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 .
Response to Amendment
1. The amendment filed April 15, 2026 has been entered. Claims 12-19 are pending in the application. Claims 1-11 are canceled.
Terminal Disclaimer
2. The terminal disclaimer filed on April 15, 2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of Patent Application No. 18/170,648 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claim(s) 12-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daniel (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0080390 A1) in view of Nobuta (U.S. Pat. No. 4536739 A).
Regarding Claim 12, Daniel teaches a method for remotely communicating sports instructions (method 200 for communicating game play instructions, Fig. 2, Para. [0031]), comprising:
receiving, at a voice recognition device of a transmitter, a voice command spoken by a user (the PRT includes speech recognition means 124, Paras. [0018] and [0035]);
analyzing, with the voice recognition device, the voice command spoken by the user to identify the voice command spoken by the user (speech recognition means 124 recognizes voice commands by user, Paras. [0018] and [0035]);
providing, with a first microcontroller of the transmitter, a selection signal corresponding to a voice command identified by the voice recognition device to a transmitter unit of the transmitter (PRT 114 may include a cellular phone, computer, laptop or pda. The PRT is also provided with application program and storage which stores selection signal as codes. The PRT will also have a processor [first microcontroller] which will be coupled to the transceiver of the PRT to provide the selection signal corresponding to a voice command identified by the voice recognition means 124, Paras. [0022], [0034] and [0035]), the selection signal corresponding to a sports instruction (game play instruction received as voice command is converted to digital data format for transmission by the PRT 114, Paras. [0018], [0035]), the selection signal corresponding to a sports instruction (game play instruction received as voice command is converted to digital data format for transmission by the PRT 114, Paras. [0018], [0035]), the selection signal not including audio content of the voice command spoken by the user or audio content of a corresponding audio instruction derived therefrom (the converted game play instruction into digital data stored as game play instruction codes for transmission will not include the audio content of the voice commands spoken or audio content of a corresponding audio instruction derived, Paras. [0018], [0034] and [0035]);
wirelessly transmitting the selection signal using the transmitter unit (The PRT will also have a processor [first microcontroller] which will be coupled to the transceiver of the PRT to provide the selection signal to wirelessly transmit, Paras. [0022] and [0034]);
wirelessly receiving, at a receiving unit of an audio receiver, the selection signal transmitted by the transmitter unit (headgear 104 equipped with game apparatus 106 has a transceiver 110 for receiving the selected codes [selection signal] transmitted from PRT 114, Paras. [0033] and [0034]).
Daniels fails to explicitly teach selecting a respective audio instruction corresponding to the selection signal from among a plurality of audio instructions stored in a memory of the audio receiver, each audio instruction of the plurality of audio instructions being associated with a respective audio instruction stored in a memory of the audio receiver; and
audibly reproducing the respective audio instruction using an audio reproduction transducer.
However, Nobuta teaches selecting a respective audio instruction corresponding to the selection signal from among a plurality of audio instructions stored in a memory of the audio receiver (audio receiver 3 selects audio instruction corresponding to the selection signal from multiple audio instructions stored in memory of receiver 3, Fig. 5, Col. 6, Lns. 22-64), each audio instruction of the plurality of audio instructions being associated with a respective audio instruction stored in a memory of the audio receiver (audio receiver includes a coincidence detecting circuit 36 for determining coincidence of the address data transmitted from the transmitter 1 which is now transmitted to the address input of memory 37 through the address selection switch 32, Fig. 5, Col. 6, Lns. 22-64; ie each instruction from the transmitter will be associated with a respective audio instruction stored in memory of audio receiver); and
audibly reproducing the respective audio instruction using an audio reproduction transducer (speaker 41 audibly reproduces the audio instructions stored in the memory 38, Fig. 5, Col. 6, Lns. 22-64, Col. 8, Lns. 5-34).
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 sport instruction communication method (as taught by Daniel) to include selection of audio instruction stored in a memory of receiver and reproducing the audio instructions using a transducer (as taught by Nobuta). Doing so the instructing information cannot be known and the secrecy can be preserved (Nobuta Col. 2, Lns. 9-22).
Regarding Claim 13, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach wherein the selection signal corresponds to a sports instruction selected from among a plurality of sports instructions (Nobuta, the selection signal is selected from among multiple sports instructions, Figs. 1 and 2, Col. 3, Ln. 66 thru Col. 4, Ln. 40), and wherein each sports instruction of the plurality of sports instructions is associated with a respective stored audio instruction of the plurality of stored audio instructions stored in the first memory of the audio receiver (Nobuta, each sports instruction is associated with a stored audio instruction of multiple audio instructions stored in the memory of the audio receiver 3, Figs. 1 and 2, Col. 3, Ln. 66 thru Col. 4, Ln. 40).
Regarding Claim 14, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach further comprising:
encoding the selection signal into an encoded selection signal prior to transmitting the selection signal (Nobuta, transmitter 1 encodes the selection signal using encoder 15, Fig. 5, Col. 5, Lns. 28-46); and
transmitting the encoded selection signal (Nobuta, transmitter 1 encodes the selection signal using encoder 15 and wirelessly transmits the encoded signal through antenna 11, Fig. 5, Col. 5, Lns. 28-46).
Regarding Claim 15, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach further comprising:
decoding the encoded selection signal upon receiving the selection signal at the audio receiver (Nobuta, receiver 3 is configured to decode the selection signal upon receiving the selection signal using decoder 35, Fig. 5, Col. 6, Lns. 22-64).
Regarding Claim 16, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach wherein the selection signal corresponds to a memory location in the memory at which a stored audio instruction corresponding to the selection signal is stored (Nobuta, each sports instruction is associated with a stored audio instruction of multiple audio instructions stored in the memory of the audio receiver 3, Figs. 1 and 2, Col. 3, Ln. 66 thru Col. 4, Ln. 40).
Regarding Claim 17, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach wherein the encoded selection signal comprises a numerical value corresponding to the memory location in the first memory (Nobuta, the encoded selection signal comprises a numerical value corresponding to the memory location in the memory of the receiver 3, Col. 5, Lns. 28-46).
Regarding Claim 18, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach wherein the transmitter is tablet computing device (Daniel, PRT 114 may include a cellular phone, computer, laptop or pda [tablet], Para. [0034]).
Regarding Claim 19, Daniel in view of Nobuta teach wherein the transmitter is a smartphone (Daniel, PRT 114 may include a cellular phone, computer, laptop or pda, Para. [0034]).
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant's arguments filed April 15, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding independent Claim 12, applicant argues (see applicant’s remark, pages 4-6), Daniel’s portable remote terminal (PRT) does not transmit a "selection signal" as recited in claim 12 and instead transmits audio content and speech captured by the PRT is converted to a digital representation of the audio content and this digitized audio content is transmitted to the headset 104 worn by the players. Claim 12 has been amended to recited that "the selection signal not including audio content of the voice command spoken by the user or audio content of a corresponding audio content derived therefrom." Thus, even if the "digitized audio content" discussed in Daniel could be distinguished from the "audio content of the voice command spoken by the user" recited in claim 12, the amended claim language would still preclude digital audio content such as that generated by the speech recognition means in Daniel from being transmitted by the transmitter recited in claim 12 of the present application.
Nobuta fails to remedy the deficiencies of Daniel discussed above. Nobuta is silent at least on "providing, with a first microcontroller of the transmitter, a selection signal corresponding to a voice command identified by the voice recognition device to a transmitter unit of the transmitter, the selection signal corresponding to a sports instruction, the selection signal not including audio content of the voice command spoken by the user or audio content of a corresponding audio instruction derived therefrom" as recited in amended claim 12.
In response to applicant’s argument above, Daniel teaches the PRT having game play instructions stored as codes [ie the selection signal] which are then transmitted (Paras. [0034]). Daniel teaches audio game play instruction received are converted to a digital data [i.e. the game play instruction codes stored in the PRT] before being transmitted (Paras. [0018], [0034] and [0035]).
Furthermore, the transmitted game play instruction codes will not include audio content of the voice command spoken by the user or audio content of a corresponding audio instruction derived.
Regarding applicant’s argument against Nobuta; in response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Independent Claim 12 has been rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daniel in view of Nobuta.
The rejection of Claim 12 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daniel in view of Nobuta is maintained.
Dependent Claims 13-19 have been rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daniel in view of Nobuta.
The rejections of Claims 13-19 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daniel in view of Nobuta are maintained.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Weiler et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0242669 A1) teaches a system for displaying a play call to participants in an athletic competition. Daniel et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0077536 A1) teaches a system for transmitting and receiving communications from coaches and players. Bowring (WIPO Pub. No. 2012/019089 A1) teaches a system for enhancing sports gameplay and communication. Farudi (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0345149 A1) teaches systems for enabling remote participation in sporting event decision-making.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHIMEZIE E BEKEE whose telephone number is (571)272-0202. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7.30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached at 571-272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHIMEZIE EZERIWE BEKEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2691
/DUC NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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