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 .
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) 1-4, 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morsy et al. (US 2023/0343314 A1, “Morsy”) in view of Morris et al. (US 10,445,056 B1, “Morris”), and further in view of Becherer et al. (US 2018/0286462 A1, “Becherer”).
As to claims 1, 10, 11, Morsy discloses an acoustic device configured to mix two or more music pieces (digital audio unit provides audio data of a mixed track composed from a mixture of source tracks, para. 0038, 0051), the acoustic device comprising:
a display controller configured to display information related to mixing of the music pieces on a display device (touch-sensitive display 116 shows graphical representations of information and control elements related to songs A and B and a crossfader 115 for mixing and crossfading songs A and B; Fig. 3; para. 0070-0072); and
a reservation unit configured to set the music pieces to be mixed and a playback start point in each of the music pieces, wherein
the display controller is configured to switchably display on the display device a first screen, on which a first image indicating a playback status of a first music piece being played of the music pieces is moved based on a second image indicating a current playback point of the first music piece, and a second screen, on which the first image is fixedly displayed and the second image is moved based on the first image in accordance with the current playback point, and
the second screen comprises a reservation-setting screen related to the reservation unit.
Morsy differs from claims 1, 10, 11 in that it does not disclose the above underlined limitations.
Morris teaches sound mix creation in which a composition playlist is assembled and includes a time code index specifying the order and playback of the track files (col. 5, lines 37-52). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Morsy with the above teaching of Morris so that the created sound mix may be distributed.
Becherer teaches a user interface for mixing and editing audio data, the user interface comprising multiple UI panels which are selectable and movable in any suitable arrangement (para. 0079). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Morsy in view of Morris with the above teaching of Becherer in order to provide a more user-friendly interface for sound mixing.
As to claim 2, Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer teaches: wherein the first image comprises an image indicating a music waveform of the first music piece (Morsy: song information display portion 117-A displays a graphical representation of a waveform of song A, para. 0071, Fig. 3).
As to claim 3, Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer teaches: wherein the reservation unit is capable of setting the playback start point of each of the music pieces to be mixed while the first music piece is being played, and the display controller is capable of switching the first screen and the second screen while the first music piece is being played (Becherer: audio may be edited while the audio clip is playing, para. 0095).
As to claim 4, Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer teaches: wherein the reservation unit is configured to set a mixing point on each of the two or more music pieces and set the playback start point in accordance with the mixing point (Morsy: user controls include a touch or a swiping gesture on the graphical representation of pickup device 123-A will cause a change in playback position along the time axis of song A. In addition, a start/stop button 125-A may be provided to allow the user to start or stop playback of song A, para. 0071, a touch or a swiping gesture on the graphical representation of pickup device 123-B will cause a change in playback position along the time axis of song B. In addition, a start/stop button 125-B may be provided to allow a user to start or stop playback of song B, para. 0072, and a crossfader 115 for mixing, para. 0070).
As to claim 9, Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer teaches: wherein the display controller is configured to, in execution of a reservation set by the reservation unit, display the first screen on the display device and move a third image indicating time information of the playback start point based on the second image on the first screen (Morsy: the time line element may display a play head, which denotes the current playback position along the time axis and which moves along the time axis when playback is started, para. 0024).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sant et al. (US 2014/0288686 A1, “Sant”).
Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer differs from claim 5 in that it does not teach: wherein the display controller is configured to display information indicating a playback order of the two or more music pieces in the reservation-setting screen on the display device.
Sant teaches mixing tracks and displaying a playlist of tracks to be cross-faded (para. 0218). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer with the above teaching of Sant in order to provide for user managing of playback of one or more media content items, as taught by Sant (para. 0014).
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morsy in view of Morris, Becherer and Sant, as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Reese et al. (US 2021/0141592 A1, “Reese”).
Morsy in view of Morris, Becherer and Sant differs from claim 6 in that it does not teach: wherein the display controller is configured to display a character or an icon representing the playback order as the information indicating the playback order on the display device.
Reese teaches displaying a playlist of songs in a user interface, each song being represented by a graphic/image 642-1 and displayed in order of playback (para. 0173-0174; Fig. 6G-6I). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Morsy in view of Morris, Becherer and Sant with the above teaching of Reese in order to inform the user of the playlist order in a visually recognizable format.
As to claim 7, Morsy in view of Morris, Becherer, Sant and Reese teaches: wherein the display controller is configured to display a plurality of images respectively indicating playback statuses of the two or more music pieces on the display device in an arrangement corresponding to the playback order to display the information indicating the playback order (Reese: music playback information region 612 displays the song currently playing, the song being one of a plurality of songs in a user playlist; Fig. 6G, para. 0175).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morsey in view of Morris and Becherer, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mazur et al. (US 10,496,199 B2, “Mazur”).
Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer differs from claim 8 in that it does not teach: wherein the reservation unit is capable of setting whether to output sounds of the music pieces to be mixed before reaching the playback start point.
Mazur teaches on-the-fly position relocation which allows a user to intervene, modify or manipulate the play back during playing (col. 5, line 50 – col. 7, line 8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Morsy in view of Morris and Becherer with the above teaching of Mazur in order to provide DJing functionality.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang et al. (US 9111519 B1) teach generating cuepoints for mixing song data.
Carrier (US 2008/0013757 A1) teach playing music and audio according to mixing controls.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stella L Woo whose telephone number is (571)272-7512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached at 571-272-7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STELLA L. WOO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2693
/Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
Prosecution Insights