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 .
Status of Application
This communication is responsive to the applicant's application filed 02/25/2025.
Claims 1-8 are pending.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kinoshite et al (US-5,245,664, hereinafter, Kinoshite).
Regarding claim 1, Kinoshite discloses an active vibration noise reduction device (see Figs. 1, 2) comprising: a speaker (7a-7d) for outputting a cancellation sound for canceling a noise; a plurality of microphones (8a-8h) for generating a plurality of error signals, each of the plurality of microphones generating a respective one of the plurality of error signals from the noise and the cancellation sound (see col. 3, lines 26-44); and a control filter (18) configured to generate a control signal for controlling the cancellation sound based on the plurality of error signals generated by the plurality of microphones (see col. 4, lines 19-35), wherein the control filter is adaptively updated using a sum of squares of sound pressures of the plurality of error signals generated by the plurality of microphones as an evaluation function (see col. 6, lines 48-65).
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) 2-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshite in view of Ohki et al (US-5,689,572, hereinafter, Ohki).
Regarding claim 4, Kinoshite discloses an active vibration noise reduction device as discussed in claim 1 above. However, Kinoshite does not disclose a plurality of secondary path filter groups each provided for a respective one of the plurality of control filters and including a plurality of secondary path filters, the plurality of secondary path filters each configured to present an estimation value of a transfer function from a respective one of the plurality of speakers to a respective one of the plurality of microphones, and wherein each of the plurality of secondary path filters is adaptively updated based on a virtual error signal calculated from the plurality of cancellation sounds and the error signal output from a respective one of the plurality of microphones.
Ohki et al discloses an active vibration noise reduction device (see Figs. 8 and 9) that including a plurality of secondary path filter groups (76a, 76b, 78a, 78b) each provided for a respective one of the plurality of control filters (76a, 76b) and including a plurality of secondary path filters (78a, 78b), the plurality of secondary path filters each configured to present an estimation value of a transfer function from a respective one of the plurality of speakers (3a, 3b) to a respective one of the plurality of microphones (4a, 4b), and wherein each of the plurality of secondary path filters is adaptively updated based on a virtual error signal calculated from the plurality of cancellation sounds and the error signal output from a respective one of the plurality of microphones (see col. 13, line 44-col. 14, line 67) in order to allow the filter coefficient control units operated to continuously update the coefficients of the adaptive digital filter to minimize the squared values of the detected error signals (see col. 14, lines 2-9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effect filing date of the claimed invention to modify the active vibration noise reduction device of Kinoshite with the teaching of Ohki, that providing a plurality of secondary path filter groups each provided for a respective one of the plurality of control filters and including a plurality of secondary path filters, the plurality of secondary path filters each configured to present an estimation value of a transfer function from a respective one of the plurality of speakers to a respective one of the plurality of microphones and wherein each of the plurality of secondary path filters is adaptively updated based on a virtual error signal calculated from the plurality of cancellation sounds and the error signal output from a respective one of the plurality of microphones in order to allow the filter coefficient control units operated to continuously update the coefficients of the adaptive digital filter to minimize the squared values of the detected error signals (see col. 14, lines 2-9 of Ohki).
Regarding claims 2-3, see col. 13, lines 25-43 of Ohki.
Regarding claim 8, see col. 10, lines 16-59, and col. 14, lines 34-62 of Ohki.
Regarding claims 5-6, see col. 13, lines 8-43 of Ohki.
Regarding claim 7, see Fig. 8, and col. 13, line 44-col. 14, line 9 of Ohki.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tretter, Stothers, Wurm et al, Pignier Delafontaine et al, Wang et al, Wang et al, Wertz et al, Wang et al, Itabashi et al, and Wang et al disclose various ANC system including multiple error microphones for generating multiple error signals for adaptive control of the ANC system that are pertinent to the instant application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XU MEI whose telephone number is (571)272-7523. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 10-6:30 est.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached on 571-272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XU MEI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695 08/22/2026
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