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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1,4,7,8, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by US20210201863 (Vicente), hereinafter US’863.
Regarding claim 1, US’863 discloses ‘An audio processing method (US’863, Abstract:”method and computer product for combining audio tracks”);, comprising:
acquiring a vocal in response to a first instruction (US’863, ¶[0008]: "determining at least one music track that is musically compatible with a base music track"; ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", teaches acquiring an accompaniment; the base instrumental/background track and separated accompaniment component);
acquiring an accompaniment in response to a second instruction (US’863, ¶[0002]:"a recording created by digitally synchronizing and combining background tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs"; "removing vocals from one first musical track and replacing those vocals with vocals from at least one of second musically-compatible track, and/or adding vocals from the second track to the first track." ¶[0008]: "separating the at least one music track into an accompaniment component and a vocal component; and adding the vocal component ... to the base music track", acquiring a vocal; separates a music track into vocal/accompaniment components and uses the vocal component in a mashup);
and acquiring a target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment in response to a third instruction (US’863, Bosch ¶[0002]: "digitally synchronizing and combining background tracks with vocal tracks"; ¶[0092]: "those segments 122, 124 are mixed"; Sugar ¶[0035]: "the aligned voice recording 20 and the music accompaniment 23 are mixed in an automatic mixing block 24 so that the final generated song 12 is produced", mixed mashup/song is the target audio obtained after combining vocal content with accompaniment/background audio) .
Regarding claim 4, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 1, as discussed above.
US’863 further discloses ‘wherein the acquiring the target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment comprises: acquiring a vocal segment of the vocal and an accompaniment segment of the accompaniment (US’863, ¶[0004]: "the vocals are inserted into the instrumentals one short segment at a time", acquiring vocal segments);
and acquiring the target audio by mixing the vocal segment and the accompaniment segment (US’863, ¶[0091]: "A procedure 300 to perform automashups using the segments (S_subs) and (S_add)"; ¶[0092]: "those segments 122, 124 are mixed", performs mashups at the segment level, using vocal segments and instrumental/background segments).
Regarding claim 7, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 1, as discussed above.
US’863 further discloses ‘wherein the acquiring the target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment comprises: acquiring a first rhythm of third audio and a second rhythm of fourth audio (US’863, ¶[0013]: "musical characteristics include ... a tempo", tempo information reads on first and second rhythms);
performing rhythm alignment on the first rhythm of the third audio and the second rhythm of the fourth audio (US’863, ¶[0092]: "beat and downbeat alignment is performed for the segment 122 under consideration and the candidate (e.g., vocal) segment(s) 124"; ¶[0150]: "the beats will automatically also be aligned", beat/downbeat alignment reads on rhythm alignment of the vocal/accompaniment or segment audio; teaches rhythm/beat alignment between audio segments);
and acquiring the target audio based on the aligned third audio and fourth audio (US’863, ¶[0092]: "those segments 122, 124 are mixed", after alignment, the aligned vocal/accompaniment content are mixed to generate the final song/mashup);
wherein the third audio is one audio out of the vocal and the accompaniment,
and the fourth audio is the other audio out of the vocal and the accompaniment,
or, the third audio is one audio out of a vocal segment of the vocal and an
accompaniment segment of the accompaniment (US’863, ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", teaches the third/fourth audio can be vocal and accompaniment; the base instrumental track and vocal component correspond to the two alternatives), and the fourth audio is the other audio out of the vocal segment and the accompaniment segment (¶[0014]:”.. one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", teaches the other audio is the complementary vocal/accompaniment; if one audio is vocal, the other is accompaniment, and vice versa).
Regarding claim 8, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 7, as discussed above.
US’863 further discloses ‘wherein the performing the rhythm alignment on the first rhythm of the third audio and the second rhythm of the fourth audio comprises: adjusting the second rhythm of the fourth audio based on the first rhythm of the third audio to make the first rhythm of the third audio and the second rhythm of the fourth audio are consistent (US’863, ¶[0155]: "time-stretching is performed to each beat of respective candidate (e.g., vocal) tracks 110 so that they conform to beats of the query track 112", time-stretching candidate beats to conform to query-track beats reads directly on rhythm adjustment/alignment; teaches adjusting a rhythm of one audio based on the other so the rhythms are consistent).
Regarding claim 17, US’863 discloses ‘An audio processing apparatus, comprising: at least one processor and a memory; the memory stores a computer-executed instruction; the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instruction stored in the memory to enable the at least one processor (US’863, ¶[0028]: "a system for combining audio tracks, comprising: a memory storing a computer program; and a computer processor..."); to:
acquire a vocal in response to a first instruction (US’863, ¶[0008]: "separating... into an accompaniment component and a vocal component; and adding the vocal component...", teaches an apparatus/system configured to acquire a vocal);
acquire an accompaniment in response to a second instruction (US’863, ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", acquiring accompaniment; instrumental/base track and accompaniment component read on acquired accompaniment);
acquire target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment in response to a third instruction (US’863, ¶[0092]: "those segments 122, 124 are mixed", acquire target audio by mixing vocal/accompaniment; mixing to produce a mashup/song maps).
Regarding claim 19, US’863 discloses ‘A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable memory medium stores a computer-executed instruction, and when the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instruction (US’863, ¶[0193]: “a machine - accessible or machine - readable medium having instructions … on the non - transitory machine accessible machine - readable or computer - readable medium may be used to program a computer system or other electronic device”), enables the at least one processor (US’863, ¶[0193]: “processing system causes the processor to perform an action”) to:
acquire a vocal in response to a first instruction US’863, ¶[0008]: "determining at least one music track that is musically compatible with a base music track"; ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", teaches acquiring an accompaniment; the base instrumental/background track and separated accompaniment component) ;
acquire an accompaniment in response to a second instruction (US’863, ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", acquiring accompaniment; instrumental/base track and accompaniment component read on acquired accompaniment);
and acquire target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment in response to a third instruction (US’863, ¶[0092]: "those segments 122, 124 are mixed", acquire target audio by mixing vocal/accompaniment; mixing to produce a mashup/song maps).
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 2-3,5-6,9-10,13-17 and 22 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US’863, in view of US20100305732 (Serletic), hereinafter US’732.
Regarding claim 2, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 1, as discussed above.
US’863 discloses ‘wherein the acquiring the vocal in response to the first instruction comprises: importing a first audio and extracting the vocal from the first audio in response to a … operation (US’863, ¶[0002]: "removing vocals from one first musical track"; ¶[0008]: "separating the at least one music track into an accompaniment component and a vocal component", teaches importing audio and extracting vocal; vocal extraction/separation operation);
the acquiring the accompaniment in response to the second instruction comprises: (US’863, ¶[0008]: "separating the at least one music track into an accompaniment component and a vocal component"; ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track..." , teaches acquiring/extracting accompaniment)
importing second audio and extracting the accompaniment from the second audio in response to a …operation (US’863, Bosch ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component").
US’863 does not expressly disclose ‘a touch operation for a first control on a first interface;
[and]
‘ a touch operation for a second control on the first interface.
However, US’732 discloses ‘a touch operation for a first control on a first interface (US’732, ¶[0120]:"Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user, such as through the use of a mouse 54, touchscreen 80...", touch/manual interface controls; first interface control/touch operation is a UI implementation for initiating Bosch's vocal extraction/separation operation);
‘a touch operation for a second control on the first interface (US’732, ¶[0123]: "Add track control 1021 enables a user to manually add a track...").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the vocal extraction and accompaniment extraction operations of US'863 using the touchscreen/manual interface controls taught by US'732 because providing user-selectable graphical controls for initiating audio processing functions improves usability, permits intuitive operation on computing devices, and represents an implementation of user-interface techniques for multimedia applications.
Regarding claim 3, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘wherein the acquiring the target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment (US’863, ¶[0092]:"Then, in step 308, those segments 122, 124 are mixed", teaches the mixing) in response to the third instruction (US’732, ¶[0120]: "Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user, such as through the use of a mouse 54, touchscreen 80...”, touch/manual control to trigger UI operations; the third control/touch operation is a UI trigger for causing the mixing operation) comprises:
acquiring the target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment in response to a touch operation for a third control on the first interface (US’732, Serletic ¶[0120]: "Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user...", teaches touch/manual control to trigger UI operations; the third control/touch operation is a UI trigger for causing the mixing operation).
Regarding claim 5, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 4, as discussed above.
wherein the acquiring the vocal segment of the vocal and the accompaniment segment of the accompaniment (US,863, ¶[0083]: "song segmentation information (including start and end positions of segments), and segment labelling information"), comprises:
US’863 does not expressly disclose ‘inputting the vocal and accompaniment into a paragraph recognition model respectively to acquire the vocal segment of the vocal and the accompaniment segment of the accompaniment; wherein the paragraph recognition model is configured to identify a target segment of audio.
However, US’732 discloses ‘inputting the vocal and accompaniment into a paragraph recognition model respectively to acquire the vocal segment of the vocal and the accompaniment segment of the accompaniment (US’732, ¶¶0078-0081, Audio Converter 140 including Track Partitioner 204 that receives vocal or musical instrument audio and divides the recorded audio into separate partitions/segments); wherein the paragraph recognition model is configured to identify a target segment of audio (US’732, ¶¶0082-0084, Track Partitioner 204 employing a silence detector, stop detector using speech/formant analysis to identify vowels, consonants, and preferred partitioning points, thereby automatically identifying audio segments, identifies and partitions audio into segments using speech analysis).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the audio segment acquisition technique of US'863 to utilize the automatic audio partitioning and recognition techniques of US'732 because automatically identifying meaningful vocal and accompaniment segments improves the reliability and efficiency of subsequent audio mixing and processing while employing audio segmentation techniques for their established purpose.
Regarding claim 6, US’863 discloses ‘The method according to claim 4, as discussed above.
US’863 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein the acquiring the vocal segment of the vocal and the accompaniment segment of the accompaniment comprises: displaying a soundtrack of the vocal and a soundtrack of the accompaniment on a second interface in response to a touch operation for a fourth control on a first interface; acquiring the vocal segment in response to an editing operation for the soundtrack of the vocal; and acquiring the accompaniment segment in response to an editing operation for the soundtrack of the accompaniment.
However, US’732 discloses ‘wherein the acquiring the vocal segment of the vocal and the accompaniment segment of the accompaniment comprises: displaying a soundtrack of the vocal and a soundtrack of the accompaniment on a second interface in response to a touch operation for a fourth control on a first interface (US’732, ¶[0120]: "interface 1000 displays various aspects of a recording session and a multi-track recording"; ¶[0126]: "Grid 1050 on user interface 1000 represents the playback and timing of separate Sounds within one or more tracks of a multi-track recording...", a displayed grid/waveform/track interface reads on displaying soundtracks for editing; teaches displaying soundtracks/tracks on an interface responsive to user interface controls);
acquiring the vocal segment in response to an editing operation for the soundtrack of the vocal (US’732, ¶[0126]:"Selection of a box, such as a box 1052 or box 1054 may add or remove a sound from the track at the time increment associated with the selected box", acquiring edited track portions/segments responsive to editing operations; selecting/editing grid portions and manually altering portions of a track reads on acquiring vocal/accompaniment segments in response to editing operations);
and acquiring the accompaniment segment in response to an editing operation for the soundtrack of the accompaniment (US’732, ¶[0097]: "manual adjustment control 220 may enable a user to alter ... portions thereof...", acquiring edited track portions/segments responsive to editing operations; selecting/editing grid portions and manually altering portions of a track reads on acquiring vocal/accompaniment segments in response to editing operations).
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’863's automated mashup/audio-combining procedure through US’732's touchscreen/manual controls because US’732 teaches that audio converter user-interface controls may be operated by touchscreen/manual input to record, modify, add, remove, play, save, and render multi-track recordings, thereby providing predictable user control over audio editing operations.
Regarding claim 9, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 2, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘wherein the first interface comprises: a first playing control, a first deleting control and a first replacing control, which are associated with the vocal, the first playing control is used to audition for the vocal, the first deleting control is used to delete the vocal, and the first replacing control is used to replace the vocal (US’732, ¶[0125]: "Playback control 1030 enables playback of a multi-track recording"; ¶[0127]: "Remove track control 1040 enables removal of a track"; ¶[0092]: "Special effects editor 218 may be configured to add various effects to the audio track...", teaches playing, deleting/removing, and editing/replacing track controls associated with a track; these controls read on playing/deleting/replacing controls associated with the vocal track);
and a second playing control, a second deleting control, and a second replacing control, which are associated with the accompaniment, the second playing control is used to audition for the accompaniment, the second deleting control is used to delete the accompaniment, and the second replacing control is used to replace the accompaniment (US’732, ¶[0125]: "Playback control 1030 enables playback"; ¶[0127]: "Remove track control 1040 enables removal of a track"; ¶[0128]: "Instrument selection control 1042 enables selection of an instrument...", teaches playing, deleting/removing, and replacing/selection controls associated with an accompaniment/instrument track; these UI controls read on playing/deleting/replacing controls for the accompaniment).
Regarding claim 10, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 3, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘further comprising: jumping to a third interface in response to a touch operation for the third control on the first interface (US’732, ¶[0217]: "selection of a lead room button 3110 will transfer the player to the lead vocal/instrument room 3102"; "selection of an accompaniment room button 3112 will transfer the player to the accompaniment room 3106", teaches jumping/transferring to another interface in response to button selection; a button selection/touch operation causing transfer to another room/interface reads on jumping to a third interface),
wherein the third interface comprises a third playing control, and the third playing control is used to trigger playing of the target audio (US’732, ¶[0125]: "Playback control 1030 enables playback of a multi-track recording"; ¶[0127]: "A progress bar 1056 visually indicates a time increment of a current playback position...", teaches a playing control on an interface used to trigger playback; the playback control on the interface reads on the third playing control for target audio).
Regarding claim 13, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 3, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘further comprising: exporting data associated with the target audio to a target location in response to an export instruction on a third interface, wherein the target location comprises an album or a file system (US’732, ¶[0123]: "Render WAV control 1022 generates and stores a WAV file from at least a portion of a multi-track recording"; "other audio file formats... may also be available through a control such as control 1022", teaches exporting/saving target audio data to a file/location; rendering and storing a WAV/audio file reads on exporting data associated with the target audio to a target location/file system).
Regarding claim 14, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 3, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘further comprising: sharing data associated with the target audio to a target application in response to a sharing instruction on a third interface (US’732, ¶[0066]: "Video from the camera, or other source, may also further be provided to an online social network and/or an online music community"; ¶[0218]: "Buttons for saving (3124) and deleting (3126) the player's musical composition may also be provided", teaches sharing/providing media data to an online/social target application and saving compositions; online social network/music community reads on the target application for sharing).
Regarding claim 15, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 13, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘wherein the data associated with the target audio comprises at least one of the following: the target audio, the vocal, the accompaniment, a vocal segment of the vocal, an accompaniment segment of the accompaniment, a static cover of the target audio, and a dynamic cover of the target audio (US’863, ¶[0169]: "album cover art associated with musical tracks that are employed in a 'mashup' of songs"; US’732 ¶[0123]: "Render WAV control 1022 generates and stores a WAV file from at least a portion of a multi-track recording", US’863/US’732 teach exported/shared data including audio tracks, segments, and album art; storing/rendering the mixed audio and associated album art satisfies at least one listed data item).
Regarding claim 16, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 3, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘further comprising: jumping from a third interface to a fourth interface in response to a touch operation for an audio editing control on the third interface (US’732, ¶[0217]: "selection of a lead room button 3110 will transfer the player to the lead vocal/instrument room 3102"; "selection of an accompaniment room button 3112 will transfer the player to the accompaniment room 3106", teaches jumping/transferring from one interface to another via button selection; reads on jumping to a fourth interface in response to selecting/touching an audio-editing control),
wherein the fourth interface comprises an audio processing function control or a trigger control associated with the audio processing function control, and the trigger control is used to trigger display of the audio processing function control (US’732, ¶[0218]: "Other selectable buttons may also be provided"; ¶[0120]: "Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user...", teaches trigger controls/buttons for displaying/performing audio processing functions; selectable buttons/controls read on trigger controls associated with audio processing functions);
the audio processing function control comprises one or more of the following: an audio optimization control, configured to trigger editing of audio to optimize audio (US’732, ¶[0097]: "manual adjustment control 220 may enable a user to alter the frequency of an audio input, or portions thereof; enable a user to alter the onset and duration of each separate Sound; increase or decrease the gain for an audio track...", teaches audio optimization/editing controls; frequency, duration, onset, and gain edits read on optimizing audio);
an accompaniment extraction control, configured to trigger extraction of the vocal and/or the accompaniment from audio (US’863, ¶[0008]: "separating the at least one music track into an accompaniment component and a vocal component", teaches accompaniment/vocal extraction; supports accompaniment extraction and style composition control in an integrated interface);
a style composition control, configured to trigger extraction of the vocal from audio, and mix and edit the extracted vocal with a preset accompaniment (US’732, ¶[0128]: "Instrument selection control 1042 enables selection of an instrument...", teaches UI controls for audio editing/selection; supports accompaniment extraction and style composition control in an integrated interface);
an audio mashup control, configured to trigger extraction of the vocal from first audio, trigger extraction of the accompaniment from second audio, and mix and edit the extracted vocal and the extracted accompaniment (US’863, ¶[0002]: "digitally synchronizing and combining background tracks with vocal tracks"; ¶[0092]: "mixing can include replacing vocal content... with vocal content of the aligned segment 124" and "adding vocal content of the segment 124 to the segment 122", teaches audio mashup control/function: extraction of vocal content and mixing/editing with accompaniment/background track)..
Regarding claim 22, US’863 discloses ‘The audio processing apparatus according to claim 17, as discussed above.
US’863 further discloses ‘wherein the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory to further enable the at least one processor to: import first audio and extracting the vocal from the first audio in response to a touch operation for a first control on a first interface (US’863, ¶[0002]: "removing vocals from one first musical track"; ¶[0008]: "separating the at least one music track into an accompaniment component and a vocal component", teaches importing audio and extracting vocal; vocal extraction/separation operation); and import second audio and extracting the accompaniment from the second audio in response to a touch operation for a second control on the first interface (US’863, Bosch ¶[0014]: "the base music track is an instrumental track and the at least one music track includes the accompaniment component and the vocal component", teaches vocal/accompaniment extraction);.
US’863 does not expressly disclose ‘to a touch operation for a first control on a first interface
[and]
‘to a touch operation for a second control on the first interface
However, US’732 discloses ‘to a touch operation for a first control on a first interface (US’732, ¶[0120]: "Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user, such as through the use of a mouse 54, touchscreen 80...", teaches touch/manual UI controls)
‘to a touch operation for a second control on the first interface (US’732, ¶[0123]: "Add track control 1021 enables a user to manually add a track...").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the processor of US'863 to receive user input through touchscreen interface controls as taught by US'732 because such interfaces provide an intuitive mechanism for initiating media-processing operations, improve user interaction with multimedia applications, and apply graphical user-interface techniques to the audio processing system of US'863.
Regarding claim 23, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The audio processing apparatus according to claim 22, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) further discloses ‘wherein the at least one processor executes the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory to further enable the at least one processor to: acquire the target audio by mixing the vocal and the accompaniment in response to a touch operation for a third control on the first interface (US’863, ¶[0092]: "Then, in step 308, those segments 122, 124 are mixed", teaches mixing vocal/accompaniment; US’732, ¶[0120]: "Each control displayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from a user...", teaches touch/manual control for UI operations).
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US’863, in view of US’732, and in further view of US20200372896 (Cui), hereinafter US’896.
Regarding claim 11, US’863 (in view of US’732) discloses ‘The method according to claim 3, as discussed above.
US’863 (in view of US’732) does not expressly disclose ‘further comprising: displaying a first window in response to a touch operation for a cover editing control on a third interface, wherein the first window comprises a cover import control, one or more preset static cover controls, and one or more preset animation effect controls; acquiring a target cover in response to a control selection operation on the first window; wherein the target cover is a static cover or a dynamic cover.
However, US’896 discloses ‘further comprising: displaying a first window in response to a touch operation for a cover editing control on a third interface (US’896, ¶[0101]: "the terminal may provide a virtual object additional element list in the interface, then detect a predefined trigger operation on the displayed virtual object additional element, trigger a corresponding selection instruction..."; ¶[0102]: "the interface includes a virtual object additional element list 510 and a text input box portal 520."),
wherein the first window comprises a cover import control (US’896, ¶[0102]: "the interface includes a virtual object additional element list 510 and a text input box portal 520. The user may perform selection in the virtual object additional element list 510..."),
one or more preset static cover controls (US’896, ¶[0100]: "The virtual object additional element may be static data such as a static picture."),
and one or more preset animation effect controls (US’896, ¶[0100]: "The virtual object additional element may be dynamic data such as a dynamic picture..."; ¶[0101]: "...provide a virtual object additional element list in the interface... detect a predefined trigger operation... select the virtual object additional element pointed to by the selection instruction.");
acquiring a target cover in response to a control selection operation on the first window (US’896, ¶[0101]: "...select the virtual object additional element pointed to by the selection instruction."; ¶[0102]: "...the terminal obtains a virtual object additional element 511 selected by the user from the virtual object additional element list 510...");
wherein the target cover is a static cover or a dynamic cover (US’896, ¶[0100]: "The virtual object additional element may be dynamic data such as a dynamic picture or may be static data such as a static picture.").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the multimedia generation technique of US’896 to utilize the analyzed musical characteristics of US’863 for controlling the selected visual element because synchronizing visual content with analyzed musical characteristics (e.g., beat/tempo and loudness) predictably improves audiovisual coordination and enhances the user experience while using each reference according to its intended purpose.
Regarding claim 12, US’863 (in view of US’732 an dUS’896) discloses ‘The method according to claim 11, as discussed above.
US’863 further discloses ‘wherein the audio characteristic comprises an audio beat and/or volume (US’863, ¶[0023]: "...determining a first beat before the adjusted boundary..."; ¶[0033]: "...vertical musical compatibility is based on at least one of a tempo compatibility... loudness compatibility... beat stability..."; ¶[0120]: "beat synchronized chroma feature vectors are determined..."; ¶[0122]: "normalized loudness compatibility is determined...").
US’863 does not expressly disclose ‘wherein if the target cover is the dynamic cover, the acquiring the target cover in response to the control selection operation on the first window comprises: acquiring a static cover and animation effect in response to the control selection operation on the first window;
generating a dynamic cover changing with an audio characteristic of the target audio according to the audio characteristic of the target audio, the static cover and the animation effect.
However, US’896 discloses ‘wherein if the target cover is the dynamic cover, the acquiring the target cover in response to the control selection operation on the first window comprises: acquiring a static cover and animation effect in response to the control selection operation on the first window (US’896, ¶[0100]: "The virtual object additional element may be dynamic data such as a dynamic picture or may be static data such as a static picture."; ¶[0102]: "...the terminal obtains a virtual object additional element 511 selected by the user...");
such as a dynamic picture or may be static data such as a static picture."; (US’896, ¶[0102]: "...the terminal obtains a virtual object additional element 511 selected by the user...");
generating a dynamic cover changing with an audio characteristic of the target audio according to the audio characteristic of the target audio, the static cover and the animation effect (US’896, ¶[0099]: "...configuring... the self-made audio as background audio; superimposing the virtual object additional element to an acquired image to obtain a video frame; and generating a recorded video based on the background audio and the video frame obtained through superimposition.").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify US’896's selectable static/dynamic visual content to respond to the musical characteristics determined by US’863 because synchronizing visual effects with analyzed audio characteristics such as tempo and loudness predictably enhances audiovisual coordination and user engagement in multimedia presentations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US11087727 (Sugar) teaches automatically generating a musical accompaniment from a user’s recorded singing voice. The system acquires a singing voice recording, estimates musical characteristics (e.g., key and tempo), vocal alignment, and mixed the aligned vocal recording with the generated accompaniment to produce a complete song.
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.
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, 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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NICOLE K GILLESPIE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2837
/JEFFREY DONELS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Prosecution Insights