DETAILED ACTION
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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)(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.
3. Claims 1, 13, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Seneger et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0097755 (hereinafter Seneger).
Regarding claim 1, Seneger discloses an audio playback method, comprising:
determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, wherein the first audio signal is obtained by performing audio acquisition for a target space (from paragraph 0007, see interior microphone information related to vehicle occupant noise);
acquiring listening position information for the target space (from paragraph 0007, see The vehicle occupant information includes interior camera information related to vehicle occupant position and movement); and
playing, based on the ambient noise information and the listening position information, a second audio signal (from paragraph 0007, see generate an augmented anti-soundwave; and delivering the augmented anti-soundwave to an occupant of the vehicle to mitigate the soundwave present in the vehicle).
Regarding claim 13, Seneger discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring listening position information for the target space comprises: acquiring an image or a video acquired for the target space; and determining, based on the image or the video, ear position information of a user for each of the sound zones within the target space (from paragraph 0033, see FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of an extended gaze algorithm, well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, to track a vehicle occupant's ears in the defined vehicle audio space such that augmented anti-noise can be delivered in a targeted manner in accordance with the vehicle noise cancellation systems and methods of the present disclosure. In a scenario where the occupant is driving the vehicle, for example, the driver monitoring camera that is tracking the driver's gaze is keeping track of the position of and angle of the head (and thus the ears) 32 in relation to the camera and an orthogonal frame of reference 34. This gaze tracking is used to determine the distance of the head (and thus the ears) in relation to the placement of the camera. The placement of each ear of the driver in relation to the gaze is used for placement and direction of the subsequent spatial audio delivery).
Regarding claim 15, Seneger discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (from paragraph 0008, see non-transitory computer-readable medium), on which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement an audio playback method comprising:
determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, wherein the first audio signal is obtained by performing audio acquisition for a target space (from paragraph 0007, see interior microphone information related to vehicle occupant noise);
acquiring listening position information for the target space (from paragraph 0007, see The vehicle occupant information includes interior camera information related to vehicle occupant position and movement); and
playing, based on the ambient noise information and the listening position information, a second audio signal (from paragraph 0007, see generate an augmented anti-soundwave; and delivering the augmented anti-soundwave to an occupant of the vehicle to mitigate the soundwave present in the vehicle).
Regarding claim 16, Seneger discloses an electronic device, comprising:
a processor (from paragraph 0006, see processor); and
a memory (from paragraph 0006, see memory), configured to store instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to read the executable instructions from the memory and execute the instructions to implement an audio playback method comprising:
determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, wherein the first audio signal is obtained by performing audio acquisition for a target space (from paragraph 0007, see interior microphone information related to vehicle occupant noise);
acquiring listening position information for the target space (from paragraph 0007, see The vehicle occupant information includes interior camera information related to vehicle occupant position and movement); and
playing, based on the ambient noise information and the listening position information, a second audio signal (from paragraph 0007, see generate an augmented anti-soundwave; and delivering the augmented anti-soundwave to an occupant of the vehicle to mitigate the soundwave present in the vehicle).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seneger in view of Nagahama et al, U.S. Patent No. 8,112,272 (hereinafter Nagahama).
Regarding claim 2, Seneger does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, the method further comprises: acquiring at least one channel of raw audio signal respectively acquired for at least one sound zone within the target space; and performing sound source separation and sound source localization on the at least one channel of raw audio signal to obtain at least one channel of first audio signal, wherein each channel of first audio signal corresponds to one sound zone. All the same, Nagahama discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, the method further comprises: acquiring at least one channel of raw audio signal respectively acquired for at least one sound zone within the target space; and performing sound source separation and sound source localization on the at least one channel of raw audio signal to obtain at least one channel of first audio signal, wherein each channel of first audio signal corresponds to one sound zone (from column 24, see Next, the eleventh embodiment will be described. FIG. 42 shows an example in which a target sound in zone A is extracted in a situation where the target sound to be extracted locates in zone A (for example, a zone of a driver's seat) and interfering sounds locates in places other than that (zone B, zone C and zone D). When an array microphone 2001 ((For example, it is located in the front of a car cabin) for example, it is mounted at a rear-view mirror) is used, although sounds locating in zone A/C (for example, zones of a driver's seat and a seat behind it) and zone B/D (for example, zones of a passenger's seat and a seat behind it) can be separated, sounds locating in zone A (for example the zone of the driver's seat) and zone C (for example, the zone of the seat behind it) cannot be separated. However, by providing an array microphone 2002 using the present technique in a position which is a boundary of zone A/B and zone C/D as shown in the figure, sounds locating in zone A/B and zone C/D can be separated, and therefore only a sound locating in zone A can be extracted.
(147) Specifically, if speakers A, B, C and D locating in zone A, B, C and D speak simultaneously, by using the array microphone 2002 placed on the boundary of zone A/B and zone C/D at first, a sound from zone A/B and a sound from zone C/D can be separated. Then, a sound from zone A/C and a sound form zone B/D can be separated by the microphone array 2001. Lastly, the sound from zone A/C obtained by using the microphone array 2001 is compared with the sound from zone A/B obtained by using the microphone array 2002 for each frequency domain, and thereby a frequency component existing in both of the sounds in common can be separated as a sound from zone A. Sounds also from zones B, C and D can be obtained by similar processing respectively). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Seneger with the method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining ambient noise information corresponding to a first audio signal, the method further comprises: acquiring at least one channel of raw audio signal respectively acquired for at least one sound zone within the target space; and performing sound source separation and sound source localization on the at least one channel of raw audio signal to obtain at least one channel of first audio signal, wherein each channel of first audio signal corresponds to one sound zone as taught by Nagahama. This modification would have improved the system’s reliability by providing better speech recognition as suggested by Nagahama.
Claim 17 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 3-12, 14 and 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLISA ANWAH whose telephone number is 571-272-7533. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 6 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edwards can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2600.
Olisa Anwah
Patent Examiner
October 1, 2026
/OLISA ANWAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
