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
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1,10,18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being fully met by Maezawa (JP 2018146782A, from Espacenet).
Regarding Claims 1,10,18, Maezawa discloses an electronic musical instrument, comprising:
a keyboard, comprising a key that allows automatic operation (piano, para. 0053);
a performance information acquisition part 10,20, acquiring performance information containing note-on or note-off and an input timing of the performance information;
a key drive timing setting part 10, setting a key drive timing being a timing of performing automatic operation of the key of the keyboard according to the performance information acquired by the performance information acquisition part based on the input timing of the performance information;
an advancement part 10, in response to a time difference between the key drive timing of previous performance information set by the key drive timing setting part and the key drive timing of subsequent performance information related to the same sound as the previous performance information being less than or equal to a predetermined timing threshold, re-setting the key drive timing of the previous performance information to an advanced timing (paras. 0053, 0054); and
an automatic operation part 30, performing automatic operation of the key of the keyboard based on the performance information acquired by the performance information acquisition part at the key drive timing of the performance information (para. 0011).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9, 11-17 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references cited show related teachings in the art.
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JEFFREY . DONELS
Examiner
Art Unit 2837
/JEFFREY DONELS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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