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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nguyen et al (US 20200099792 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Nguyen discloses a communications system, comprising:
a plurality of electronic devices (fig.2 #210A-H “Client Device”), each corresponding to a participant in a gathering of multiple participants, wherein one or more of the plurality of electronic devices is located in a physical meeting space (Par.[0047] Client Devices #210 may be collocated within a Room #240A-C or remote from one another); and
machine executable instructions, that when executed cause the communications system to:
connect each of the plurality of electronic devices to a meeting platform (fig.2 #230) corresponding to the physical meeting space (Par.[0048] each Client Device #210 is connected to a meeting platform such as a Network #230);
determine relative positions of the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0075] localization may be performed to determine relative positions of talkers using the Client Devices #120);
select an audio stream to transmit to the plurality of electronic devices based on sound feeds received by microphones in the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0049] each Client Device #120 may generate a first audio stream by capturing speech of a user; wherein a representative audio stream is selected and transmitted to respective client devices); and
adjust the audio stream to each of the plurality of electronic devices based on the relative positions of the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0049][0075] the representative audio stream is spatially adjusted based on a relative position between user’s of the client devices #120).
With respect to claim 2, Nguyen discloses the communications system of claim 1, wherein the communications system adjusts the audio stream to each of the plurality of electronic devices by independently setting a volume and delay for one or more speakers of each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0104] delays may be set for each client device to time synchronize spatial rendering of the audio stream; Par.[0113] gain levels may be set for each client device by a host device).
With respect to claim 3, Nguyen discloses the communications system of claim 1, wherein the communications system determines the relative positions of the plurality of electronic devices by: determining relative positions of one or more electronic devices in the physical meeting space based on one or more of sound feeds (Par.[0077] “TDOA” of recorded audio streams), video feeds, and user input, received by the one or more electronic devices.
With respect to claim 4, Nguyen discloses the communications system of claim 1, wherein the communications system determines the relative positions of the plurality of electronic devices by: setting a position of a remote device of the plurality of electronic devices to a selected location in the physical meeting space, wherein the remote device is not located in the physical meeting space (Par.[0049] “A representative audio stream is an audio stream that, when played back using an audio play back device in a room (e.g., 240 A), either (1) approximates a user(s) at their location(s) within the room in which they were recorded (e.g., 240B), or (2) approximates a user(s) at a virtual location while respecting their relative position between one another. In other examples, the representative audio stream spatially renders users from other rooms (e.g., 240B) in the room (e.g., 240A) of the audio play back device(s)”).
With respect to claim 5, Nguyen discloses the communications system of claim 1, wherein the communications system selects the audio stream to transmit to the plurality of electronic devices by: isolating a first sound feed corresponding to a primary person speaking; and setting the first sound feed as the audio stream (Par.[0112] inputs from client devices may be ranked based on importance, such that a leader’s input may be set as a first sound feed streamed to all client devices).
With respect to claim 6, Nguyen discloses the communications system of claim 5, wherein the communications system further selects the audio stream to transmit to the plurality of electronic devices by: isolating a second sound feed corresponding to a secondary person speaking; adding the second sound feed to the first sound feed to produce a mixed sound feed; and setting the mixed sound feed as the audio stream (Par.[0107] “recorded audio streams from multiple users played back on a single client device 210 in another room”).
With respect to claim 7, Nguyen discloses a method for enhancing sound in a meeting, the method comprising:
connecting a plurality of electronic devices to a meeting platform, wherein the plurality of electronic devices are located in a physical meeting space (Par.[0047-0048] Client Devices #210 may be collocated within a Room #240A-C or remote from one another, wherein each Client Device #210 is connected to a meeting platform such as a Network #230));
gathering a plurality of sound feeds from microphones of the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0049] each Client Device #120 may generate a first audio stream by capturing speech of a user; wherein a representative audio stream is selected and transmitted to respective client devices);
identifying a primary person speaking based on the plurality of sound feeds (Par.[0112] primary person or leader may be identified based on a ranking system); and
transmitting in real time an audio stream of the primary person speaking to the plurality of electronic devices (Par.[0112] inputs from client devices may be ranked based on importance, such that a leader’s input may be set as a first sound feed streamed to all client devices).
With respect to claim 8, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, the method further comprising: for an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices: adjusting a delay of the audio stream output by the electronic device based on a sound feed recorded by a microphone of the electronic device (Par.[0104] delays may be set for each client device to time synchronize spatial rendering of the audio stream).
With respect to claim 10, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, the method further comprising: for an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices: adjusting a volume of the audio stream output by the electronic device based on a sound feed recorded by a microphone of the electronic device (Par.[0113] gain levels may be set for each client device by a host device).
With respect to claim 11, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the volume is adjusted based on a difference between a volume threshold of the device and a volume measured by the microphone of the device (Par.[0113] volume gains may be adjusted based on a test signal played by each client device and captured via corresponding microphones).
With respect to claim 12, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, the method further comprising: for an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices: adjusting a delay of the audio stream output by the electronic device based on a distance between the device and the primary person speaking (Par.[0104] delays may be introduced to account for transmission latencies between host and client devices, wherein transmission latencies are related to a distance between communicating devices).
With respect to claim 13, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, the method further comprising: for an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices: adjusting a volume of the audio stream output by the electronic device based on a distance between the electronic device and the primary person speaking (Par.[0113])
With respect to claim 14, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, wherein transmitting in real time the audio stream of the primary person speaking to the plurality of electronic devices comprises: determining an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices closest to the primary person speaking; and setting the audio stream to a sound feed recorded by one or more microphones of the electronic device closest to the primary person speaking (Par.[0112] inputs from client devices may be ranked based on importance, such that client device associated with a leader (i.e. closest client device) may be set as a first sound feed streamed to all client devices).
With respect to claim 15, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 7, wherein connecting the plurality of electronic devices to the meeting platform comprises: correlating a connection of one or more of the plurality of electronic devices to a meeting ID; and automatically connecting the plurality of electronic devices to the meeting platform using the meeting ID (Par.[0095]).
With respect to claim 16, Nguyen discloses a method for a hybrid meeting, the method comprising:
connecting a plurality of electronic devices to a meeting platform, wherein a first electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices is located in a physical meeting space, and wherein a second electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices is remote from the physical meeting space (Par.[0047] Client Devices #210 may be collocated within a Room #240A-C or remote from one another);
determining a first location of the first electronic device within the physical meeting space (Par.[0075] localization may be performed to determine relative positions of talkers using the Client Devices #120);
setting a second location of the second electronic device in the physical meeting space based on a user selection of the second location (Par.[0013][0118-0119] a user may set virtual locations of virtual users of remote client devices);
recording a sound feed from one or more microphones of the first electronic device; determining an audio stream based on the sound feed; transmitting the audio stream to the second electronic device; and adjusting playback of the audio stream at the second electronic device based on a relative position of the first location with respect to the second location (Par.[0049] “A representative audio stream is an audio stream that, when played back using an audio play back device in a room (e.g., 240 A), either (1) approximates a user(s) at their location(s) within the room in which they were recorded (e.g., 240B), or (2) approximates a user(s) at a virtual location while respecting their relative position between one another. In other examples, the representative audio stream spatially renders users from other rooms (e.g., 240B) in the room (e.g., 240A) of the audio play back device(s)”. Sound feeds captured by microphones of a first client device may be transmitted to and reproduced by a second client device in a separate meeting space, wherein the sound feed is adjusted with respect to a relative spatial location of the client devices).
With respect to claim 17, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 16, wherein adjusting playback of the audio stream at the second electronic device based on the relative position of the first location with respect to the second location comprises: simulating sound propagation from the first location to the second location using two or more speakers of the second electronic device (Par.[0043-0045] as shown in figures 1A,B at least two speakers are used to reproduce spatialized audio to a user of the client devices).
With respect to claim 18, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 16, the method further comprising: recording a sound feed from one or more microphones of the second electronic device; determining an audio stream based on the sound feed; transmitting the audio stream to the first electronic device; and adjusting playback of the audio stream at the second electronic device based on the relative position of the first location with respect to the second location (Par.[0049][0075] the representative audio stream is spatially adjusted based on a relative position between users’ of the client devices #120).
With respect to claim 19, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 18, wherein adjusting playback of the audio stream at the second electronic device based on the relative position of the first location with respect to the second location comprises: simulating sound propagation from the second location to the first location using two or more speakers of the first electronic device (Par.[0043-0045] as shown in figures 1A,B at least two speakers are used to reproduce spatialized audio to a user of the client devices).
With respect to claim 20, Nguyen discloses the method of claim 16, the method further comprising: updating the first location to a third location based on input received by a user input device of the first electronic device (Par.[0013][0118-0119] a user may set virtual locations of virtual users of remote client devices).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed December 15, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding independent claims 1 and 7, the Applicant remarks that the Nguyen reference (US 20200099792 A1) does not teach selecting an audio stream to transmit to the plurality of electronic devices based on an analysis of the sound feeds.
The Examiner would like to note that the present claim language does not disclose an “analysis” step of the sound feeds.
Claim 1 provides: “select an audio stream to transmit to the plurality of electronic devices based on sound feeds received by microphones in the plurality of electronic devices”. The term “based on” is not the same as an “analysis” of the sound feeds. Nguyen provides a selection of audio streams to transmit between client devices, wherein the audio streams are “based on” the sound feeds picked up by microphones of each client device.
Claim 7 provides: “identifying a primary person speaking based on the plurality of sound feeds”. As per paragraph [0112] of Nguyen, the audio processing module #320 of the client devices #210 may use ranked metadata to assign outputs to the client devices. Such a ranking of outputs is an identification of a primary person that is speaking in order to output an audio stream “based on” the sound feed received by a microphones of client device associated with the primary person.
Regarding independent claim 16, the Applicant remarks that Nguyen does not teach; “setting a second location of the second electronic device in the physical meeting space based on a user selection of the second location”. The Applicant continues that the claim limitation requires that the remote participant themselves select their own virtual position within the physical meeting space.
The Examiner disagrees, and would like to note that at no point within the claim language does it state that the remote participant selects their own virtual position within the physical meeting space. The claim merely states that the second location is set based on a user selection of the second location, therefor any user may set the second location.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JASON R KURR whose telephone number is (571)270-5981. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5.
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JASON R. KURR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2695
/JASON R KURR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695