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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS(s)) submitted on 2/2/2024 and 3/11/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 5, “when search target” should read, “when the search target.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 5, “when search target” should read, “when the search target.” Appropriate correction is required.
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 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, 4, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 as anticipated by Sakurada (US 20050257666 A1, November 24, 2005).
Regarding claim 1, Sakurada discloses a sound generation device comprising: at least one memory storing instructions (Sakurada ¶0026: "To the bus 40 there are also connected not only a CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53 and timer 54 comprising the main unit of a microcomputer, but also an external storage device 55."); and at least one processor that executes the instructions (Sakurada ¶0026: "The CPU 51 and timer 54 are used in order to execute various programs including a program shown in FIGS. 2 through 4 for controlling various operations of an electronic musical instrument.") to: output an output sound signal (Sakurada ¶0048: "When the CPU 51 determines at step S54 to reproduce the data, the CPU 51 gives “YES” at step S56 and outputs the read-out note-on data or note-off data to the tone generator 30, terminating the note-on/off reproduction routine at step S60.") representing a performance based on performance data (Sakurada ¶0027: "The music data comprises a plurality of MIDI-compliant tracks composed of automatic performance data.") including a plurality of tracks each including at least one sound signal including an attribute (Sakurada ¶0007: "In order to achieve the above-described object, a feature of the present invention lies in the automatic performance apparatus for reproducing automatic performance data which has a series of performance data assigned to any one channel of a plurality of channels, the series of performance data in which identification data representative of a musical instrument or performance part performed by performance data assigned to each channel is assigned to each of the channels"); designate attribute information of the attribute of at least one of the at least one sound signal of at least one of the plurality of tracks as a search target (Sakurada ¶0007: "the automatic performance apparatus comprising a reproduction condition specification portion for specifying a musical instrument or performance part to be excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data, or to be performed with other musical instrument or other performance part excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data"); and search for a sound signal including the designated attribute information from the performance data (Sakurada ¶0047: "At step S52 the CPU 51 refers to the channel status register (see FIG. 7) in order to detect the channel status (main category, sub-category and melody attribute) corresponding to the channel number added to the note-on data or note-off data. More specifically, the CPU 51 detects the musical instrument (tone color), performance part and melody attribute corresponding to the above channel number."), wherein the performance in the output sound signal includes, omits, or changes the searched sound signal (Sakurada ¶0049: "As a result, when the note-on data and note-off data (performance data) belongs to the main category (musical instrument) or sub-category (performance part) which the user has instructed to reproduce, musical tones on the performance data are emitted, realizing an automatic performance based on the performance data.").
Regarding claim 4, Sakurada discloses a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Sakurada further discloses that the at least one processor executes the instructions to mute the searched sound signal (Sakurada ¶0040: "On the other hand, when mute data M is not stored in the mute storage area corresponding to the specified status, mute data M is written to the storage area in order to mute (not to reproduce)the musical tones belonging to the specified status.").
Regarding claim 11, Sakurada discloses a sound generation method executed by a computer (Sakurada ¶0026: "To the bus 40 there are also connected not only a CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53 and timer 54 comprising the main unit of a microcomputer, but also an external storage device 55."), the method comprising: outputting an output sound signal (Sakurada ¶0048: "When the CPU 51 determines at step S54 to reproduce the data, the CPU 51 gives “YES” at step S56 and outputs the read-out note-on data or note-off data to the tone generator 30, terminating the note-on/off reproduction routine at step S60.") representing a performance based on performance data (Sakurada ¶0027: "The music data comprises a plurality of MIDI-compliant tracks composed of automatic performance data.") including a plurality of tracks each including at least one sound signal including an attribute (Sakurada ¶0007: "In order to achieve the above-described object, a feature of the present invention lies in the automatic performance apparatus for reproducing automatic performance data which has a series of performance data assigned to any one channel of a plurality of channels, the series of performance data in which identification data representative of a musical instrument or performance part performed by performance data assigned to each channel is assigned to each of the channels"); designating attribute information of the attribute of at least one of the at least one sound signal of at least one of the plurality of tracks as a search target (Sakurada ¶0007: "the automatic performance apparatus comprising a reproduction condition specification portion for specifying a musical instrument or performance part to be excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data, or to be performed with other musical instrument or other performance part excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data"); and searching for a sound signal including the designated attribute information from the performance data (Sakurada ¶0047: "At step S52 the CPU 51 refers to the channel status register (see FIG. 7) in order to detect the channel status (main category, sub-category and melody attribute) corresponding to the channel number added to the note-on data or note-off data. More specifically, the CPU 51 detects the musical instrument (tone color), performance part and melody attribute corresponding to the above channel number."), wherein the performance in the output sound signal includes, omits, or changes the searched sound signal (Sakurada ¶0049: "As a result, when the note-on data and note-off data (performance data) belongs to the main category (musical instrument) or sub-category (performance part) which the user has instructed to reproduce, musical tones on the performance data are emitted, realizing an automatic performance based on the performance data.").
Regarding claim 12, Sakurada discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium (Sakurada ¶0026: "To the bus 40 there are also connected not only a CPU 51, ROM 52, RAM 53 and timer 54 comprising the main unit of a microcomputer, but also an external storage device 55.") that stores a program executable by a computer (Sakurada ¶0026: "The CPU 51 and timer 54 are used in order to execute various programs including a program shown in FIGS. 2 through 4 for controlling various operations of an electronic musical instrument.") to execute a method comprising: outputting an output sound signal (Sakurada ¶0048: "When the CPU 51 determines at step S54 to reproduce the data, the CPU 51 gives “YES” at step S56 and outputs the read-out note-on data or note-off data to the tone generator 30, terminating the note-on/off reproduction routine at step S60.") representing a performance based on performance data (Sakurada ¶0027: "The music data comprises a plurality of MIDI-compliant tracks composed of automatic performance data.") including a plurality of tracks each including at least one sound signal each including an attribute (Sakurada ¶0007: "In order to achieve the above-described object, a feature of the present invention lies in the automatic performance apparatus for reproducing automatic performance data which has a series of performance data assigned to any one channel of a plurality of channels, the series of performance data in which identification data representative of a musical instrument or performance part performed by performance data assigned to each channel is assigned to each of the channels"); designating attribute information of the attribute of at least one of the at least one sound signal of at least one of the plurality of tracks as a search target (Sakurada ¶0007: "the automatic performance apparatus comprising a reproduction condition specification portion for specifying a musical instrument or performance part to be excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data, or to be performed with other musical instrument or other performance part excluded from a performance during the reproduction of performance data"); and searching for a sound signal including the designated attribute information from the performance data (Sakurada ¶0047: "At step S52 the CPU 51 refers to the channel status register (see FIG. 7) in order to detect the channel status (main category, sub-category and melody attribute) corresponding to the channel number added to the note-on data or note-off data. More specifically, the CPU 51 detects the musical instrument (tone color), performance part and melody attribute corresponding to the above channel number."), wherein the performance in the output sound signal includes, omits, or changes the searched sound signal (Sakurada ¶0049: "As a result, when the note-on data and note-off data (performance data) belongs to the main category (musical instrument) or sub-category (performance part) which the user has instructed to reproduce, musical tones on the performance data are emitted, realizing an automatic performance based on the performance data.").
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2-3 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Sakurada in view of Katagiri (JPH10116081A, May 6, 1998), hereinafter Katagiri.
Regarding claim 2, Sakurada discloses a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Sakurada further teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: search for the sound signal including the attribute information belonging to the specified category (Sakurada ¶0031: "As shown in FIG. 6, the mute state register is equipped with a storage area for storing mute data M which indicates whether performance data is to be reproduced (whether musical tones are to be sounded), the mute data M being associated with main category data, sub-category data and melody attribute data.").
Sakurada does not explicitly disclose that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: specify a category to which the designated attribute information belongs, based on a correspondence relationship between the designated attribute information and the category.
However, Katagiri teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: specify a category to which the designated attribute information belongs, based on a correspondence relationship between the designated attribute information and the category (Katagiri ¶0008: "Furthermore, it is preferable to configure the editing device for an electronic musical instrument with (a) a storage means for storing the correspondence between a plurality of categories, each representing a set of timbres, and a plurality of timbres, and the plurality of timbres; (b) a category selection means for selecting a desired category from the plurality of categories; (c) a timbre search means for searching for timbres belonging to the desired category based on the correspondence after the desired category has been selected by the category selection means; and (d) a timbre selection means for freely selecting a desired timbre from among the timbres belonging to the desired category detected by the timbre search means, within the desired category selected by the category selection means.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada by adding the relationship information of Katagiri to search for timbres belonging to the desired category based on the correspondence after the desired category has been selected by the category selection means (Katagiri ¶0008).
Regarding claim 3, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 2 as discussed above.
Sakurada further teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to select whether to search for the sound signal including: the designated attribute information; or the attribute information belonging to the specified category (Sakurada ¶0039: "This operation of the minus-one operator may specify either a musical instrument and performance part such as 'piano right hand' or only performance part such as 'right hand' or 'melody 1' without specifying a main category indicative of a musical instrument.").
Regarding claim 5, Sakurada discloses a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 1 as discussed above.
Sakurada does not explicitly disclose a display configured to selectably display an icon indicating a category to which the attribute information belongs, wherein the at least one processor executes the instructions to designate the attribute information belonging to the category indicated by the icon selected by a user.
However, Katagiri teaches a display configured to selectably display an icon indicating a category to which the attribute information belongs (Katagiri ¶0025: "The display unit 21 shown in Figure 5 displays a list of major categories, and the cursor 51 is placed next to the currently selected major category in the displayed list."), wherein the at least one processor executes the instructions to designate the attribute information belonging to the category indicated by the icon selected by a user (Katagiri ¶0025: "The user moves the cursor 51 to the desired main category and operates the Enter switch. Then, a list of subcategories that further classify the selected major category is displayed on the display unit 21").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada by adding the icon indicating a category of Katagiri to solve the problem of the user being required to know all the performance parts or musical instruments assigned to the channels in order to make a designation (Sakurada ¶0005).
Regarding claim 6, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 5 as discussed above.
Katagiri further teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: control the display to selectably display an image indicating the attribute information belonging to the category indicated by the selected icon in a state where the icon is selected by the user (Katagiri ¶0027: "The user moves the cursor 51 to the desired subcategory and operates the Enter switch. Then, a list of timbres categorized into the subcategory specified by cursor 51 will be displayed. Figure 7 shows the list of tones displayed on the display unit after operating the Enter switch."); and designate the attribute information indicated by the image selected by the user (Katagiri ¶0028: "The user moves cursor 51 to the desired tone. As a result, the sound is selected simply by moving the cursor 51, without having to operate the enter switch. In other words, the musical tone generation parameters for that timbre are read out and set in the musical tone generation device 18 shown in Figure 1, and the preparation for generating musical tones with that timbre is completed.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada by adding the attribute information designation of Katagiri to select similar timbres as candidates after selecting a timbre (Katagiri ¶0009).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Sakurada in view of Katagiri, and further in view of Ota (JP H11109970 A, April 23, 1999).
Regarding claim 7, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 5 as discussed above.
Sakurada (in view of Katagiri) does not explicitly disclose that the at least one processor executes the instructions to control the display to selectably display a history of the attribute information selected as a previous search target.
However, Ota teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to control the display to selectably display a history of the attribute information selected as a previous search target (Ota ¶0023: "Furthermore, by saving the display contents of Figure 6 and displaying this screen for selection during the next performance, the operation of selecting a tone can be simplified.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada (as modified by Katagiri) by adding the history information of Ota to simplify the operation of selecting a tone (Ota ¶0023).
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Sakurada in view of Katagiri, and further in view of Ota, Yamaura et al. (US 5918303 A, June 29, 1993), hereinafter Yamaura, and Inoue et al. (JP H1173185 A, March 16, 1999), hereinafter Inoue.
Regarding claim 8, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri and further in view of Ota) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 7 as discussed above.
Sakurada (in view of Katagiri and further in view of Ota) does not explicitly disclose that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: control the display to display a button; and in response to the attribute information being selected by the user and the button being pressed, store the selected attribute information as search target data associated with the button.
However, Yamaura teaches that the at least one processor executes the instructions to: control the display to display a button (Yamaura col. 4, lines 24-26: "Although the operation switches same as those shown in FIG. 1 are actually displayed on the lower area of the display screen 20, they are omitted in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.").
Furthermore, Inoue teaches: and in response to the attribute information being selected by the user and the button being pressed, store the selected attribute information as search target data associated with the button (Inoue ¶0052: "The user can store the desired resist data in the current resist buffer CRB by operating a predetermined control. Then, by pressing the memory switch SW101 while pressing the desired register switch SW1 to SW16 (or register switch SW1 to SW12 in lower-end models), the register memory processing (Figure 10) is activated, and the register data in the current register buffer CRB can be stored in the register memory 1 to 16 corresponding to the selected register switch.").
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada (as modified by Katagiri and Ota) by adding the display button of Yamaura and search target data of Inoue to make it easy for the user to add new performance setting data (Yamaura col. 2, lines 51-58).
Regarding claim 9, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri and further in view of Ota, Yamaura, and Inoue) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 8 as discussed above.
Inoue further teaches storing the selected attribute information comprises: in response to the button being pressed, making reference to the search target data (Inoue ¶0044 describes the load process referenced by the pressed register switch: "In this register load process, step S201 performs the calculation register_top + (register_num 1) * register_size to find the starting address of register memory k, which is the address advanced by (register_num-1) * register_size from the address register_top, i.e., the address advanced by (k-1) * register_size from the address register_top."); and when search target is not stored in the search target data, storing the selected attribute information as search target data (Inoue ¶0055: "In this register memory processing, step S301 performs the operation register_top + (register_num-1) * register_size to find the address that is (register_num-1) * register_size advanced from the address register_top, i.e., the starting address of register memory k. Then, the register data is read from the current register buffer CRB and transferred to a register memory k of size register_size, starting from this start address." The store act into register memory k necessarily encompasses the case where memory k holds no stored registration data at the first save.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada (as modified by Katagiri, Ota, Yamaura, and Inoue) by adding the button and storage of Inoue to store registration data in memory in advance so that the necessary parameters can be set all at once during performance by reading the registration data and setting it on the sound source. (Inoue ¶0055).
Regarding claim 10, Sakurada (in view of Katagiri and further in view of Ota, Yamaura, and Inoue) teaches a sound generation device comprising the features of claim 8 as discussed above.
Inoue further teaches storing the selected attribute information comprises: in response to the button being pressed, making reference to the search target data (Inoue ¶0042: "First, the user selects the desired resist switch (for example, resist switch SWk). When the button is pressed, during the execution of the switch process, the process proceeds through steps S101, S102, S103, and S104 to step S105." When the button is pressed, during the execution of the switch process, the process proceeds through steps S101 to S105.); and when search target is stored in the search target data, causing the user to select (i) overwriting and storing the selected attribute information as the search target data or (ii) setting the search target recalled from the search target data as the selected attribute information (Inoue ¶0044: "In this way, the registration data for registration number k specified by the registration switch SWk is transferred to the current registration buffer CRB, and this registration data is set in the sound source 101, etc." This renders obvious disjunctive prong ii.).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sound generation device of Sakurada (as modified by Katagiri, Ota, Yamaura, and Inoue) by adding the button and storage selection of Inoue to set appropriate registration data for each performance scene for the sound source, etc. (Inoue ¶0003).
Conclusion
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/PHILIP G SCOLES/
Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/DEDEI K HAMMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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