DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed remarks filed 6/1/2026:
Claims 1-20 are pending
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed 6/1/2026, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 3/2/2026 has been withdrawn.
Response to Amendment
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, it recites “determining a boundary…of a first physical sound source” and “generating a first virtual audio signal for a first physical sound source, wherein the first virtual audio signal is associated with the first virtual audio source and is based on the wet-signal distribution”. It is unclear whether the first recitation of “a first physical sound source” is the same as the second recitation or whether these physical sound sources are different and thus require a further amendment to show the clear difference.
Claims 2-13 are dependent upon and indefinite parent claim and thus also considered to be indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 are allowed upon overcoming the above rejection(s).
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: regarding claims 1, 14, and 20, the prior art or combination thereof fails to disclose and make obvious the invention as a whole.
Regarding claim 1, Eronen fails to explicitly teach the amended portions of “determining a boundary of the listening area based on at least a first position in the acoustic environment of a first physical sound source and determining, based on the current position of the first virtual audio source relative to the boundary, a set-signal distribution.
Similarly, Eronen fails to disclose each and every limitation of claims 14 and 20 in a similar fashion.
The respective dependent claims are also allowable as they depend upon an allowable parent claim.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to PTO-892, Notice of References Cited for a listing of analogous art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QIN ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1304. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 7:30AM-5:00PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached on (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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/QIN ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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