DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed 2/5/2026:
Claims 1-5, 7-8, 10-17, 19-20, and 22-24 are pending
Claims 6, 9, 18, and 21 are cancelled
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5, 7-8, 10-17, 19-20, and 22-24 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.
Response to Amendment
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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) 1-5, 7-8, 10-17, 19-20, and 22-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al (US20070195967, hereinafter “Wu”) in view of Lin et al (US6091824, hereinafter “Lin”).
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a method for applying reverberation to at least one audio signal (abstract, method of generating and controlling reverberation in audio signals), the method comprising:
obtaining the at least one audio signal (Fig. 7, input signal);
obtaining at least one reverberation parameter (¶47, choosing an environment to be simulated wherein the step of choosing the environment includes one or more reverberation characteristics);
controlling a digital reverberator based on the at least one reverberation parameter (¶47, reverberation generator);
providing at least one control line comprising a delay line and a gain filter, the at least one control line using the at least one reverberation parameter to generate an output from the at least one control line (Fig. 3, ¶47, generating the output includes determining delay and gain parameters which also requires a knowledge of reverberation characteristics/parameters); and
generating at least one reverberated audio signal based on at least one output of the at least one digital reverberator and the generated output from the at least one control line (Fig. 3, ¶39, 47, generating the digital audio output signal can be controlled so that sound coloration is minimized).
Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein at least a portion of late reverberation in the generated at least one reverberated audio signal interfering with at least one reflection echo is substantially attenuated, wherein the portion of the late reverberation comprises, at least in part, an early portion of the reverberation, wherein the at least one reflection echo comprises the early portion of the reverberation.
Lin teaches wherein at least a portion of late reverberation in the generated at least one reverberated audio signal interfering with at least one reflection echo is substantially attenuated, wherein the portion of the late reverberation comprises, at least in part, an early portion of the reverberation, wherein the at least one reflection echo comprises the early portion of the reverberation (Fig. 1, col 3 lines 62-67 to col 5 lines 1-35, a method is described wherein the entirety of the sound signal is decimated at certain positions such that a distinct early reflection (i.e. echo) is retrieved and differentiated from the late portions of the reverberations – Fig. 2 shows the results of the method performed in Fig. 1 by showing the direct sound, echoes, and reverberation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the reflection and reverberation processing (as taught by Lin) to the audio processing apparatus (as taught by Wu). The rationale to do so is to apply a known technique to a known device ready for improvement to yield the predictable result of reducing a burden on reflection and reverberation processing without penalizing the sound quality (Lin, col 6 lines 7-13).
Regarding claim 2, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein obtaining the at least one reverberation parameter comprises obtaining at least one reverberation time (Wu, ¶26, 30-35, determining a decay rate of the echo which is related to determining a reverberation time (e.g. RT60)).
Regarding claim 3, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein controlling the digital reverberator based on the at least one reverberation parameter comprises applying at least one delay line to the at least one audio signal to generate at least two echoes (Wu, ¶26, 29, amount of echoes depend on the size of the room and the echo density (i.e. number of echoes) can be controlled according to design requirements).
Regarding claim 4, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein providing the at least one control line comprises providing at least one control echo (Wu, ¶26, 29, amount of echoes depend on the size of the room and the echo density (i.e. number of echoes) can be controlled according to design requirements).
Regarding claim 5, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein generating the at least one reverberated audio signal comprises at least one of:
generating the at least one reverberated audio signal based on a combination of at least one audio signal containing the at least two echoes from the at least one output of the digital reverberator and at least one audio signal containing the at least one control echo from the at least one output of the at least one control line respectively (Wu, ¶39, 47, generating a digital audio signal based on desired reverberation characteristics (see Fig. 7) while minimizing sound coloration); or
providing the at least one control echo to at least partially suppress a first echo of the at least two echoes such that the at least one reverberated audio signal comprises reverberations which do not interfere with the at least one reflection echo.
Regarding claim 7, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein obtaining the at least one reverberation parameter comprises:
obtaining the at least one reverberation parameter based on at least one dimension parameter associated with a virtual acoustic space within which the at least one reverberated audio signal is being rendered (Wu, ¶26, generating the digital audio signal, with modified reverberation parameters, is based on a size of the room (i.e. implying at least a 2D shape)).
Regarding claim 8, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein controlling the digital reverberator based on the at least one reverberation parameter comprises at least one of:
controlling at least one feedback attenuation filter (Wu, Fig. 4, ¶40, a feedback filter is placed within the system); or
controlling a feedback matrix configured to feedback the at least one output of the digital reverberator to at least one input of the digital reverberator.
Regarding claim 10, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein the at least one control line is a first number of control lines and the digital reverberator comprises a second number of delay lines (Wu, ¶30-31, allpass filter has a delay line and the loops have a delay line).
Regarding claim 11, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein the first number is less than or equal to the second number (Wu, ¶30-31, the number of delay lines are controlled based on a desired output effect).
Regarding claim 12, Wu in view of Lin teaches wherein the late reverberation comprises diffuse sound, wherein the at least one reflection echo comprises directional sound (Wu, Fig. 2, ¶25, late reverberations comprise of diffused and dense echoes and echoes, by nature, are directional sound components).
Regarding claims 13-17, they are rejected similarly as claims 1-5, respectively. The apparatus can be found in Wu (abstract, system).
Regarding claims 19-20, they are rejected similarly as claims 7-8, respectively. The apparatus can be found in Wu (abstract, system).
Regarding claims 22-24, they are rejected similarly as claims 10-12, respectively. The apparatus can be found in Wu (abstract, system).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to PTO-892, Notice of References Cited for a listing of analogous art.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QIN ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1304. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 6AM-4PM EST.
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/QIN ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691