DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
Independent claim 1 and 16 recites, “a first output sound signal by convoluting, to sound information including the reproduced sound, a first head-related transfer function for localizing sound included in information as sound that arrives from the predetermined direction;”. The claim language is confusing and the examiner can’t understand what applicant is really trying to claim. Examiner best guess, based on Fig. 3 of applicant drawing, is convolving a input sound signal with a first head-related transfer function to output a first reproduce sound that will localized sound to arrive to the user from a predetermined direction.
Independent claim 1 and 16 recites, “a second output sound signal by convoluting, to the sound information, a second head-related transfer function for localizing sound included in information as sound that arrives from a first direction and has a first delay time larger than 0 and a first volume attenuation larger than 0 with respect to the reproduced sound perceived by means of the first output sound signal, the first direction being a direction that forms a first angle larger than 0° and smaller than 3600 with respect to the predetermined direction;”. The claim language is confusing and the examiner can’t understand what applicant is really trying to claim. Examiner best guess, based on Fig. 3 of applicant drawing, is convolving the same input sound signal with a second head-related transfer function to output a second reproduce sound that will arrive to the user from a first direction, the second reproduce sound having a first delay time larger than 0 and a first volume attenuation larger than 0 relative to the first reproduce sound; the first direction forming a first angle larger than 0° and smaller than 3600 with respect to the predetermined direction.
Dependent claim 4 and dependent claim 10, contain similar language as the independent claims.
Appropriate correction to the claims must be made for proper examination of the application. Applicant should review all the claims as the examiner may have missed other possible issues.
Dependent claims 2-15 and Independent claim 17 are also rejected for at least the same reasons as that of their base claims since they contain the same issues from the base claims they depend from.
Specification Objection
The specification is being objected, because of grammatical and idiomatic errors. Pg. 2 line 10-25, Pg. 7 line 15-27, Pg. 9 line 6-14, Pg. 15 line 6-16, Pg. 17 line 24, Pg. 18 line 4, Pg. 25 line 24-34, all states wording similar to the bold phases as “a first output sound signal by convoluting, to sound information including the reproduced sound, a first head-related transfer function for localizing sound included in information as sound that arrives from the predetermined direction;” and/or “a second output sound signal by convoluting, to the sound information, a second head-related transfer function for localizing sound included in information as sound that arrives from a first direction and has a first delay time larger than 0 and a first volume attenuation larger than 0 with respect to the reproduced sound perceived by means of the first output sound signal, the first direction being a direction that forms a first angle larger than 0° and smaller than 3600 with respect to the predetermined direction;”.
As state above, these wording make the specification confusing and the examiner can’t understand what applicant is really trying to disclose. Examiner best guess, based on Fig. 3 of applicant drawing, as stated above is convolving a input sound signal with a first head-related transfer function to output a first reproduce sound that will localized sound to arrive to the user from a predetermined direction and convolving the same input sound signal with a second head-related transfer function to output a second reproduce sound that will arrive to the user from a first direction, the second reproduce sound having a first delay time larger than 0 and a first volume attenuation larger than 0 relative to the first reproduce sound; the first direction forming a first angle larger than 0° and smaller than 3600 with respect to the predetermined direction.
Appropriate correction to the specification must be made for proper examination of the application. Applicant should review the whole specification as the examiner may have missed other possible issues.
Examiner’s Comment
To further prosecution examiner will broadly point out how the closest prior arts are teaching Independent Claim 1 and Claim 16, using Examiner best guess, based on Fig. 3 of applicant drawing, which is convolving a input sound signal with a first head-related transfer function to output a first reproduce sound that will localized sound to arrive to the user from a predetermined direction and convolving the same input sound signal with a second head-related transfer function to output a second reproduce sound that will arrive to the user from a first direction, the second reproduce sound having a first delay time larger than 0 and a first volume attenuation larger than 0 relative to the first reproduce sound; the first direction forming a first angle larger than 0° and smaller than 3600 with respect to the predetermined direction.
The best prior art is Torres US PG-Pub 2020/0037097, Fig. 2 and Fig. 4, which teaches filtering the input audio signal with a HRTF to provide a direct sound coming from a virtual sound source; then determining the angle of where the virtual sound source will reflect from and using that angle to then filter the input audio signal with a second HRTF and applying a delay and attenuation since the reflection sound takes longer time like 40msec and is lower in sound; then combine to provide to user the combine output sounds and keep tracking the movement between user, virtual sound source.
In addition, prior art Cartwright US PG-Pub 2016/0029144, Fig. 1 and Fig. 5, teaches taking the input signal and outputting it through a HRTF providing a direct virtual sound and to create the reflection sound it passes the input signal through a time delay and attenuate it then pass it through the HRTF; finally it combines both output signals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM A JEREZ LORA whose telephone number is (571)270-5519. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am-9am and 11am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached at 571-272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM A JEREZ LORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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