Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/14/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 3, please change the first instance of "LPC" to " linear predictive coding (LPC)” as abbreviations change in meaning over time and it is the first instance of this abbreviation. . Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 4 is dependent on claim 1. It appears to the examiner that claim 4 should be dependent on claim 3. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 14 is dependent on claim 11. It appears to the examiner that claim 14 should be dependent on claim 13. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 10-12, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Garnell et al. (US 2024/0129659).
Regarding Claim 1, Garnell et al discloses a method for reconstructing speech signals, the method comprising:
estimating a transfer function between an in-air speech signal and an in-ear speech signal (The signal thereby sub-sampled is sent to a filter 64 the transfer function of which denoted by S.sub.hat is an estimate of the transfer function between the signal which leaves the adder 96 and the signal measured by the external microphone 32 (page 3, paragraph [0061]);
obtaining an estimated speech signal based on the estimated transfer function and the in-ear speech signal (An estimate of S.sub.hat is obtained by fitting a series of bi-quad circuits to the above expression using transfer functions measured at the acoustic cavities as illustrated in FIG. 4 representing the amplitude and the phase of the transfer function whereas the static internal noise reduction filter 58 is active) (page 3, paragraph [0064]);
performing an excitation expansion on the estimated speech signal to obtain a first estimated excitation signal (The input 22 for the audio signal to be reproduced is connected by an adder 96 to the main branch at the output of the noise reduction processing filter 30 so that the signal to be reproduced, the external noise reduction signal S.sub.ABE and the internal noise reduction signal s.sub.ABI are added for forming the excitation signal denoted by s.sub.E applied to the transducer 16 after amplification by the amplifier 18) (page 3, paragraph [0078]); and
reconstructing a speech signal based on the first estimated excitation signal (The input 22 for the audio signal to be reproduced is connected by an adder 96 to the main branch at the output of the noise reduction processing filter 30 so that the signal to be reproduced, the external noise reduction signal S.sub.ABE and the internal noise reduction signal s.sub.ABI are added for forming the excitation signal denoted by s.sub.E applied to the transducer 16 after amplification by the amplifier 18) (page 3, paragraph [0078]).
Regarding Claim 10, Garnell et al discloses the method,
wherein the in-air speech signal is outputted from at least one in-air sensor (the headset includes an external microphone 31 suitable for picking up the ambient sound FF from outside the cavity 14 (page 2, paragraph [0042]) and the in-ear speech signal is outputted from at least one in-ear sensor (The headset further includes an internal microphone 32 arranged in the cavity 14, for capturing the internal sound FB in the cavity) (page 2, paragraph [0043); and
wherein the at least one in-air sensor and the at least one in-ear sensor are included in a headset device (Fig. 2, headset 10) (page paragraphs [0035], [0042, and [0043]).
Regarding Claim 11, Garnell et al discloses a system for reconstructing speech signals, the system comprising:
at least one in-air sensor (the headset includes an external microphone 31 suitable for picking up the ambient sound FF from outside the cavity 14 (page 2, paragraph [0042]);
at least one in-ear sensor (The headset further includes an internal microphone 32 arranged in the cavity 14, for capturing the internal sound FB in the cavity) (page 2, paragraph [0043); and
a processor coupled to the at least one in-air sensor and the at least one in-ear sensor (The two microphones 31, 32 are connected to the noise reduction processing filter 30) (page 2, paragraph [0043]) and configured to:
estimate a transfer function between an in-air speech signal outputted from the at least one in-air sensor and an in-ear speech signal outputted from the at least one in-ear sensor (The signal thereby sub-sampled is sent to a filter 64 the transfer function of which denoted by S.sub.hat is an estimate of the transfer function between the signal which leaves the adder 96 and the signal measured by the external microphone 32 (page 3, paragraph [0061]);
obtain an estimated speech signal based on the estimated transfer function and the in-ear speech signal (An estimate of S.sub.hat is obtained by fitting a series of bi-quad circuits to the above expression using transfer functions measured at the acoustic cavities as illustrated in FIG. 4 representing the amplitude and the phase of the transfer function whereas the static internal noise reduction filter 58 is active) (page 3, paragraph [0064]);
perform an excitation expansion on the estimated speech signal to obtain a first estimated excitation signal (The input 22 for the audio signal to be reproduced is connected by an adder 96 to the main branch at the output of the noise reduction processing filter 30 so that the signal to be reproduced, the external noise reduction signal S.sub.ABE and the internal noise reduction signal s.sub.ABI are added for forming the excitation signal denoted by s.sub.E applied to the transducer 16 after amplification by the amplifier 18) (page 3, paragraph [0078]); and
reconstruct a speech signal based on the first estimated excitation signal (The input 22 for the audio signal to be reproduced is connected by an adder 96 to the main branch at the output of the noise reduction processing filter 30 so that the signal to be reproduced, the external noise reduction signal S.sub.ABE and the internal noise reduction signal s.sub.ABI are added for forming the excitation signal denoted by s.sub.E applied to the transducer 16 after amplification by the amplifier 18) (page 3, paragraph [0078]).
Claim 20 is rejected for the same reason as claim1.
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.
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Garnell et al in view of Hoang Co Thuy (US 11,678,105) .
Garnell et al fails to teach the method, wherein the obtaining the estimated speech signal comprises: convoluting the in-ear speech signal with an impulse response of an inverse of the estimated transfer function to obtain the estimated speech signal.
Hoang Co Thuy teaches the method, wherein the obtaining the estimated speech signal comprises: convoluting the in-ear speech signal with an impulse response of an inverse of the estimated transfer function to obtain the estimated speech signal (In any embodiment and according to the invention, the external 34 and internal 44 noise-cancelling filters, when present, have a transfer function each formed by the product of: the inverse of the transfer function of a processed secondary path, and a noise cancellation transfer function) (col. 4, lines 26-32).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Garnell with the teachings of Hoang Co Thuy to improve functionality of the headset by providing a solution to the feedback problems in the headset.
Claim 12 is rejected for the same reason as claim 2.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 and 13-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Cited Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Maia (US 9466,285) discloses deriving speech synthesis parameters from an input speech audio signal.
Leff et al. (US 9,837,091) discloses an audio-visual dialogue system that allows a user to create an “avatar” which may be customized to look and sound a particular way.
Bouserhal et al. (US 10,783,904) discloses improving the quality of in-ear microphone signals in noisy environments.
Karkkainen et al. (US 2019/0325887) discloses enabling in-ear voice capture using deep learning.
Yang et al. (US 2024/0331714) discloses detecting distortions of speech signals and inpainting the distorted signals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SATWANT K SINGH whose telephone number is (571)272-7468. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST.
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/SATWANT K SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2653
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