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 .
In the response to this office action, the Examiner respectfully requests that support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line numbers in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the Examiner in prosecuting this application.
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..
(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.
Claims 1, 6-8, 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Salvatucci et al. (US 20170374477 A1, hereinafter Salvatucci).
Claim 1: Salvatucci teaches a method of utilizing head tracking data (title and abstract, ln 1-5, hearing aid device in figs. 1-3, two hearing aids in fig. 16, para 47, and a method to operate the hearing aid, para 27), the method comprising:
receiving, at each earbud of a pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (using a pair of two hearing aids, e.g. in fig. 16, for binaural hearing system, para 23, 47), sensor data from a respective one or more sensors disposed in or on the earbud (multiple sensors on the hearing aid, para 17, tilt information is detected and transmitted from one hearing aid and received by another for turning volume up or down, para 23 or received by the controller 26 in fig. 3), and an audio stream from a user device (an auxiliary device such as mobile phone, communicating audio signals between the at least one hearing aid and the auxiliary device, para 47);
determining, at each earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds, head orientation information based on the sensor data received by the earbud (a tilt detected by the own hearing aid, para 23);
transmitting the determined head orientation information between the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (transmitting from one hearing aid to another for obtaining a combination of detected tilt in the own hearing aid and the detected tilt information being received, para 23, 91) such that a leader earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds transmits head orientation information determined by the leader earbud to a follower earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (discussed above, para 23, one in the pair of hearing aids transmitting tilt information to another in the pair, i.e., the transmitter as lead or master hearing aid, while the receiver of the tilt information as slave or follower hearing device, para 23, 91 and the sensor signals also exchanged binaurally, para 79);
synchronizing, by at least the follower earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds, the head orientation information determined at the follower earbud with the head orientation information determined by the leader earbud (the receiver hearing aid as the follower to perform the combination based on the tilt detected by the own hearing aid device and the received tilt information from another hearing aid, para 23, 91 and discussed above, and e.g., by comparison with the tilt movement detected by the accelerometer sitting on the other hearing aid to avoid or alleviate the false positives, para 90), based at least in part on timing information associated with a timestamp at which the head orientation information was transmitted (the combination of two tilts as the detected and the received is performed at the follower hearing aid, para 23, 91 and tilts within a given time frame, para 60, and thus, combination of the two tilts is inherently at corresponding to a mutual common frame with common start point); and
rendering, by each earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds, the audio stream (binaural through an output transducer for each of the pair of hearing aids, para 49) based on the synchronized head orientation data to present audio content by each earbud of the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (user to control the setting by tilting, such as turning volume up or down, para 23, 91).
Claim 6: Salvaltucci further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein transmitting the determined head orientation information between the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (using the received tilt information from other hearing aid, para 23, 90 and discussed in claim 1 above), and wherein the method further comprises including the timing information in a data stream transmitted from the leader earbud to the follower earbud (2.4GHz wireless communication, para 55, and thus, a preamble of the 2.5GHz communication packet is inherency for package receiver to synchronize the start of the packet).
Claim 7: Salvaltucci further teaches, according to claim 6 above, further comprising determining, at the follower earbud, whether data is missing in the head orientation information received from the leader earbud based at least in part on the timing information received from the leader earbud (2.4 GHz wireless communication, para 53, 55-56, and inherently, the preamble for receiver to lock the transmitted signal and thus, unlocking the received preamble pattern on the receiver indicated the loss of package).
Claim 8: the combination of Salvaltucci and ? further teaches, according to claim 6 above, wherein synchronizing the determined head orientation data at the follower earbud comprises synchronizing the determined head orientation data determined at the follower earbud based on the one or more sensors of the follower earbud with the head orientation data received from the leader earbud using the timing information (synchronizing is disclosed and discussed in claim 1, 6 above, e.g., through a combination of tilt detected and the tilt information received, etc., para 23, 90, and further, tilt sensor comprising a number of tilt sensors to measure in several axis simultaneously, para 65).
Claim 15: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein transmitting the determined head orientation information comprises utilizing a BLUETOOTH communication protocol (BLUETOOTH low-energy used for data communicated to and from the hearing aid, para 54, ln 3-5).
Claim 16 has been analyzed and rejected according to claim 1 above and Salvatucci further teaches, a system comprising a pair of communicatively coupled earbuds (two earbuds in fig. 11, para 23 and wireless BLUETOOTH communicatively each other through wireless interface 28, para 54), each earbud comprising a processor (processor 20 in fig. 3) and one or more sensors (sensor 24 having a first and a second sensor, para 80, e.g., microprocessors, DSPs, etc., para 44); and a computer-readable medium storing instructions (computer program performed by the processors above, para 44 and thus, a memory is inherency for the computer program and executed by the processors) that, upon execution by the processors of the communicatively coupled earbuds, causes the processors to perform operations of claim 1 (discussed in claim 1 above).
Claim 17 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 16 above.
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 of this title, 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 2-5, 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Salvaltucci (above) and in view of reference LaValle et al. (US 9348410 B2, hereinafter LaValle).
Claim 2: Salvaltucci further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein determining the head orientation information at each earbud (discussed in claim 1 above), except explicitly teaching fusing data from two or more sensors disposed in or on the earbud.
LaValle teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing a method of utilizing head tracking data (title and abstract, ln 1-16 and method steps in fig. 8) and wherein determining head orientation information at a headset comprising fusing data from two or more sensors disposed in or on the headset (a VR headset in fig. 3 and by predictive motion tracking in fig. 7A-7C, and sensor fusion is performed at step 820 in fig. 8, col 9, ln 64-67, col 10, ln 1-6 and the tracking utilizes one or more sensors, col 3, ln 55-64) for benefits of providing more accurate measurement data for later use (col 9, ln 51-63 and by avoiding over shooting , col 2, ln 4-15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied determining the head orientation information at the headset comprising fusing data from two or more sensors disclosed in or on the headset, as taught by LaValle, to the determination of the head orientation information at each earbud in the method, as taught by Salvaltucci, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 3: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein determining the head orientation information comprises determining the predicted head orientation data (Salvaltucci, discussed in claim 1 above and LaValle, predictive motion tracking in fig. 7A-7C, col 9, ln 2-34 and discussed in claim 2 above).
Claim 4: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 3 above, wherein the follower earbud is configured to utilize the predicted head orientation data to compensate for latency in receiving the head orientation information from the leader earbud (Salvaltucci, follower earbud to use the detected tilt information being received for the combination of tilt decision, para 23, and LaValle, the predicted 3D orientation is performed with the prediction interval as the tilt to happen and the prediction interval is limited to within or not exceeding the predictive interval, col 11, ln 32-44).
Claim 5: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 1 above, the method further comprising smoothing the synchronized head orientation data (Salvaltucci, the combination of the detected tilt of own hearing aid and the tilt information received from the other hearing aid, para 23, 90, and LaValle, smoothing is performed when the tilt is steady for preventing from the jitter or overshoot, col 12, ln 39-46), wherein the synchronized head orientation data utilized to present audio content comprises the smoothed synchronized head orientation data (Salvaltucci, the synchronization discussed above and in claim 1, and LaValle, the display is updated for video reproduction with the predicted motion orientation and the position upon the prediction and prediction interval at 890, col 12, ln 64-67, col 13, ln 1-9, the video comprising the audio and the image inherently).
Claim 9: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein determining, at each earbud, the head orientation information comprises recentering head orientation data generated based on the sensor data to compensate for drift in the sensor data (LaValle, jitter or drift happens while from substantially motionless to tiny slight variations in sensor measurements, i.e., bounce, and using aggression-based average smooth, i.e., col 2, ln 52-59, i.e., recentered at the smoothed average).
Claim 10: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 1 above, wherein each earbud comprises a memory to store at least the head orientation data (Salvaltucci, memory for storing the recognized signal, para 75, and LaValle, memory 212, and storage 214 in fig. 2 and for data storage, col 4, ln 66-67, col 5, ln 1-5), except explicitly teaching wherein the memory is cache buffer.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Salvaltucci (above) and in view of references LaValle (above) and Smyth (US 7936887 B2).
Claim 11: the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle further teaches, according to claim 10 above, wherein head orientation data is transmitted from the cache buffer of the leader earbud to the follower earbud at the timing interval (Salvaltucci, transmitting the tilt information detected from other hearing aid to the hearing aid, para 23, 90, and LaValle, considering factors including jitter and latency, col 2, ln 42-51), except explicitly teaching wherein the time interval is dependent on at least a data transmission rate and a latency associated with transmitting the determined head orientation information between the pair of communicatively coupled earbuds.
Smyth teaches an analogous field of endeavor by disclosing a method of utilizing head tracking data (title and abstract, ln 1-11 and fig. 35 and the method applied to the apparatus, para 12 and ) and wherein a time interval is dependent on at least a data transmission rate and a latency associated with streaming the determined head orientation information to a second site (the detect listener’s jaw and pitch in 2D domain and streamed to the DSP 123 for processing, col 55, ln 26-51, and a delay buffer adjusted to match generated delay values, i.e., time interval, para 15, and based on the head tracker in fig. 17-18, and para 124-125, 149 and adapted to a rate of transmission and data size, col 47, ln 27-33, col 48, ln 26-34 and large transmission delay can be avoided, col 50, ln 36-41) for benefits of improving the operation of the earbuds (by obtaining more accurate personalized measurements for rendering audio stream, col 1, ln 44-56, and meeting the personalization, col 8, ln 25-31 and by enhancing the personal perception experiences, col 12, ln 34-41).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied the time interval and wherein the time interval is dependent on at least the data transmission rate and the latency associated with transmitting the determined head orientation information to the second site, as taught by Smyth, to the time interval and the cache buffer and wherein the head orientation data is transmitted from the cache buffer of the leader earbud to the follower earbud at the timing interval in the method, as taught by the combination of Salvaltucci and LaValle, for the benefits discussed above.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Salvaltucci (above).
Claim 12: Salvaltucci further teaches, according to claim 1 above, the method further comprising sampling the sensor data prior to determining the head orientation information (using ADC, para 55-56, prior to processing, including the determining of the head orientation information by the earbud that receives head orientation information transmitted by other earbud, para 23, 90) and a sampling rate used to acquire the sensor data (ADC also applied to other earbud, para 55-56, that detected tilt and transmitting the tilt information to the neighbor’s earbud for determining the combination of tilt, para 23, 90), and a sampling rate used to determine the head orientation information (determined by the ADC, para 55-56), except resampling the sensor data prior to determining the head orientation information to compensate for a difference between the sampling rate used to acquire the sensor data and the sampling rate used to determine the head orientation information.
It has been a recognized problem and need in the art, which may include a design need to solve the problem for synchronizing digitized sensor data providing from different sources and individual ADCs and there had been a finite number of identified, predictable potential solutions to use the digitized sensor data for further processing:
1. resampling by down sampling if sensor data from one source digitized with higher sampling rate than the other,
2. resampling by up sampling if sensor data from one source digitized with lower sampling rate than the other,
3. no need to resampling if sensor data from one source digitized with the same sampling rate as to the other,
for compensating time mismatches of sensor data and avoiding distortion resulted by processing unmatched and sampled data, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have pursued the known potential solutions with a reasonable expectation of success or obvious to try, see MPEP 2141, III.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have applied resampling unmatched sensor data if sensor data from one source digitized with different sampling rate than the other, as taught by the well-known in the art, to sampling the determined head orientation information prior to determining that head orientation information and the sampling rate used to acquire the sensor data in the method, as taught by Salvaltucci, for the benefits discussed above.
Claim 13 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 12 above, and similarly, the claimed “resampling the determined head orientation information prior to transmitting the determined head orientation information” in claim 13 would be obvious to try for example, resampling prior to the transmission, after the transmission, or no resampling to avoid the distortion caused by processing sampling-unmatched input sensor data, as discussed in claim 12 above.
Claim 14 has been analyzed and rejected according to claims 1, 12-13 above and similar to potential mismatch between sampling rate of processing the sensor data and the sampling rate of the synchronized head orientation data for use in audio processing (volume control to binaural audio signal upon the combination of the tilt information, para 23 and time frame as to the tilt motion detected and processed with the audio volume/amplification control, para 60).
Conclusion
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/LESHUI ZHANG/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2695
