DETAILED ACTION
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 21 and 31 recite “state information associated with a state of the beamformer.” There is a lack of written description for “state information” of the beamformer in the specification. “State information” of a beamformer is not a widely known or well recognized term in the art, and the specification only mentions “state information” (¶0036 as filed) and “state” (¶0051 as filed) without any further description of what the “state” of the beamformer refers to.
Claims 22-30 and 32-40 are rejected for depending on the above claims.
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 (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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gilbert et al. (US 2007/0191977 A1), hereinafter “Gilbert,” in view of Ikegaya (US 2020/0137510 A1) and further in view of Beaucoup (US 2007/0093714 A1).
As to claim 1, Gilbert discloses an audio system, comprising:
(A) a plurality of array microphones (¶0018, Figs. 1-2. Boxes 1-M each with microphone inputs 1-N.) each comprising:
a plurality of microphone elements, wherein each of the plurality of microphone elements is configured to provide a microphone signal (¶0018, Figs. 1-2. Microphone inputs 1-N.); and
a processing unit configured to receive the one or more signals, determine one or more reduced bandwidth metrics based on the one or more signals, and generate a submix audio signal based on the one or more signals and a gating control signal (¶0017-0021, ¶0026, ¶0062, Figs. 1-2 and 8. “Processing units 203 and 205 function as non-master processors.” “For each input channel there is a gated output that can be generated.” “Non-master processing unit 500 obtains assigned inputs, performs basic level measurement (BLM) calculation (as will be later discussed), and sends them to the master processing unit 600.” “The BLM calculation is done by taking each input signal and applying a bandpass filter. This biases the decision making to the basic speech band, with a demphasis of the lower frequencies to help reduce false triggering on lower frequency noise.”); and
(B) an aggregator unit in communication with the plurality of array microphones, wherein the aggregator unit is configured to: generate a final mix audio signal based on the submix audio signals received from each of the plurality of array microphones; and
generate the gating control signal based on the one or more reduced bandwidth metrics received from each of the plurality of array microphones (¶0021, ¶0025-0027, ¶0048, ¶0061, Figs. 2, 6 and 8. “The non-master processing units (e.g., non-master processing unit 500) then send their outputs to the master processing unit 600 to form a final mix audio signal.” “Each master processing unit 700 then does a full gating calculation and uses the results of the calculation to perform a local submix of its inputs.” “Non-master processing unit 500 obtains assigned inputs, performs basic level measurement (BLM) calculation (as will be later discussed), and sends them to the master processing unit 600.” “The BLM calculation is done by taking each input signal and applying a bandpass filter. This biases the decision making to the basic speech band, with a demphasis of the lower frequencies to help reduce false triggering on lower frequency noise.”).
Gilbert does not expressly disclose a beamformer in communication with the plurality of microphone elements, wherein the beamformer is configured to generate one or more beamformed signals based on the microphone signals from each of the plurality of microphone elements, and wherein each of the one or more beamformed signals is associated with a lobe of the array microphone.
However, Ikegaya discloses a beamformer in communication with the plurality of microphone elements, wherein the beamformer is configured to generate one or more beamformed signals based on the microphone signals from each of the plurality of microphone elements, and wherein each of the one or more beamformed signals is associated with a lobe of the array microphone (Ikegaya, ¶0035, Fig. 3A. “An audio signal (hereinafter referred to as a sound collection signal) that has been collected by each of the plurality of microphones 11-1 to 11-n is inputted to the beam former 21.” “The beam former 21 is able to form a plurality of sound collection beams. In the example of the present preferred embodiment, the beam former 21 forms four sound collection beams (a first sound collection beam b1, a second sound collection beam b2, a third sound collection beam b3, and a fourth sound collection beam b4) at the maximum (see FIG. 2), and outputs the sound collection signals of the four channels.).
Gilbert and Ikegaya are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to automixers.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to beamform, as taught by Ikegaya. The motivation would have been to improve capture of desired sounds.
Gilbert in view of Ikegaya does not expressly disclose state information associated with a state of the beamformer.
Beaucoup discloses state information associated with a state of the beamformer (Beaucoup, ¶0013. “The state machine designates an active beamformer in response to the near-end signals.”).
Gilbert, Ikegaya and Beaucoup are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to multiple microphone systems.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use a state machine, as taught by Beaucoup. The motivation would have been to adjust beamforming based on talker localization (Beaucoup, ¶0025).
As to claim 22, Gilbert in view of Ikegaya as modified by Beaucoup discloses wherein the one or more reduced bandwidth metrics comprise a basic level measurement (Gilbert, ¶0026. “Non-master processing unit 500 obtains assigned inputs, performs basic level measurement (BLM) calculation (as will be later discussed), and sends them to the master processing unit 600.”).
As to claim 23, Gilbert in view of Ikegaya as modified by Beaucoup discloses wherein the basic level measurement represents an average level estimate of the one or more beamformed signals Gilbert, ¶0060. “The filtered signal is then rectified and averaged to get a level estimate of the input. This is referred to as the BLM or as the signal E.”).
As to claim 24, Gilbert in view of Ikegaya as modified by Beaucoup discloses wherein the aggregator unit is further configured to generate a noise adaptive threshold signal that denotes that one of the beamformed signals is above a background noise threshold (Gilbert, ¶0069. “The Noise Adapting Threshold (NAT) is used to determine if the signal being received by a microphone is above a background noise influenced threshold.”).
As to claim 25 Gilbert in view of Ikegaya as modified by Beaucoup discloses wherein the aggregator unit is further configured to generate the gating control signal based on the one or more reduced bandwidth metrics and the noise adaptive threshold signal (Gilbert, ¶0069 and ¶0072. “The Noise Adapting Threshold (NAT) is used to determine if the signal being received by a microphone is above a background noise influenced threshold.” “Once the NAT and MAX levels have been determined for each channel these are used to decide which channels to gate on. If NAT and MAX have simultaneously been on in the last 400 ms the channel is gated on.”).
As to claim 26, Gilbert in view of Ikegaya as modified by Beaucoup discloses wherein one of the plurality of array microphones comprises the aggregator unit (Gilbert, ¶0021 and ¶0026, Figs. 1-2. “With the configuration shown in FIG. 1, processing unit 201 functions as a master processor and processing units 203 and 205 function as non-master processors.” “The non-master processing units (e.g., non-master processing unit 500) then send their outputs to the master processing unit 600 to form a final mix audio signal.”).
As to claim 31, it is directed towards substantially the same subject matter as claim 21 and is therefore rejected using the same motivation as claim 21 above.
Claims 32-36 are rejected under claim 15 using the same motivation as claims 22-26 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES K MOONEY whose telephone number is (571)272-2412. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM -5:00 PM EST.
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/JAMES K MOONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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