DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is responsive to remarks filed 10/30/2025.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
4. The independent claims have been amended. Terminal disclaimer has been filed and approved, and the double patenting rejections overcome.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant’s arguments filed have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that cited prior art Morrell does not anticipate the limitations of claim 1, specifically arguing the directional audio coding parameters, for time-frequency units, and transport signal, are not taught.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Regarding claim 1 Morrell et al (2014/0355766) teaches An apparatus for encoding an input audio scene comprising audio input signals (abstract: device; fig 3, 4, 5, fig 10 coherent components, diffuse components; para: 2-7 binaural rendering of audio data, method, device, apparatus, CRM;
0025: scene-based audio; 0032: SHC represent scene-based audio, where the SHC may be input to an audio encoder to obtain encoded SHC;
144; 151: coherent/directional (foreground/distinct); diffuse/background components; 43/108: directional information), comprising:
a directional audio coding analyzer configured for analyzing the audio input signals to obtain directional audio coding parameters comprising diffuseness parameters and direction parameters, wherein the directional audio coding analyzer is configured for obtaining the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters for time-frequency units, and wherein the direction parameters are direction of arrival (DOA) parameters (abstract: device; fig 3, 4, 5A time-frequency analysis unit, fig 10 coherent components, diffuse components; para: 2-7 binaural rendering of audio data, method, device, apparatus, CRM;
41: coefficients representative of foreground (or, in other words, distinct, pre-dominant or salient) components of the soundfield; 42: representative of one or more background (or, in other words, ambient) components of the soundfield;
144; 151: coherent/directional (foreground/distinct); diffuse/background components; 43/108: directional information
147: The spatial analysis unit 650 may analyze the soundfield represented by the SHC 511A to identify distinct components of the soundfield and diffuse components of the soundfield. The distinct components of the soundfield are sounds that are perceived to come from an identifiable direction or that are otherwise distinct from background or diffuse components of the soundfield. For instance, the sound generated by an individual musical instrument may be perceived to come from an identifiable direction. In contrast, diffuse or background components of the soundfield are not perceived to come from an identifiable direction.);
a parameter quantizer configured for quantizing the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters to obtain quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters (fig 10; para 43: device may…perform…quantization; quantization may comprise entropy quantization, quantized direction information
144-147 distinct components and diffuse components of soundfield; 154-156, 155 quantizing the V vector);
a parameter encoder configured for encoding the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters to obtain encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters (fig 3, 5A audio encoding device; fig 10; para: 43; 162: encode coherent and diffuse component – encoding quantized information);
a transport signal former configured for deriving a transport signal from the audio input signals by downmixing, beamforming or signal selection, and an audio coder for encoding the transport signal to obtain an encoded transport signal (fig 3, 4, 5A, 10; para: 53-55); and
an output interface for generating an encoded audio scene comprising the encoded transport signal and the encoded parameter representation comprising information on the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters (fig 3, 4, 5A bitstream generation unit, 10; para 43 bitstream to include encoded background components, encoded foreground audio objects, quantized direction information; 55).
Cited prior art Morrell teaches scene based audio which involves representing the soundfield using coefficients of spherical harmonic basis (SHC, HOA)(25-27), which incorporates obtaining direction and diffuseness components/parameters for quantization and encoding; the reference can further adjust quantization and coding based on whether the HOA coefficients are recorded or synthetic, and allocations of coherent and diffuse components (147, 151;154-156, 161-162).
Morrell teaches:
[0003] In general, techniques are described for binaural audio rendering of rotated higher order ambisonics (HOA).
0025: scene-based audio, which involves representing the soundfield using coefficients of spherical harmonic basis functions (also called "spherical harmonic coefficients" or SHC, "Higher Order Ambisonics" or HOA, and "HOA coefficients").
[0032] The SHC A.sub.n.sup.m(k) can either be physically acquired (e.g., recorded) by various microphone array configurations or, alternatively, they can be derived from channel-based or object-based descriptions of the soundfield. The SHC represent scene-based audio, where the SHC may be input to an audio encoder to obtain encoded SHC that may promote more efficient transmission or storage.
0036: While described in the context of the content creator 12 and the content consumer 14, the techniques may be implemented in any context in which SHCs (which may also be referred to as HOA coefficients) or any other hierarchical representation of a soundfield are encoded to form a bitstream representative of the audio data.
Morrel figures 5A and 5B are presented.
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[0084] In the example of FIG. 5A, the audio encoding device 120 includes a time-frequency analysis unit 122, a rotation unit 124, a spatial analysis unit 126, an audio encoding unit 128 and a bitstream generation unit 130. The time-frequency analysis unit 122 may represent a unit configured to transform SHC 121 (which may also be referred to a higher order ambisonics (HOA) in that the SHC 121 may include at least one coefficient associated with an order greater than one) from the time domain to the frequency domain. The time-frequency analysis unit 122 may apply any form of Fourier-based transform, including a fast Fourier transform (FFT), a discrete cosine transform (DCT), a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT), and a discrete sine transform (DST) to provide a few examples, to transform the SHC 121 from the time domain to the frequency domain.
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[0098] The sound field component extraction unit 220 may represent a unit configured to determine and then extract distinct components of the sound field and background components of the sound field, effectively separating the distinct components of the sound field from the background components of the sound field. Given that distinct components of the sound field typically require higher order (relative to background components of the sound field) basis functions (and therefore more SHC) to accurately represent the distinct nature of these components, separating the distinct components from the background components may enable more bits to be allocated to the distinct components and less bits (relatively, speaking) to be allocated to the background components.
0041: After reordering the decomposed version of the HOA coefficients 11, the audio encoding device 2 may select those of the decomposed version of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of foreground (or, in other words, distinct, predominant or salient) components of the soundfield. The audio encoding device 2 may specify the decomposed version of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of the foreground components as an audio object and associated directional information.
[0042] The audio encoding device 2 may also perform a soundfield analysis with respect to the HOA coefficients 11 in order, at least in part, to identify those of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of one or more background (or, in other words, ambient) components of the soundfield.
[0147] The spatial analysis unit 650 may analyze the soundfield represented by the SHC 511A to identify distinct components of the soundfield and diffuse components of the soundfield. The distinct components of the soundfield are sounds that are perceived to come from an identifiable direction or that are otherwise distinct from background or diffuse components of the soundfield. For instance, the sound generated by an individual musical instrument may be perceived to come from an identifiable direction. In contrast, diffuse or background components of the soundfield are not perceived to come from an identifiable direction. For instance, the sound of wind through a forest may be a diffuse component of a soundfield.
0043: The audio encoding device 2 may further perform, in some examples, a quantization with respect to the order reduced foreground directional information, outputting coded foreground directional information. In some instances, this quantization may comprise a scalar/entropy quantization. The audio encoding device 2 may then form the bitstream 3 to include the encoded background components, the encoded foreground audio objects, and the quantized directional information. The audio encoding device 2 may then transmit or otherwise output the bitstream 3 to the content consumer 14.
Regarding the transport signal limitation and arguments, the transport signal former only currently recites deriving some transport signal from audio input signals by signal selection, which is then encoded with the directional parameters for transmission, which is not as specific as Applicant’s arguments, leaving much room for interpretation.
The limitation is taught by Morrell (fig 3, 4, 5A, 10; para: 53-55
Where Figure 10, and corresponding Paragraph [0148] teaches The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify one or more distinct components attempting to identify an optimal angle by which to rotate the soundfield to align those of the distinct components having the most energy with the vertical and/or horizontal axis (relative to a presumed microphone that recorded this soundfield). The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify this optimal angle so that the soundfield may be rotated such that these distinct components better align with the underlying spherical basis functions shown in the examples of FIGS. 1 and 2.
And
[0151] In addition, the content-characteristics analysis unit 652 may determine, based at least in part on whether the SHC 511A were generated from a recording of an actual soundfield or from an artificial audio object, how many of the channels to allocate to coherent or, in other words, distinct components of the soundfield and how many of the channels to allocate to diffuse or, in other words, background components of the soundfield. For example, when the SHC 511A were generated from a recording of an actual soundfield using, as one example, an Eigenmic, the content-characteristics analysis unit 652 may allocate three of the channels to coherent components of the soundfield and may allocate the remaining channels to diffuse components of the soundfield. In this example, when the SHC 511A were generated from an artificial audio object, the content-characteristics analysis unit 652 may allocate five of the channels to coherent components of the soundfield and may allocate the remaining channels to diffuse components of the soundfield. In this way, the content analysis block (i.e., content-characteristics analysis unit 652) may determine the type of soundfield (e.g., diffuse/directional, etc.) and in turn determine the number of coherent/diffuse components to extract.
and
107: the bitstream generation unit 130 may generate the bitstream 131' to include directional components.
Thus, where overall, all the parameters for proper soundfield representation are encoded and combined into bitstream for transmission (figures 5A, 5B, 9, 10).
Regarding the decoder of claim 14, the arguments presented above also correspond to the reverse process performed at the decoder allowing for receipt, extraction, and rendering of the components for reconstruction of the audio signal.
The additional independent and dependent claims are rejected based on arguments presented above and art rejection below.
Examiner Note: The limitations as currently recited are still broad enough to allow the cited prior art to read on the claims. However, further expounding upon any of the sets of limitations may help to differentiate over cited prior art and advance prosecution.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-6, 10-11, 13-16, 20-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Morrell et al (2014/0355766).
Regarding claim 1 Morrell et al (2014/0355766) teaches An apparatus for encoding an input audio scene comprising audio input signals (abstract: device; fig 3, 4, 5, fig 10 coherent components, diffuse components; para: 2-7 binaural rendering of audio data, method, device, apparatus, CRM;
0025: scene-based audio; 0032: SHC represent scene-based audio, where the SHC may be input to an audio encoder to obtain encoded SHC;
144; 151: coherent/directional (foreground/distinct); diffuse/background components; 43/108: directional information), comprising:
a directional audio coding analyzer configured for analyzing the audio input signals to obtain directional audio coding parameters comprising diffuseness parameters and direction parameters, wherein the directional audio coding analyzer is configured for obtaining the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters for time-frequency units, and wherein the direction parameters are direction of arrival (DOA) parameters (abstract: device; fig 3, 4, 5A time-frequency analysis unit, fig 10 coherent components, diffuse components; para: 2-7 binaural rendering of audio data, method, device, apparatus, CRM;
41: coefficients representative of foreground (or, in other words, distinct, pre-dominant or salient) components of the soundfield; 42: representative of one or more background (or, in other words, ambient) components of the soundfield;
144; 151: coherent/directional (foreground/distinct); diffuse/background components; 43/108: directional information
147: The spatial analysis unit 650 may analyze the soundfield represented by the SHC 511A to identify distinct components of the soundfield and diffuse components of the soundfield. The distinct components of the soundfield are sounds that are perceived to come from an identifiable direction or that are otherwise distinct from background or diffuse components of the soundfield. For instance, the sound generated by an individual musical instrument may be perceived to come from an identifiable direction. In contrast, diffuse or background components of the soundfield are not perceived to come from an identifiable direction.);
a parameter quantizer configured for quantizing the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters to obtain quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters (fig 10; para 43: device may…perform…quantization; quantization may comprise entropy quantization, quantized direction information
144-147 distinct components and diffuse components of soundfield; 154-156, 155 quantizing the V vector);
a parameter encoder configured for encoding the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters to obtain encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters (fig 3, 5A audio encoding device; fig 10; para: 43; 162: encode coherent and diffuse component – encoding quantized information);
a transport signal former configured for deriving a transport signal from the audio input signals by downmixing, beamforming or signal selection, and an audio coder for encoding the transport signal to obtain an encoded transport signal (fig 3, 4, 5A, 10; para: 53-55); and
an output interface for generating an encoded audio scene comprising the encoded transport signal and the encoded parameter representation comprising information on the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters (fig 3, 4, 5A bitstream generation unit, 10; para 43 bitstream to include encoded background components, encoded foreground audio objects, quantized direction information; 55
- where Morrell teaches scene based audio which involves representing the soundfield using coefficients of spherical harmonic basis (SHC, HOA)(25-27), which incorporates obtaining direction and diffuseness components/parameters for quantization and encoding; the reference can further adjust quantization and coding based on whether the HOA coefficients are recorded or synthetic, and allocations of coherent and diffuse components (147, 151;154-156, 161-162)
fig 3 audio encoding/decoding device
67: azimuth; elevation values
Diffuse 99, 102, 161
108; 147 directional components).
15Regarding claim 2 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter quantizer is configured to quantize the diffuseness parameters using a non-uniform quantizer to produce diffuseness indices (155 different codebooks for use in quantizing; 156).
20Regarding claim 3 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the parameter quantizer is configured to derive the non-uniform quantizer using an inter-channel coherence quantization table to acquire thresholds and reconstruction levels of the non-uniform quantizer (154-156 content characteristics analysis incorporating thresholds, SNR, allocation of coherent component and diffuse component….content-characteristics analysis unit may select different codebooks for use in quantizing - quantization based on coherent and diffuse components and type of soundfield).
Regarding claim 4 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter quantizer is configured to receive, for each direction parameter, a Cartesian vector comprising two or three 25components (fig 2 & 0031: spherical harmonic functions; 108 rotation information, directional components), and
to convert the Cartesian vector to a representation comprising an azimuth value and an elevation value (fig 2, para: 31: fig 2 spherical harmonic basis functions in three-dimensional coordinate space; 35; 67 x,y,z axis, azimuth, elevation; 108).
Regarding claim 5 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, 5 wherein the parameter quantizer is configured operate so that a quantization of a given direction to a closest quantization point or to one of the 15several closest quantization points by mapping to an integer index is a constant time operation (fig 2 & 0031: spherical harmonic functions; 108 rotation information, directional components
43: quantized directional information; 147: spatial analysis unit may analyze the soundfield represented by SHC to identify distinct components and diffuse components
[0148] The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify one or more distinct components attempting to identify an optimal angle by which to rotate the soundfield to align those of the distinct components having the most energy with the vertical and/or horizontal axis (relative to a presumed microphone that recorded this soundfield). The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify this optimal angle so that the soundfield may be rotated such that these distinct components better align with the underlying spherical basis functions shown in the examples of FIGS. 1 and 2.)
Regarding claim 6 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, 5 wherein the parameter quantizer is configured to operate so that a computation of a corresponding point on a sphere from an integer index and a dequantization to a direction is a constant or logarithmic time operation 20with respect to a total number of points on the sphere (fig 2 & 0031: spherical harmonic functions; 108 rotation information, directional components
43: quantized directional information; 147: spatial analysis unit may analyze the soundfield represented by SHC to identify distinct components and diffuse components
[0148] The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify one or more distinct components attempting to identify an optimal angle by which to rotate the soundfield to align those of the distinct components having the most energy with the vertical and/or horizontal axis (relative to a presumed microphone that recorded this soundfield). The spatial analysis unit 650 may identify this optimal angle so that the soundfield may be rotated such that these distinct components better align with the underlying spherical basis functions shown in the examples of FIGS. 1 and 2.).
Regarding claim 10 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter encoder is configured to perform entropy coding for quantized direction parameters (43; 55 entropy encoding) being associated with diffuseness 20values being lower or equal than a threshold and to perform raw coding for quantized direction parameters being associated with diffuseness values being greater than the threshold (43: audio encoding with respect to each of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of background components and each of the foreground audio objects;
55: entropy encoding the spherical harmonic coefficients; In other instances, the bitstream generation device 36 may represent an audio encoder (possibly, one that complies with a known audio coding standard, such as MPEG surround, or a derivative thereof) that encodes the multi-channel audio content 29 using, as one example, processes similar to those of conventional audio surround sound encoding processes; The compressed multi-channel audio content 29 may then be entropy encoded or coded in some other way to bandwidth compress the content 29 and arranged in accordance with an agreed upon format to form the bitstream 31).
Regarding claim 11 Morrell teaches The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter encoder is configured to decide, whether the quantized direction parameters are encoded by either a raw coding mode or an entropy coding 35mode, and wherein the output interface is configured to introduce a corresponding indication into the encoded parameter representation (43; 55 entropy encoded or coded in some other way; form the bitstream; transmit the bitstream;
43: audio encoding with respect to each of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of background components and each of the foreground audio objects;
55: entropy encoding the spherical harmonic coefficients; In other instances, the bitstream generation device 36 may represent an audio encoder (possibly, one that complies with a known audio coding standard, such as MPEG surround, or a derivative thereof) that encodes the multi-channel audio content 29 using, as one example, processes similar to those of conventional audio surround sound encoding processes; The compressed multi-channel audio content 29 may then be entropy encoded or coded in some other way to bandwidth compress the content 29 and arranged in accordance with an agreed upon format to form the bitstream 31).
Regarding claim 13 Morrell teaches
A method of encoding an input audio scene comprising audio input signals comprising:
analyzing the audio input signals to obtain directional audio coding parameters comprising diffuseness parameters and direction parameters, wherein the analyzing comprises obtaining the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters for time- frequency units, and wherein the direction parameters are direction of arrival (DOA) parameters;
quantizing the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters to obtain quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters;
encoding the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters to obtain encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters;
deriving a transport signal from the audio input signals by downmixing, beamforming or signal selection and encoding the transport signal to obtain an encoded transport signal;
and generating an encoded audio scene comprising the encoded transport signal and the encoded parameter representation comprising the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters.
Recites limitations similar to claim 1 and is rejected for similar rationale and reasoning
Regarding claim 14 Morrell teaches
A decoder for decoding an encoded audio signal comprising encoded directional audio coding parameters comprising encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters, and an encoded transport signal, (figures 6A audio decoding unit, 6B, 8; paragraph 43, directional audio coding parameters, and (47,55) signal that contains and transmits the audio information with spatial/direction parameters/components) comprising;
an input interface configured for receiving the encoded audio signal and for separating, from the encoded audio signal, the encoded diffuseness parameters, the encoded direction parameters, and the encoded transport signal (fig 6A; 47: audio decoding device …to decode HOA coefficients…may dequantize foreground directional information specified in the bitstream, background components – receive bitstream and separation
fig 4; 6; para 47; 113: as shown in 6A, audio playback device may include an extraction unit 142…may represent a unit configured to extract, from bitstream, the encoded audio data and the transformation information),
a parameter decoder configured for decoding the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters to acquire quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters (fig 6A; 47 decoder to decode encoded directional information);
a parameter dequantizer configured for determining, from the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters, dequantized diffuseness parameters and dequantized direction parameters for time-frequency units (fig 6A; 47 dequantizer of decoder for dequantizing directional information);
a transport signal audio decoder configured for decoding the encoded transport signal to obtain a decoded transport signal (fig 4, 6A; 47 decode…from the bitstream; 55, 57-58; 113: extraction unit may forward the extracted encoded audio data to the audio decoding unit);
a time/spectrum converter configured for converting the decoded transport signal into a spectral representation (figure 6A, 6B; 112-114
fig 4; 6; para 47; 114: audio decoding unit 144 may include a time-frequency analysis unit 148, which may represent a unit configured to transform the SHC 125 from the time domain to the frequency domain);
an audio renderer configured for rendering a multi-channel audio signal using the dequantized diffuseness parameters and the dequantized direction parameters for the time-frequency units and the decoded transport signal (fig 6A, 6B; para 47; 55, 57-58: multi-channel audio data; renderers; 115-118
fig 4; 6A renderer unit; para 47; 115: The binaural rendering unit 146 represents a unit configured to binauralize the SHC 125'. The binauralize rendering unit 146 may, in other words, represent a unit configured to render the SHC 125' to a left and right channel, which may feature spatialization to model how the left and right channel would be heard by a listener in a room in which the SHC 125' were recorded); and
a spectrum/time converter configured for converting the multi-channel audio signal into a time domain representation to obtain a decoded audio signal (fig 6A; para 48; 0124: transform…to the time domain
fig 4; 6A 162; para 47; 115; 124: The inverse time-frequency analysis unit 162 may represent a unit configured to perform an inverse transform to transform data from the frequency domain to the time domain – teaching decoding of an encoded multi-channel audio signal with diffuseness and direction parameters -
fig 3 decoding device, fig 4, 6A, 8;
47 audio decoding
the audio decoding device 4 may dequantize the foreground directional information specified in the bitstream 3, while also performing psychoacoustic decoding with respect to the foreground audio objects specified in the bitstream 3 and the encoded HOA coefficients representative of background components-
where Morrell teaches scene based audio which involves representing the soundfield using coefficients of spherical harmonic basis (SHC, HOA)(25-27), which incorporates obtaining direction and diffuseness components/parameters for quantization and encoding; the reference can further adjust quantization and coding based on whether the HOA coefficients are recorded or synthetic, and allocations of coherent and diffuse components;
Morrell teaches the content consumer 14 includes the audio playback system 16. The audio playback system 16 may represent any audio playback system capable of playing back multi-channel audio data (46) and where audio playback system includes decoding and dequantization of HOA coefficients and directional information; where the bitstream will incorporate specific data regarding coding, and decoding will be performed with the specific data to reestablish what was encoded (46-50)).
Regarding claim 15 Morrell teaches the decoder of claim 14, 25wherein the input interface is configured to determine, from a coding mode indication comprised in the encoded audio signal, whether the parameter decoder is to use a first decoding mode being a raw decoding mode or a second decoding mode being a decoding mode with modeling and being different from the first decoding mode, for decoding the encoded direction parameters (47 decoding; 43, 55 – decoding based on type of encoding, corresponding to encoding claim 11;
43; 55 entropy encoded or coded in some other way; form the bitstream; transmit the bitstream;
43: audio encoding with respect to each of the HOA coefficients 11 representative of background components and each of the foreground audio objects;
55: entropy encoding the spherical harmonic coefficients; In other instances, the bitstream generation device 36 may represent an audio encoder (possibly, one that complies with a known audio coding standard, such as MPEG surround, or a derivative thereof) that encodes the multi-channel audio content 29 using, as one example, processes similar to those of conventional audio surround sound encoding processes; The compressed multi-channel audio content 29 may then be entropy encoded or coded in some other way to bandwidth compress the content 29 and arranged in accordance with an agreed upon format to form the bitstream 31).
Regarding claim 16 Morrell teaches The decoder of claim 14, 20wherein the parameter decoder is configured to derive a quantized sphere index from the encoded direction parameter, and to decompose the quantized sphere index into a quantized elevation index and the quantized azimuth index (47 decoding; 25: spherical harmonic coefficients SHC, HOA; 67 azimuth value, elevation value - where soundfield is represented and encoded using SHC and azimuth and elevation values, and thus decoding would be performed also using that information).
Regarding claim 20 Morrell teaches the decoder of claim 14, further comprising:
a parameter resolution converter for converting a time/frequency resolution of the dequantized diffuseness parameter or a time or frequency resolution of the dequantized azimuth or elevation parameter or a parametric representation derived from the dequantized azimuth parameter or dequantized elevation parameter into a 5target time or frequency resolution (Fig 4, 6A renderer rotation unit;
paragraphs: [0067] In some instances, the bitstream generation device 36 may rotate the sound field to reduce a number of the SHC 27 that provide information relevant in describing the sound field. In these instances, the bitstream generation device 36 may specify rotation information in the bitstream 31 describing how the sound field was rotated. Rotation information may comprise an azimuth value (capable of signaling 360 degrees) and an elevation value (capable of signaling 180 degrees). In some instances, the rotation information may comprise one or more angles specified relative to an x-axis and a y-axis, an x-axis and a z-axis and/or a y-axis and a z-axis. In some instances, the azimuth value comprises one or more bits, and typically includes 10 bits. In some instances, the elevation value comprises one or more bits and typically includes at least 9 bits. This choice of bits allows, in the simplest embodiment, a resolution of 180/512 degrees (in both elevation and azimuth). In some instances, the adjustment may comprise the rotation and the adjustment information described above includes the rotation information.; 111), and
wherein the audio renderer is configured for applying the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters in the target time or frequency resolution to an audio signal to acquire a decoded multi-channel audio signal (Morrell fig 4; 6;
para 47; 111: bitstream generation unit 130 encodes the rotation information directly, rather than indirectly via the directional components 203. In such instances, the azimuth value comprises one or more bits, and typically includes 10 bits. In some instances, the elevation value comprises one or more bits and typically includes at least 9 bits. This choice of bits allows, in the simplest embodiment, a resolution of 180/512 degrees (in both elevation and azimuth);
114: audio decoding unit 144 may include a time-frequency analysis unit 148, which may represent a unit configured to transform the SHC 125 from the time domain to the frequency domain;
115: The binaural rendering unit 146 represents a unit configured to binauralize the SHC 125'. The binauralize rendering unit 146 may, in other words, represent a unit configured to render the SHC 125' to a left and right channel, which may feature spatialization to model how the left and right channel would be heard by a listener in a room in which the SHC 125' were recorded;
116 rendered rotation unit).
Regarding claim 21 Morrell teaches The decoder of claim 20,
Wherein the spectrum/time converter is configured for converting the multi-channel audio signal form a spectral domain representation into a time domain representation comprising a time 15resolution higher than the time resolution of the target time or frequency resolution (fig 4, 6A; 124 inverse time-frequency analysis unit 162 may represent a unit configured to perform an inverse transform to transform data from the frequency domain to the time domain;
125-128: binaural rendering unit determine transformation; transformation describe how a sound field was transformed; transform a frame of reference by which to render the SHC to plurality of channels; transformation information comprises rotation information specifies elevation angle and azimuth angle by which sound field was rotated).
Regarding claim 22 Morrell teaches A method for decoding an encoded audio signal comprising encoded directional audio coding parameters comprising encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters, and an encoded transport signal, the method comprising;
receiving the encoded audio signal and for separating, from the encoded audio signal, the encoded diffuseness parameters, the encoded direction parameters, and the encoded transport signal;
decoding the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters to acquire quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters;
determining, from the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters, dequantized diffuseness parameters and dequantized direction parameters for time-frequency units;
decoding the encoded transport signal to obtain a decoded transport signal;
converting the decoded transport signal into a spectral representation;
rendering a multi-channel audio signal using the dequantized diffuseness parameters and the dequantized direction parameters for the time-frequency units and the decoded transport signal; and
converting the multi-channel audio signal into a time domain representation to obtain a decoded audio signal.
Recites limitations similar to claim 14 and is rejected for similar rationale and reasoning
Regarding claim 23 Morrell teaches
A non-transitory digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for performing, when said computer program is run by a computer, a method of encoding an input audio scene comprising audio input signals, comprising:
analyzing the audio input signals to obtain directional audio coding parameters comprising diffuseness parameters and direction parameters, wherein the analyzing comprises obtaining the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters for time- frequency units, and wherein the direction parameters are direction of arrival (DOA) parameters;
quantizing the diffuseness parameters and the direction parameters to obtain quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters;
encoding the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters to obtain encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters;
deriving a transport signal from the audio input signals by downmixing, beamforming or signal selection and encoding the transport signal to obtain an encoded transport signal; and
generating an encoded audio scene comprising the encoded transport signal and the encoded parameter representation comprising the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters.
Recites limitations similar to claim 1 and is rejected for similar rationale and reasoning
Regarding claim 24 Morrell teaches 30
A non-transitory digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for performing, when said computer program is run by a computer, a method of decoding an encoded audio signal comprising encoded directional audio coding parameters comprising encoded diffuseness parameters and encoded direction parameters, and an encoded transport signal, the method comprising;
receiving the encoded audio signal and for separating, from the encoded audio signal, the encoded diffuseness parameters, the encoded direction parameters, and the encoded transport signal;
decoding the encoded diffuseness parameters and the encoded direction parameters to acquire quantized diffuseness parameters and quantized direction parameters for time-frequency units;
determining, from the quantized diffuseness parameters and the quantized direction parameters, dequantized diffuseness parameters and dequantized direction parameters;
decoding the encoded transport signal to obtain a decoded transport signal;
converting the decoded transport signal into a spectral representation;
rendering a multi-channel audio signal using the dequantized diffuseness parameters and the dequantized direction parameters for the time-frequency units and the decoded transport signal; and
converting the multi-channel audio signal into a time domain representation to obtain a decoded audio signal.
Recites limitations similar to claim 14 and is rejected for similar rationale and reasoning
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
9. 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.
10. Claims 7-9, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morrell in view of Kim et al (2015/0332682).
Regarding claim 7 Morrell teaches quantizing direction components but does not specifically teach where Kim teaches The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the parameter quantizer is configured to quantize the elevation angle 25comprising negative and positive values to a set of unsigned quantization indices, wherein a first group of quantization indices indicate negative elevation angles and the second group of quantization indices indicate positive elevation angles
(4 coding higher-order ambisonic audio data; include quantized spherical harmonic coefficients SHC by encoding directional components of the signals according to spatial relation; indicates…angle of azimuth, angle of elevation; fig 3A/63 quantization unit; 73; 83-84 sign function; positive; negative; 188).
Kim teaches coding and decoding of audio data, and quantizing spherical harmonic coefficients which include angle of azimuth and elevation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Kim for improved directional audio coding. One would look to incorporate Kim to enable a better representation of a soundfield that also accommodates backward compatibility (0003).
Regarding claim 8 Morrell teaches quantizing direction components but does not specifically teach where Kim teaches The apparatus of claim 1, 15wherein the quantized direction parameter comprises a quantized elevation angle and a quantized azimuth angle, and wherein the parameter encoder is configured to firstly encode the quantized elevation angle and to then encode the quantized azimuth angle (4 coding higher-order ambisonic audio data; include quantized spherical harmonic coefficients SHC by encoding directional components of the signals according to spatial relation; indicates…angle of azimuth, angle of elevation; fig 3A/63 quantization unit; 73; 83-84 sign function; positive; negative; 188).
Rejected for similar rationale and reasoning as claim 7
Regarding claim 9 Morrell does not specifically teach where Kim teaches The apparatus of claim 1, 3566wherein the quantized direction parameters comprise reordered or non-reordered unsigned azimuth and elevation indices (4; 188), and wherein the parameter encoder is configured to merge the indices of the pair into a 5sphere index, and to perform a raw coding of the sphere index (4 coding higher-order ambisonic audio data; include quantized spherical harmonic coefficients SHC by encoding directional components of the signals according to spatial relation; indicates…angle of azimuth, angle of elevation; fig 3A/63 quantization unit; 73; 83-84 sign function; positive; negative; 188).
Rejected for similar rationale and reasoning as claim 7
Regarding claim 18 Morrell does not specifically teach where Kim teaches The decoder of claim 14, wherein the parameter decoder is configured 25 to determine, from a quantized elevation parameter or a dequantized elevation parameter, an azimuth alphabet (abstract decoding; fig 4A,B; fig 6A;
4 coding higher-order ambisonic audio data; include quantized spherical harmonic coefficients SHC by encoding directional components of the signals according to spatial relation; theta indicates angle of azimuth, phi indicates angle of elevation;
5: device for decoding audio data…to obtain spatial information for a spatial relation of HOA coefficients;
73: theta/phi values for each of the frequency bands; 74: theta/phi coder determines spatial information (theta/phi values) from relation between HOA coefficients;
Decoding: 103; 106; 107: the psychoacoustic decoding unit 80 may operate in a manner reciprocal to the psychoacoustic audio coding unit 40 shown in the example of FIG. 3B so as to decode the encoded ambient HOA coefficients; theta/phi decoding unit;
111: the theta/phi decoding unit 86 represents a unit configured to obtain spatial information 296 defining a spatial relation of ambient HOA coefficients;
136: The audio decoding device 24 may further invoke the dequantization unit 74. The dequantization unit 74 may entropy decode and dequantize the coded foreground directional information 57 to obtain reduced foreground directional information 55.sub.k (136). The audio decoding device 24 may also invoke the psychoacoustic decoding unit 80. The psychoacoustic audio decoding unit 80 may decode the encoded ambient HOA coefficients 59 and the encoded foreground signals 61 to obtain energy compensated ambient HOA coefficients 47′ and the interpolated foreground signals;
[0143] : The USAC decoder 210 and theta/phi decoder 212 may determine quantized HOA coefficients 47A′-47D′ (the W, X, Y, Z channels) as described above with respect to FIG. 3B, based on the received encoded spatial relation information 222 and encoded W′ signal 222. Quantized W′ signal (HOA coefficients 47A′) 230, quantized HOA coefficients 47B′-47D′, and multichannel HOA coefficients 234 together make up quantized HOA coefficients 240 for rendering. Quantized HOA coefficients 240 may represent a 16-ch signal.
- obtaining spatial (azimuth/elevation (theta/phi)) parameters; where azimuth alphabet represents elevation and azimuth values as they relate to the unit sphere).
Kim teaches coding and decoding of audio data, and quantizing spherical harmonic coefficients which include angle of azimuth and elevation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Kim for improved directional audio coding/decoding. One would look to incorporate Kim to enable a better representation of a soundfield that also accommodates backward compatibility (0003; 114: theta/phi decoding to provide a better overall representation of the soundfield).
Regarding claim 19 Morrell teaches The decoder of claim 14, 30wherein the parameter decoder is configured to decode an encoded direction parameter (fig 6A; 47) but does not specifically teach where Kim teaches
wherein the parameter decoder is configured to decode an encoded direction parameter to acquire a quantized elevation parameter (Kim abstract decoding; fig 4A,B, 6A; para 107; 111; 136; 143 theta/phi decoder),
wherein the parameter dequantizer is configured to determine an azimuth alphabet 35from the quantized elevation parameter or a dequantized elevation parameter (Kim abstract decoding; fig 4A,B, 6A; para 107; 111; 136: The audio decoding device 24 may further invoke the dequantization unit 74. The dequantization unit 74 may entropy decode and dequantize the coded foreground directional information… and HOA coefficients; 143 theta/phi decoder), and74
wherein the parameter decoder is configured to calculate a quantized azimuth parameter using the azimuth alphabet, or wherein the parameter dequantizer is configured to dequantize the quantized azimuth parameter using the azimuth alphabet ([0143] : The USAC decoder 210 and theta/phi decoder 212 may determine quantized HOA coefficients 47A′-47D′ (the W, X, Y, Z channels) as described above with respect to FIG. 3B, based on the received encoded spatial relation information 222 and encoded W′ signal 222. Quantized W′ signal (HOA coefficients 47A′) 230, quantized HOA coefficients 47B′-47D′, and multichannel HOA coefficients 234 together make up quantized HOA coefficients 240 for rendering. Quantized HOA coefficients 240 may represent a 16-ch signal.).
Rejected for similar rationale and reasoning as claim 18 above
11. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morrell in view of Boehm et al (2009/0164226).
Regarding claim 12 Morrell does not specifically teach where Boehm teaches The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the parameter encoder is configured to perform entropy coding using a 5Golomb-Rice method or a modification thereof (72 entropy encoder…Golomb-Rice coding).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Boehm for improved audio coding. Morrell already teaches entropy coding, and one could look to incorporate Boehm for enhanced audio coding (0001) of the directional audio components.
Conclusion
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