Obviousness

US Patent 8112104, titled "Adaptable communication techniques for electronic devices," broadly concerns methods and systems for users of electronic devices to communicate through short audio or textual messages, with adaptable presentation and reply options based on device configuration and user preferences. The independent claims (Claim 1, Claim 19, and Claim 31) specifically detail a system, headset, and method for receiving an incoming text message, converting it to audio for presentation via a wireless headset, and then recording a reply audio message via the headset, converting it to text, and transmitting it.

An analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 suggests that the claims of US8112104 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) based on a combination of prior art references that are explicitly incorporated by reference into the patent itself.

Prior Art References

The "CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS" section of US8112104 lists several related applications that are incorporated by reference, making them prior art. These include:

• U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,976 (referred to as US'976), filed December 7, 2004. This is a parent patent in the continuation chain and shares the same title: "Adaptable communication techniques for electronic devices."
• U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/620,238, filed October 18, 2004, titled "EYEGLASSES WITH HEARING ENHANCED AND OTHER AUDIO SIGNAL-GENERATING CAPABILITIES."
• General knowledge within the field of mobile communication and wireless headsets around the priority date of US8112104 (December 8, 2003).

Obviousness Analysis

Combination of US'976 with General Knowledge of Wireless Headsets

1. Primary Reference: U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,976 (US'976)

   • Disclosure (inferred from US8112104's summary and detailed description): As a direct parent application with an identical title, US'976 is inferred to disclose the core functionalities described in US8112104 related to adaptable communication techniques. The summary of US8112104 explicitly details the "second aspect" of the invention, which pertains to responding to incoming text messages. This aspect covers:
     • Receiving an incoming text message from a second user.
     • Converting the incoming text message to an incoming audio message (e.g., via text-to-speech conversion, as described in process 600, block 606).
     • Recording a reply audio message by the first user (as described in process 700, block 708).
     • Converting the reply audio message into a reply text message (as described in process 700, block 710).
     • Transmitting the reply text message to the second user (as described in process 700, block 712).
   • These details from the description of US8112104 are illustrative of the processing described in figures like FIG. 6 (message presentation) and FIG. 7 (reply message process), which, given the patent's lineage, would almost certainly be present in US'976.

2. Secondary Reference(s): General Knowledge of Wireless Headsets and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/620,238

   • General Knowledge: At the priority date of US8112104 (December 8, 2003), wireless headsets, such as those using Bluetooth technology, were commonly known and used with mobile phones to provide hands-free operation for voice calls. A PHOSITA would have understood that these headsets provided both audio output (speaker) and audio input (microphone) capabilities. The overarching desire for increased user convenience and hands-free functionality in mobile devices was a recognized trend in the art.
   • U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/620,238: This provisional application, incorporated by reference into US8112104, further supports the concept of integrating audio input/output components (hearing enhancement, audio signal generation) into wearable devices like eyeglasses, effectively functioning as a hands-free headset or audio interface for a user of an electronic device.

Motivation to Combine

The US8112104 patent itself clearly articulates the problem that motivates this combination in its "Background of the Invention": "when the user of a mobile phone makes use of a head-set, the user can receive and participate in voice calls in a hands-free manner. Unfortunately, however, the user would need to view a screen of the mobile phone to participate in text messaging."

A PHOSITA, recognizing this problem, would have been motivated to combine the known hands-free capabilities of wireless headsets for audio interaction with the text-to-audio and audio-to-text messaging functionalities disclosed in US'976. The motivation would be to extend the established convenience of hands-free voice calls to text messaging, thereby addressing the acknowledged deficiency of requiring screen interaction for text messages even when a headset is in use. It would have been a straightforward engineering task for a PHOSITA to adapt the audio input and output features of a wireless headset to serve as the interface for the message conversion processes described in US'976. The general trend towards hands-free and enhanced user experience in mobile computing devices would have provided ample motivation to seek such solutions.

Therefore, the combination of a wireless communication device capable of performing text-to-audio and audio-to-text messaging conversions (as taught by US'976) with a standard wireless headset (known in the art and further supported by provisional application US60/620,238), where the headset handles the audio presentation and recording, would have been obvious to a PHOSITA seeking to enable hands-free text messaging. This reasoning applies directly to Claim 1 (system), Claim 19 (headset), and Claim 31 (method), as they all center on this specific interaction between a mobile device's messaging capabilities and a wireless headset for hands-free audio handling.