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 Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of an informality. Specifically, the phrase "to be transmitted through by the transmission unit" is grammatically improper. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-12 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US20190228754 (Stroh), hereinafter US’754, in view of US20100263518 (Nishitani), hereinafter US’518.
Regarding claim 1, US’754 discloses ‘A method for performance data transmission control executed by one or more processors, the method comprising, via the one or more processors (US’754, ¶[0089];” methods of capturing musical performance data … methods may comprise generating … comprising a processor”):
receiving performance data associated with output timings (US’754, ¶[0045]: “Input device 102 may be effective to monitor sensors of input device 102 for new performance input… apply timestamps… format input events into the various messages… transmit the messages to a computing device.” US’754, ¶[0046]: “Input events 106 may be stored in buffer 113 prior to transmission to DAW 122”, the monitored performance input/input event is the claimed performance data; timestamps are output timing data; the input device/processor performs the receiving/generating/transmission control).
the performance data including continuously varying operation data whose value changes continuously (US’754, ¶[0033]: performance data includes parameters such as “speed of note decay, loudness”; ¶[0037]: “Pitch bend… resulting in a perceived continuous change in pitch”, pitch bend/loudness/tone volume are continuously varying operation data);
detecting characteristic points of change from the continuously varying operation data (US’754, ¶[0033]:”protocols provide “sufficient resolution to capture the most critical actions of a performance”, teaches capturing critical performance actions);
and generating unit performance data to be transmitted to an external device (US’754, ¶[0045]: input device formats input events into “messages” and transmits the messages to a computing device; ¶[0046]: input events are stored in buffer prior to transmission”, teaches generating messages/input events to be transmitted to an external computing device),
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘thinning out the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points of the change.
[and]
based on the performance data in which the characteristic points in the continuously varying operation data have been detected and in which the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points have been thinned out.
However, US’518 discloses ‘thinning out the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points of the change (US’518, ¶[0025]: analyzed data may include “peak point data indicative of an occurrence time of a local peak in a time-varying waveform,” “peak value data,” “peak Q value data,” and “peak interval data.” ¶[0216]: tone generation may occur “at each local peak point of the acceleration. the local peak/peak value/interval data are characteristic points of change. Selecting such peak point data rather than all raw time-varying waveform samples broadly reads on thinning out non-characteristic data);
based on the performance data in which the characteristic points in the continuously varying operation data have been detected and in which the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points have been thinned out (US’518, ¶[0248]: detection data from communication units “are edited into a single packet… and then the thus-prepared packet is transmitted to the personal computer”, teaches editing detection/performance-control data into a packet and transmitting it to a PC).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine US’754's musical performance-data generation/transmission system with US’518's motion/performance-control peak analysis because US’754 identifies the need for protocols that capture the most critical actions of a performance despite data-carrying-capacity/latency limits, and US’518 teaches analyzing time-varying sensor/detection data into local peak/threshold-based performance-control data. The combination reduces or selects the transmitted/performed control information while preserving significant performance changes.
Regarding claim 2, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 1, as discussed above.
US’754 further discloses ‘wherein continuously varying operation data includes pitch data or volume data whose value changes continuously (US’754, ¶[0033]: “human ear is more sensitive to variation in pitch than variation in volume.” US’754, ¶[0037]: “Pitch bend… resulting in a perceived continuous change in pitch”, continuously varying operation data including pitch data and volume/loudness data).
Regarding claim 3, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein the characteristic points include a point at which the continuously varying operation data take an extreme value.
However, US’518 discloses ‘wherein the characteristic points include a point at which the continuously varying operation data take an extreme value (US’518, ¶[0025]: analyzed data may include “peak point data indicative of an occurrence time of a local peak in a time-varying waveform” and “peak value data indicative of a height of a local peak.” US’518, ¶[0216]: tone is generated “at each local peak point of the acceleration”, teaches characteristic points including local peak points/peak values).
It would have been obvious for the reasons set forth above with respect to Claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein the characteristic points include an inflection point of change of the continuously varying operation data.
However, US’518 discloses ‘wherein the characteristic points include an inflection point of change of the continuously varying operation data (US’518, ¶[0025]: analyzed data may include “peak point data indicative of an occurrence time of a local peak in a time-varying waveform” and “peak value data indicative of a height of a local peak.” US’518, ¶[0216]: tone is generated “at each local peak point of the acceleration”, teaches characteristic points including local peak points/peak values; a local peak is an extreme value point of the continuously/time-varying data).
It would have been obvious for the reasons set forth above with respect to Claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein when the continuously varying operation data includes a plurality of sections respectively having differing states in the value change, in thinning out the continuously varying operation data, a rate of thinning out is determined for each of the plurality of sections according to the state in the value change in the section.
However, US'518 discloses continuously varying data having different waveform characteristics. For example, US'518 teaches analyzed data including "peak interval data indicative of a time interval between local peaks," "depth data indicative of a depth of a bottom between adjacent local peaks," and "high-frequency-component intensity" (¶[0025]). US'518 further teaches controlling performance factors based on waveform variation and variation rate (¶[0219], ¶[0296]). These teachings evidence sections of a waveform having differing states of value change and processing based upon those differing waveform characteristics.
Although US'518 does not expressly disclose determining a specific rate of thinning out for each section, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to vary the degree of thinning according to the amount of waveform variation present in a particular section because sections exhibiting greater variation contain more information that should be preserved, whereas sections exhibiting less variation contain comparatively redundant information. Determining the amount of thinning according to waveform characteristics would have been no more than routine optimization of a result-effective variable. See In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (CCPA 1955) (where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation). See also In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276 (CCPA 1980).
Regarding claim 7, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 1, as discussed above.
US’754 (in view of US’518) further discloses ‘wherein a size of the unit performance data is equal to or smaller than a maximum data size of data that can be transmitted at each transmission timing (US’518, ¶[0248]: received detection data are “edited into a single packet… and then the thus-prepared packet is transmitted to the personal computer”, teaches generating a packet for transmission; (US’754, ¶[0046]: input events are stored in a “buffer 113 prior to transmission”, teaches buffering input events before transmission),
and wherein the characteristic points of change are detected for each of the unit performance data to be transmitted at a corresponding transmission timing (US’518, ¶[0248]: detection data from all IDs are edited into a single packet and transmitted; ¶[0248] further explains that detection data of all IDs are introduced within a 2.5 ms time period. US’518, ¶[0025] teaches peak point data from a time-varying waveform, teaches packet-by-packet preparation/transmission of detection data and characteristic peak-point analysis; packet preparation with peak-point analysis supports detecting characteristic points for each unit data item/packet transmitted at a corresponding timing).
Regarding claim 8, US’754 discloses ‘A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program executable by one or more processors, the program causing the one or more processors (US’754, ¶[0087]-[0089]: a computing device reads “instructions… from a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium” and executes actions; ¶[0045]-[0046] teach monitoring input, timestamps, formatting messages, and transmission) to perform the following:
receiving performance data associated with output timings,
the performance data including continuously varying operation data whose value changes continuously;
detecting characteristic points of change from the continuously varying operation data;
thinning out the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points of the change;
and generating unit performance data to be transmitted to an external device,
based on the performance data in which the characteristic points in the continuously varying operation data have been detected and in which the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points have been thinned out. (Claim 8 corresponds to Claim 1)
Regarding claim 9, US’754 discloses ‘An electronic device, comprising: a transmission unit; and at least one processor configured to perform (US’754, ¶[0045]: input device 102 includes at least one processor/memory and transmits messages to computing device 116. US’754, ¶[0087]-[0089]: computing device includes processor and memory) the following:
receiving performance data associated with output timings,
the performance data including continuously varying operation data whose value changes continuously;
detecting characteristic points of change from the continuously varying operation data;
thinning out the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points of the change;
and generating unit performance data to be transmitted through by the transmission unit to an external device,
based on the performance data in which the characteristic points in the continuously varying operation data have been detected and in which the continuously varying operation data other than the characteristic points have been thinned out. (Claim 9 corresponds to Claim 1)
Regarding claim 10, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 9, as discussed above.
wherein continuously varying operation data includes pitch data or volume data whose value changes continuously. (Claim 10 corresponds to Claim 2)
Regarding claim 11, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 10, as discussed above.
wherein the characteristic points include a point at which the continuously varying operation data take an extreme value. (Claim 11 corresponds to Claim 3)
Regarding claim 12, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 10, as discussed above.
wherein the characteristic points include an inflection point of change of the continuously varying operation data. (Claim 12 corresponds to Claim 4)
Regarding claim 14, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 10, as discussed above.
wherein when the continuously varying operation data includes a plurality of sections respectively having differing states in the value change, in thinning out the continuously varying operation data,
a rate of thinning out is determined for each of the plurality of sections according to the state in the value change in the section. (Claim 9 corresponds to Claim 6)
It would have been obvious for the reasons set forth above with respect to Claim 6.
Regarding claim 15, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 9, as discussed above.
wherein a size of the unit performance data is equal to or smaller than a maximum data size of data that can be transmitted at each transmission timing,
and wherein the characteristic points of change are detected for each of the unit performance data to be transmitted at a corresponding transmission timing. (Claim 15 corresponds to Claim 7)
Claims 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US’754, in view of US’518, and in further view of US8199835 (Amini), hereinafter US’835.
Regarding claim 5, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein in thinning out the continuously varying operation data, data whose amount of change is equal to or less than a prescribed threshold is preferentially removed.
However, US’835 discloses ‘wherein in thinning out the continuously varying operation data, data whose amount of change is equal to or less than a prescribed threshold is preferentially removed (US’835, col. 5, lines 62-65:”The parameter τ is an adaptive threshold that determines the quality of the approximation. If the threshold is large, more samples are discarded, and similarly if the threshold is small, that is, fewer samples are discarded" ;col. 5, lines 57-59: "sample at time k1 falls outside the range and is thus discarded; sample at time k2 is accepted as a permanent sample"; col. 5, lines42-45:”FAN algorithm replaces the original waveform with line segments such that "none of the original points lies further from the line segment than some predetermined maximum deviation τ", evaluating data points relative to a prescribed threshold τ and discarding data points that satisfy the threshold-based reduction criteria) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the performance-data reduction technique of US’754 (in view of US’518) with the threshold-based sample discarding technique of US’835 in order to further reduce the amount of data transmitted while preserving significant changes in the continuously varying operation data. Doing so would have predictably improved transmission efficiency and reduced bandwidth requirements while retaining signal characteristics important for accurate reconstruction and processing of the performance data. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 417 (2007) (applying a known technique to improve similar systems in the same manner is likely obvious when it yields predictable results)
Regarding claim 13, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘The electronic device according to claim 10, as discussed above.
wherein in thinning out the continuously varying operation data, data whose amount of change is equal to or less than a prescribed threshold is preferentially removed. (Claim 13 corresponds to Claim 5)It would have been obvious for the reasons set forth above with respect to Claim 5.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US’754, in view of US’518, and in further view of US20220277716 (Takeda), hereinafter US’716.
Regarding claim 16, US’754 (in view of US’518) discloses ‘An electronic musical instrument, comprising: the electronic device as set forth in claim 9, as discussed above.
US’754 does not expressly disclose ‘and performance operators connected to the electronic device.
However, US’716 discloses ‘and performance operators connected to the electronic device (US’716, ¶[0021]/Fig. 1:electronic musical instrument 10 includes MCU 11, communication unit/NFC module 16, and “performance operator 15”, teaches an electronic musical instrument with performance operator connected to the instrument control/communication structure; performance operator 15 corresponds to performance operators connected to the electronic device).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement US’754's input/transmission device in an electronic musical instrument including performance operators, as taught by US’716, because both concern musical performance data exchanged with an external computing/terminal device and Takeda supplies the instrument hardware structure.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US20190237048 teaches receiving performance information from a musical instrument.; generating control signals based on performance information; transmitting performance-related information over a network; and reproducing a performance on another instrument based on received performance information. US9003468 teaches performance data containing performance information and time information; receiving and transmitting performance data; synchronizing performance data with other media; and signal transmission and communication of performance information.
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/NICOLE K GILLESPIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/DEDEI K HAMMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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