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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in European Patent Office (EP) on 10/9/23. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the foreign application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 7, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nagayasu (US 20070015467, IDS 1/13/25).
Regarding claim 1, Nagayasu teaches a headset arrangement comprising:
a plurality of headsets in a listening environment, wherein each headset of the plurality of headsets comprises: one or more loudspeakers (headset 1 and 2, fig 4),
wherein each loudspeaker of the one or more loudspeakers is configured to radiate sound that corresponds to a sound signal towards at least one of two listening positions related to a user of a respective headset of the plurality of headsets (fig 4), and
wherein each listening position of the at least two listening positions is located at an entrance of an ear canal of the user related to the respective headset (headphone speaker 17, fig 4);
one or more second microphones, wherein each microphone of the one or more second microphones is configured to pick up noise radiated by at least one noise source via a primary path to at least one listening position of the at least two listening positions (external sound detection microphone 13, fig 4); and
a first microphone configured to capture speech originating from the user related to the respective headset (speakers microphone 29, fig 4), wherein the headset arrangement is configured to:
capture speech (n[n]) originating from a first user related to a first headset of the plurality of headsets by means of the first microphone of the first headset (speakers microphone 29, fig 4);
transmit the captured speech (n[n]) from the first headset to one or more other headsets of the plurality of headsets (hear the speech of the second user transmitted for clearly, [0049]);
reproduce the transmitted speech (h[n]) at respective listening positions of the at least two listening positions related to users of the respective one or more other headsets by means of the one or more loudspeakers of the one or more other headsets (hear the speech of the second user transmitted for clearly, [0049]); and
cancel speech originating from the first user and being transmitted to the at least two listening positions related to users of the respective one or more other headsets via a primary path by means of a passive noise cancellation method, an active noise cancellation method, or a combination thereof (in this way, it becomes possible to remove only the speech of the second user from the direct sounds, by synchronously correlating the reference signal of the radio communication and the direct sounds picked up by the external sound detection microphone 13, [0053]).
Regarding claim 6, Nagayasu teaches the headset arrangement of Claim 1, wherein each headset of the plurality of headsets comprises two ear cups (fig 1) or ear buds, and one or more loudspeakers (headphone speaker 17, fig 1), wherein the one or more second microphones are arranged in each of the ear cups or ear buds (external sound detection microphone 13, figs 1 and 4).
Regarding claim 7, Nagayasu teaches the headset arrangement of Claim 1, wherein the listening environment is a passenger compartment of a vehicle, a room, or a hall (room, [0004]).
Claim 9 is substantially similar to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons.
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.
Claim(s) 2-4 and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagayasu and Guo (US 20240430625).
Regarding claim 2, Nagayasu teaches the headset arrangement of Claim 1.
Although Nagayasu does not teach wherein the active noise cancellation method comprises:
capturing, for each listening position of the at least two listening positions related to the users of the respective one or more other headsets, an error signal by means of the one or more second microphones of the one or more other headsets, wherein the error signal is representative of a disturbing noise signal (d[n]) reaching a listening position of the at least two listening positions, and wherein the disturbing noise signal (d[n]) comprises noise as well as the speech originating from the first user transmitted via the primary path; generating a compensation signal (y[n]) based on the error signal; and suppressing the disturbing noise signal (d[n]) at the listening position by transferring the compensation signal (y[n]) to a respective listening position of the at least two listening positions by means of the one or more loudspeakers, Guo teaches a compensation signal for a detected error signal in a headset (Guo, [0107]) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to inspirated in Nagayasu since doing so is the use of a known technique to improve a similar system in the same way.
Regarding claim 3, Nagayasu and Guo teach the headset arrangement of Claim 2, wherein the headset arrangement is further configured to: determine, for each listening position of the at least two listening positions related to the user of the respective one or more other headsets, a time offset between a time of arrival at the listening position of speech originating from the first user transmitted via the primary path and a time when the speech originating from the first user is reproduced at the listening position by means of the one or more loudspeakers of a respective headset of the one or more other headsets (automatic delay processing, Nagayasu, [0052]).
Regarding claim 4, Nagayasu and Guo teach the headset arrangement of Claim 3, wherein each headset of the plurality of headsets is further configured to: capture, for each of the listening positions related to the users of the one or more other headsets, an ambient noise signal (m[n]) by means of at least one microphone of the respective headset, wherein the ambient noise signal (m[n]) comprises noise as well as the speech originating from the first user transmitted via the primary path (external sound detection microphone, fig 1); and reproduce the noise and the speech originating from the first user transmitted via the primary path to the listening position by transferring the ambient noise signal (m[n]) to the respective listening position by means of the one or more loudspeakers (in the direct sounds picked up by the external sound detection microphone 13, the speech of the second user is mixed with a plurality of other speeches, which sounds like noise, Nagayasu, [0049]), wherein a time between capturing the ambient noise signal (m[n]) and transferring the ambient noise signal (m[n]) to the respective listening position corresponds to the determined time offset (automatic delay processing, Nagayasu, [0052]).
second microphones of a headset of the plurality of headsets are arranged in a headrest of the vehicle.
Claim 10 is substantially similar to claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Claim 11 is substantially similar to claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Claim 12 is substantially similar to claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagayasu and Miglietta (US 20240334666).
Regarding claim 5, Nagayasu teaches the headset arrangement of Claim 1, wherein each headset of the plurality of headsets comprises a microphone boom arm (fig 1), and wherein the first microphone is arranged in or attached to the microphone boom arm (speaker’s microphone 19, fig 1).
Although Nagayasu does not explicitly teach a cable or a cord, Miglietta teaches a headset with a boom with a cable to connect to an aircraft intercom system (Miglietta, [0050], fig 1) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a cable as disclosed by Miglietta since doing so is the use of a known technique to improve a similar system in the same way.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagayasu and Feng (US 20240357305).
Regarding claim 8, Nagayasu teaches the headset arrangement of Claim 7.
Although Nagayasu does not explicitly teach the feature wherein the listening environment is a passenger compartment of the vehicle, and wherein the one or more loudspeakers and the one or more second microphones of a headset of the plurality of headsets are arranged in a headrest of the vehicle, Feng teaches a vehicle with speakers and error microphones in a driver’s headrest (Feng, [0065]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a headrest speaker and error microphone as disclosed by Feng since doing so is the use of a known technique to improve a similar system in the same way.
Conclusion
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/KILE O BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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