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 .
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of applicant’s amendment filed April 16, 2026. Claims 3, 4, 12 and 13 have been canceled without prejudice. Claims 1, 2, 5-11 and 14-22 are pending and an action on the merits is as follows.
Objection to the specification has been withdrawn.
Objections to claims 10 and 18 have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 8-11 and 14-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katou (US 7,626,109 B2) in view of Wei et al. (US 10,354,625 B2).
Claims 1 and 17: Katou discloses an information processing device and method, comprising a control part which executes: receiving an operation of a user on an input device (key) of an electronic musical instrument (100) and generating operation information (key-on/key-off event) corresponding to the received operation, (column 4 line 67 through column 5 line 9); and transmitting operation associated information (keyboard image) of the electronic musical instrument corresponding to whether the operation information was an incorrect or correct key played (column 15 lines 19-27) to a terminal (television receiver 200) of a user of the electronic musical instrument via communication unit (11) (column 4 lines 57-59), wherein the terminal is different from the electronic musical instrument, as shown in FIG. 1. This reference fails to disclose the input device to include an operator for setting one or more sound parameters of the electronic musical instrument, the operation information to comprise information indicating the operator and a current state of the operator, wherein the current state of the operator is a parameter value specified by the operator, and the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying the current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument.
However Wei et al. teaches an information processing device and method, where an input device (upper portion) is shown in FIG. 2 to include an operator (timbre selector 202) for setting a sound parameter (timbre) of an electronic musical instrument (solfege keyboard) and operation information corresponding to the operator comprises information indicating the operator, i.e., which operator, and a current state of the operator specified by the operator (violin, trumpet, etc.) (column 11 lines 5-9). An instruction is provided for displaying a current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument (column 11 lines 14-16).
Given the teachings of Wei et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the information processing device and method disclosed in Katou with providing the input device to include an operator for setting one or more sound parameters of the electronic musical instrument, the operation information to comprise information indicating the operator and a current state of the operator, wherein the current state of the operator is a parameter value specified by the operator, and the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying the current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument. Doing so would allow the overall work to be controlled in terms of a selected timbre as taught in Wei et al. (column 3 lines 58-60, 66-67) in order to output a variety of different sounds generated by the electronic musical instrument.
Claim 2: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing device as stated above, where the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, to the terminal, information based on the operation associated information of the electronic musical instrument corresponding to each of one or more steps constituting an operation procedure (notes to be played in sequence) of the electronic musical instrument (column 15 line 57 through column 16 line 11).
Claims 5 and 6: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing device as stated above, where in each of the one or more steps, in a case where operation information indicating a correct or erroneous operation of the operator has been received from the electronic musical instrument, the control part transmits, to the terminal, the operation associated information is disclosed in Katou to comprise an instruction for displaying on the display device an operator to be operated in a next step and an operation method of the operator or information indicating an operation error, respectively (column 15 line 66 through column 16 line 24).
Claim 8: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing device as stated above, where the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, to the terminal, a result (music title selected) of an information search using the operation information corresponding to a music search process (column 8 lines 26-35).
Claim 9: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing device as stated above, where in each of the one or more steps, in a case where operation information indicating a correct operation of the operator has been received from the electronic musical instrument, the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, to the terminal, the operation associated information comprising an instruction for displaying on the display device an operator to be operated in a next step and an operation method of the operator (column 15 line 66 through column 16 line 11).
Claims 10 and 18: Katou discloses a terminal (television receiver 200) of a user of an electronic musical instrument (100), wherein the terminal is different from the electronic musical instrument as shown in FIG. 1, and comprises a control part which executes: receiving, from an information processing device of the electronic musical instrument via communication unit (11) (column 4 lines 57-59) that receives an operation of the user on an input device (key) and generates operation information corresponding to the received operation (played key), operation associated information (keyboard image) of the electronic musical instrument corresponding to whether the operation information was an incorrect or correct key played; and displaying, on a display device, information (incorrect mark, correct mark) based on operation of the input device (column 15 lines 19-30). This reference fails to disclose the input device to include an operator for setting one or more sound parameters of the electronic musical instrument, the operation information to comprise information indicating the operator and a current state of the operator, wherein the current state of the operator is a parameter value set on the operator, and the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying the current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument, and the display device to display the current state of the operator.
However Wei et al. teaches a terminal of a user of an electronic musical instrument, where an input device (upper portion) is shown in FIG. 2 to include an operator (timbre selector 202) for setting a sound parameter (timbre) of an electronic musical instrument (solfege keyboard) and operation information corresponding to the operator comprises information indicating the operator, i.e., which operator, and a current state of the operator specified by the operator (violin, trumpet, etc) (column 11 lines 5-9). An instruction is provided for displaying a current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument such that the display device displays the current state of the operator (column 11 lines 14-16).
Given the teachings of Wei et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the terminal disclosed in Katou with providing the input device to include an operator for setting one or more sound parameters of the electronic musical instrument, the operation information to comprise information indicating the operator and a current state of the operator, wherein the current state of the operator is a parameter value specified by the operator, and the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying the current state of the operator of the electronic musical instrument, and the display device to display the current state of the operator. Doing so would allow the overall work to be controlled in terms of a selected timbre as taught in Wei et al. (column 3 lines 58-60, 66-67) in order to output a variety of different sounds generated by the electronic musical instrument.
Claim 11: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where the control part is disclosed in Katou to display, on the display device, information based on the operation associated information of the electronic musical instrument corresponding to each of one or more steps constituting an operation procedure (notes to be played in sequence) of the electronic musical instrument according to the operation information (column 15 line 57 through column 16 line 11).
Claims 14 and 15: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where in each of the one or more steps, in a case where operation information indicating a correct or erroneous operation of the operator has been received from the electronic musical instrument, the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, from the information processing device, the operation associated information comprising an instruction for displaying on the display device an operator to be operated in a next step and an operation method of the operator or information indicating an operation error, respectively (column 15 line 66 through column 16 line 24).
Claim 16: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where in each of the one or more steps, in a case where operation information indicating a correct operation of the operator has been received from the electronic musical instrument, the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, from the information processing device, the operation associated information comprising an instruction for displaying on the display device an operator to be operated in a next step and an operation method of the operator (column 15 line 66 through column 16 line 11).
Claims 19 and 20: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where a computer-readable recording medium is disclosed in Katou to record a program causing an information processing device/terminal to execute the information processing method (column 2 lines 18-27).
Claim 21: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where the operator is a button, as shown in Wei et al. (column 10 lines 59-62).
Claim 22: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing method as stated above, where the one or more sound parameters is a timbre, as shown in Wei et al. (column 11 lines 5-9).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Katou (US 7,626,109 B2) modified by Wei et al. (US 10,354,625 B2) as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Kim (US 7,289,768 B2).
Claim 7: Katou modified by Wei et al. discloses an information processing device where the control part is disclosed in Katou to transmit, to the terminal, the operation associated information, as stated above. This reference fails to disclose the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying an operation manual corresponding to the operation information.
However Kim teaches an information processing device, where operation associated information includes an instruction for displaying an operation manual (user manual) corresponding to operation information (column 7 lines 42-43).
Given the teachings of Kim, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the information processing device disclosed in Katou as modified by Wei et al. with providing the operation associated information to comprise an instruction for displaying an operation manual corresponding to the operation information. Doing so would allow “users slow in learning the manual in text form [to] easily access functions of the [electronic musical instrument] through visual or audible guiding. As a result, the [electronic musical instrument] is further utilized and is user-friendly enough to attract a wider range of users” as taught in Kim (column 4 lines 39-43).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2017/0025112 A1 pertaining to setting sound parameters of an electronic musical instrument and displaying said sound parameters on a terminal.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER UHLIR whose telephone number is (571)270-3091. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-4.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anita Coupe can be reached at 571-270-3614. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Christopher Uhlir/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619 June 24, 2026
Prosecution Insights