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 .
Examiner’s Comments
The examiner notes applicant has presented ‘audio recordings’ as claimed, as able to comprise video (note claim 7). The examiner will apply the same conventions when applying the prior art rejections.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the steps and mechanisms for performing the steps must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
(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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Charantimath et al (US 20230019025 A1).
As per claim 1, a method for creating musical mashups, comprising:
generating tags for at least two audio recordings (as referred to by 806 in fig. 8)
wherein the at least two audio recordings are stored on a third-party website (fig. 1, 106 can be on a server, which can execute through web applications per para 34),
wherein the tags are selected from a list comprising (the audio items are suggested to the user per para 19 to optimize an impact score per para 20 and per para 120):
key, tempo, year of composition, artist, genre, length of intro, length of chorus, length of verse, length of outro, number of verses, presence of instrumental solo, length of instrumental solo, instrumentation, volume; (per para 120, configured to recommend the one or more first audio tracks based on the determined genre information and the determined direction of the original audio)
wherein at least one of the audio recordings is an acapella track (para. 36: one or more sound effects (such as Foley sounds or background sounds) may have to be added to enhance the audio experience of the video 112. These sound effects may correspond to audio tracks that may be blended with an original audio track that may include dialogues, natural ambient sounds, and music);
wherein at least one of the audio recordings is an instrumental track (para 36: one or more sound effects (such as Foley sounds or background sounds) may have to be added to enhance the audio experience of the video 112. These sound effects may correspond to audio tracks that may be blended with an original audio track that may include dialogues, natural ambient sounds, and music) ;
storing the tags in a database, wherein each set of tags is associated with a link to an audio recording associated with the tags, (the tags are stored with the audio in audio database 106 per fig. 1 in order to implement the above functions, notably pertaining to the genres of audio recordings, noting the system must identify the links/addresses of each defined data, relative to the metadata of genre, in order to recommend the one or more first audio tracks based on the determined genre information)
wherein the audio recording is not stored in the database but is embedded and playable on the user interface (the audio recordings that are played/used on the user terminal are not stored on the databased because the databased is on a server at 106 while the user device using the audio is at device 102 which is not stored on the database 106);
selecting an acapella track and at least one tag to be matched (selecting a genre as noted above, and selecting an original audio (para. 120: The circuitry 202 may be further configured to recommend the one or more first audio tracks based on the determined genre information and the determined direction of the original audio.) ;
selecting an instrumental track that matches the at least one tag (a matched track, based on genre as cited above, noting the tracks can be dialogue/acapella as noted above or instrumental/background music per para 19), or ;
adjusting at least one of the acapella track and the instrumental track to ensure they sound well together (the following comprises adjustments that ensure the tracks ‘sound well together’: The third UI element 806 may be a button and may be used to launch an audio equalizer to equalize the corresponding audio track-equalizer function.) ;
playing the acapella track and the instrumental track simultaneously (para 24, device 102 can be a sound mixer which is used to mix and playback mixed audio tracks.
As per claim 2, the method of Claim 1, wherein the step of selecting an instrumental track that matches the at least one tag comprises:
displaying at least two instrumental tracks that match the at least one tag for a user (para 48: and interfaces that may be configured to display the recommended one or more first audio tracks);
prompting the user to select at least one instrumental track from the at least two instrumental tracks (para 75: The audio track may be selected based on a user input received from the user 120 via the user device. The selected audio track may be the most suitable sound effect for the first scene 114A based on the user input.).
As per claim 3, the method of Claim 1, wherein the step of selecting an instrumental track that matches the at least one tag is performed automatically by a computing device (the recommendations provided to the user per para 75 are made automatically).
As per claim 5, the step of adjusting at least one of the acapella track and the instrumental track comprises adjusting a volume level (per the functions of the equalizer cited above).
As per claim 6, the method of Claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting at least one of the acapella tracks and the instrumental tracks comprises adjusting a tempo (para 76: equalization of the one or more audio tracks may comprise a process of changing a balance of one or more different components (such as bass, tempo, and pitch) in the recommended one or more audio tracks or the selected audio track).
As per claim 7, the method of Claim 1, wherein the audio recordings include video (the audio recommendations can be based on video, additionally video can comprise audio).
As per claim 8, the method of Claim 7, wherein the step of playing the acapella track and the instrumental track together comprises displaying a video associated with the acapella track and a video associated with the instrumental track on a user interface (the audio tracks are associated with a video track as cited above and per the interface shown in fig. 8).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103what
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Charantimath et al (US 20230019025 A1) as applied to claim 1,2 above, and further in view of Prokop (US 20180137845 A1).
As per claim 4, Charantimath discloses the method of Claim 2, including the computing device selects at least two instrumental tracks that match the at least one tag (as cited in the above rejections, above) but does not specify that it then randomly selects one instrumental track from the at least two instrumental tracks.
Prokop discloses a music generation system and teaches that the system can make a random selection of tracks/files from the candidate metadata per para 90. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of filing that the selection of audio/video clips can be performed randomly by the computer for the advantages of automating the selection process for the user.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER KRZYSTAN whose telephone number is 571-272-7498, and whose email address is alexander.krzystan@uspto.gov
The examiner can usually be reached on m-f 7:30-4:00 est.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone or email are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fan Tsang can be reached on (571) 272-7547.
The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
/ALEXANDER KRZYSTAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2653
Examiner Alexander Krzystan
February 9, 2026