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
Applicants’ amendment filed on 08/05/26 has been entered. Claims 1, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14-15, 18-19 have been amended. No claims have been canceled. No new claim has been added. Claims 1-20 are still pending in this application, with claims 1, 8, 10 being independent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 of this title, 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 1-5, 8, 10, 12-15 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220415333 to Zhu et al. (“Zhu”) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200302036 to Khan (“Khan”).
As to claim 1, Zhu discloses a method implemented by a first client terminal during a communication session in cooperation with an audio and/or video conference server managing exchanges of audio data streams between the first client terminal and at least one second client terminal during an audio and/or video conference [Abstract, Figs 1-19, pages 1-16], the method comprising: sending, to the audio and/or video conference server, a marked audio data stream, the audio data being marked by integrating a code assigned to said first terminal into a first audio data stream [Fig. 2, paragraphs 0040-0043, 0052-0056, 0076-83, 0094]; receiving audio capability data representative of an ability of the second client terminal to receive, the marked audio data stream sent by the first client termina, by the second terminal, of the code assigned to said first terminal [Fig. 9:902-904, Fig. 12:1201-1203, paragraphs 0071-0072, 082-0083, 0091-92]; and triggering at least one action of managing the audio and/or video conference based on the received audio capability data, said at least one management action comprising rendering, via a user interface of the first client terminal, information, dependent on the received audio capability data, indicating whether said at least one second client terminal is able to receive an audio data stream from the first client terminal [Fig. 9, 11-14, paragraphs 0081-0083, 0091-0115].
Zhu does not expressly disclose generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal.
In the same or similar field of invention, Khan discloses the feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal [Khan paragraph 0032, as per Khan conference bridge or End-User-Device (EUD) can generate EUD ID (e.g. marked or watermarked) signal for each connected authorized users. This is similar to generating audio capability data representative (e.g. if the user is authorized to receive marked audio data stream), through the conference server, the marked audio data stream (stream with EUD ID) sent by a first terminal].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu to include feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal as taught by Khan. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a technology solution that can watermark a conference call to protect against unauthorized recording, reproduction, or dissemination of any portion of the conference call [Khan paragraph 0004].
As to claim 2, Zhu discloses receiving, from a mediation server, the code assigned to the first client terminal [Fig. 2, paragraphs 0043, 0052-0056, 0076-81, 0094].
As to claim 3, Zhu discloses wherein said code assigned to said first client terminal is received in response to a request to said mediation server comprising an identifier of the first client terminal [paragraphs 0008, 0038, 0044, 0050, 0052-53].
As to claim 4, Zhu discloses wherein the first audio data stream is generated from acoustic signals acquired by a first microphone coupled to the first client terminal [paragraph 0047].
As to claim 5, Zhu discloses wherein the acoustic signals from which the first audio data stream is generated represent background noise acquired by the first microphone, the intensity of the background noise being less than a first intensity value [paragraphs 0088, 0140, 0161].
As to claim 8, Zhu discloses a method implemented by a second client terminal during a communication session in cooperation with an audio and/or video conference server managing exchanges of audio data streams between a first client terminal and the second client terminal during an audio and/or video conference [Abstract, Figs 1-19, pages 1-16], the method comprising: receiving, from the audio and/or video conference server, an audio data stream [Fig. 2, paragraphs 0040-0043, 0052-0056, 0076-83, 0094-0099]; and in response to detection, in said received audio data stream, of a code assigned to the first client terminal, sending a notification comprising a code in association with an identifier of the second client terminal [Fig. 9:902-904, Fig. 12:1201-1203, paragraphs 0071-0072, 082-0083, 0091-99].
Zhu does not expressly disclose generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal.
In the same or similar field of invention, Khan discloses the feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal [Khan paragraph 0032, as per Khan conference bridge or End-User-Device (EUD) can generate EUD ID (e.g. marked or watermarked) signal for each connected authorized users. This is similar to generating audio capability data representative (e.g. if the user is authorized to receive marked audio data stream), through the conference server, the marked audio data stream (stream with EUD ID) sent by a first terminal].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu to include feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal as taught by Khan. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a technology solution that can watermark a conference call to protect against unauthorized recording, reproduction, or dissemination of any portion of the conference call [Khan paragraph 0004].
As to claim 10, Zhu discloses a mediation method implemented by a mediation server in cooperation with a plurality of client terminals participating in an audio and/or video conference during which audio data streams are exchanged via an audio and/or video conference server [Abstract, Figs 1-19, pages 1-16], the method comprising: sending, to a first client terminal of the plurality of terminals, a code assigned to the first client terminal and recorded, in association with an identifier of the first client terminal [Fig. 2, paragraphs 0043, 0044, 0050, 0052-0056, 0076-81, 0094]; and upon receipt, from a second client terminal of the plurality of terminals, of a notification comprising the code assigned to said first client terminal in association with an identifier of the second client terminal: determining audio capability data the second client terminal to receive an audio data stream send by the first client terminal, the audio capability data being generated based on the notification received from the second client terminal [Fig. 9:902-904, Fig. 12:1201-1205, paragraphs 0071-0072, 082-0083, 0091-100, 0108]; and sending said audio capability data to the first client terminal [Fig. 9, 11-14, paragraphs 0081-0083, 0091-115].
Zhu does not expressly disclose generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal.
In the same or similar field of invention, Khan discloses the feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal [Khan paragraph 0032, as per Khan conference bridge or End-User-Device (EUD) can generate EUD ID (e.g. marked or watermarked) signal for each connected authorized users. This is similar to generating audio capability data representative (e.g. if the user is authorized to receive marked audio data stream), through the conference server, the marked audio data stream (stream with EUD ID) sent by a first terminal].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu to include feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal as taught by Khan. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a technology solution that can watermark a conference call to protect against unauthorized recording, reproduction, or dissemination of any portion of the conference call [Khan paragraph 0004].
As to claim 12, Zhu discloses a client terminal comprising at least one processor configured to implement the method of claim 1 [Fig. 18, paragraphs 0153-0155].
As to claim 13, Zhu discloses a system comprising: a first client terminal comprising at least one first processor configured to implement the method of claim 1 [Fig. 18, paragraphs 0153-0155]; and at least one second client terminal comprising at least one second processor configured to implement a method [Fig. 18, paragraphs 0153-0155] during the communication session in cooperation with the audio and/or video conference server managing exchanges of audio data streams between the first client terminal and the second client terminal during the audio and/or video conference, the method comprising: receiving, from the audio and/or video conference server, said audio data stream; and sending a notification comprising said code integrated into said received audio data stream, in association with an identifier of the second client terminal said information rendered by the first client terminal being representative of audio capability data indicating an ability of the second client terminal to receive the marked audio data stream transmitted by the first client terminal [See rejection of claims 1 and 8].
Zhu does not expressly disclose generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal.
In the same or similar field of invention, Khan discloses the feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal [Khan paragraph 0032, as per Khan conference bridge or End-User-Device (EUD) can generate EUD ID (e.g. marked or watermarked) signal for each connected authorized users. This is similar to generating audio capability data representative (e.g. if the user is authorized to receive marked audio data stream), through the conference server, the marked audio data stream (stream with EUD ID) sent by a first terminal].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu to include feature of generating audio capability data representative of the ability of a second terminal to receive , through the conference server, the marked audio data stream sent by a first terminal as taught by Khan. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a technology solution that can watermark a conference call to protect against unauthorized recording, reproduction, or dissemination of any portion of the conference call [Khan paragraph 0004].
As to claim 14, Zhu discloses a mediation server comprising at least one processor configured to implement the method of claim 10 [Fig. 19, paragraphs 0184-188].
As to claim 15, Zhu discloses obtaining the marked audio data stream, the audio data being marked by integrating a digital marking code into a first audio data stream by watermarking [paragraphs 0043, 0052-0056, 0076-81, 0094], wherein the audio capability data is received from a mediation server [Fig. 9:902-904, Fig. 12:1201-1203, paragraphs 0071-0072, 082-0083, 0091-92].
As to claim 18, Zhu discloses wherein the audio data stream is generated from acoustic signals acquired by a first microphone coupled to the first client terminal [paragraph 0047].
As to claim 19, Zhu discloses wherein the acoustic signals from which the audio data stream is generated represent background noise acquired by the first microphone, the intensity of the background noise being less than a first intensity value [paragraphs 0088, 0140, 0161].
As to claim 20, Zhu discloses a client terminal comprising at least one processor configured to implement the method of claim 8 [Fig. 18, paragraphs 0153-0155].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220415333 to Zhu et al. (“Zhu”) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200302036 to Khan (“Khan”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20180367868 to Banger (“Banger”).
As to claim 6, Zhu and Khan disclose the method of claim 1 [See rejection of claim 1].
Zhu and Khan do not expressly disclose wherein the first audio data stream is generated by emulating random noise.
In the same or similar field of invention, Banger discloses the feature of wherein the first audio data stream is generated by emulating random noise [Banger paragraph 0011, 0021].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu and Khan to include feature of wherein the first audio data stream is generated by emulating random noise as taught by Banger. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a system for reliable and robust detection of audio-video (AV) clips, using a combination of watermarking and fingerprinting, with improved accuracy at low latencies [Banger paragraph 0003].
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220415333 to Zhu et al. (“Zhu”) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200302036 to Khan (“Khan”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20180048542 to Still (“Still”).
As to claim 11, Zhu and Khan disclose the method of claim 10 (see rejection of claim 10). Further, Zhu discloses determination of the second client terminal has detected the code assigned to said first terminal [Fig. 9, 12, paragraphs 0071-0072, 082-0083, 0091-92].
Zhu and Khan do not expressly disclose wherein absence of reception of said notification is determined if no said notification is received within a first period starting from a reference time. Even though, it is extremely obvious and well known in the art to wait for certain time period to be able to determine whether the notification is received or not.
In the same or similar field of invention, Still discloses the feature of wherein absence of reception of said notification is determined if no said notification is received within a first period starting from a reference time [Still paragraph 0050: “absence of ARQ packets from the passenger terminal 130 within a threshold timeframe of the corresponding content packet transmission…”].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu and Khan to include feature of wherein absence of reception of said notification is determined if no said notification is received within a first period starting from a reference time as taught by Still. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide automatic request (ARQ) retransmission of content packets by the content server responsive to absence of ARQ packets from the passenger terminal within a threshold timeframe of the corresponding content packet transmission [Still paragraph 0050].
Claim 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220415333 to Zhu et al. (“Zhu”) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200302036 to Khan (“Khan”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20130166742 to Wiener et al. (“Wiener”).
As to claim 16, Zhu and Khan disclose the method of claim 15 (see rejection of claim 15).
Zhu and Khan do not expressly disclose wherein obtaining the marked audio data stream, further comprises: sending, to a mediation server, a digital marking code request, said request comprising an identifier of the first client terminal; and receiving, in response to said request, the digital marking code assigned to the first client terminal.
In the same or similar field of invention, Wiener discloses the feature of obtaining the marked audio data stream, further comprises: sending, to a mediation server, a digital marking code request, said request comprising an identifier of the first client terminal; and receiving, in response to said request, the digital marking code assigned to the first client terminal [Wiener Figs. 3-4, paragraphs 0060: “server 120… can transmit an embedded code in response to receiving an identification request from a particular device 130…”, also see paragraphs 0053-0064].
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Zhu and Khan to include feature of wherein obtaining the marked audio data stream, further comprises: sending, to a mediation server, a digital marking code request, said request comprising an identifier of the first client terminal; and receiving, in response to said request, the digital marking code assigned to the first client terminal as taught by Wiener. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide a conference server that uses media cues (e.g., audio cues and/or video cues) to identify a device and allow that device to access particular controls, such as conference controls, on the serve [Wiener paragraph 0026].
As to claim 17, Wiener discloses determining, when establishing the communication session, an identifier of the audio and/or video conference; and inserting, into the digital marking code request, the identifier of the audio conference before sending to the mediation server, so as to enable said mediation server to record the digital marking code in association with the identifier of the first client terminal and the identifier of the audio and/or video conference [Wiener paragraph 0041, 0057, also see paragraphs 0053-0064]. In addition, the same motivation is used as the rejection of claim 16.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 9 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTIM G SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-5214. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30am-4pm.
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/ANTIM G SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
