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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-5, 7-9, 11-15 and 17-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beckhardt et al. (US 2013/0331970 A1), hereinafter “Beckhardt,” in view of Yore et al. (US 2022/0248139 A1), hereinafter “Yore,” and further in view of Kadri (US 2018/0084363 A1).
As to claim 1, Beckhardt discloses an audio signal distribution method comprising:
assigning a reproduction role to each of a plurality of speakers (¶0045 and ¶0099. “If a zone contains two or more zone players, such as the two zone players 106 and 108 in the family room, then the two zone players 106 and 108 can be configured to play the same audio source in synchrony, or the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels, for example. In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”);
distributing an audio signal to the plurality of speakers, according to the assigned reproduction role (¶0045 and ¶0098-0099, Fig. 6. “In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”); and
in response to a number of speakers being decreased, causing a speaker paired with a released speaker on the reproduction role to further reproduce sound of the released speaker (¶0100-0101 and ¶0107-0108, Fig. 6. “At block 604, the method 600 involves detecting a failure of a first playback device of the plurality of playback devices.” “For instance, the adjustment of the rendering of audio content may involve adding the playback responsibility of the first playback device to the rendering of the audio content by the at least second playback device. In other words, when one or more zone players of a bonded zone becomes unresponsive, disappears, or is otherwise deemed to have failed, the remaining zone players in the bonded zone may be considered a new configuration of zone players for rendering the audio content.”), wherein:
the plurality of speakers each include a first speaker unit and a second speaker unit (¶0030-0031, Figs. 1b, 2a. “Sound producing equipment 208 includes one or more built-in amplifiers and one or more speakers.”),
the plurality of speakers each reproduce the audio signal of the same channel from the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit by assigning a same channel to each of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit (¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “FIG. 2A illustrates zone player 200 that includes sound producing equipment 208 capable of reproducing full-range sound. The sound may come from an audio signal that is received and processed by zone player 200 over a wired or wireless data network… In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.” “the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels.”), and
in response to the number of speakers being decreased, the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role reproduce the audio signal from the first or second speaker unit on the channel that was assigned to the released speaker by assigning different channels to the first and second speaker units (¶0031, ¶0100-0101 and ¶0107-0108, Figs. 2a and 6. “For instance, the adjustment of the rendering of audio content may involve adding the playback responsibility of the first playback device to the rendering of the audio content by the at least second playback device. In other words, when one or more zone players of a bonded zone becomes unresponsive, disappears, or is otherwise deemed to have failed, the remaining zone players in the bonded zone may be considered a new configuration of zone players for rendering the audio content.” “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both. In some embodiments, zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio.” Zone player 200 can play stereo audio by itself or with another zone player, i.e., if it is playing stereo with another zone player and that zone player is removed/fails, it can continue to play both channels by itself.).
Beckhardt does not expressly disclose detecting an increase or decrease in the number of speakers by detecting test sounds reproduced from the plurality of speakers by a microphone.
Yore discloses detecting an increase or decrease in the number of speakers by detecting test sounds reproduced from the plurality of speakers by a microphone (Yore, ¶0031, ¶0034 and ¶0039-0040. “For example, a portable playback device can be moved to different locations within a playback system. As the portable playback device changes position, the audio that it is desired to reproduce will also change.” “For example, moving a playback device to a position away from a device that it was previously bonded with to reproduce one channel of a stereo pair may result in that playback device automatically changing its audio allocation to reproduce all channels. Moving a playback device to a position in proximity to another playback device may result in the audio allocation being updated so that the playback device reproduces one channel of a stereo pair or one channel of a surround sound or home theater setup.” “Causing the second playback device to emit a sound; receiving the sound via a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones provided on the first playback device; and determining the position based on the relative magnitude of the received sound at two or more of the plurality of microphones in the microphone array.”).
Beckhardt and Yore are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to audio playback device grouping.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to detect position using a microphone, as taught by Yore. The motivation would have been applying a known technique (using microphones to determine speaker position/presence) to a known device (speaker system) to yield predictable results (position/presence of speakers determined).
Beckhardt in view of Yore does not expressly disclose the test sounds comprise individual unique test sounds for each speaker of the plurality of speakers, wherein each individual test sound is assigned to a unique frequency band range for each speaker of the plurality of speakers.
Kadri discloses the test sounds comprise individual unique test sounds for each speaker of the plurality of speakers, wherein each individual test sound is assigned to a unique frequency band range for each speaker of the plurality of speakers (Kadri, ¶0148. “It will be understood that any method of distinguishing the test sound(s) emitted from the playback devices 702-710 could be used, including but not limited to one or more of… (ii) each playback device playing a different test sound (e.g., a different frequency)...”).
Beckhardt, Yore and Kadri are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to audio playback device grouping.
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 unique test sounds for each speaker, as taught by Kadri. The motivation would have been to easily distinguish the speakers from one another (Kadri, ¶0148).
As to claim 2, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses the reproduction role includes a stereo L channel and a stereo R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0124. “In one case, a bonded zone may include two zone players that are paired such that the first zone player plays the right channel audio component and the second zone player plays the left channel audio component.”), and
both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduce the audio signal from either the L channel or the R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio or when the audio content received by zone player 200 is less than full-range.”), the method comprising:
in response to the number of speakers being decreased, distributing the audio signal of the L channel and the R channel to the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0106-0108 and ¶0124, Figs. 6 and 8b. “In this case, if the second zone player rendering the left channel audio component is deemed to have failed, then the first zone player rendering the right channel audio component may be configured to continue to play the right channel audio component without disruption, and further, automatically redistribute the channel distribution of the audio content such that the first zone player now also renders the left channel audio component.”), wherein
one of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduces the audio signal of one of the L channel and the R channel, and the other of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduces the audio signal of the other of the L channel and the R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0031, Fig. 2a. “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.”).
As to claim 3, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses the reproduction role includes a front channel and a surround channel (Beckhardt, ¶0125-0126. “In this example, the first zone player 116 may render the left front channel audio component, the second zone player 118 may render the right front channel audio component, the third zone player 120 may render the center channel audio component, the fourth zone player 154 may render left rear channel audio component, the fifth zone player 156 may render the right rear channel audio component, and the sixth zone player 152 may render the LFE audio component.”), and
both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduce the audio signal from either the front channel or the surround channel, (Beckhardt, ¶0031, Figs. 1b and 2a. “zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio.”)
the method comprising:
in response to the number of speakers being decreased, distributing the audio signal of the front channel and the surround channel to the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0125-0126, Figs. 6 and 8b-c. “In this case, if the fifth zone player 156 playing the right rear channel audio component is deemed to have failed, the remaining players may be configured to continue to render the audio content without disruption. Further, the fourth zone player 154 rendering the left rear channel audio content may be configured to automatically redistribute the channel distribution of the rear speakers such that it now renders both the left rear channel audio component as well the right rear channel audio component.”), wherein
one of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduces the audio signal of one of the front channel and the surround channel, and the other of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit reproduces the audio signal of the other of the front channel and the surround channel (Beckhardt, ¶0031, Figs. 1b and 2a. “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both. In some embodiments, zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio.”).
As to claim 4, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses in response to the number of speakers being decreased, increasing a volume of the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0113 and ¶0118-0119. “Upon detecting failure of a zone player in the bonded zone, the remaining zone players may be configured to adjust their respective volume levels proportionally to maintain an output volume level similar to the output level of the system before the zone player failed.).
As to claim 5, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses the plurality of speakers are connected through a network (Beckhardt, ¶0041-0042. “Zone players 102-124, and 152-156 of FIGS. 1A and 1B are coupled directly or indirectly to a data network, such as data network 128.”);
the method comprising: detecting an increase or decrease in the number of speakers based on a connection status of the network (Beckhardt, ¶0041-0042 and ¶0102-0104. “Other zone players 102-124, and 152-156 can then be added wired or wirelessly to the data network 128.” “In one instance, the wireless network over which the zone players communicate may be configured to maintain a mesh topology by periodically (e.g., on a 0.5 second level) sending a wireless probe message to all neighboring wireless devices, including the zone players, requesting a response. If a particular zone player disappears from the topology, then the particular zone player may be marked as having failed for the purposes of the bonded zone.”).
As to claim 7, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses detecting the increase or decrease in the number of speakers by reproducing non-audible test sounds from the plurality of speakers and detecting the non-audible test sounds by the microphone (Yore, ¶0031, ¶0034 and ¶0039-0040. “The emitted sound could be audible or inaudible. Inaudible sound could be ultrasonic, outside the range of typical human hearing, and/or having a frequency above 20 kHz; providing that the second device can reproduce the sound and the microphone array can detect it.”).
The motivation would have been to not have the sound be audible.
As to claim 8, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses the reproduction role includes a stereo L channel and a stereo R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0124. “In one case, a bonded zone may include two zone players that are paired such that the first zone player plays the right channel audio component and the second zone player plays the left channel audio component.”);
the method comprising:
distributing the audio signal of either one of the L channel or the R channel to each of paired speakers on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0124. “In one case, a bonded zone may include two zone players that are paired such that the first zone player plays the right channel audio component and the second zone player plays the left channel audio component.”), wherein:
both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit of the speaker that received the L channel audio signal reproduce the L channel audio signal, and both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit of the speaker that received the R channel audio signal reproduce the R channel audio signal (Beckhardt, ¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio or when the audio content received by zone player 200 is less than full-range.”); and
in response to the number of paired speakers being decreased, the audio signal of the L channel and the R channel is distributed to the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0106-0108 and ¶0124, Figs. 6 and 8b. “In this case, if the second zone player rendering the left channel audio component is deemed to have failed, then the first zone player rendering the right channel audio component may be configured to continue to play the right channel audio component without disruption, and further, automatically redistribute the channel distribution of the audio content such that the first zone player now also renders the left channel audio component.”), wherein:
the speaker that receives the audio signal of the L channel and the R channel reproduces the audio signal of either the L channel or the R channel through one of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit and reproduces the audio signal of the other channel through the other of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit (Beckhardt, ¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.”).
As to claim 9, Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri discloses the reproduction role includes a stereo L channel and a stereo R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0124. “In one case, a bonded zone may include two zone players that are paired such that the first zone player plays the right channel audio component and the second zone player plays the left channel audio component.”);
the method comprising:
distributing the audio signal of both of the L channel and the R channel to each of paired speakers on the reproduction role (Beckhardt, ¶0045 and ¶0124. “If a zone contains two or more zone players, such as the two zone players 106 and 108 in the family room, then the two zone players 106 and 108 can be configured to play the same audio source in synchrony, or the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels, for example.”), wherein:
both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit of the speaker assigned to the L channel reproduce the audio signal of the L channel, and both the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit of the speaker assigned to the R channel reproduce the audio signal of the R channel (Beckhardt, ¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio or when the audio content received by zone player 200 is less than full-range.”); and
in response to the number of paired speakers being decreased, the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role reproduces the audio signal of both of the L channel and the R channel in one of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit, and reproduces the audio signal of the other L channel or R channel in the other of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit (Beckhardt, ¶0031, ¶0045, ¶0106-0108 and ¶0124, Figs. 6 and 8b. “In this case, if the second zone player rendering the left channel audio component is deemed to have failed, then the first zone player rendering the right channel audio component may be configured to continue to play the right channel audio component without disruption, and further, automatically redistribute the channel distribution of the audio content such that the first zone player now also renders the left channel audio component.” “zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.”).
Claims 11-15 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beckhardt in view of Yore, and further in view of Fischer et al. (US 2018/0255398 A1), hereinafter “Fischer.”
As to claim 11, Beckhardt discloses an audio signal distribution apparatus (Figs. 1-5) comprising a processor (¶0096-0097, Fig. 6A. “Method 600 shown in FIG. 6A presents an embodiment of a method that could be used in the environments 100 and 150 with the systems 200, 202, 204, 300, 400, and 500 for example, and may be performed by a device, such as devices illustrated in FIGS. 3-5, or components of the device.” “each block may represent a module, a segment, or a portion of program code, which includes one or more instructions executable by a processor for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process.”) configured to:
assign a reproduction role to each of a plurality of speakers (¶0045 and ¶0099. “If a zone contains two or more zone players, such as the two zone players 106 and 108 in the family room, then the two zone players 106 and 108 can be configured to play the same audio source in synchrony, or the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels, for example. In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”);
distribute an audio signal to the plurality of speakers according to the reproduction role (¶0045 and ¶0098-0099, Fig. 6. “In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”);
in response to a number of speakers being decreased, cause a speaker paired with a released speaker on the reproduction role to further reproduce sound of the released speaker (¶0100-0101 and ¶0107-0108, Fig. 6. “At block 604, the method 600 involves detecting a failure of a first playback device of the plurality of playback devices.” “For instance, the adjustment of the rendering of audio content may involve adding the playback responsibility of the first playback device to the rendering of the audio content by the at least second playback device. In other words, when one or more zone players of a bonded zone becomes unresponsive, disappears, or is otherwise deemed to have failed, the remaining zone players in the bonded zone may be considered a new configuration of zone players for rendering the audio content.”), wherein:
the plurality of speakers each include a first speaker unit and a second speaker unit (¶0030-0031, Figs. 1b, 2a. “Sound producing equipment 208 includes one or more built-in amplifiers and one or more speakers.”),
the plurality of speakers each reproduce the audio signal of the same channel from the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit by assigning a same channel to each of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit (¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “FIG. 2A illustrates zone player 200 that includes sound producing equipment 208 capable of reproducing full-range sound. The sound may come from an audio signal that is received and processed by zone player 200 over a wired or wireless data network… In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.” “the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels.”), and
in a case in which the number of speakers has been decreased, the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role reproduce the audio signal from the first or second speaker unit on the channel that was assigned to the released speaker by assigning different channels to the first and second speaker units (¶0031, ¶0100-0101 and ¶0107-0108, Figs. 2a and 6. “For instance, the adjustment of the rendering of audio content may involve adding the playback responsibility of the first playback device to the rendering of the audio content by the at least second playback device. In other words, when one or more zone players of a bonded zone becomes unresponsive, disappears, or is otherwise deemed to have failed, the remaining zone players in the bonded zone may be considered a new configuration of zone players for rendering the audio content.” “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both. In some embodiments, zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio.” Zone player 200 can play stereo audio by itself or with another zone player, i.e., if it is playing stereo with another zone player and that zone player is removed/fails, it can continue to play both channels by itself.).
Beckhardt does not expressly disclose detect an increase or decrease in the number of speakers by: detecting a detected audio signal obtained by a microphone of sound reproduced from the plurality of speakers.
Yore discloses detect an increase or decrease in the number of speakers by: detecting a detected audio signal obtained by a microphone of sound reproduced from the plurality of speakers (Yore, ¶0031, ¶0034 and ¶0039-0040. “For example, a portable playback device can be moved to different locations within a playback system. As the portable playback device changes position, the audio that it is desired to reproduce will also change.” “For example, moving a playback device to a position away from a device that it was previously bonded with to reproduce one channel of a stereo pair may result in that playback device automatically changing its audio allocation to reproduce all channels. Moving a playback device to a position in proximity to another playback device may result in the audio allocation being updated so that the playback device reproduces one channel of a stereo pair or one channel of a surround sound or home theater setup.” “Causing the second playback device to emit a sound; receiving the sound via a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones provided on the first playback device; and determining the position based on the relative magnitude of the received sound at two or more of the plurality of microphones in the microphone array.”);
The motivation is the same as claim 1 above.
Beckhardt in view of Yore does not expressly disclose calculating a correlation value between the detected audio signal obtained by the microphone and the audio signal distributed to each of the plurality of speakers; and
comparing the correlation value to a threshold, wherein the decrease in the number of speakers is detected in response to the correlation value being less than the threshold.
Fischer discloses calculating a correlation value between the detected audio signal obtained by the microphone and the audio signal distributed to each of the plurality of speakers (Fischer, ¶0017. “The processor may perform cross-correlation of each of the captured audio signals at each of the wireless speakers with the original calibration tones. The result of the cross-correlation may yield a measured delay representing the propagation time from the emitting wireless speaker to the recording wireless speaker. By using a known speed of sound constant, distances between the wireless speakers may be estimated. These distances can then be fed into a non-linear optimization algorithm which may solve for the relative locations of the concerned wireless speakers.”); and
comparing the correlation value to a threshold, wherein the decrease in the number of speakers is detected in response to the correlation value being less than the threshold (Fischer, ¶0017. “Put in a different way, the processor may determine, based on the received audio data, a relative location of the first wireless speaker or the second wireless speaker.” See also Yore, ¶0132 and ¶0180. “In another example, the proximity test may involve transmission of an acoustic signal (e.g., an ultrasonic signal) between the playback device and the other playback device. In this example, the proximity test with the other device may be passed when the acoustic signal is detected by one of the playback device and the other playback device in accordance with one or more criteria indicative of proximity (e.g., the detected acoustic signal has a signal strength above a threshold). Otherwise, the proximity test with the other device may fail. Additional techniques for proximity detection using acoustic waves are described.” “Wireless communication indicates that the devices are no longer in proximity, for example a Bluetooth connection between them is lost or indicates a separation distance above a predetermined threshold.”).
Beckhardt, Yore and Fischer are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to wireless loudspeaker 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 cross-correlation, as taught by Fischer. The motivation would have been using well-known distance calculations to determine relative speaker locations (Fischer, ¶0017).
Claims 12-15 and 17-19 are rejected under claim 11 using the same motivation as claims 2-5 and 7-9 above.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Beckhardt in view of Yore and further in view of Kadri and Fischer.
As to claim 20, Beckhardt discloses an audio signal distribution system (Figs. 1-5) comprising:
a plurality of speakers (Fig. 1-2); and
an audio signal distribution apparatus (Figs. 1-5), wherein:
the audio signal distribution apparatus is configured to:
assign a reproduction role to each of the plurality of speakers (¶0045 and ¶0099. “If a zone contains two or more zone players, such as the two zone players 106 and 108 in the family room, then the two zone players 106 and 108 can be configured to play the same audio source in synchrony, or the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels, for example. In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”);
distribute an audio signal to the plurality of speakers according to the reproduction role (¶0045 and ¶0098-0099, Fig. 6. “In other words, the stereo effects of a sound can be reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, one for the left sound and the other for the right sound.”);
wherein the plurality of speakers reproduce a distributed audio signal (¶0124. “In one case, a bonded zone may include two zone players that are paired such that the first zone player plays the right channel audio component and the second zone player plays the left channel audio component.”); and
wherein the audio signal distribution apparatus is further configured to:
in response to a number of speakers being decreased, cause a speaker paired with a released speaker on the reproduction role to further reproduce sound of the released speaker (¶0106-0108 and ¶0124, Figs. 6 and 8b. “In this case, if the second zone player rendering the left channel audio component is deemed to have failed, then the first zone player rendering the right channel audio component may be configured to continue to play the right channel audio component without disruption, and further, automatically redistribute the channel distribution of the audio content such that the first zone player now also renders the left channel audio component.”), wherein:
the plurality of speakers each include a first speaker unit and a second speaker unit (¶0030-0031, Figs. 1b, 2a. “Sound producing equipment 208 includes one or more built-in amplifiers and one or more speakers.”),
the plurality of speakers each reproduce the audio signal of the same channel from the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit by assigning a same channel to each of the first speaker unit and the second speaker unit (¶0030-0031 and ¶0045, Figs. 1a-b, 2a. “FIG. 2A illustrates zone player 200 that includes sound producing equipment 208 capable of reproducing full-range sound. The sound may come from an audio signal that is received and processed by zone player 200 over a wired or wireless data network… In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both.” “the two zone players 106 and 108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and right channels.”), and
in a case in which the number of speakers has been decreased, the speaker paired with the released speaker on the reproduction role reproduce the audio signal from the first or second speaker unit on the channel that was assigned to the released speaker by assigning different channels to the first and second speaker units (¶0031, ¶0100-0101 and ¶0107-0108, Figs. 2a and 6. “For instance, the adjustment of the rendering of audio content may involve adding the playback responsibility of the first playback device to the rendering of the audio content by the at least second playback device. In other words, when one or more zone players of a bonded zone becomes unresponsive, disappears, or is otherwise deemed to have failed, the remaining zone players in the bonded zone may be considered a new configuration of zone players for rendering the audio content.” “In some embodiments, zone player 200 can be statically or dynamically configured to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, or both. In some embodiments, zone player 200 is configured to reproduce a subset of full-range sound, such as when zone player 200 is grouped with other zone players to play stereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio.” Zone player 200 can play stereo audio by itself or with another zone player, i.e., if it is playing stereo with another zone player and that zone player is removed/fails, it can continue to play both channels by itself.).
Beckhardt does not expressly disclose detect an increase or decrease in a number of speakers by: causing unique non-audible spread code noise sounds to be emitted from each of the plurality of speakers.
Yore discloses detect an increase or decrease in a number of speakers by: causing non-audible noise sounds to be emitted from each of the plurality of speakers (Yore, ¶0031, ¶0034 and ¶0039-0040. “Causing the second playback device to emit a sound; receiving the sound via a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones provided on the first playback device; and determining the position based on the relative magnitude of the received sound at two or more of the plurality of microphones in the microphone array… The emitted sound could be audible or inaudible. Inaudible sound could be ultrasonic, outside the range of typical human hearing, and/or having a frequency above 20 kHz”);
detecting a detected audio signal obtained by a microphone of the non- audible spread noise sounds reproduced from the plurality of speakers (Yore, ¶0031, ¶0034 and ¶0039-0040. “For example, a portable playback device can be moved to different locations within a playback system. As the portable playback device changes position, the audio that it is desired to reproduce will also change.” “For example, moving a playback device to a position away from a device that it was previously bonded with to reproduce one channel of a stereo pair may result in that playback device automatically changing its audio allocation to reproduce all channels. Moving a playback device to a position in proximity to another playback device may result in the audio allocation being updated so that the playback device reproduces one channel of a stereo pair or one channel of a surround sound or home theater setup.” “Causing the second playback device to emit a sound; receiving the sound via a microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones provided on the first playback device; and determining the position based on the relative magnitude of the received sound at two or more of the plurality of microphones in the microphone array… The emitted sound could be audible or inaudible. Inaudible sound could be ultrasonic, outside the range of typical human hearing, and/or having a frequency above 20 kHz”).
The motivation is the same as claim 1 above.
Beckhardt in view of Yore does not expressly disclose unique non-audible spread code noise sounds.
Kadri discloses unique non-audible spread code noise sounds (Kadri, ¶0148. “will be understood that any method of distinguishing the test sound(s) emitted from the playback devices 702-710 could be used, including but not limited to one or more of… (iii) each playback device encoding an identifier into its test sound… and/or (v) any other mechanism for distinguishing signals now known or later developed.” Using spread code/spread spectrum for distinguishing audio signals inaudibly (e.g. watermarking, etc.) is well-known routine and conventional in the art.).
The motivation is the same as claim 1 above.
Beckhardt in view of Yore as modified by Kadri does not expressly disclose calculating a correlation value between the detected audio signal obtained by the microphone and audio signals representing the unique non-audible spread code sounds distributed to each of the plurality of speakers; and
comparing the correlation value to a threshold, wherein the decrease in the number of speakers is detected in response to the correlation value being less than the threshold.
Fischer discloses calculating a correlation value between the detected audio signal obtained by the microphone and audio signals representing the unique non-audible spread code sounds distributed to each of the plurality of speakers (Fischer, ¶0017. “The processor may perform cross-correlation of each of the captured audio signals at each of the wireless speakers with the original calibration tones. The result of the cross-correlation may yield a measured delay representing the propagation time from the emitting wireless speaker to the recording wireless speaker. By using a known speed of sound constant, distances between the wireless speakers may be estimated. These distances can then be fed into a non-linear optimization algorithm which may solve for the relative locations of the concerned wireless speakers.”); and
comparing the correlation value to a threshold, wherein the decrease in the number of speakers is detected in response to the correlation value being less than the threshold (Fischer, ¶0017. “Put in a different way, the processor may determine, based on the received audio data, a relative location of the first wireless speaker or the second wireless speaker.” See also Yore, ¶0132 and ¶0180. “In another example, the proximity test may involve transmission of an acoustic signal (e.g., an ultrasonic signal) between the playback device and the other playback device. In this example, the proximity test with the other device may be passed when the acoustic signal is detected by one of the playback device and the other playback device in accordance with one or more criteria indicative of proximity (e.g., the detected acoustic signal has a signal strength above a threshold). Otherwise, the proximity test with the other device may fail. Additional techniques for proximity detection using acoustic waves are described.” “Wireless communication indicates that the devices are no longer in proximity, for example a Bluetooth connection between them is lost or indicates a separation distance above a predetermined threshold.”).
Beckhardt, Yore, Kadri and Fischer are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to wireless loudspeaker systems.
The motivation is the same as claim 11 above.
Conclusion
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/JAMES K MOONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695