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 .
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) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa (JPH 10192336) in view of Kim (US 9288590).
Regarding claim 1, Ishikawa teaches A hearing assist device comprising: a detector comprising a hollow tube having an open input end positioned to receive voice sounds from a speaker (Ishikawa figures 1-3, cylindrical sound-collecting section 5 and ¶0006, “crucial voice of the person in front” and “the aim is to effectively collect sound from the front”), and having a microphone at an output end of the tube positioned to receive voice sounds propagating through the hollow tube (Ishikawa figures 1-3, “a reflective tube 7 containing a microphone 6 is provided inside a cylindrical sound-collecting section 5. Sound from the outside first enters from the front, hits the bottom surface inside the cylindrical sound-collecting section 5, and the reflected sound enters the internal reflective tube 7, where it is reflected again before finally reaching the microphone 6”), the output end connected to a paraboloid (Ishikawa figure 3, the end of cylindrical sound-collecting section 5 is a parabola) having a surface for focusing the sound waves to a focal point at which the microphone is disposed (Ishikawa figures 1-3, “a reflective tube 7 containing a microphone 6 is provided inside a cylindrical sound-collecting section 5. Sound from the outside first enters from the front, hits the bottom surface inside the cylindrical sound-collecting section 5, and the reflected sound enters the internal reflective tube 7, where it is reflected again before finally reaching the microphone 6”), the microphone constructed and arranged (Ishikawa figures 1-3, “microphone 6 is provided inside a cylindrical sound-collecting section 5”) for receiving voice sounds and producing signal representations thereof (“for receiving voice signals and producing signal representation thereof” is interpreted as intended use. However, a microphone is configured to receive sound which includes voice); however, does not explicitly teach an audio amplifier coupled to the at least one microphone and operative to amplify the signal representations of the voice sounds; and a loudspeaker coupled to the amplifier and operative to provide an amplified version of the voice sounds.
Kim teaches an audio amplifier coupled to the at least one microphone (Kim figures 5-6, amplifier 531, 631) and operative to amplify the signal representations of the voice sounds (Kim figure 2, voice signal 231 and 211. Col 4 lines 22-25, “detecting audio signals from outside. In this example, the outside refers to sources of sound other than the hearing device 100, including the user, a person speaking with the user.” Col 7 lines 53-55, “A general hearing device equally sets amplification levels of the voice signal of the user and the other audio signals,” Col 8 lines 19-21); and a loudspeaker coupled to the amplifier and operative to provide an amplified version of the voice sounds (Kim figures 3A-3B, hearing device 310, 320 and Col 3 lines 61-65, “delivering an amplified version of the audio signal”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the known technique of Kim to improve the known hearing assist device of Ishikawa to achieve the predictable result of reduced power consumption of the device by selectively amplifying audio signals.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa (JPH 10192336) in view of Kim (US 9288590) in further view of Anderson (US 2020/0267471).
Regarding claim 2, Ishikawa in view of Kim teaches the microphones being coupled to the audio amplifier (Kim figures 5-6, amplifier 531, 631), however does not explicitly teach wherein the detector includes a block of material having a plurality of channels therethrough, an input end of the channels receiving voice sounds from the speaker and the output end of the channels each coupled to a microphone.
Anderson teaches wherein the detector includes a block of material having a plurality of channels therethrough, an input end of the channels receiving voice sounds from the speaker and the output end of the channels each coupled to a microphone (Anderson figure 6, first and second horn 620-622).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the known technique of Anderson to improve the known hearing assist device of Ishikawa in view of Kim to achieve the predictable result of improved signal to noise ratio (Anderson ¶0029).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa (JPH 10192336) in view of Kim (US 9288590) in further view of Mulumudi (US 2015/0156583).
Regarding claim 3, Ishikawa in view of Kim does not explicitly teach wherein the detector is a directional microphone positioned to receive voice sounds from a speaker and provide a signal representation of the voice sounds.
Mulumudi teaches wherein the detector is a directional microphone positioned to receive voice sounds from a speaker and provide a signal representation of the voice sounds (Mulumudi ¶0120).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the known technique of Mulumudi to improve the known hearing assist device of Ishikawa in view of Kim to achieve the predictable result of receiving sounds within a desired direction (Mulumudi ¶0120).
Conclusion
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/NORMAN YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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