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 .
This Office Action is in response to correspondence filed 10 April 2026 in reference to application 18/406,351. Claims 1-31 are pending and have been examined.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 10 April 2026 has been accepted and considered in this office action. Claims 1-30 have been amended and claim 31 added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 10 April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, see Remarks pages 14-19 that Niemeyer fail to teach the limitations of claim 1. The examiner respectfully disagrees.
Applicant first argues, see Remarks page 16 and again on pages 18-19, that Niemeyer does not teach that pulses or pulse waveforms are determined “based on their location at or near peaks of a temporal envelope derived from the spectrogram.” However the claim only requires that “pulse extractor is configured to determine a spectrogram of the audio signal to extract the pulse portion.” This limitation is clearly taught by Niemeyer at section 2, where transients are extracted in the “time-frequency domain” i.e. a spectrogram. The claim is entirely silent on using “peaks.” 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).
Applicant next argues, that MDCT domain is not required by the claim. The claim requires determining a spectrogram, and MDCT is a well-known method of determining spectrograms, which is demonstrated in figure 3 of Niemeyer.
Applicant next argues, see Remarks page 17, that Niemeyer does not teach “a pulse coder for encoding the extracted pulse portion to acquire an encoded pulse portion; a signal encoder configured for encoding the residual signal derived from the audio signal to acquire an encoded residual signal, the residual signal being derived from the audio signal by reducing or eliminating the pulse portion from the audio signal.” Applicant’s arguments, seem to be based on an assertion that Niemeyer fails to teach this limitation because Niemeyer subtracts a coded and then decoded version of the transient signal to determine the stationary residual signal. However examiner notes that the claim only requires that the pulse portions are reduced or eliminated from the audio signal and does not specify how that step is performed. While the differences may appear in the figure of the application, it does not appear in the claim. 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).
Applicant also argues on page 17, that that the pulse extractor which performs the determination of the pulses directly performs the pulse extraction. However this again is not specified in the claim.
Applicant also argues, that the claims “focus on local mixima energy” when Niemeyer “focuses on energy increase events.” This difference, again, is not apparent in the claims.
For these reasons, Examiner believes Niemeyer anticipates the invention as claimed in claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-9, 11, 16-18, and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Niemeyer et al. (Detection and Extraction of Transients for Audio Coding).
Consider claim 1, Niemeyer teaches an audio encoder for encoding an audio signal (abstract) comprising:
a pulse extractor configured for extracting a pulse portion from the audio signal wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine a spectrogram of the audio signal to extract the pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with sections 2 and 3: transient detection and extraction based on spectrogram constituted by the temporally successive spectra);
a pulse coder for encoding the extracted pulse portion to acquire an encoded pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: transient encoding);
a signal encoder configured for encoding a residual signal derived from the audio signal to acquire an encoded residual signal, the residual signal being derived from the audio signal by reducing or eliminating the pulse portion from the audio signal (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: stationary part/ residual encoding encodes signal that has had transients subtracted);
wherein the spectrogram comprises higher time resolution than the signal encoder (figures 2 and 5 with sections 3 and 4: transients extracted from successive spectra computed for successive 256-samples windows of the input audio signal, whereas the stationary/residual signal is encoded with longer 2048- or 4096-samples windows, such that the spectrogram constituted by the successive spectra has a higher time resolution than the stationary/residual signal encoder); and
an output interface configured for outputting the encoded pulse portion and the encoded residual signal to provide an encoded signal (figures 4 and 5, bitstream output).
Consider claim 2, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the pulse coder is configured for providing an information that the encoded pulse portion is not present when the pulse extractor is not able to find a pulse portion in the audio signal (optional limitation); and/or where the pulse portion is derived from the spectrogram of the audio signal (figures 4 and 5 with sections 2 and 3: transient detection and extraction based on spectrogram constituted by the temporally successive spectra. Also see figure 3 showing pulse positions).
Consider claim 3, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the signal encoder is configured for coding the residual signal or the residual comprising a stationary portion of the audio signal (figure 4, and 5, stationary signal portion codes residual signal after transients subtracted); and/or wherein the signal encoder is advantageously a frequency domain encoder (Figure 5, MDCT coding, bottom branch); and/or wherein the signal encoder is more advantageously an MDCT encoder (Figure 5, MDCT coding, bottom branch); and/or wherein the signal encoder is configured to perform MDCT coding (Figure 5, MDCT coding, bottom branch).
Consider claim 4, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the pulse extractor is configured to acquire the pulse portion comprising pulse waveforms (Figures 4 and 5 with sections 2 and 3: transient detection and extraction based on spectrogram constituted by the temporally successive spectra, Also see figure 3, extracted transient waveforms); or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to acquire the pulse portion comprising pulses or pulse waveforms, wherein the pulses or the pulse waveforms are located at or near peaks of a temporal envelope acquired from the spectrogram of the audio signal or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to uniquely determine each pulse of the pulses by a position and pulse waveform (optional limitation).
Consider claim 6, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 4, further comprising a processor for processing the spectrogram of the audio signal or an enhanced spectrogram derived from the spectrogram of the audio signal, such that each pulse or pulse waveform comprises a characteristic of more energy near its temporal center than away from its temporal center or such that the pulses or the pulse waveforms are located at or near peaks of a temporal envelope acquired from the spectrogram of the audio signal (figure 1, and section 2, applying temporal envelope to signal, where more energy is at the center.).
Consider claim 7, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the spectrogram is out of the group comprising: a magnitude spectrogram; a magnitude and a phase spectrogram; a non-linear magnitude spectrogram; a non-linear magnitude and a phase spectrogram; and/or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine the spectrogram, especially the spectrogram of the audio signal and/or the enhanced spectrogram, as to extract the pulse portion (section 2, using MDCT to calculated complex spectrogram, i.e. both amplitude and phase information.).
Consider claim 8, Niemeyer teaches the a udio encoder according to claim 7, wherein the pulse extractor is configured to acquire at least one sample of the temporal envelope or the temporal envelope in at least one time instance by summing up values of a magnitude spectrum in at least one time instance, where the magnitude spectrogram comprises at least one magnitude spectrum, and/or by summing up values of a non-linear magnitude spectrum in at least one time instance, where the non-linear magnitude spectrogram comprises at least one non-linear magnitude spectrum (Section 3, equations 3 -9, adding spectral values added according to envelope for transient extraction ).
Consider claim 9, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according claim 1, wherein the pulse extractor is configured to acquire the pulse portion from the spectrogram of the audio signal by removing or reducing a stationary portion of the audio signal in all time instances of the spectrogram (see figure 3, sections 2 and 3, removal of stationary portions of the signal); and/or by setting to zero and/or by reducing the spectrogram below a start frequency, where the start frequency being proportional to the inverse of an average distance between nearby pulse waveform (OPTIONAL LIMITATION)
Consider claim 11, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine pulse waveforms belonging to the pulse portion dependent on one of: a correlation between pulse waveforms, and/or a distance between the pulse waveforms, and/or a relation between the energy of the pulse waveforms and the audio signal or a relation between the energy of the pulse waveforms and a stationary portion or a relation between the energy of the audio signal and a stationary portion (sections 2 and 3, energy of transient detected by comparing to energy of surrounding audio signal).
Consider claim 16, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, further comprising a band-wise parametric coder configured to provide a coded parametric representation of a spectral representation, wherein the spectral representation of the audio signal is acquired from the residual signal using a time to frequency transform (figure 5, MDCT, lower branch), wherein the spectral representation of the audio signal is divided into a plurality of sub-bands, wherein the spectral representation comprises frequency bins or of frequency coefficients and wherein at least one sub-band comprises more than one frequency bin (Lower branch, MDCT coding, including known psychoacoustic techniques, which involve subbands and bands, also see section 1, 2, an 3.); wherein the coded parametric representation comprises a parameter describing sub-bands or a coded version of parameters describing sub-bands; wherein there are at least two sub-bands being different and, thus, parameters describing at least two sub- bands being different (Lower branch, MDCT coding, including known psychoacoustic techniques, which involve subband coding, also see section 1, 2, an 3. Similar to MP3 AAC, all sub band encoders, but without block switching).
Consider claim 17, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine positions of pulses as local peaks in a smoothed temporal envelope with the requirement that the peaks are above their surroundings; where the smoothed temporal envelope is low-pass filtered version of a temporal envelope acquired from the spectrogram of the audio signal (OPTIONAL LIMITATIONS); and/or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine positions of pulses and wherein the pulse coder is configured to code an information on the positions of pulses as part of the encoded pulse portion (Sections 2-4, pulse positions are determined and encoded as part of the signal along side the residual signal); and/or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to uniquely determine each pulse by a position and pulse waveform (OPTIONAL LIMITATIONS); and/or wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine peaks in a temporal envelope, considered as positions of pulses or of transients, where the temporal envelope is acquired by summing up values of a magnitude spectrogram (OPTIONAL LIMITATIONS).
Consider claim 18, Niemeyer teaches a method for encoding an audio signal (abstract) comprising:
extracting a pulse portion from the audio signal wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine a spectrogram of the audio signal to extract the pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with sections 2 and 3: transient detection and extraction based on spectrogram constituted by the temporally successive spectra);
encoding the extracted pulse portion to acquire an encoded pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: transient encoding);
encoding a residual signal derived from the audio signal to acquire an encoded residual signal, the residual signal being derived from the audio signal by reducing or eliminating the pulse portion from the audio signal (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: stationary part/ residual encoding encodes signal that has had transients subtracted);
wherein the spectrogram comprises higher time resolution than the signal encoder (figures 2 and 5 with sections 3 and 4: transients extracted from successive spectra computed for successive 256-samples windows of the input audio signal, whereas the stationary/residual signal is encoded with longer 2048- or 4096-samples windows, such that the spectrogram constituted by the successive spectra has a higher time resolution than the stationary/residual signal encoder); and
outputting the encoded pulse portion and the encoded residual signal to provide an encoded signal (figures 4 and 5, bitstream output).
Consider claim 31, Niemeyer teaches audio encoder according to claim 1, wherein the pulse coder is configured to code the extracted pulse portion by a spectral envelope common to pulse waveforms close to each other or wherein the pulse coder is configured to encode the extracted pulse portion based on a spectral characterization of one or more pulse waveforms (Section 4, transients are coded in MDCT domain, i.e. based on spectral characteristics).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 5, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niemeyer in view of Ghido et al. (US PAP 2018/0190303).
Consider claim 5, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, but does not specifically teach a highpass filter configured to process the audio signal so that each pulse waveform of the pulse portion comprises a high-pass characteristic and/or a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency and configured to process the audio signal so that the high-pass characteristic within the residual signal is removed or reduced; and/or further comprising a filter configured to process an enhanced spectrogram, wherein the enhanced spectrogram is derived from the spectrogram of the audio signal, or the pulse portion so that each pulse waveform of the pulse portion comprises a high- pass characteristic and/or a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency, where the start frequency being proportional to the inverse of an average distance estimation between nearby pulses; and/or wherein each pulse waveform comprises a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency.
In the same field of transient coding, Ghido teaches a highpass filter configured to process the audio signal so that each pulse waveform of the pulse portion comprises a high-pass characteristic (optional limitation) and/or a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency and configured to process the audio signal so that the high-pass characteristic within the residual signal is removed or reduced (optional limitation); and/or further comprising a filter configured to process an enhanced spectrogram, wherein the enhanced spectrogram is derived from the spectrogram of the audio signal, or the pulse portion so that each pulse waveform of the pulse portion comprises a high- pass characteristic (optional limitation)and/or a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency, where the start frequency being proportional to the inverse of an average distance estimation between nearby pulses (optional limitation); and/or wherein each pulse waveform comprises a characteristic comprising more energy at frequencies starting above a start frequency (0254, high frequencies of transient events are what is processed for transient coding.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to use highpass signals as taught by Ghido in the system of Niemeyer in order to allow for more efficient coding in the high bands where temporal accuracy is more important, improving coding quality.
Claim(s) 10, 14, 15, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niemeyer in view of Herre et al. (US PAP 2010/0262420).
Consider claim 10, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1, but does not specifically teach wherein the pulse coder is configured to encode the extracted pulse portion of a current frame taking into account the extracted pulse portion or extracted pulse portions of one or more frames previous to the current frame.
In the same field of audio coding, Herre teaches wherein the pulse coder is configured to encode the extracted pulse portion of a current frame taking into account the extracted pulse portion or extracted pulse portions of one or more frames previous to the current frame (0064, encoding pulses as a sequence which are time adjusted between adjacent pulses).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to use code pulses dependent on neighboring pulses as taught by Herre in the system of Niemeyer in order to further reduce the amount of data that is required for coding the audio signal accurately.
Consider claim 14, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1,but does not specifically teach a coding entity configured to code or code and quantize a gain for a prediction residual signal, where the prediction residual signal is acquired based on a past pulse portion.
In the same field of coding, Herre teaches a coding entity configured to code or code and quantize a gain for a prediction residual signal, where the prediction residual signal is acquired based on a past pulse portion (0137, using prediction gains to code pulses via LPC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use prediction coding as taught by Herre in the system of Niemeyer in order to further reduce the required bandwidth needed to encode the audio signal.
Consider claim 15, Herre teaches the audio encoder according to claim 14, further comprising a correction entity configured to calculate for and/or apply a correction factor to the gain for the prediction residual signal (0137 using a correction factor in the prediction.).
Consider claim 29, Niemeyer teaches a method for encoding an audio signal (abstract) comprising:
extracting a pulse portion from the audio signal wherein the pulse extractor is configured to determine a spectrogram of the audio signal to extract the pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with sections 2 and 3: transient detection and extraction based on spectrogram constituted by the temporally successive spectra);
encoding the extracted pulse portion to acquire an encoded pulse portion (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: transient encoding);
encoding a residual signal derived from the audio signal to acquire an encoded residual signal, the residual signal being derived from the audio signal by reducing or eliminating the pulse portion from the audio signal (figures 4 and 5 with section 4: stationary part/ residual encoding encodes signal that has had transients subtracted);
wherein the spectrogram comprises higher time resolution than the signal encoder (figures 2 and 5 with sections 3 and 4: transients extracted from successive spectra computed for successive 256-samples windows of the input audio signal, whereas the stationary/residual signal is encoded with longer 2048- or 4096-samples windows, such that the spectrogram constituted by the successive spectra has a higher time resolution than the stationary/residual signal encoder); and
outputting the encoded pulse portion and the encoded residual signal to provide an encoded signal (figures 4 and 5, bitstream output).
Niemeyer does not specifically teach a non-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program stored thereon to perform the method.
In the same field of audio coding, Herre teaches a non-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program stored thereon to perform the method (0172, computer readable storage media)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing to use computer readable media as taught by Herre in the system of Niemeyer in order to allow for well known and readily available technology to be used for the audio coding methods, increasing availability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 13 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.
Consider claim 12, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 1. However the prior art does not specifically teach “wherein the pulse coder is configured to code the extracted pulse portion by a spectral envelope common to pulse waveforms close to each other and by parameters for presenting a spectrally flattened pulse waveform, where the extracted pulse portion comprises the pulse waveforms and the spectrally flattened pulse waveform is acquired from the pulse waveform using the spectral envelope or a coded spectral envelope” when combined with each and every other limitation of the claim, the base claim, and intervening claims. Although spectrally flatting signals is generally known, doing so in this context is not. In most prior art it is the residual signal that is flattened. Therefore claim 12 contains allowable subject matter.
Consider claim 13, Niemeyer teaches the audio encoder according to claim 4. However the prior art does not specifically teach “wherein the pulse coder is configured to spectrally flatten the pulse waveform or a pulse Short-time Fourier Transform using a spectral envelope; and/or further comprising a filter processor configured to spectrally flatten the pulse waveform by filtering the pulse waveform in time domain; and/or wherein the pulse coder is configured to acquire a spectrally flattened pulse waveform from a spectrally flattened Short-time Fourier Transform via inverse Discrete Fourier Transform, window and overlap-and-add” when combined with each and every other limitation of the claim, the base claim, and intervening claims. Although spectrally flatting signals is generally known, doing so in this context is not. In most prior art it is the residual signal that is flattened. Therefore claim 13 contains allowable subject matter.
Claims 19-28 and 30 are allowed. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Consider claim 19, Herre teaches a decoder for decoding an encoded audio signal comprising an encoded pulse portion and an encoded residual signal (see figure 2), comprising:
a pulse decoder configured for using a decoding algorithm adapted to a coding algorithm used for generating the encoded pulse portion to acquire a decoded pulse portion (see figure 2, impulse decoder 30, see para 0119);
a signal decoder configured for using a decoding algorithm adapted to a coding algorithm used for generating the encoded residual signal to acquire the decoded residual signal (see figure 2, continuous decoder 32, see para 0119); and
a signal combiner configured for combining the decoded pulse portion and the decoded residual signal to provide a decoded output signal (see figure 2, signal combiner 34, see para 0119);
wherein the signal decoder and the pulse decoder are operative to provide output values related to the same time instance of a decoded signal (figure 2 and 0119, residual decoder is continuous, impulse is intermittent, and they operate at the same time); and
the signal decoder operates in the frequency domain comprising frequency to time transform (0059, residual signal may be transform encoded, and thus would need to be transform decoded); and
wherein the decoded pulse portion comprises pulse waveforms located at specified time portions, an information on the specified time portions being a part of the encoded pulse portion (0142, encoded impulse positions).
However the prior art does not specifically teach “wherein the encoded pulse portion comprises parameters for presenting spectrally flattened pulse waveforms; and
wherein the decoded pulse portion comprises pulse waveforms and the pulse decoder is configured to acquire the pulse waveforms by spectrally shaping spectrally flattened pulse waveforms using a spectral envelope common to pulse waveforms close to each other” when combined with each and every other limitation of the claim. Although spectrally flatting signals is generally known, doing so in this context is not. In most prior art it is the residual signal that is flattened. Therefore claim 19 is allowable.
Claims 20-27 contain similar limitations as claim 19 and therefore are allowable as well.
Claim 28 contains similar limitations as claim 19 and therefore is allowable as well.
Claim 30 contains similar limitations as claim 19 and therefore is allowable as well.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 DOUGLAS C GODBOLD whose telephone number is (571)270-1451. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30am-5pm Monday-Thursday.
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DOUGLAS GODBOLD
Examiner
Art Unit 2655
/DOUGLAS GODBOLD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2655
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