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 1 is objected to because the preamble recites “A method in an apparatus”, which is inconsistent with the remainder of the claim. Appropriate correction is required. Applicant may amend the preamble to recite “A method”
Claims 4,15, 18 and 19 are objected to because of informal language.
The phrase “based on the signal indicating that how the musical instrument is being played” contains a grammatical error. Appropriate correction is suggested as ”based on the signal indicating how the musical instrument is being played”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 6 recites “an accessory device, such as a mobile phone or a smart watch”. The phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. It provides examples rather than reciting the claimed structure.
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 1-5 and 7-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US9959778 (Sangeet), hereinafter US’778, in view of US20180174559 (Elson), hereinafter US’559, and in further view of and US20160247496 (Pachet), hereinafter US’496.
Regarding clam 1, US’778 discloses ‘A method in an apparatus, the method (US’778, [Abstract]:”Systems and methods display or cause display of a particular segment of the musical piece”) comprising presenting at least a portion of a musical notation of a starting point of a song to a user, including a first note or chord to be played (US’778, [Abstract]:“A suggested playing position is displayed adjacent to each musical note … Each of the displayed musical notes … aims to indicate … the particular musical note to be played”; col. 5, lines 8-15:”the learning method displays or causes display of a particular segment of the musical piece”; “Each of the displayed musical notes … aims to indicate to the user the pitch or key of a particular musical note to be played”, teaches displaying a segment with musical notes indicating pitch/key to be played);
indicating a tempo of the song to the user (US’778, Fig. 2:“Providing tempo adjusted audio representation (s) of a segment”; col. 1, lines 49-50; col. 6, lines 42-50:”the user may practice or play along the backing music at a faster tempo”; ”the user may at any stage select a desired tempo to practice or play along”, teaches user-selected/faster tempo for backing music practice);
US’778 does not expressly disclose ‘receiving from a musical instrument played a signal indicating how the musical instrument is being played; monitoring triggers and responsively to detecting a starting trigger: beginning to playback one or more backing tracks;
the method further comprising: detecting the starting trigger by determining that the user has provided a starting sign independent of the apparatus;
and synchronizing the playback of the one or more backing tracks using a time when the user has provided the starting sign.
However, US’559 discloses ‘receiving from a musical instrument played a signal indicating how the musical instrument is being played (US’559, ¶[0115]:“the local instrument transmits a signal comprising event data representing the playing of a musical exercise … captured in the form of notes and/or chords with durations, intensity/volume, velocities, and timings,”; ¶[0042]:“receiver monitors the signals of the musical instrument … in real-time”, receiving musical performance information from the instrument);
monitoring triggers and responsively to detecting a starting trigger (US’559, ¶[0046]:”The local receiver may continue to monitor the output of the local instrument … for any further instrument commands ( e. g., key change , … pause, resume, stop …)”; ¶[0045]:”the remote instrument of the second user . The remote instrument may respond to the digital instrument command ( s ) by beginning the playing of the commanded musical pattern”, teaching monitoring for a trigger and beginning playback responsive to detection):
the method further comprising: detecting the starting trigger by determining that the user has provided a starting sign independent of the apparatus (US’559, ¶¶[0174-0178]:”local playing may be initiated and/or recorded even when the start control is not manually activated”; “the user 132 may activate a stop control ( which may be in the form of an instrument string , a keyboard note key , blowing a certain note on a wind instrument , striking a drum pad or cymbal , etc. .)”, initiating playback);
and synchronizing the playback of the one or more backing tracks using a time when the user has provided the starting sign (US’559, ¶¶[0049-0050]:” synchronization …may be utilized where an absolute timestamp is set … the moment the musical pattern is transmitted” calculating a ”Relative Delay” using an “absolute timestamp” and “detected pulse time” to synchronize playback and displayed notation “… playing with the audio stream to keep the music notation indicators in synchronization with the audio stream …”, [0064-0066]).
US’778 does not disclose beginning to playback one or more backing tracks.
US’496 discloses ‘beginning to playback one or more backing tracks (US’496, ¶[0082]:“receives pieces of music played by a musician”; ”A music selector 26 selects one or more recorded pieces of music as real time music accompaniment … Finally, a music output interface 24 outputs the selected pieces of music”, selecting recorded accompaniment and outputting the selected accompaniment responsive to the musician’s performance);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify US’778’s interactive music instruction system by incorporating US’559’s performer-event detection and synchronization techniques and US’496’s real-time accompaniment playback techniques because US’778 teaches displaying musical segments with notes/chords and tempo-adjusted representations to facilitate musical practice, US’559 teaches detecting and synchronizing musical performance events, and US’496 teaches selecting and outputting recorded musical accompaniment responsive to a musician’s performance. Incorporating these instructional, synchronization and accompaniment techniques would have predictably improved interactive music instruction by providing coordinated notation display, synchronized performance timing and real-time backing accompaniment. KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 417 (2007).
Regarding clam 2, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 further discloses ‘further comprising displaying a portion of the musical notation for a current or immediately following part of the song, in response to the detecting of the starting trigger (US’778, col. 5, lines 8-15:”the learning method displays or causes display of a particular segment of the musical piece”; ” Each of the displayed musical notes … aims to indicate to the user the pitch or key of a particular musical note to be played”).
Regarding clam 3, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘further comprising tracking progress of the song and responsively continuing the playback and displaying of the musical notation to enable the user to play the musical instrument accordingly (US’559, ¶¶[0062]-[0066]:”an animated highlight of currently playing or about to play notes; a horizontal line which highlights a percentage of progress and displays the current location”, while commands “animate and move any music notes or to highlight bars or other parts of musical notation”; ¶[0193], tracking current location and percentage progress while continuing accompaniment and notation display).
Regarding clam 4, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the starting sign independent of the apparatus is playing of the first note or chord (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, teaches monitoring instrument signals to detect pulse/beat/rhythm/tempo and timestamping the first beat/first note of the musical pattern),
and the method further comprises detecting the starting sign based on the signal indicating that how the musical instrument is being played (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, teaches instrument signals are monitored).
Regarding clam 5, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the starting sign comprises an audible or visual sign given by the user (US’559, ¶[0046]:” The local receiver may continue to monitor the output of the local instrument of the first user for any further instrument commands (e.g. , key change , transpose , auto - up transposition direction , auto-down transposition direction, pause, resume, stop, etc.”, teaches monitoring instrument output for commands including pause/resume/stop).
Regarding clam 7, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the synchronizing is aligned with the time when the user has played the first note or chord (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, maps to aligning synchronization with the user’s played note/chord timing).
Regarding clam 8, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the indicating of the tempo of the song to the user further comprises presenting a metronome click to the user at least auditively, visually, or haptically (US’559, ¶[0053]:”The system may optionally introduce the playing with a metronome (e.g. , tick-tock sound ) , count in (e.g. , ready-set-go or ready- 1 - 2 - 3 ) , or lead-in playing …”, ).
Regarding clam 9, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 8, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the synchronizing is aligned with a metronome tick that is temporally closest to the time when the user has played the first note or chord (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, )
Regarding clam 10, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
further comprising in the synchronization, compensating for acoustic and/or electric delays in the detecting of the starting trigger (US’559, ¶[0051]:”an approximated calculation may be generated and used to account for the audio delay …”; ”the remote receiver to delay playing the musical pattern … until precisely the moment when it should begin to play to keep the rhythm and tempo the same”, ).
Regarding clam 11, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 further discloses ‘wherein in the presenting of the at least portion of the musical notation, displaying one or more notes or chords (US’778, col. 5, lines 8-15:”the learning method displays or causes display of a particular segment of the musical piece”; ” Each of the displayed musical notes … aims to indicate to the user the pitch or key of a particular musical note to be played”, ).
Regarding clam 12, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 further discloses ‘wherein the starting point resides at a start of the song, or the user is allowed to select the starting point from within the song (US’778, col. 7, lines 5-8:”each segment of the musical piece may be displayed with chords … adjacent to the appropriate textual representation of musical notes and / or lyrics”, selected portion within a song).
Regarding clam 13, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘further comprising allowing the user to remotely adjust the tempo (US’559, ¶[0141]:”Upon setting the tempo in the user interface, the corresponding command is transmitted … [and] cause the tempo of the music to be played accordingly by instrument”, the remote user interface adjusts the tempo; transmitting a tempo setting to control playback tempo).
Regarding clam 14, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘further comprising detecting that the user has provided a stopping sign independent of the apparatus (US’559, ¶[0178]:“the user 132 may activate a stop control ( which may be in the form of an instrument string … which in turn causes the instrument 140 to stop playing the exercise”; ¶[0184]:“ the stop command is received from the remote computing device 102 . The stop command stops the playing of the exercise by the instrument”);
and responsively stopping the playback of the one or more backing tracks (US’559, ¶[0046]:”The local receiver may continue to monitor the output of the local instrument of the first user for any further instrument commands (e.g. ,key change, transpose, auto-up transposition direction, auto-down transposition direction, pause, resume, stop, etc.”, monitoring instrument output for stop commands).
Regarding clam 15, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 14, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the stopping sign is or comprises the user stopping the playing of the musical instrument (US’559, ¶[0178]: “the user may activate a stop control ( which may be in the form of an instrument string … which in turn causes the instrument 140 to stop playing the exercise”,)
and the method further comprises detecting the stopping sign based on the signal indicating that how the musical instrument is being played (US’559, ¶[0039], ¶[0042], ¶[0118], ¶[0046]:” The local receiver may continue to monitor the output of the local instrument of the first user for any further instrument commands ( e . g . , key change , transpose , auto - up transposition direction , auto-down transposition direction, pause, resume, stop, etc.”, monitoring instrument output for stop).
Regarding clam 16, US’778 discloses ‘An apparatus comprising at least one memory and processor collectively configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the following method steps (US’778, col. 4, lines 41-46:”learning apparatus comprising an audio device … means may be provided to carry out the learning method … [by] processor readable medium … , which contains instructions for a …processor”):
presenting at least a portion of a musical notation of a starting point of a song to a user, including a first note or chord to be played;
indicating a tempo of the song to the user;
receiving from a musical instrument played a signal indicating how the musical instrument is being played;
monitoring triggers and responsively to detecting a starting trigger: beginning to playback one or more backing tracks; the method further comprising:
detecting the starting trigger by determining that the user has provided a starting sign independent of the apparatus;
and synchronizing the playback of the one or more backing tracks using a time when the user has provided the starting sign. (Claim 16 corresponds to claim 1)
Regarding clam 17, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 2, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘further comprising tracking progress of the song and responsively continuing the playback and displaying of the musical notation to enable the user to play the musical instrument accordingly (US’559, ¶¶[0062]-[0066]:”an animated highlight of currently playing or about to play notes; a horizontal line which highlights a percentage of progress and displays the current location”, while commands “animate and move any music notes or to highlight bars or other parts of musical notation”; ¶[0193], the animated indicator and synchronized notation enable the user to continue playing).
Regarding clam 18, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 2, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the starting sign independent of the apparatus is playing of the first note or chord (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, teaches monitoring instrument signals to detect pulse/beat/rhythm/tempo and timestamping the first/beat/first note of the musical pattern),
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘and the method further comprises detecting the starting sign based on the signal indicating that how the musical instrument is being played (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, teaches instrument signals are monitored).
Regarding clam 19, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 3, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) further discloses ‘wherein the starting sign independent of the apparatus is playing of the first note or chord, and the method further comprises detecting the starting sign based on the signal indicating that how the musical instrument is being played (US’559, ¶[0048]:”an absolute time stamp may be calculated specifying the precise moment to begin playing the first note of the musical pattern”; “instrument signals from the local instrument may be monitored to detect a regular pulse, beat, rhythm and tempo” ; “The next pulse may then be converted into an absolute timestamp for the playing of the first beat”, teaches instrument-signal monitoring and first/beat/first note timestamping).
Regarding clam 20, US’778 discloses ‘A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable program code which when executed by at least one processor causes an apparatus at least to perform at least the following method steps (US’778, col. 3, lines 13-18:”a computer or processor readable medium for facilitating learning of a musical piece to be played on a musical instrument … comprising instructions to cause a computer or processor to execute the steps”)
presenting at least a portion of a musical notation of a starting point of a song to a user, including a first note or chord to be played; indicating a tempo of the song to the user;
receiving from a musical instrument played a signal indicating how the musical instrument is being played;
monitoring triggers and responsively to detecting a starting trigger: beginning to playback one or more backing tracks;
the method further comprising: detecting the starting trigger by determining that the user has provided a starting sign independent of the apparatus;
and synchronizing the playback of the one or more backing tracks using a time when the user has provided the starting sign. (Claim 20 corresponds to claim 1)
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US’778, in view of US’559, and in further view of US’496 and US20220172638 (Aharonson), hereinafter US’638.
Regarding clam 6, US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses ‘The method of claim 1, as discussed above.
US’778 (in view of US’559 & US’496) discloses does not expressly disclose ‘wherein the starting sign is received using an acceleration sensor of an accessory device, such as a mobile phone or a smart watch
However, US’638 discloses ‘wherein the starting sign is received using an acceleration sensor of an accessory device, such as a mobile phone or a smart watch (US’638, ¶¶[088]-[0090]:”accelerometers, gyroscopes and proximity sensors are used by some applications to respond to additional user actions”; “Internal accelerometers are used”; ¶¶[0174]-[0186]:discuss wearable devices, watches, wristbands, and motion sensors; ¶[0186]:describes a wearable device including ‘a motion sensor’, using accelerometer/motion sensor in a mobile or wearable accessory device to detect user’s gesture).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the combined system of US’778, US’559 and US’496 to use an acceleration sensor of a mobile or wearable accessory device as taught by US’638 to receive the user starting sign, because US’638 teaches using accelerometers to detect user actions. Incorporating the known sensor-based input technique would have provide an alternative hands-free mechanism for the interactive music session.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE K GILLESPIE whose telephone number is (571)482-4187. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei K Hammond can be reached at (571)270-3819. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICOLE K GILLESPIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/DEDEI K HAMMOND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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