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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/12/2026 has been entered.
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, 5-6, 9, 15-16, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lin teaches a method comprising:
receiving data for transmission within an audio environment [[abstract] ultrasound transmission; [0020] ultrasonic audio communication protocol; [0029] transfers between transmitting and receiving devices];
interleaving the data with a unique identifier associated with the data [[prior art claim 1] add a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to a bit packet based on input data … encode the bit packet … block interleave the encoded bit packet] to form interleaved data [[0020]; [fig. 6]; [[0030] a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is added for packet error detection; note: instant fig. 4a shows the meaning of interleaved data which appears identical to prior art fig. 6];
modulating the interleaved data into a plurality of audio symbols to form an audio transmission [[abstract] bit stream is converted into symbols. Each symbol is mapped to a dual tone multi frequency (DTMF); [0018] described herein is a signal format with a combination of cyclic redundancy check (CRC), encoding mapping modulation format, and preamble selections; [0029] system utilizes a CRC/FEC/Gray mapping/Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) modulation/cyclic broadcast];
generating an audio signal containing the plurality of audio symbols [[0042] a signal generation device 1018 (e.g., a speaker); [prior art claim 1] generate a first audio buffer based on the DTMF for ultrasound transmission; [prior art claim 3] the first audio buffer is provided to the first speaker]; and
transmitting the audio signal within the audio environment [[0020] signal may be transmitted through speakers such as PC or TV speakers. Devices within ear shot of the transmitting device in a conference room can ‘hear’ the ultrasound signal and decode the message; [0028] system's communication signal parameters were chosen specifically to combat channel conditions in typical office conference room environments].
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Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Luby teaches generating an error checking code for the data [[0029] many error-correcting codes have been developed to correct for erasures and/or for errors. [0030] typically, the particular code used is chosen based on some information about the infidelities of the channel through which the data is being transmitted and the nature of the data being transmitted.]; interleaving the data with a unique identifier and the error checking code to form interleaved data [[0030] for example, where the channel is known to have long periods of infidelity, a burst error code might be best suited for that application. Where only short, infrequent errors are expected a simple parity code might be best; [0101] Forward Error Correction (“FEC”) Payload ID for the basic UFD method comprises a universal file symbol identifier (“UFSI”) field, which for example can be a 32-bit field; [0116] encoded symbols for the Z source blocks are sent in interleaved order; [0162] desirable that each DASH segment be FEC protected and delivered fully-interleaved with the other segments, wherein preferably the interleaving provided by UFD and UEP delivery methods within packets can be utilized], wherein the unique identifier is associated with the data [[0335] Let (J, L) be an identifier for a sub-block within the file, wherein J is the source block number and L is the sub-block number within that source block. Then, the file will comprise 1056 sub-symbols for sub-block (0,0) … sub-block (0,1) … sub-block (0,2) … sub-block (1,0) … sub-block (1,1); [0368] file name or URI].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with interleaved data with error checking code and unique identifier as taught by Luby so that different subblocks of transmitted audio can be identified by file name and errors can be corrected (Luby) [[0029][0030][0335][0368]].
Regarding claim 5, Lin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein interleaving the data includes dividing the data into a plurality of data segments and interleaving the plurality of data segments to form the interleaved data [[0020]; [fig. 6]; note: instant fig. 4a shows the meaning of interleaved data which appears identical to prior art fig. 6].
Regarding claim 6, Lin teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the data is divided into at least three data segments [[fig. 6] shows input data divided into four data segments].
Regarding claim 9, Lin teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the data is encoded according to a predetermined encoding protocol before being interleaved to form the interleaved data [[0031] after encoding the encoded packet is run through a block interleaver to combat burst errors].
Regarding claim 15, Lin teaches a system comprising:
a processor [[0040] hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations]; and
a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor [[0042] central processing unit (CPU) … main memory … static memory], cause the processor
to:
receive data for transmission within an audio environment [[abstract][0020][0029]];
interleave the data to form a data payload [[0020][fig. 6]];
modulate the data payload into a plurality of audio symbols to form an audio transmission [[abstract][0018][0029]];
generate an audio signal containing the plurality of audio symbols [[0042][prior art claim 1][prior art claim 3]]; and
transmit the audio signal within the audio environment [[0020][0028]].
Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Luby teaches generate an error checking code for the data [[0029] many error-correcting codes have been developed to correct for erasures and/or for errors. [0030] typically, the particular code used is chosen based on some information about the infidelities of the channel through which the data is being transmitted and the nature of the data being transmitted.]; interleave the data with a unique identifier and the error checking code to form a data payload [[0030] for example, where the channel is known to have long periods of infidelity, a burst error code might be best suited for that application. Where only short, infrequent errors are expected a simple parity code might be best; [0101] Forward Error Correction (“FEC”) Payload ID for the basic UFD method comprises a universal file symbol identifier (“UFSI”) field, which for example can be a 32-bit field; [0116] encoded symbols for the Z source blocks are sent in interleaved order; [0162]; [0335] Let (J, L) be an identifier for a sub-block within the file; [0282] deinterleaving or decoding the original source file].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with interleaved data with error checking code and unique identifier as taught by Luby so that different subblocks of transmitted audio can be identified by file name and errors can be corrected (Luby) [[0029][0030][0335][0368]].
Regarding claim 16, Lin teaches a method comprising:
detecting an audio transmission within an audio signal received from an audio environment;
extracting the audio transmission from the audio signal;
identifying a data payload of the audio transmission;
deinterleaving the data payload according to a predetermined interleaving protocol to form deinterleaved data [[0037] bit stream is passed through a multi-channel maximal-ratio combining (MRC). At 916, the bit stream is deinterleaved];
decoding the deinterleaved data to form a decoded data payload [[0037] At 922, the data is retrieved. After the payload is deciphered]; and
extracting data from the decoded data payload [[0037] after the payload is deciphered an application in the user space may consume the decoded messages for whatever the application intends].
Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Luby teaches the deinterleaved data comprising at least an error checking code and a unique identifier [[0029] many error-correcting codes have been developed to correct for erasures and/or for errors. [0030] typically, the particular code used is chosen based on some information about the infidelities of the channel through which the data is being transmitted and the nature of the data being transmitted.[[0030] for example, where the channel is known to have long periods of infidelity, a burst error code might be best suited for that application. Where only short, infrequent errors are expected a simple parity code might be best; [0101] Forward Error Correction (“FEC”) Payload ID for the basic UFD method comprises a universal file symbol identifier (“UFSI”) field, which for example can be a 32-bit field; [0116] encoded symbols for the Z source blocks are sent in interleaved order; [0162]; [0335] Let (J, L) be an identifier for a sub-block within the file; [0282] deinterleaving or decoding the original source file].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with deinterleaved data with error checking code and unique identifier as taught by Luby so that different subblocks of transmitted audio can be identified by file name and errors can be corrected (Luby) [[0029][0030][0335][0368]].
Regarding claim 18, Lin teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the deinterleaved data is decoded according to a predetermined encoding protocol [[0020] ultrasonic audio communication protocol; [0037] DTMF decoder maps the signal parts back to a bit stream through one or more tone detection algorithms like Goertzel (or other algorithms that are faster than FFT). At 914, the bit stream is passed through a multi-channel maximal-ratio combining (MRC). At 916, the bit stream is deinterleaved. At 918, the bit stream can be decoded using e.g., a Viterbi decoder.].
Claims 2-3 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kang (KR 10-20080015547 A).
Regarding claim 2, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Kang teaches the method of claim 1, wherein interleaving the data includes interleaving the data with supplementary data to form the interleaved data [[pg. 5] a random bit generator that generates a random bit stream, an interleaver into which an information bit stream and the random bit stream are independently input].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with the interleaving of information data and random bit stream data which are the same length because as the length of the information bit string increases so does the length of the random code bit string (Kang) [[pg. 5]].
Regarding claim 3, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Kang teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the supplementary data is a random data sequence with the same length as the data [[pg. 8] random bit generator (310) generates a random bit stream having the same length as an information bit stream].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with the interleaving of information data and random bit stream data which are the same length because as the length of the information bit string increases so does the length of the random code bit string (Kang) [[pg. 5]].
Regarding claim 17, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Kang teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising, before decoding the deinterleaved data, removing a portion of the deinterleaved data that corresponds to supplementary data [[pg. 14] decryption device (600) includes a random bit inserter (610), a turbo decoder (630), and a random bit remover (650).; [pg. 15] The random bit remover (650) removes a random bit string from the bit data string output from the turbo decoder (630). When the random bit is removed, the original information bits are restored].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the interleaving as taught by Lin, with the decoding as taught by Kang so that the random portion of the bit string may be extracted so that the original information is restored (Kang) [[pg. 14]].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1) as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Prasad (US 2010/0083072 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Prasad teaches the method of claim 5, wherein, prior to interleaving the plurality of data segments to form the interleaved data, reversing the data symbols of at least one of the plurality of data segments [[abstract] K symbol data in an interleaved order; [0022] de-interleaver 122 can be used to reverse, or undo, the interleaving performed by interleaver 120. Note that "de-interleaving" can be considered an "interleaving" process wherein the permutations are performed in the reverse order to recover data, e.g., as it existed prior to interleaving. Thus, for example, a de-interleaver may perform permutations of the columns followed by permutations of the rows, which is the reverse order of the permutations performed in the interleaver.; [0043] performs a permutation that reverses the permutation performed in a corresponding interleaver].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with the reversing of the order of the data as taught by Prasad into reverse order because when transferring data to a processor with a different endianness it may be more convenient to change the data order during transmission.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Inazawa (US 6,587,948 B1).
Regarding claim 8, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Inazawa teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the data is modulated into audio symbols before being interleaved to form the interleaved data [[col. 8:40-50][para. 74] digital audio signal D2 obtained as a result of scrambling carried out in this way as shown in FIG. 5 is supplied to the modulation circuit 52 for adding sub-code data and error-correction codes to the signal D2 before interleave processing].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving as taught by Lin, with the modulation before interleaving as taught by Inazawa so that error correction codes may be added to the audio signal prior to the interleaving processing.
Claims 11-14 and 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Monahan (WO 2016/204873 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Monahan teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the interleaved data is combined with header information before being modulated to form the audio transmission [[abstract] audio data stream – i.e., explains that operations are performed on data; [0029] a header 320 that includes data regarding how each of the streams is to be treated upon display to a user. … file container 300 encapsulates each stream and allows for the interleaving of audio, video, and other data inside a single package. In this embodiment, the use of header 320 allows file container 300 to administer overhead tasks such as packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps for seeking video, audio, or subtitle information].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving of Lin, with the inclusion of a packet with a header containing packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps so that a receiving device may reassemble the original data stream in the correct time order. (Monahan) [[0030] codec encodes … and decodes it on the receiving end].
Regarding claim 12, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Monahan teaches the method of claim 11, wherein the header isnformation indicates that a data payload was interleaved [[abstract]; [0029] packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps for seeking video, audio].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving of Lin, with the inclusion of a packet with a header containing packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps so that a receiving device may reassemble the original data stream in the correct time order. (Monahan) [[0030] codec encodes … and decodes it on the receiving end].
Regarding claim 13, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Monahan teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the data is interleaved according to a predetermined interleaving protocol, and wherein the header information is generated to indicate the predetermined interleaving protocol [[abstract] [0029]].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving of Lin, with the inclusion of a packet with a header containing packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps so that a receiving device may reassemble the original data stream in the correct time order. (Monahan) [[0030] codec encodes … and decodes it on the receiving end].
Regarding claim 14, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Monahan teaches the method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined interleaving protocol specifies one or more of a symbol length of the audio symbols, a number of interleaved data segments, a length of a supplementary data segment, and/or an ordering of the interleaved data [[abstract] [0029]].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving of Lin, with the inclusion of a packet with a header containing packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps so that a receiving device may reassemble the original data stream in the correct time order. (Monahan) [[0030] codec encodes … and decodes it on the receiving end].
Regarding claim 19, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Monahan teaches the method of claim 18, wherein deinterleaving the data payload [[0032] decoding application] comprises: extracting a header of the audio transmission [[fig. 4] shows header #320 with audio stream #308]; and identifying, within the header of the audio transmission, an indication of the predetermined encoding protocol [[0029] encapsulates each stream and allows for the interleaving of audio, video, and other data inside a single package. In this embodiment, the use of header 320 allows file container 300 to administer overhead tasks such as packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps for seeking video, audio, or subtitle information; [0034] audio data streams].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the interleaving of Lin, with the inclusion of a packet with a header containing packet framing, ordering, interleaving, error detection, and periodic timestamps so that a receiving device may reassemble the original data stream in the correct time order. (Monahan) [[0030] codec encodes … and decodes it on the receiving end].
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1) and Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shirato (US 2002/0016966 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet Shirato teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising demodulating the data payload before deinterleaving the data payload [[0004] digitized video or audio signals; [0031] program selector 4 deinterleaves the transmission data output from the signal demodulator 3, which is recovered into the original data stream before being subjected to a predetermined error detection and correction process to restore the program data containing program information (audio data) for a plurality of programs].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the interleaving of Lin, with the demodulation and deinterleaving of audio signals as taught by Shirato so that the original audio data information is recovered. (Shirato) [[0031]].
Claims 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 2020/0169327 A1), Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1), and Kang (KR 10-20080015547 A) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of August1972 (NN7208715).
Regarding claim 21, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet August1972 teaches, the method of claim 2, wherein the supplementary data comprises at least one of a copy of the data or a copy of the error checking code [[pg. 1] present redundant data error checking scheme also can be employed without providing duplicate subsystem A', In this case, subsystem A is arranged to supply the same data twice onto the data bus, the first transmission supplying data bits to respective bus channels in normal order and the second transmission reversing data bits with respect to the bus channel pairs].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the interleaving of Lin, with duplicated and reverse data transmission as taught by August1972 so that a redundant data error checking scheme may be employed. (August1972) [[pg. 1]].
Regarding claim 22, Lin does not explicitly teach and yet August1972 teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the supplementary data comprises at least one of a reversed copy of the data or a reversed copy of the error checking code [[pg. 1] present redundant data error checking scheme also can be employed without providing duplicate subsystem A', In this case, subsystem A is arranged to supply the same data twice onto the data bus, the first transmission supplying data bits to respective bus channels in normal order and the second transmission reversing data bits with respect to the bus channel pairs].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the interleaving of Lin, with duplicated and reverse data transmission as taught by August1972 so that a redundant data error checking scheme may be employed. (August1972) [[pg. 1]].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pgs. 5-6, filed 1/12/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 5-6, 9-10, 15-16, and 18 under Lin have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Luby (US 2013/0254631 A1), Prasad (US 2010/0083072 A1) and August1972 (NN7208715).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7339. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9am-5pm.
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645