DETAILED ACTION
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements submitted are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama, JP 2007067628 A (hereinafter Akiyama) in view of Itoyma et al, EP 2148321 A1 (hereinafter Itoyma).
Regarding claim 1, Akiyama discloses a computer-implemented bass enhancement (from abstract, see To provide a bass-enhanced reproducing device which enables a listener to more clearly recognize the effect of its performance in a super-low frequency range, and is capable of giving a listener various bass effects) method comprising:
extracting, from an input audio signal including harmonic sound components (from abstract, see A harmonic component contained in the generated super-low frequency component is removed by an LPF 3), a sound signal (from page 3, see reference numeral 1 denotes a first low-pass filter (LPF) that extracts a low-frequency component from an input signal such as an audio signal);
generating (from page 3, see Reference numeral 2 denotes a low-frequency generator that generates a low-frequency signal (ultra-low frequency component) having a frequency half that of the low-frequency component extracted by the LPF 1), from the sound signal, a low frequency signal with a frequency that is one N-th a frequency of a fundamental wave component (from page 2, see a rectangular wave is generated from the low-frequency component extracted by the rectangular wave generation processing unit 22) of the sound signal, where N is an integer greater than one (from page 3, see the super-low frequency component one octave lower generated based on the low frequency component extracted by the first LPF 1 is output from the second LPF 3); and
generating, from the low frequency signal and the input audio signal, a bass-range enhancement signal that enhances bass-range frequencies of the input audio signal (from page 4, see As a result, the second mixer 11 outputs a signal in which the low frequency range is added by adding the additional component (low frequency component + super low frequency component) to the input signal).
Further regarding claim 1, Akiyama does not explicitly teach that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal. All the same, Itoyma discloses that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components (from paragraph 0001, see The present invention relates in particular to a system, a method, and a computer program for sound source separation that separate an "audio signal of sound mixtures obtained by playing a plurality of musical instruments" containing both harmonic-structure and inharmonic-structure signal components into sound sources for respective instrument parts), wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal (from paragraph 0002, see There is known an audio signal processing system that can separate an inharmonic-structure signal component such as from drums, for example, contained in a musical audio signal (hereinafter simply referred to as "audio signal") output from a speaker to independently increase and reduce the volume of a sound produced on the basis of the inharmonic-structure signal component without influencing other signal components). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Akiyama wherein the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal as disclosed by Itoyma. This modification would have allowed for precise audio processing without influencing the other components as suggested by Itoyma.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Akiyama and Itoyma discloses the bass enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein the inharmonic sound components include percussive sound components (from paragraph 0002 of Itoyma, see There is known an audio signal processing system that can separate an inharmonic-structure signal component such as from drums).
Regarding claim 5, Akiyama discloses the bass enhancement method according to claim 1, wherein the generating of the bass-range enhancement signal includes: generating a delayed audio signal by delaying the input audio signal for a time period required to generate the low frequency signal from the input audio signal; and generating the bass-range enhancement signal by adding the delayed audio signal to the low frequency signal (see A first delay circuit that delays an output signal of the first mixer; and a second delay circuit that delays the input signal, wherein the second mixer includes the first delay circuit. The output of the circuit and the output of the second delay circuit are added).
Regarding claim 6, Akiyama discloses a bass enhancement apparatus (from abstract, see To provide a bass-enhanced reproducing device which enables a listener to more clearly recognize the effect of its performance in a super-low frequency range, and is capable of giving a listener various bass effects) comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to:
extract, from an input audio signal including harmonic sound components (from abstract, see A harmonic component contained in the generated super-low frequency component is removed by an LPF 3), a sound signal (from page 3, see reference numeral 1 denotes a first low-pass filter (LPF) that extracts a low-frequency component from an input signal such as an audio signal);
generate (from page 3, see Reference numeral 2 denotes a low-frequency generator that generates a low-frequency signal (ultra-low frequency component) having a frequency half that of the low-frequency component extracted by the LPF 1), from the sound signal, a low frequency signal with a frequency that is one N-th a frequency of a fundamental wave component (from page 2, see a rectangular wave is generated from the low-frequency component extracted by the rectangular wave generation processing unit 22) of the sound signal, where N is an integer greater than one (from page 3, see the super-low frequency component one octave lower generated based on the low frequency component extracted by the first LPF 1 is output from the second LPF 3); and
generate, from the low frequency signal and the input audio signal, a bass-range enhancement signal that enhances bass-range frequencies of the input audio signal (from page 4, see As a result, the second mixer 11 outputs a signal in which the low frequency range is added by adding the additional component (low frequency component + super low frequency component) to the input signal).
Further regarding claim 6, Akiyama does not explicitly teach that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal. All the same, Itoyma discloses that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components (from paragraph 0001, see The present invention relates in particular to a system, a method, and a computer program for sound source separation that separate an "audio signal of sound mixtures obtained by playing a plurality of musical instruments" containing both harmonic-structure and inharmonic-structure signal components into sound sources for respective instrument parts), wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal (from paragraph 0002, see There is known an audio signal processing system that can separate an inharmonic-structure signal component such as from drums, for example, contained in a musical audio signal (hereinafter simply referred to as "audio signal") output from a speaker to independently increase and reduce the volume of a sound produced on the basis of the inharmonic-structure signal component without influencing other signal components). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Akiyama wherein the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal as disclosed by Itoyma. This modification would have allowed for precise audio processing without influencing the other components as suggested by Itoyma.
5. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama combined with Itoyma in further view of Cohen et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0320819 (hereinafter Cohen).
Regarding claim 7, Akiyama discloses a bass enhancement apparatus comprising:
at least one memory storing instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to:
extract, from an input audio signal including harmonic sound components (from abstract, see A harmonic component contained in the generated super-low frequency component is removed by an LPF 3), a sound signal (from page 3, see reference numeral 1 denotes a first low-pass filter (LPF) that extracts a low-frequency component from an input signal such as an audio signal);
generate (from page 3, see Reference numeral 2 denotes a low-frequency generator that generates a low-frequency signal (ultra-low frequency component) having a frequency half that of the low-frequency component extracted by the LPF 1), from the sound signal, a low frequency signal with a frequency that is one N-th a frequency of a fundamental wave component (from page 2, see a rectangular wave is generated from the low-frequency component extracted by the rectangular wave generation processing unit 22) of the sound signal, where N is an integer greater than one (from page 3, see the super-low frequency component one octave lower generated based on the low frequency component extracted by the first LPF 1 is output from the second LPF 3); and
provide an output audio signal including at least the low frequency signal (from page 4, see As a result, the second mixer 11 outputs a signal in which the low frequency range is added by adding the additional component (low frequency component + super low frequency component) to the input signal).
Further regarding claim 7, Akiyama does not explicitly teach that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal. All the same, Itoyma discloses that the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components (from paragraph 0001, see The present invention relates in particular to a system, a method, and a computer program for sound source separation that separate an "audio signal of sound mixtures obtained by playing a plurality of musical instruments" containing both harmonic-structure and inharmonic-structure signal components into sound sources for respective instrument parts), wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal (from paragraph 0002, see There is known an audio signal processing system that can separate an inharmonic-structure signal component such as from drums, for example, contained in a musical audio signal (hereinafter simply referred to as "audio signal") output from a speaker to independently increase and reduce the volume of a sound produced on the basis of the inharmonic-structure signal component without influencing other signal components). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Akiyama wherein the input audio signal includes inharmonic sound components, an inharmonic sound signal representing the inharmonic sound components which are other than the harmonic sound components, wherein the sound signal is an inharmonic sound signal as disclosed by Itoyma. This modification would have allowed for precise audio processing without influencing the other components as suggested by Itoyma.
Still on the issue of claim 7, the combination of references does not teach the output signal is provided to an actuator configured to vibrate a seat. All the same, Cohen discloses the output signal is provided to an actuator configured to vibrate a seat (from abstract, see The present invention is a chair or similar body-supporting apparatus for sitting on, reclining on or lying upon. The chair or similar apparatus is capable of transmitting sound and vibrations generated by a sound source and/or a vibration source to a user's body. The sound and vibrations are transmitted through speakers, transducers, or a combination thereof which are connected to the chair or similar apparatus. The transmitted sound and vibrations may include translated frequencies that are generated by a translation of higher frequencies that can mainly be heard to lower frequencies that can mainly be felt. The present invention is also a method of providing vibrational energy to a user, including regulating sound and vibrations transmitted through speakers, transducers, or a combination thereof which are connected to a chair or similar body-supporting apparatus). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify the combination of references wherein the output signal is provided to an actuator configured to vibrate a seat as taught by Cohen. This modification would have improved the user’s physical, emotional and mental health problems or illness by reducing the use of alcohol and other substance abuses in addition to the use of prescription antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents, and pain relievers as suggested by Cohen.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 3 and 4 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLISA ANWAH whose telephone number is 571-272-7533. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 6 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edwards can be reached on 571-270-7136. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2600.
Olisa Anwah
Patent Examiner
March 20, 2026
/OLISA ANWAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692