east within a directivity range of P2 width. In addition, the third directional microphone 120-3 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the south direction within a directional range of P3 width. Additionally, the fourth directional microphone 120-4 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the west within a directional range of P4 width. In this way, each of the four directional microphones can acquire audio signals transmitted from different directions.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include […] two or more directions […] two or more directions taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Lim does not teach […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone,
However, Gordon does teach […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, (Gordon Paragraph 0040: “Some embodiments may include sensors used to detect motion, position, surface type, or environmental context (e.g., nearby objects and/or obstacles, whether a surface is hard or soft, whether a surface is carpeted or not carpeted, whether a surface is clean or dirty, whether a surface is wet or dry, etc.); some examples of these sensors may include, but are not limited to, infrared sensors, cameras, microphones”) (Gordon Paragraph 0045: “Surface type detection sensor 150 may be, a sonic transducer or a sonic emitter paired with a sonic receiver. In some embodiments, surface type detection sensor 150 is an ultrasonic transducer. Surface type detection sensor 150 is configured to emit sonic signals toward a surface and receive sonic returned signals.”) (Gordon Paragraph 0058: “reflectivity metrics, to detect for malfunctions or changes in the operation of a surface type detection sensor (such as changes over time, due to debris and/or dust particle accumulation, due to changes in temperature, aging, damage, humidity, mounting angle, etc.).”) (Gordon Paragraph 0114: “For example, the stored value may be or include the previously calculated reflectivity metric; an average or mean of several recently calculated reflectivity metrics (e.g., the most recent 2, 3, 4, etc.); or an average or mean of reflectivity metrics calculated during a certain rearward looking time period (e.g., −0.5 seconds, −1 second, −2 seconds, −3 seconds, etc.).”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama further in view of Lim to include […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, taught by Gordon. This would have been for the benefit to provide a more efficient detection of a surface type that may involve emitting sonic signals toward the surface and processing returned sonic signals to determine the surface type. [Gordon Paragraph 0024]
Regarding claim 18, Jeong discloses The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the generating ultrasonic waves toward each of the plurality of objects further comprises generating ultrasonic waves from […] toward an object among the plurality of objects other than the wall object, (Jeong Column 7, line number 22-24: “In the present disclosure, the obstacle Obst is assumed to be the wall, but may refer to, for example, a person, a structure, or other object.”) (Jeong Column 8, line number 1-2: “The robot 100 may include a transceiver 110, an input interface 120, a sensor 130, an output interface 140,”) (Jeong Column 9, line number 5-12: “ The output interface 140 may generate a visual, auditory, or haptic related output. In addition, the output interface 140 may include, for example, hardware based outputs such as an optical output interface, that is the display 141, for outputting visual information, and a speaker 143 for outputting auditory information. The speaker 143 may output audible frequency sound information and high-frequency sound information. ”) […] the reflected sounds reflected from the object being at least a portion of the ultrasonic waves generated from the […] reflected from the object. (Jeong Column 11, line number 45-47: “In an embodiment, the controller 190 may estimate the occupancy area of the obstacle by using the speaker 143 by outputting high-frequency sound information.”) (Jeong Column 11, line number 48-49: “Thus, when the high-frequency sound signals are received through the plurality of microphones 123”)
Jeong in view of Koyama does not teach […] two or more directions […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, […] two or more directions
However, Lim does teach […] two or more directions […] two or more directions (Lim Page 5, Paragraph 4: “At this time, the first directional microphone 120-1 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted in the north direction within a directional range of P1 width. Additionally, the second directional microphone 120-2 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the east within a directivity range of P2 width. In addition, the third directional microphone 120-3 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the south direction within a directional range of P3 width. Additionally, the fourth directional microphone 120-4 disposed on the robot 100 can acquire an audio signal transmitted from the west within a directional range of P4 width. In this way, each of the four directional microphones can acquire audio signals transmitted from different directions.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama to include […] two or more directions […] two or more directions taught by Lim. This would have been for the benefit to provide a method that can obtain a refined audio signal by processing the audio signal received by the robot in consideration of information on the robot's surrounding environment. [Lim Page 2, Paragraph 5]
Lim does not teach […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone,
However, Gordon does teach […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, (Gordon Paragraph 0040: “Some embodiments may include sensors used to detect motion, position, surface type, or environmental context (e.g., nearby objects and/or obstacles, whether a surface is hard or soft, whether a surface is carpeted or not carpeted, whether a surface is clean or dirty, whether a surface is wet or dry, etc.); some examples of these sensors may include, but are not limited to, infrared sensors, cameras, microphones”) (Gordon Paragraph 0045: “Surface type detection sensor 150 may be, a sonic transducer or a sonic emitter paired with a sonic receiver. In some embodiments, surface type detection sensor 150 is an ultrasonic transducer. Surface type detection sensor 150 is configured to emit sonic signals toward a surface and receive sonic returned signals.”) (Gordon Paragraph 0058: “reflectivity metrics, to detect for malfunctions or changes in the operation of a surface type detection sensor (such as changes over time, due to debris and/or dust particle accumulation, due to changes in temperature, aging, damage, humidity, mounting angle, etc.).”) (Gordon Paragraph 0114: “For example, the stored value may be or include the previously calculated reflectivity metric; an average or mean of several recently calculated reflectivity metrics (e.g., the most recent 2, 3, 4, etc.); or an average or mean of reflectivity metrics calculated during a certain rearward looking time period (e.g., −0.5 seconds, −1 second, −2 seconds, −3 seconds, etc.).”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jeong in view of Koyama further in view of Lim to include […] and wherein the obtaining the reflectivity information further comprises obtaining reflectivity information with respect to the object by obtaining an average value of the reflected sounds reflected from the object and received through the microphone, taught by Gordon. This would have been for the benefit to provide a more efficient detection of a surface type that may involve emitting sonic signals toward the surface and processing returned sonic signals to determine the surface type. [Gordon Paragraph 0024]
Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claim 6-8 and 15 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN J HARVEY whose telephone number is 571-272-5327. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00AM-5:00PM M-Th, 8:00AM-4:00PM F.
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/K.J.H./Junior Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664
/KITO R ROBINSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664
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