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 .
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on March 26, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3 – 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 – 18, and 20 – 22 are currently pending and considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3 – 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 – 18, and 20 – 22 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 (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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3 – 5, 8, 9, 13, 15 – 17, and 20 – 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gokarn et al. (US 10,743,105 B1), hereinafter Gokarn.
Claim 1: Gokarn discloses an audio output method, comprising: obtaining interface information of an operating system (see at least, “Operating system 111 may include a setup component 14 that may initialize and/or configure system 100. For example, setup component 14 may determine a total number of display devices 18 in communication with computer device 102. For example, the total number of display devices 18 may be predetermined by a user of computer device 102 and/or user input may be received via, for example, a user interface of a display on computer device 102 indicating the
total number of display devices 18 for system 100. As display devices are added and/or removed from system 100, the total number of display devices 18 may increase and/or decrease as necessary. Setup component 14 may also determine a total number of speakers 20 in system 100. Each display device 106, 108, 110, 112 may provide information regarding a number of speakers on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and the corresponding speaker location information 22 for each speaker on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. For example, setup component 14 may receive hardware information from
each of the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 that identifies how many speakers display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may have, the speaker location information 22, how many channels display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may support, whether display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may be a high speed device or super speed device, how many audio ren-dering endpoints display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may
have, how many capture endpoints display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may have, and/or any hardware loop back points on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. Setup component 14 may capture the hardware information of the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and may build a topology for system 100
in response to the information learned from the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112,” Gokarn Column 4 Line 63 – Column 5 Line 28), the interface information indicating first interfaces of the operating system called by an application including a plurality of application windows (see at least, “Operating system 111 may also include an application location manager 17 that may provide application location information 16 for each application 10. The application location information 16 may indicate one or more display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where application 10 may be currently located. In addition, on a particular display device 106, 108, 110, 112, there may be multiple windows and/or virtual panels that may correspond to one or more applications 10. For example, applications 10 may have a graphical user interface (UI) that corresponds to a window on a display device 106, 108, 110, 112. The application location information 16 may also include coordinates from, for example, a Cartesian coordinate system, that provide a pixel position of the current location 19 of applications 10 on the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. As such, the application location information 16 may indicate a window and/or virtual panel on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where applications 10 may be located and may also provide a pixel position of a current location 19 of applications 10 on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. As one or more applications 10 change locations to a new location 23, application location manager 17 may track the movement of applications 10 and may update the application location information 16 with the new locations 23 of applications 10 in response to the changes in location,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 10 – 36); and for each application window of the plurality of application windows: determining a first screen where the application window is located based on the interface information (see at least, “Operating system 111 may also include an audio stack 24 that may receive audio data 12 from one or more applications 10 and may select speakers 30 on one or more display devices 106,108,110,112 to output the audio data 12. Audio stack 24 may receive information indicating a number of applications 10 open on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and the corresponding application location information 16
for each application 10,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 37 – 44, “The application location information 16 may indicate one or more display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where application 10 may be currently located. In addition, on a particular display device 106, 108, 110, 112, there may be multiple windows and/or virtual panels that may correspond to one or more applications 10,” Gokarn Column 12 Lines 51 – 56), different screens corresponding to different second interfaces of the operating system (see at least, “In addition, audio stack 24 may receive display device information including, but not limited to, the total number of display devices 18 in communication with computer device 102, the total number of speakers 20, the speaker location information 22, and the device sequencing 21 information,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 44 – 49); and outputting an audio corresponding to the application to a first audio output device corresponding to the first screen where the application window is located (see at least, “Audio stack 24 may use a combination of the application location information 16 and the speaker location information 22 in selecting the speakers 30 to receive the audio data 12,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 49 – 52, “Audio stack 24 may use a combination of the application location information 16 and the display device information to select one or more speakers 30 of display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 to output the audio data 12 for applications 10,” Gokarn Column 7 Lines 15 – 18, “Referring now to FIG. 3, illustrated is an example of selecting speakers to output audio data for two applications, Application A 302 and Application B 310, located on a plurality of display devices 106, 108, 110. The example may be discussed below with reference to the architecture of FIG. 1. Application A 302 may be open on both display device 106 and display device 108. The application location information 16 for Application A 302 may indicate that application A 302 is located on both display device 106 and display device 108. In addition, the application location information 16 for Application A 302 may include one or more coordi-nates 304 that indicate a current location 19 of Application A 302 on display device 106 and one or more coordinates 306 that indicate a current location 19 of Application A 302 on display device 108. Speaker 34 of display device 106 and speakers 35, 36 of display device 108 may be selected by audio stack 24 to output any audio data 12 for Application A 302,” Gokarn Column 9 Lines 24 – 42, “In addition, Application B 310 may be open on display device 110. The application location information 16 for Application B 310 may indicate that Application B 310 is located on display device 110. In addition, the application location information 16 for Application B 310 may include one or more coordinates 320 that indicate a current location 19 of Application B 310 on display device 110. Audio stack 24 may receive the application location information 16 for Application B 310 and may use the application location information 16 to determine that Application B 310 is on display device 110. Audio stack 24 may use the speaker array 26 to identify that speakers 37, 38 are located on display device 110 and audio stack 24 may use the speaker array 26 to access the corresponding speaker location information 22 for speakers 37, 38. Audio stack 24 may use the speaker location information 22 for speakers 37, 38 to determine a distance 318 of speaker 37 to the current location 19 of Application B 310 and a distance 320 of speaker 38 to the current location 19 of Application B 310. Audio stack 24 may compare distance 318 to distance 320 and may determine that distance 318 and distance 320 are a similar distance from the current location 19 of Application B 310. As such, audio stack 24 may select both speakers 37, 38 to output any audio data 12 for Application B 310 in response to the comparison of distances 318, 320. Audio stack 24 may transmit audio data 12 for Application B 310 to speakers 37, 38 for output. Audio stack 24 may determine that display device 112 does not have an application 10 currently open, and audio stack 24 may not transmit audio data 12 to speakers 39, 40 of display device 112. As such, the current location 19 of Application A 302 and Application B 310 may be used to select the speakers to output the audio data 12 for Application A 302 and Application B 310,” Gokarn Column 10 Lines 18 – 52).
Claim 3: Gokarn discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: in response to a screen where the application is located being changed, determining a second screen where the application is located; and outputting the audio of the application to a second audio output device corresponding to the second screen (see at least, “Referring now to FIG. 4, an example of panning audio to a new set of speakers 31 (FIG. 1) when Application C 402 moves from a current location 19 (FIG. 1) to a new location 23 (FIG. 1) is illustrated. The example may be discussed below with reference to the architecture of FIG. 1,” Gokarn Column 10 Lines 53 – 57, “A user may move Application C 402 from the current location 19 on display device 106 to a new location 23 on display device 108. Audio stack 24 may receive updated application location information 16 for Application C 402 with the new location 23. For example, one or more coordinates P2 406 may indicate the new location 23 of Application C 402 on display device 108,” Gokarn Column 11 Lines 24 – 30, “Application C 402 is removed from display device 106. As such, speakers 33, 34 may no longer output audio data 12 for Application C 402 when Application C 402 moves to display device 108. Audio stack 24 may receive the updated application 45 location information 16 for Application C 402 and may determine that the new location 23 for Application C 402 is on display device 108. One or more coordinates P2 406 may indicate where Application C 402 is located on display device 108. Audio stack 24 may use the speaker array 26 to 50 identify that speakers 35, 36 are located on display device 108. As Application C 402 moves to display device 108, audio stack 24 may start outputting audio data 12 for Application C 402 via speakers 35, 36 of display device 108,” Gokarn Column 11 Lines 41 – 54).
Claim 4: Gokarn discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the screen where the application is located being changed includes: in response to detecting a screen switch operation of a user on the application, determining that the screen where the application is located is changed (see at least, “At 508, method 500 may include receiving updated application location information with a new location for the application. For example, a user may drag and/or expand the window size of application 10 so that application 10 may span across multiple display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and/or move to a new location 23 (e.g., a different location on the current display device and/or to a different display device). As one or more applications 10 change locations to a new location 23, application location manager 17 may track the movement of the application(s) 10 and may update the application location information 16 in response to the changes in location. Audio stack 24 may receive the updated application location information 16 with the new location 23 for application 10. The updated application location information 16 may identify one or more display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 for the new location 23 of application 10,” Gokarn Column 14 Lines 8 – 23).
Claim 5: Gokarn discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the first screen and the second screen belong to different display areas of a same screen or different screens (see at least, “At 508, method 500 may include receiving updated application location information with a new location for the
application. For example, a user may drag and/or expand the window size of application 10 so that application 10 may span across multiple display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and/or move to a new location 23 (e.g., a different location on the current display device and/or to a different display device),” Gokarn Column 14 Lines 8 – 15).
Claim 8: Gokarn discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising, before determining the first screen where the application is located: obtaining a plurality of screens of the electronic device; obtaining a plurality of audio output devices; and associating the plurality of screens with the plurality of audio output devices in a one-to-one correspondence (see at least, “Setup component 14 may also determine a total number of speakers 20 in system 100. Each display device 106, 108, 110, 112 may provide information regarding a number of speakers on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and the corresponding speaker location information 22 for each speaker on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. For example, setup component 14 may receive hardware information from each of the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 that identifies how many speakers display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may have, the speaker location information 22, how many channels display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may support, whether display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may be a high speed device or super speed device, how many audio ren-dering endpoints display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may have, how many capture endpoints display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 may have, and/or any hardware loop back points on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. Setup component 14 may capture the hardware information of the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and may build a topology for system 100 in response to the information learned from the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112,” Gokarn Column 5 Lines 8 – 28).
Claim 9: Gokarn discloses an audio output device configured to perform the audio output method according to claim 1 (see at least, “The method may include receiving, at an operating system executing on the computer device, audio data from an application open on at least one display device of a plurality of display devices in communication with the computer device,” Gokarn Column 1 Lines 53 – 57).
Claims 13, 15 – 17, and 20 are directed to an electronic device (see at least, “The method may include receiving, at an operating system executing on the computer device, audio data from an application open on at least one display device of a plurality of display devices in communication with the computer device,” Gokarn Column 1 Lines 53 – 57), comprising: a processor; and a memory communicatively connected to the processor and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method substantially similar in scope to claims 1, 3 – 5, and 8, respectively and therefore are rejected for the same reasons (see also at least, “Another example implementation relates to computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by a computer
device. The computer-readable medium may include at least one instruction for causing the computer device to receive audio data from an application open on at least one display device of a plurality of display devices in commu-nication with the computer device. The computer-readable medium may include at least one instruction for causing the computer device to select a set of speakers from a plurality of speakers of the plurality of display devices to receive the audio data in response to speaker location information for the plurality of speakers and application location information with a current location for the application,” Gokarn Column 2 Lines 4 – 16, “Computer device 102 may include an operating system 111 that may be executed by processor 42 and/or memory 44. Memory 44 of computer device 102 may be configured for storing data and/or computer-executable instructions defining and/or associated with operating system 111, and processor 42 may execute such data and/or instructions to instantiate operating system 111,” Gokarn Column 4 Lines 46 – 52).
Claim 21: Gokarn discloses an audio output method, comprising: for each application window of a plurality of application windows of an application (see at least, “Operating system 111 may also include an application location manager 17 that may provide application location information 16 for each application 10. The application location information 16 may indicate one or more display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where application 10 may be currently located. In addition, on a particular display device 106, 108, 110, 112, there may be multiple windows and/or virtual panels that may correspond to one or more applications 10. For example, applications 10 may have a graphical user interface (UI) that corresponds to a window on a display device 106, 108, 110, 112. The application location information 16 may also include coordinates from, for example, a Cartesian coordinate system, that provide a pixel position of the current location 19 of applications 10 on the display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. As such, the application location information 16 may indicate a window and/or virtual panel on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where applications 10 may be located and may also provide a pixel position of a current location 19 of applications 10 on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112. As one or more applications 10 change locations to a new location 23, application location manager 17 may track the movement of applications 10 and may update the application location information 16 with the new locations 23 of applications 10 in response to the changes in location,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 10 – 36): determining a first screen where the application window is located (see at least, “Operating system 111 may also include an audio stack 24 that may receive audio data 12 from one or more applications 10 and may select speakers 30 on one or more display devices 106,108,110,112 to output the audio data 12. Audio stack 24 may receive information indicating a number of applications 10 open on display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 and the corresponding application location information 16 for each application 10,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 37 – 44, “The application location information 16 may indicate one or more display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 where application 10 may be currently located. In addition, on a particular display device 106, 108, 110, 112, there may be multiple windows and/or virtual panels that may correspond to one or more applications 10,” Gokarn Column 12 Lines 51 – 56); and outputting an audio corresponding to the application window to a first audio output device corresponding to the first screen where the application window is located; wherein: the first screen belongs to a first display area of a screen, and the screen further includes a second display area to which a second screen belongs, the second display area being different from the first display area; and the second screen is associated with a second audio output device different from the first audio output device (see at least, “Audio stack 24 may use a combination of the application location information 16 and the speaker location information 22 in selecting the speakers 30 to receive the audio data 12,” Gokarn Column 6 Lines 49 – 52, “Audio stack 24 may use a combination of the application location information 16 and the display device information to select one or more speakers 30 of display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 to output the audio data 12 for applications 10,” Gokarn Column 7 Lines 15 – 18, “Another example may include when a media application 10 location on display device 106 plays audio and video, the audio for the media application 10 may be output by the selected speakers 30 of the display device 106 where the media application is currently located (e.g., speakers 33, 34). A user may drag and/or expand the window size of application 10 so that application 10 may span across multiple display devices (e.g., display devices 106, 108). As appli-cation 10 may move to a new location 23 (e.g., to another display device 108), the audio data 12 may be panned to a new set of selected speakers 31 (e.g., speakers 33, 34, 35, 36) that correspond to the new location 23 for application 10,” Gokarn Column 7 Lines 53 – 65, “Referring now to FIG. 3, illustrated is an example of selecting speakers to output audio data for two applications, Application A 302 and Application B 310, located on a plurality of display devices 106, 108, 110. The example may be discussed below with reference to the architecture of FIG. 1. Application A 302 may be open on both display device 106 and display device 108. The application location information 16 for Application A 302 may indicate that application A 302 is located on both display device 106 and display device 108. In addition, the application location information 16 for Application A 302 may include one or more coordi-nates 304 that indicate a current location 19 of Application A 302 on display device 106 and one or more coordinates 306 that indicate a current location 19 of Application A 302 on display device 108. Speaker 34 of display device 106 and speakers 35, 36 of display device 108 may be selected by audio stack 24 to output any audio data 12 for Application A 302,” Gokarn Column 9 Lines 24 – 42, “In addition, Application B 310 may be open on display device 110. The application location information 16 for Application B 310 may indicate that Application B 310 is located on display device 110. In addition, the application location information 16 for Application B 310 may include one or more coordinates 320 that indicate a current location 19 of Application B 310 on display device 110. Audio stack 24 may receive the application location information 16 for Application B 310 and may use the application location information 16 to determine that Application B 310 is on display device 110. Audio stack 24 may use the speaker array 26 to identify that speakers 37, 38 are located on display device 110 and audio stack 24 may use the speaker array 26 to access the corresponding speaker location information 22 for speakers 37, 38. Audio stack 24 may use the speaker location information 22 for speakers 37, 38 to determine a distance 318 of speaker 37 to the current location 19 of Application B 310 and a distance 320 of speaker 38 to the current location 19 of Application B 310. Audio stack 24 may compare distance 318 to distance 320 and may determine that distance 318 and distance 320 are a similar distance from the current location 19 of Application B 310. As such, audio stack 24 may select both speakers 37, 38 to output any audio data 12 for Application B 310 in response to the comparison of distances 318, 320. Audio stack 24 may transmit audio data 12 for Application B 310 to speakers 37, 38 for output. Audio stack 24 may determine that display device 112 does not have an application 10 currently open, and audio stack 24 may not transmit audio data 12 to speakers 39, 40 of display device 112. As such, the current location 19 of Application A 302 and Application B 310 may be used to select the speakers to output the audio data 12 for Application A 302 and Application B 310,” Gokarn Column 10 Lines 18 – 52).
Claim 22: Gokarn discloses an method according to claim 4, wherein the switch operation includes triggering through a shortcut or by selecting the screen switch key (see at least, “In addition, audio stack 24 may also use other auxiliary information 29 to select one or more speakers 30 of display devices 106, 108, 110, 112 to output the audio data 12 for applications 10. Auxiliary information 29 may include, but is not limited to, user location information, changes in speaker location information 22 ( e.g., when a display device is rotated), and/or any other triggers that may modify a direction of the audio output,” Column 7 Line 33 – 40).
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.
Claim(s) 6 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokarn in view of Lee et al. (US 2022/0221910 A1), hereinafter Lee.
Claim 6: Gokarn discloses the method according to claim 5, but do not disclose wherein the screen is a foldable and flexible screen. However, Lee discloses in regards to “recent electronic devices,” Lee [0005], wherein the screen is a foldable and flexible screen (see at least, “A foldable device may be equipped with a folded (or bended) display (for example, flexible display or foldable display), and may be folded or unfolded and used,” Lee [0005]). 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 multiple display invention of Gokarn to apply to a foldable and flexible screen thereby allowing for the advantage of audio processing on devices having “a new form factor, such as a multi-display (for example, dual display) device (for example, foldable device),” Lee [0005].
Claim 18 is substantially similar in scope to claim 6 and therefore is rejected for the same reasons.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Yoo et al. (US 2012/0054613 A1) teaches “One application may execute one audio source or execute a plurality of audio sources at the same time. One application executes a plurality of audio sources, for example, when each of a plurality of media file windows executes an audio source. When one application executes a plurality of audio sources, processes to respectively execute the audio sources may include identifiable process information,” [0054].
Kim et al. (US 2018/0267773 A1) teaches “Referring to FIGS. 22A to 22C, the electronic
device may divide a screen area of a display into multiple areas, and may set an audio output device for each area,” [0181], “Referring to FIGS. 23A and 23B, the electronic device may set an audio output device of an application based on a window type corresponding to the application. For example, the electronic device may perform setting such that audio data of an application executed in a multi-window is output to a sub-output device,” [0186].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH SAUNDERS whose telephone number is (571)270-1063. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m. - 4 p.m., EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn R Edwards can be reached at (571)270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH SAUNDERS JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
Prosecution Insights