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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: Renumber the claims since Claim 9 is missing from the claim set. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 1-5, 7-8, 10-14, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over R et al. (US PGPUB #2019/0080692) in view of Alves et al. (US PGPUB #2016/0012827).
Regarding Claim 1, R discloses a method (title, abstract, figs. 1-6) comprising:
receiving (R figs. 3-4), by a computing device and from one or more microphones (R ¶0034 discloses multiple microphones or microphone array) of a plurality of microphones, one or more indications of first speech, wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise a keyword (R ¶0066 discloses beam-former 303B indicates that the key phrase spoken by speaker 1 [250A] was recognized and accepted by a WoV component of the WoV processing pipeline as facilitated by Wake on Voice logic 213 of fig. 2);
determining a first direction associated with the keyword (R ¶0072 discloses signal processing 373 can contain or offer multiple beam-formers 375, 377, 379 at speech pipeline 371 associated with multiple beam former 365 at WoV pipeline 361, where multiple beam formers 375, 377, 379 can be used to recognize the direction of the voice, detection of voice activation, detection of key phrase, and identification of the speaker, and/or the like);
pointing an acoustic beam, formed using a portion of the plurality of microphones, in the first direction to listen for second speech associated with the keyword (R ¶0073 discloses once the key phrase is recognized, the voice device is ready to accept additional speakers. For example, WoV pipeline 361 may not close after the detection of the key phrase from the first speaker, while the key phrase and any preceding noise data are used to update or adjust the fixed direction beam-formers 375, 377, 379. For example, a first speaker may not be as desirable as a second speaker, such as for covariance matrix based beam formers, the noise covariance matrix and the corresponding filters can be updated by using a key phrase signal from the already-recognized speakers. This can change the beam frequency response and geometrical shape resulting in attenuation of the first speaker in all of the fixed direction beam-formers 375, 377, 379).
R may not explicitly disclose pointing one or more null beams in one or more second directions, associated with one or more noise sources, to reduce noise; and recognizing, based on the acoustic beam listening for the second speech, and while the one or more null beams are pointed in the one or more second directions, the second speech to generate an indication of recognized speech.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches pointing one or more null beams in one or more second directions, associated with one or more noise sources, to reduce noise (Alves ¶0022 discloses a speaker/microphone system that provides directional speech enhancement and noise reduction. … An output signal may be generated from the audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region. ¶0113 discloses various noise cancelling techniques and/or directional beamforming techniques can be employed to reduce, suppress, or cancel signals associated with inactive regions from an output signal; fig. 7: block 706: perform noise reduction of signals associated with inactive region(s). fig. 8: block 818; ¶0131); and
recognizing, based on the acoustic beam listening for the second speech (Alves ¶0023 discloses at least the at least one audio signals associated with each inactive listening region may be monitored for a spoken word that triggers the request, wherein a first monitored spoken word triggers activation of an inactive listening region and simultaneously triggers inactivation of an active listening region, and wherein a second monitored spoken word triggers activation of the inactive listening region and the current status of each other listening region remains unchanged), and while the one or more null beams are pointed in the one or more second directions, the second speech to generate an indication of recognized speech (Alves fig. 6: beam 1- beam M; region activators 620-622; region indicators 616-618; trigger monitor 610; speech enhancer 608; SNR estimator 612. ¶0121 discloses at block 802 [fig. 8], active and inactive regions associated with the microphone array can be determined. ¶0122 discloses at block 804, signals from the microphone array can be obtained for each different region. ¶0124 discloses at block 806, an active-region indicator can be provided to a user. As described herein, each region can have a corresponding indicator [e.g., indicator(s) 326 of fig. 3]. ¶0125 discloses at block 808, for each active region, where an indicator of each active region's signal quality can be provided to a user. In various embodiments, this indicator can represent an SNR of the signal associated with the active region. ¶0126 discloses at block 810, for each active region, where speech enhancement algorithms and/or mechanisms can be employed on the signal(s) associated with the active regions. ¶0127 discloses at next decision block 812, for each active region, where a determination can be made whether an inactivation trigger has been received. ¶0130 discloses for each inactive region, process 800 may flow from block 804 to block 816. At block 816, an inactive region indicator may be provided to the user. Similar to block 806 [but for the indicator being for an inactive region rather than an active region], an inactive-region indicator may be a red LED, display screen indicating an inactive region, or the like. ¶0131 discloses process 800 can proceed to block 818 for each inactive region, where noise reduction can be performed on signals associated with the inactive regions).
R and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify multiple speech processing (as taught by R) to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 2, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1,
wherein the one or more second directions are different from the first direction (R ¶0072 discloses signal processing 373 can contain or offer multiple beam-formers 375, 377, 379 at speech pipeline 371 associated with multiple beam former 365 at WoV pipeline 361, where multiple beam formers 375, 377, 379 can be used to recognize the direction of the voice, detection of voice activation, detection of key phrase, and identification of the speaker, and/or the like).
Regarding Claim 3, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1. But R may not explicitly disclose further comprising: determining, based on the indication of the recognized speech, a device; determining, based on the indication of the recognized speech, a command; and sending the command to the device.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches determining, based on the indication of the recognized speech, a device (Alves ¶0075-¶0084 discloses a scenario of regions A, B, C, and D and one or some of the four people speaking a command to activate a speaker phone device. When Dad is speaking to Grandma in region A, the sudden voice from the kids is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to D and suppress noise coming from other regions. Similarly, if the sudden voice from mom is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to B and suppress noise coming from other regions; fig. 4);
determining, based on the indication of the recognized speech, a command (Alves ¶0075-¶0084 discloses a scenario of regions A, B, C, and D and one or some of the four people speaking a command to a device. As illustrated, region A may be active and may provide Dad with an active region indicator in the form of a green LED. Region B, C, and D may be inactive, which may be represented by the red LED inactive-region indicators. These initial statuses may be based on defaults setting for when a phone call in initiated. When Dad is speaking to Grandma in region A, the sudden voice from the kids is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to D and suppress noise coming from other regions. Similarly, if the sudden voice from mom is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to B and suppress noise coming from other regions; fig. 4. ¶0100 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be input to speech enhancer 608. Speech enhancer 608 can perform various beam selection and combination algorithms-to reduce/cancel noise from inactive regions while enhancing user speech from active regions----dependent on which regions are active and which regions are inactive. ¶0101 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be also input into trigger monitor 610, such as if changes in a region's status may be triggered by a spoken trigger word and/or phrase. In other embodiments, changes in a region's status may be triggered by region activators 620-622, where each separate activator corresponds to a separate region. In various embodiments, region activators 620-622 may be embodiments of activator(s) 328 of fig. 3. In some embodiments, both trigger word/phrase and region activators may be employed to trigger changes in one or more region's status. ¶0102 discloses trigger monitor 610 may be an embodiment of trigger monitor 334 and may perform various speech and/or voice recognition algorithms to detect trigger words/phrases in beams 602-604. In other embodiments, trigger monitor 610 may accept inputs from region activators 620-622. Based on the inputs and/or the speech recognition, trigger monitor 610 may output each region's active/inactive status to speech enhancer 608. In this way, speech enhancer 608 knows which regions are active and which regions are inactive, and when there are changes in a region's status. Trigger monitor 610 may also output each region's status to region indicators 616-618); and
sending the command to the device (Alves ¶0075-¶0084 discloses a scenario of regions A, B, C, and D and one or some of the four people speaking a command to a device. As illustrated, region A may be active and may provide Dad with an active region indicator in the form of a green LED. Region B, C, and D may be inactive, which may be represented by the red LED inactive-region indicators. These initial statuses may be based on defaults setting for when a phone call in initiated. When Dad is speaking to Grandma in region A, the sudden voice from the kids is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to D and suppress noise coming from other regions. Similarly, if the sudden voice from mom is heard, the speakerphone would change the active region from A to B and suppress noise coming from other regions; fig. 4).
R and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify multiple speech processing (as taught by R) to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 4, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1. But R may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is different from each of the plurality of listening zones.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is different from each of the plurality of listening zones (Alves ¶0100 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be input to speech enhancer 608 [fig. 6]. Speech enhancer 608 can perform various beam selection and combination algorithms-to reduce/cancel noise from inactive regions while enhancing user speech from active regions----dependent on which regions are active and which regions are inactive. ¶0101 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be also input into trigger monitor 610, such as if changes in a region's status may be triggered by a spoken trigger word and/or phrase. In other embodiments, changes in a region's status may be triggered by region activators 620-622, where each separate activator corresponds to a separate region. In various embodiments, region activators 620-622 may be embodiments of activator(s) 328 of fig. 3. In some embodiments, both trigger word/phrase and region activators may be employed to trigger changes in one or more region's status. ¶0102 discloses trigger monitor 610 may be an embodiment of trigger monitor 334 and may perform various speech and/or voice recognition algorithms to detect trigger words/phrases in beams 602-604. In other embodiments, trigger monitor 610 may accept inputs from region activators 620-622. Based on the inputs and/or the speech recognition, trigger monitor 610 may output each region's active/inactive status to speech enhancer 608. In this way, speech enhancer 608 knows which regions are active and which regions are inactive, and when there are changes in a region's status. Trigger monitor 610 may also output each region's status to region indicators 616-618. ¶0105 discloses SNR estimator 612 can compare the SNR to one or more threshold values to determine a quality of the speech signals associated with active regions. Based on this comparison, SNR indicator 614 can provide a representation of the signal quality to a user. For example, if the SNR is relatively high [e.g., above a first threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a green LED. If the SNR is not high [e.g., below the first threshold, but above a second threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a yellow. If the SNR is very low [e.g., below the second threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a blue LED).
R and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify multiple speech processing (as taught by R) to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 5, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1. But R may not explicitly disclose wherein the received one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in two listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is pointed between the two listening zones.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches wherein the received one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in two listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is pointed between the two listening zones (Alves ¶0099 discloses fig. 6 in which signal x can be input [e.g., through an input logic] from a microphone array [in various embodiments signal x may include a plurality of signals or beams, e.g., one from each microphone in the array]. Signal x can be separated into beams 602-604, where each beam represents a corresponding listening region. ¶0100 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be input to speech enhancer 608. Speech enhancer 608 can perform various beam selection and combination algorithms-to reduce/cancel noise from inactive regions while enhancing user speech from active regions----dependent on which regions are active and which regions are inactive).
R and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify multiple speech processing (as taught by R) to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 7, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining, based on signals from the plurality of microphones, audio characteristics associated with the first speech (R ¶0071 discloses signal duplicator 353, as facilitated by signal duplication logic 203 of FIG. 2, may be used to select or duplicate between WoV processing pipeline 361 or speech processing pipeline 371 for further processing of the audio stream of the speech, where signal duplicator 353 is further to accept multiple speeches or audio streams from signal processing 351, while concurrently working with or between both pipelines 361, 371); and
determining, based on the audio characteristics, the first direction (R ¶0072 discloses signal processing 373 can contain or offer multiple beam-formers 375, 377, 379 at speech pipeline 371 associated with multiple beam former 365 at WoV pipeline 361, where multiple beam formers 375, 377, 379 can be used to recognize the direction of the voice, detection of voice activation, detection of key phrase, and identification of the speaker, and/or the like).
Regarding Claim 8, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1. But R may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones, and wherein the plurality of microphones comprises a plurality of microphone arrays, and wherein each of the microphone arrays is associated with a different listening zone of the plurality of listening zones.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones (Alves fig. 6: beam 1- beam M; region activators 620-622; region indicators 616-618; trigger monitor 610; speech enhancer 608; SNR estimator 612), and
wherein the plurality of microphones comprises a plurality of microphone arrays (Alves fig. 6: microphone array signal x), and
wherein each of the microphone arrays is associated with a different listening zone of the plurality of listening zones (Alves figs. 4-5C: microphone array for Regions A-D or Regions X and Y. ¶0109 discloses at block 702, where a status of each region associated with a microphone array can be determined).
R and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify multiple speech processing (as taught by R) to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Claims 10-14 and 16-17 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claims 1-5 and 7-8.
Claims 6 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over R et al. (US #2019/0080692) in view of Alves et al. (US #2016/0012827) further in view of Macho (US # 2014/0122087).
Regarding Claim 6, R in view of Alves discloses the method of claim 1, but may not explicitly disclose further comprising: receiving one or more images of a user associated with the second speech, wherein the recognizing the second speech is further based on the one or more images.
However, Macho (title, abstract, figs. 1-11) teaches receiving one or more images of a user associated with the second speech, wherein the recognizing the second speech is further based on the one or more images (Macho ¶0036 discloses the image recognition algorithm is adapted for obtaining an image from an image capture device, such as a camera, and identifying one or more recognized images corresponding to the one or more reference images [fig. 6: 444]. … If this identification data is detected, the wireless communication device is activated to accept further speech and/or voice commands [446]. Alternatively, if this identification data is not detected [448], the plurality of identification algorithms is terminated).
R, Alves, and Macho are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of R in view of Alves in light of the teachings of Macho to accept further speech and/or voice commands based on the detection of the captured image (as taught by Macho, ¶0036) by combining keyword identification with visual identification, which can include processing images from a camera associated with the communication device to determine if they match predetermined images (Macho, ¶0023).
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claim 6.
Claims 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maker et al. (US #2019/0251960) in view of R et al. (US #2019/0080692) further in view of Alves et al. (US #2016/0012827).
Regarding Claim 18, Maker discloses a system (title, abstract, figs. 1-21) comprising:
a first computing device (Maker fig. 1: digital assistant(s) 180; media device 114; and audio responsive electronic device 122 can all work as first or second device); and
a second computing device (Maker fig. 1: digital assistant(s) 180; media device 114; and audio responsive electronic device 122 can all work as first or second device);
wherein the first computing device (Maker ¶0347 discloses computer system 1800) comprises:
one or more first processors (Maker ¶0347 discloses one or more processors 1804); and
first memory storing first instructions that, when executed by the one or more first processors (Maker ¶0350 discloses main memory 1808 has stored therein control logic [i.e., computer software] and/or data), cause the first computing device to:
wherein the second computing device (Maker ¶0347 discloses one or more computer systems, such as computer system 1800) comprises:
one or more second processors (Maker ¶0347 discloses one or more processors 1804); and
second memory storing second instructions that, when executed by the one or more second processors (Maker ¶0350 discloses main memory 1808 has stored therein control logic [i.e., computer software] and/or data), cause the second computing device to:
receive, from the first computing device, a command based on the indication of recognized speech (Maker ¶0042 discloses receive audio commands from user [at a first device, 122]. Audio responsive electronic device 122 may transmit control signals corresponding to such audio commands to media device 114, display device 104, digital assistant(s) 180 and/or any other component in system 102, to cause the media device 114, display device 104, digital assistant(s) 180 and/or other component to operate according to the audio commands. ¶0051 discloses media device 114 may include a control interface module 116 for sending and receiving commands to/from display device 104, remote control 138 and/or audio responsive electronic device 122).
Maker may not explicitly disclose receive, from one or more microphones of a plurality of microphones, one or more indications of first speech, wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise a keyword;
determine a first direction associated with the keyword;
point an acoustic beam, formed using a portion of the plurality of microphones, in the first direction to listen for second speech associated with the keyword;
point one or more null beams in one or more second directions, associated with one or more noise sources, to reduce noise; and
recognize, based on the acoustic beam listening for the second speech, and while the one or more null beams are pointed in the one or more second directions, the second speech to generate an indication of recognized speech.
However, R (title, abstract, figs. 1-6) teaches receive, from one or more microphones (R ¶0034 discloses multiple microphones or microphone array) of a plurality of microphones, one or more indications of first speech, wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise a keyword (R ¶0066 discloses beam-former 303B indicates that the key phrase spoken by speaker 1 [250A] was recognized and accepted by a WoV component of the WoV processing pipeline as facilitated by Wake on Voice logic 213 of fig. 2);
determine a first direction associated with the keyword (R ¶0072 discloses signal processing 373 can contain or offer multiple beam-formers 375, 377, 379 at speech pipeline 371 associated with multiple beam former 365 at WoV pipeline 361, where multiple beam formers 375, 377, 379 can be used to recognize the direction of the voice, detection of voice activation, detection of key phrase, and identification of the speaker, and/or the like);
point an acoustic beam, formed using a portion of the plurality of microphones, in the first direction to listen for second speech associated with the keyword (R ¶0073 discloses once the key phrase is recognized, the voice device is ready to accept additional speakers. For example, WoV pipeline 361 may not close after the detection of the key phrase from the first speaker, while the key phrase and any preceding noise data are used to update or adjust the fixed direction beam-formers 375, 377, 379. For example, a first speaker may not be as desirable as a second speaker, such as for covariance matrix based beam formers, the noise covariance matrix and the corresponding filters can be updated by using a key phrase signal from the already-recognized speakers. This can change the beam frequency response and geometrical shape resulting in attenuation of the first speaker in all of the fixed direction beam-formers 375, 377, 379).
Maker and R are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify selecting digital assistant (as taught by Maker) to communicate first output associated with the first speech and a second output associated with the second speech to the first speaker and the second speaker, respectively (as taught by R, ¶0113) since in case of multiple speakers, conventional devices and techniques only allow for recognizing the first speaker's voice, while rejecting or ignoring the second speaker's voice as an undesired signal (R, ¶002).
Maker in view of R may not explicitly disclose point one or more null beams in one or more second directions, associated with one or more noise sources, to reduce noise; and recognize, based on the acoustic beam listening for the second speech, and while the one or more null beams are pointed in the one or more second directions, the second speech to generate an indication of recognized speech.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches point one or more null beams in one or more second directions, associated with one or more noise sources, to reduce noise (Alves ¶0022 discloses a speaker/microphone system that provides directional speech enhancement and noise reduction. … An output signal may be generated from the audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region. ¶0113 discloses various noise cancelling techniques and/or directional beamforming techniques can be employed to reduce, suppress, or cancel signals associated with inactive regions from an output signal; fig. 7: block 706: perform noise reduction of signals associated with inactive region(s). fig. 8: block 818; ¶0131); and
recognize, based on the acoustic beam listening for the second speech (Alves ¶0023 discloses at least the at least one audio signals associated with each inactive listening region may be monitored for a spoken word that triggers the request, wherein a first monitored spoken word triggers activation of an inactive listening region and simultaneously triggers inactivation of an active listening region, and wherein a second monitored spoken word triggers activation of the inactive listening region and the current status of each other listening region remains unchanged), and while the one or more null beams are pointed in the one or more second directions, the second speech to generate an indication of recognized speech (Alves fig. 6: beam 1- beam M; region activators 620-622; region indicators 616-618; trigger monitor 610; speech enhancer 608; SNR estimator 612. ¶0121 discloses at block 802 [fig. 8], active and inactive regions associated with the microphone array can be determined. ¶0122 discloses at block 804, signals from the microphone array can be obtained for each different region. ¶0124 discloses at block 806, an active-region indicator can be provided to a user. As described herein, each region can have a corresponding indicator [e.g., indicator(s) 326 of fig. 3]. ¶0125 discloses at block 808, for each active region, where an indicator of each active region's signal quality can be provided to a user. In various embodiments, this indicator can represent an SNR of the signal associated with the active region. ¶0126 discloses at block 810, for each active region, where speech enhancement algorithms and/or mechanisms can be employed on the signal(s) associated with the active regions. ¶0127 discloses at next decision block 812, for each active region, where a determination can be made whether an inactivation trigger has been received. ¶0130 discloses for each inactive region, process 800 may flow from block 804 to block 816. At block 816, an inactive region indicator may be provided to the user. Similar to block 806 [but for the indicator being for an inactive region rather than an active region], an inactive-region indicator may be a red LED, display screen indicating an inactive region, or the like. ¶0131 discloses process 800 can proceed to block 818 for each inactive region, where noise reduction can be performed on signals associated with the inactive regions).
Maker, R, and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Maker in view of , in light of the teachings of Alves to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 19, Maker in view of R and Alves discloses the system of claim 18, But Maker in view of R may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is different from each of the plurality of listening zones.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the speech was detected in a plurality of listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is different from each of the plurality of listening zones (Alves ¶0100 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be input to speech enhancer 608 [fig. 6]. Speech enhancer 608 can perform various beam selection and combination algorithms-to reduce/cancel noise from inactive regions while enhancing user speech from active regions----dependent on which regions are active and which regions are inactive. ¶0101 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be also input into trigger monitor 610, such as if changes in a region's status may be triggered by a spoken trigger word and/or phrase. In other embodiments, changes in a region's status may be triggered by region activators 620-622, where each separate activator corresponds to a separate region. In various embodiments, region activators 620-622 may be embodiments of activator(s) 328 of fig. 3. In some embodiments, both trigger word/phrase and region activators may be employed to trigger changes in one or more region's status. ¶0102 discloses trigger monitor 610 may be an embodiment of trigger monitor 334 and may perform various speech and/or voice recognition algorithms to detect trigger words/phrases in beams 602-604. In other embodiments, trigger monitor 610 may accept inputs from region activators 620-622. Based on the inputs and/or the speech recognition, trigger monitor 610 may output each region's active/inactive status to speech enhancer 608. In this way, speech enhancer 608 knows which regions are active and which regions are inactive, and when there are changes in a region's status. Trigger monitor 610 may also output each region's status to region indicators 616-618. ¶0105 discloses SNR estimator 612 can compare the SNR to one or more threshold values to determine a quality of the speech signals associated with active regions. Based on this comparison, SNR indicator 614 can provide a representation of the signal quality to a user. For example, if the SNR is relatively high [e.g., above a first threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a green LED. If the SNR is not high [e.g., below the first threshold, but above a second threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a yellow. If the SNR is very low [e.g., below the second threshold], then SNR indicator 614 may be a blue LED).
Maker, R, and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Maker in view of , in light of the teachings of Alves to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Regarding Claim 20, Maker in view of R and Alves discloses the system of claim 19, But Maker in view of R may not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in two listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is pointed between the two listening zones.
However, Alves (title, abstract, figs. 1-8) teaches wherein the one or more indications of first speech comprise indications that the first speech was detected in two listening zones, and wherein the acoustic beam is pointed between the two listening zones (Alves ¶0099 discloses fig. 6 in which signal x can be input [e.g., through an input logic] from a microphone array [in various embodiments signal x may include a plurality of signals or beams, e.g., one from each microphone in the array]. Signal x can be separated into beams 602-604, where each beam represents a corresponding listening region. ¶0100 discloses each of beams 602-604 can be input to speech enhancer 608. Speech enhancer 608 can perform various beam selection and combination algorithms-to reduce/cancel noise from inactive regions while enhancing user speech from active regions----dependent on which regions are active and which regions are inactive).
Maker, R, and Alves are analogous art as they pertain to keyword based audio source. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Maker in view of , in light of the teachings of Alves to generate an output audio signals, such that directional noise reduction can be performed on each audio signal associated with each inactive listening region and speech enhancement may be performed on each audio signal associated with each active listening region (as taught by Alves, ¶0022) by tracking user speech across various listening regions of a speakerphone for directional noise cancellation and speech enhancement (Alves, ¶0001).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESHKUMAR G PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3957. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 AM-4 PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
Prosecution Insights