DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 16 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Wacks et al. (US Patent Application, Pub. No.: US 2025/0299665 A1).
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
In regards to claims 1, 11, 19, and 20, Wacks discloses an active noise cancellation (ANC) system (e.g., active noise cancellation system 100), an active noise cancellation (ANC) method, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, and a vehicle (See [0016]), comprising: at least one reference sensor (e.g., reference sensors 102); at least one speaker (e.g., loudspeakers 106); at least one error microphone array unit, each error microphone array unit comprising at least two error microphones (e.g., plurality of error microphones 108); a memory storing instructions therein; and one or more processors (e.g., processor 104): communicatively coupled with i) the memory, ii) each reference sensor, iii) each speaker, and iv) each error microphone array unit (See [0016] and Fig. 1); and configured to execute the instructions to: receive reference sensor signals related to a noise source from each reference sensor situated in relation to the noise source (See [0017]); generate an anti-noise for the noise source based on the received reference sensor signals (See [0018]); transmit the generated anti-noise from the speaker situated in relation to a quiet zone (See [0027]); receive at least one error signal e , related to residual noise, from each error microphone array unit situated in relation to the quiet zone; and adapt the anti-noise based on the error signal to cancel noise from the noise source in the quiet zone (See [0033]).
In regards to claims 2 and 12, Wacks discloses the ANC system and ANC method, wherein at least one combination of two error microphones of at least one error microphone array unit are spaced apart less than or equal to one half of a wavelength of a highest frequency noise to be cancelled by the ANC system (See [0030]; [0035]; and Fig. 4).
In regards to claims 3 and 13, Wacks discloses the ANC system and ANC method, wherein one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to beamform a function of the error signals from each error microphone array unit to form a null in an estimated direction of a sound source other than the noise source (See [0021]).
In regards to claim 4, Wacks discloses the ANC system, wherein the sound source other than the noise source is a person (See [0015]).
In regards to claim 5, Wacks discloses the ANC system, wherein the anti-noise is responsive to cancel noise of frequency less than 500 Hz (See [0035]).
In regards to claims 6 and 14, Wacks disclose the ANC system and ANC method, wherein: at least one error microphone array unit is situated outside the quiet zone; and adapting the anti-noise is based on virtual sensing that infers noise in the quiet zone based on the error signals from each error microphone array unit situated outside the quiet zone (See [0027]).
In regards to claims 7 and 15, Wacks discloses he ANC system and ANC method, wherein the virtual sensing comprises remote microphone technique (RMT) (See [0027]).
In regards to claims 9 and 17, Wacks discloses the ANC system and ANC method, wherein the virtual sensing comprises auxiliary filtering virtual sensing (AF-VS) (See [0048] – [0049]).
In regards to claims 10 and 18, Wacks discloses the ANC system and ANC method, wherein: AF-VS comprises: transforming, using an auxiliary filter haf, the reference sensor signals to a target residual error at the at least one error microphone array unit, wherein the auxiliary filter haf models an expected signal at least one error microphone array when noise is cancelled within the quiet zone (See [0027] and [0048]); and subtracting the target residual error from a residual error ep at the at least one error microphone array unit to determine a modified corrected error signal; and adapting the anti-noise comprises adapting the anti-noise based on the modified corrected error signal and reference signals filtered by a secondary path model g, wherein g is modeled from each speaker to each error microphone array unit during a calibration phase in a model environment of the ANC system (See [0047] – [0048]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THJUAN KNOWLIN ADDY whose telephone number is (571)272-7486. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM - 5:00PM Mon-Fri.
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/THJUAN K ADDY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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