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 § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-13, 15-16 and 19-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sun et al. (CN N110797055A hereinafter referred as Sun).
Regarding claim 1, Sun discloses a video generation method based on music beats, comprising:
acquiring a plurality of video objects and audio information respectively (see paragraph 0132 and figure 1, step 11, video materials; the target audio material is processed to obtain the corresponding beat parameters);
determining a plurality of initial music beats in the audio information and characteristic information of each initial music beat, wherein the characteristic information at least comprises a sound intensity of each initial music beat and time of each initial music beat in the audio information (see paragraph 0197, figure 5 shows a waveform diagram of a target audio material; the lighter colored solid lines on the waveform represent the dot markers, which are the marks indicating the positions of the beat points; see paragraph 0259, after selecting the audio in the first step, the software performs waveform analysis and sets dot markers; the software automatically calculates the dots or determines the position of the beat points for segmentation based on the music beat or waveform frequency; these are also called split points, cut points, etc.;
see paragraphs 0036-0037 determining the beat parameters based on the audio energy values of each audio frame includes: candidate beat points for audio frames whose audio energy values are greater than a set threshold; see paragraph 0050 select the positions of a number of audio frames with the highest audio energy values from the audio sub-materials as the beat points of the target audio material; see paragraph 0153 the positions of audio frames where POW_X0(n) exceeds the threshold are set as candidate beat points, the time is recorded as Ti, the relative energy value is recorded as beat intensity as Si, and all candidate beat point positions are stored in a graph array [Ti, Si], i = 0 ~ Nd-1; Nd is the number of candidate beat point positions) ;
according to the characteristic information, selecting a target music beat from the plurality of initial music beats (see paragraph 0302, the beat parameters are determined based on the audio energy values of each audio frame; see paragraph 0048, if the number of candidate beat points in the audio sub-material is greater than the number of the first positions, then the number of candidate beat points with the largest audio energy values in the audio sub-material are selected as the beat points of the target audio material; see paragraph 0309, the target audio material is divided into multiple audio sub-materials according to a preset time interval); and
generating a target video according to the target music beat and the plurality of video objects (see paragraphs 0009-0010 based on the beat parameters, set the playback speed of each video clip in the target video clip set; the sub-audio material set and the target video material set are synthesized to obtain the corresponding multimedia resources; see paragraph 0107 the target audio material is segmented according to the beat parameters of the target audio material to obtain multiple sub-audio materials; the playback speed of each video material in the target video material set is set according to the beat parameters, so that the video materials in the target video material set are accurately adapted to the rhythm of the music; therefore, in the multimedia resource obtained by synthesizing the sub-audio material set and the target video material set, the video content can adapt to the rhythm of the audio material, and better audio visual effects are obtained).
Regarding claim 2, Sun discloses judging whether the sound intensity of each initial music beat is greater than a first preset value; determining the target music beat according to a first music beat whose sound intensity is greater than the first preset value (see paragraph 0153 calculate the probability of whether the current frame has a beat based on the ratio of the absolute value of the current frame signal energy to the short-time average energy. If the relative value of the audio energy is relatively large, it is considered to be a candidate beat point position, that is, the larger POW_X0(n) is, the greater the probability. A threshold can be set based on empirical values, that is, a threshold value is set. The positions of audio frames where POW_X0(n) exceeds the threshold are set as candidate beat points, the time is recorded as Ti, the relative energy value is recorded as beat intensity as Si, and all candidate beat point positions are stored in a graph array [Ti, Si], i = 0 ~ Nd-1; Nd is the number of candidate beat point positions; see paragraph 0157, if the threshold is set to 20, and the target audio material 1 has 10 audio frames with audio energy values of 11, 12, 13, 10, 10, 10, 14, 15, 15, and 14 respectively, all of which are less than the set threshold, then if R = 5, the positions of the top 5 audio frames with the highest audio energy values, namely the positions of the 3rd frame and the 7th to 10th frames, can be selected as the beat points of the target audio material).
Regarding claim 3, Sun discloses the determining the target music beat according to a first music beat whose sound intensity is greater than the first preset value comprises: for any two adjacent first music beats, acquiring a first duration between the two adjacent first music beats according to time corresponding to the first music beat; if the first duration is less than a first preset duration, deleting a first music beat with a low priority among the two adjacent first music beats to obtain remaining at least two second music beats; and determining the target music beat according to the at least two second music beats (see paragraphs 0040-0045, 0242 and 0225-0226).
Regarding claim 4, Sun discloses plurality of initial music beats comprise at least two music beats of the following: a downbeat beat, a voice beat, a music phrase beat, a music paragraph beat, a sound effect beat and a chorus beat (see paragraphs 0033-0034 and 0259).
Regarding claim 5, Sun discloses the deleting a first music beat with a low priority among the two adjacent first music beats comprises: according to a preset priority order, deleting the first music beat with the low priority among the two adjacent first music beats; wherein the preset priority order from top to bottom is a chorus beat, a strong sound beat, a music phrase beat, a music paragraph beat, a downbeat beat, a weak sound beat, a voice beat and a preset beat (see paragraphs 033-0044, 0259, 0309 and 0313).
Regarding claim 6, Sun discloses selecting a target music beat from the plurality of initial music beats comprises: determining a target score of each initial music beat according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information; and determining the target music beat according to the target score of each initial music beat (see paragraphs 0044-0051, 0134, 0142-0146).
Regarding claim 7, Sun discloses deleting an initial music beat with the target score less than a second preset value to obtain a remaining third music beat; and according to time of the third music beat in the audio information, redetermining a target score of each third music beat, and determining the target music beat according to the target score of the third music beat (see paragraphs 0155-0157 an 0164).
Regarding claim 8, Sun discloses the determining a target score of each initial music beat according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information comprises: determining a second duration between two adjacent initial music beats according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information, and determining a first score of each initial music beat according to the second duration; determining a second score of each initial music beat according to a weight of each initial music beat; determining a third score of each initial music beat according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information and starting time and ending time of the audio information; determining the target score of each initial music beat according to the first score, the second score and the third score (see paragraphs 015-0170 and 0142-0157).
Regarding claim 9, Sun discloses determining a third duration according to a total duration of the audio information and a number of the plurality of video objects; determining an absolute value of a difference between the second duration and the third duration as the first score (see paragraphs 0145-0153 an d0177-0185).
Regarding claim 10, Sun discloses determining a fourth score according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information, the starting time of the audio information and a second preset duration; determining a fifth score according to the time of each initial music beat in the audio information, the ending time of the audio information and the second preset duration; determining the third score according to the fourth score and the fifth score (see paragraphs 015-0170 and 0142-0157).
Regarding claim 11, Sun discloses according to a preset priority order, setting a corresponding weight for each initial music beat, wherein the weight is at least partially related to a priority of the music beat (see paragraphs 0048 and 0142-0148).
Regarding claim 12, Sun discloses wherein generating a target video according to the target music beat and the plurality of video objects comprises: adding the audio information to an audio track of the plurality of video objects to obtain a video to be processed; in the video to be processed, adding a rendering effect to a video object corresponding to time where the target music beat is located to obtain the target video, wherein the rendering effect is an animation, an effect or a transition (see paragraphs 0009, 0135, 0137, 0255, 0274 and 0278).
Regarding claim 13, Sun discloses the determining a plurality of initial music beats in the audio information and characteristic information of each initial music beat comprises: inputting the audio information into an audio characteristic analysis model to obtain the plurality of initial music beats in the audio information and the characteristic information of each initial music beat (see paragraphs 0036-0037, 0197, and 0259).
Regarding claim 15, the limitation of claim 15 can be found in claim 1 above. Therefore, claim 15 is analyzed and rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claim 1. See also paragraphs 0327 and 0328.
Regarding claim 16, the limitation of claim 16 can be found in claim 1 above. Therefore, claim 16 is analyzed and rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claim 1. See also paragraphs 0327 and 0328.
Claims 19-23 are rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claims 2-6 respectively above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELEN SHIBRU whose telephone number is (571)272-7329. The examiner can normally be reached M-TR 8:00AM-5:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, THAI TRAN can be reached at 571 272 7382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HELEN SHIBRU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484 December 22, 2025