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.
Claims 1-3, 6-11, and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tajik (US Pub. 20210258713).
Regarding claim 1, Tajik discloses an audio processing method (see abstract) comprising:
obtaining, based on movement of a user, motion information of an audio playback device, wherein the motion information comprises a motion trajectory of the audio playback device, real-time motion speed of the audio playback device, and an acceleration of the audio playback device (see fig. 4, item 409; paragraph 45; “an additional source of information on the user's head pose and location is obtained from an IMU 409”);
based on the obtained motion information and a preset sound effect function, determining position information and angle information of at least two virtual speakers relative to the user (see paragraph 52; “if a static sound source is initially located on a user's left side, the sounds emitted by that sound source may predominate in the user's left ear as compared to the user's right ear. But if the user rotates 180 degrees, such that the sound source is now located on the user's right side, the user will expect the sounds to predominate in the user's right ear. Similarly, while the user moves, the sound source may continually appear to be changing location relative to the user (e.g., minute positional changes may result in minute, but perceptible, changes in detected volume at each ear)”);
based on the preset sound effect function, and the determined position information and angle information of the at least two virtual speakers, determining spatial audio data (see fig. 4, item 422; paragraph 47); and
outputting the spatial audio data via the audio playback device (see paragraph 47; “The DSP audio spatializer 422 can output audio to a left speaker 412 and/or a right speaker 414”).
Regarding claim 2, Tajik discloses the method of claim 1, as discussed above, wherein the determining the angle information comprises: obtaining, by the audio playback device, head rotation angle information of the user; and based on the obtained head rotation angle information and a preset head rotation angle adjustment rule, adjusting the angle information of the at least two virtual speakers (see paragraph 54; “the virtual objects are fixed relative to the environment, instead of fixed relative to a user”).
Regarding claim 3, Tajik discloses the method of claim 2, as discussed above,, wherein the head rotation angle adjustment rule comprises: based on detecting a user's head turning to the left, decreasing a first angle between a virtual speaker on a left side of the user's head and a horizontal line of the user, and the angle directly in front of the user, and increasing a second angle between a virtual speaker on a right side of the user's head and the horizontal line of the user, and the angle directly in front of the user; and based on detecting the user's head turning to the right, decreasing the second angle between the virtual speaker on the right side of the user's head and the horizontal line of the user, and the angle directly in front of the user, and increasing the first angle between the virtual speaker on the left side of the user's head and the horizontal line of the user, and the angle directly in front of the user (see paragraph 54; “the virtual objects are fixed relative to the environment, instead of fixed relative to a user”).
Regarding claim 6, Tajik discloses the method of claim 1, as discussed above, wherein the obtaining the motion information comprises obtaining the motion information by a positioning device and an acceleration sensor, and wherein at least one of the positioning device and the acceleration sensor is set on the audio playback device, or is included in a smart mobile device that is communicatively connected to the audio playback device (see fig. 4, item 409).
Regarding claim 7, Tajik discloses the method of claim 1, as discussed above, further comprising: determining, based on the acceleration being greater than 0, that each of the at least two virtual speakers is located in a direction opposite to a direction of movement of the audio playback device; and determining, based on the acceleration being less than 0, that the at least two virtual speakers are located in the same direction as the direction of movement of the audio playback device (see paragraph 63).
Regarding claim 8, Tajik discloses the method of claim 1, as discussed above, wherein the motion trajectory comprises acceleration turning movement and deceleration turning movement; the acceleration turning movement indicates that the at least two virtual speakers are located on a side opposite to a turning direction and in the direction opposite to the direction of movement of the audio playback device; and the deceleration turning movement indicates that the at least two virtual speakers are located on the side opposite to the turning direction and in the same direction as the direction of movement of the audio playback device (see paragraph 64; “the one or more sound sources may move as if they were “elastically” tied to the user's head”; “accelerate angular velocity, and decelerate angular velocity”).
Regarding claim 9, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 1; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 1, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 10, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 2; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 2, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 11, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 3; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 3, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 14, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 6; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 6, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 15, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 7; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 7, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 16, the claimed limitations are an audio playback device claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 8; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 8, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 17, the claimed limitations are a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 1; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 1, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 18, the claimed limitations are a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 2; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 2, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 19, the claimed limitations are a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim directly corresponding to the audio processing method of claim 3; therefore, is rejected for the significantly the similar reasons as claim 3, as discussed above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 12-13, and 20 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 18th, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant is reminded that the specifications are not the measure of invention. Therefore, limitations contained therein cannot be read into the claims for the purpose of avoiding the prior art. In re Sporck, 55 CCPA 743, 386 F.2d 924, 155 USPQ 687 (1968). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Regarding applicant’s arguments that the prior art reference, Tajik, fails to disclose “obtaining real-time motion speed of the audio playback device, or an acceleration of the audio playback device” (Remarks, bottom, page 9), examiner would like to note that the limitation, as interpreted reasonably broadly, reads on the prior art reference, as discussed above. Further, the prior art reference discloses “This approach can have the advantage of allowing user 502 to perceive dynamic changes in spatialization based on movements of the user 502” (Tajik, paragraph 52).
Regarding applicant’s arguments that the prior art reference, Tajik, fails to disclose “determining position information and angle information of at least two virtual speakers” based on the motion information (Remarks, top, page 10), examiner would like to reiterate that the claimed limitations have been interpreted reasonably broadly to read on the prior art reference, as discussed above (e.g. the prior art reference, Tajik, discloses “while the user moves, the sound source may continually appear to be changing location relative to the user” which necessarily teaches the position information and angle information of virtual speakers).
Finally, examiner would like to suggest amending claimed limitation “position information” to “distance information” and adding “wherein, the preset sound effect function is implemented based on a correspondence table which maps acceleration value ranges to a respective angle and distance for each of the at least two virtual speakers” to each of the independent claims 1, 9, and 17, in order to overcome the prior art rejections.
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 PAUL KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-7697. The examiner can normally be reached 9 AM - 5 PM, PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, VIVIAN CHIN can be reached at (571) 272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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