DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a First Action on the Merits (FAOM) for the claim set submitted on 06/17/2024. Claims 1-23 are pending and have been considered. The examiner would like to note that the claims have been deemed to be containing eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 due to the independent claims defining a clear bitstream payload of bits which comprise spectral lines of a spectrum of audio signal which cannot reasonably be representing in the mind with or without pen and paper. A human will not be able to reasonably perform any operations with a received encoded audio signal comprising a bitstream as the bits (which represent spectral information) will be provided in such complexity that the time required for a user to process the bitstream into actual information, i.e. from binary to ASCII, is unreasonable.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application(s) filed in Europe on 02/13/2019. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the EP19156997.9, EP19157036.5, EP19157047.2, or EP19157042.3 applications as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on 06/17/2024, 12/20/2024, 02/13/2025, 03/06/2025, 04/07/2025, 07/24/2025, and 02/13/2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-3, 22, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taleb (US-7356748-B2), in view of Sung et al. (US-20150142452-A1), hereinafter Sung.
Regarding claim 1, Taleb discloses: A decoder ([Col. 5, Lines 31-32] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a basic transform-based decoder with error concealment) for decoding a current frame to reconstruct an audio signal, wherein the audio signal is encoded within the current frame, wherein the current frame comprises a current bitstream payload, wherein the current bitstream payload comprises a plurality of payload bits ([Col. 6, Lines 43-53] The invention concerns a specially designed technique for frequency-domain error concealment that is based on the idea of concealing an erroneous coding coefficient by exploiting coding coefficient correlation in both time and frequency. The technique is applicable to any information, such as audio, video and image data, that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions [The invention pertains to error concealment with respect to audio data that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions], [Col. 8, Lines 40-43] As illustrated in FIG. 5, on the receiving side, the incoming bit stream is de-packetized by the block 32, which produces a framed bit stream as well as a bad frame indicator bfi(m) for each frame m [Block 32 de-packetizes an incoming bit stream to produce a framed bit stream. A bit stream will necessarily comprise a bitstream payload, i.e. the information of the bits, wherein a stream indicates a plurality of bits]),
wherein the plurality of payload bits encodes a plurality of spectral lines of a spectrum of the audio signal ([Col. 8, Lines 44-67] The framed bit stream and the corresponding bad frame indicator are forwarded to block 42, which performs demultiplexation and decoding to extract quantized complex transform coefficients. If no errors are detected, the quantized coefficients are simply inverse transformed in an IFFT (Inverse FFT) unit 46 to obtain a time domain signal, which is multiplied by a window function w(n) and overlap-added in the overlap-add unit 48 to restore a time domain decoded signal x.sub.q(n). Depending on how the encoded data is multiplexed and packetized, data relative to one frame can be partially or entirely lost. This has the effect that at least parts of the spectral coefficients may be erroneous, [Fig. 5, block 42 decodes quantized complex transform coefficients, and then the error concealment unit 44 performs error concealment on the received spectral coefficients, e.g., spectral lines, that are indicated to be erroneous or missing. The examiner would like to note that the instant specification, [0003], explains that spectral lines that are coded via transform based audio codecs and transmitted from an encoder to a decoder, and therefore a person of ordinary skill would understand that a transform, such as an FFT or MDCT, transforms a time-domain audio signal to the frequency-domain that is represented by spectral coefficients, or lines, that can be used with a reverse-transform to recover the time-domain audio signal]),
wherein each of the payload bits exhibits a position within the current bitstream payload ([As previously cited, a framed bit stream of frames (m), where each bit is sequential, e.g., exhibits a position, and where a missing bit can, for example, trigger a bad frame indicator due to a CRC check error]),
wherein the decoder comprises
a decoding module configured to reconstruct the audio signal ([Fig. 5, IFFT], [Audio in a time domain indicates that audio to be reconstructed with respect to a frequency transform, i.e. an IFFT, as is required for generation of spectral coefficients]), and
an output interface configured to output the audio signal ([Fig. 5, Output from Overlap-Add 48], [Col. 8, Lines 48-53] quantized coefficients are simply inverse transformed in an IFFT (Inverse FFT) unit 46 to obtain a time domain signal, which is multiplied by a window function w(n) and overlap-added in the overlap-add unit 48 to restore a time domain decoded signal x.sub.q(n), [A time-domain signal indicates an output audio signal with respect to the overlap-add operation]).
Taleb is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to conduct error concealment in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic.
Sung is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to conduct error concealment in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic ([0111] The signal classification unit 513 may analyze a spectrum provided from the transform unit 512 to determine whether each frame corresponds to a harmonic frame, [0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]).
Taleb and Sung are considered analogous art within frame error concealment in the context of audio decoding. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb to incorporate the teachings of Sung, because of the novel way to discloses frame error concealment techniques that conceal a frame error with low complexity [and] without an additional time delay when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using the time-frequency transform processing, minimizing deterioration of reconstructed sound quality due to a frame error when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using time-frequency processing (Sung, [0006]-[0007]).
Regarding claim 2, Taleb in view of Sung discloses: the decoder according to claim 1.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to reconstruct a current spectrum of the audio signal by conducting error concealment using a plurality of signs of a previous spectrum of the audio signal, said plurality of signs being encoded within the previous frame ([Col. 6, Lines 63-67] for a given erroneous coefficient it is possible to estimate a new coding coefficient based on coding coefficients from the same frame as the erroneous coding coefficient together with coefficients from one or more previous and/or subsequent frames, [Col. 7, Lines 15-20] the considered erroneous coefficient is replaced based on the previous coefficient of the same frequency bin, [Wherein a missing, i.e. erroneous, coefficient tracks to a sign of a spectrum, further wherein the error/missing coefficient representing signs is replaced, i.e. concealed, with the value/coefficient/sign of a previous frame]).
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct error concealment in a way that depends on whether or not said previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]).
Regarding claim 3, Taleb in view of Sung discloses: the decoder according to claim 2.
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein said previous frame is a last received frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment ([Fig. 25, Prev_BFI==1], [0039] when a previous frame is an error frame, [A previous frame being an error frame indicates no error concealment performed on that previous frame]), or
wherein said previous frame is a last received frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment in a full frame loss concealment mode ([The examiner would like to note that, due to the disjunctive nature of the claims, this element does not require a mapping. Further, the examiner would like to refer to the mode selection of Sung indicating multiple error concealment modes, wherein Sung does not explicitly disclose a partial error concealment, indicating the error concealment of Sung is “full”]), or
wherein said previous frame is a last received frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment in a partial frame loss concealment mode or in a full frame loss concealment mode ([The examiner would like to note that, due to the disjunctive nature of the claims, this element does not require a mapping. Further, the examiner would like to refer to the “partial spectral loss concealment” (title) of Taleb in view of the plurality of operating modes of Sung, indicating the partial error concealment of Taleb could be applied to Sung as Sung already discloses complete concealment (partial concealment is a subclass of complete concealment)]).
Regarding claim 22, Taleb discloses: a method for decoding a current frame to reconstruct an audio signal ([Col. 5, Lines 31-32] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a basic transform-based decoder with error concealment),
wherein the audio signal is encoded within the current frame, wherein the current frame comprises a current bitstream payload, wherein the current bitstream payload comprises a plurality of payload bits ([Col. 6, Lines 43-53] The invention concerns a specially designed technique for frequency-domain error concealment that is based on the idea of concealing an erroneous coding coefficient by exploiting coding coefficient correlation in both time and frequency. The technique is applicable to any information, such as audio, video and image data, that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions [The invention pertains to error concealment with respect to audio data that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions], [Col. 8, Lines 40-43] As illustrated in FIG. 5, on the receiving side, the incoming bit stream is de-packetized by the block 32, which produces a framed bit stream as well as a bad frame indicator bfi(m) for each frame m [Block 32 de-packetizes an incoming bit stream to produce a framed bit stream. A bit stream will necessarily comprise a bitstream payload, i.e. the information of the bits, wherein a stream indicates a plurality of bits]),
wherein the plurality of payload bits encodes a plurality of spectral lines of a spectrum of the audio signal ([Col. 8, Lines 44-67] The framed bit stream and the corresponding bad frame indicator are forwarded to block 42, which performs demultiplexation and decoding to extract quantized complex transform coefficients. If no errors are detected, the quantized coefficients are simply inverse transformed in an IFFT (Inverse FFT) unit 46 to obtain a time domain signal, which is multiplied by a window function w(n) and overlap-added in the overlap-add unit 48 to restore a time domain decoded signal x.sub.q(n). Depending on how the encoded data is multiplexed and packetized, data relative to one frame can be partially or entirely lost. This has the effect that at least parts of the spectral coefficients may be erroneous, [Fig. 5, block 42 decodes quantized complex transform coefficients, and then the error concealment unit 44 performs error concealment on the received spectral coefficients, e.g., spectral lines, that are indicated to be erroneous or missing. The examiner would like to note that the instant specification, [0003], explains that spectral lines that are coded via transform based audio codecs and transmitted from an encoder to a decoder, and therefore a person of ordinary skill would understand that a transform, such as an FFT or MDCT, transforms a time-domain audio signal to the frequency-domain that is represented by spectral coefficients, or lines, that can be used with a reverse-transform to recover the time-domain audio signal]),
wherein each of the payload bits exhibits a position within the bitstream payload ([As previously cited, a framed bit stream of frames (m), where each bit is sequential, e.g., exhibits a position, and where a missing bit can, for example, trigger a bad frame indicator due to a CRC check error]),
wherein the method comprises:
reconstructing the audio signal ([Fig. 5, IFFT], [Audio in a time domain indicates that audio to be reconstructed with respect to a frequency transform, i.e. an IFFT, as is required for generation of spectral coefficients]).
Taleb is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted, error concealment is conducted in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic; and outputting the audio signal.
Sung is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted, error concealment is conducted in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic; and outputting the audio signal ([0111] The signal classification unit 513 may analyze a spectrum provided from the transform unit 512 to determine whether each frame corresponds to a harmonic frame, [0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]).
Taleb and Sung are considered analogous art within frame error concealment in the context of audio decoding. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb to incorporate the teachings of Sung, because of the novel way to discloses frame error concealment techniques that conceal a frame error with low complexity [and] without an additional time delay when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using the time-frequency transform processing, minimizing deterioration of reconstructed sound quality due to a frame error when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using time-frequency processing (Sung, [0006]-[0007]).
Regarding claim 23, Taleb discloses: a method for decoding a current frame to reconstruct an audio signal ([Col. 5, Lines 31-32] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a basic transform-based decoder with error concealment),
wherein the audio signal is encoded within the current frame, wherein the current frame comprises a current bitstream payload, wherein the current bitstream payload comprises a plurality of payload bits ([Col. 6, Lines 43-53] The invention concerns a specially designed technique for frequency-domain error concealment that is based on the idea of concealing an erroneous coding coefficient by exploiting coding coefficient correlation in both time and frequency. The technique is applicable to any information, such as audio, video and image data, that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions [The invention pertains to error concealment with respect to audio data that is compressed into coding coefficients and transmitted under adverse channel conditions], [Col. 8, Lines 40-43] As illustrated in FIG. 5, on the receiving side, the incoming bit stream is de-packetized by the block 32, which produces a framed bit stream as well as a bad frame indicator bfi(m) for each frame m [Block 32 de-packetizes an incoming bit stream to produce a framed bit stream. A bit stream will necessarily comprise a bitstream payload, i.e. the information of the bits, wherein a stream indicates a plurality of bits]),
wherein the plurality of payload bits encodes a plurality of spectral lines of a spectrum of the audio signal ([Col. 8, Lines 44-67] The framed bit stream and the corresponding bad frame indicator are forwarded to block 42, which performs demultiplexation and decoding to extract quantized complex transform coefficients. If no errors are detected, the quantized coefficients are simply inverse transformed in an IFFT (Inverse FFT) unit 46 to obtain a time domain signal, which is multiplied by a window function w(n) and overlap-added in the overlap-add unit 48 to restore a time domain decoded signal x.sub.q(n). Depending on how the encoded data is multiplexed and packetized, data relative to one frame can be partially or entirely lost. This has the effect that at least parts of the spectral coefficients may be erroneous, [Fig. 5, block 42 decodes quantized complex transform coefficients, and then the error concealment unit 44 performs error concealment on the received spectral coefficients, e.g., spectral lines, that are indicated to be erroneous or missing. The examiner would like to note that the instant specification, [0003], explains that spectral lines that are coded via transform based audio codecs and transmitted from an encoder to a decoder, and therefore a person of ordinary skill would understand that a transform, such as an FFT or MDCT, transforms a time-domain audio signal to the frequency-domain that is represented by spectral coefficients, or lines, that can be used with a reverse-transform to recover the time-domain audio signal]),
wherein each of the payload bits exhibits a position within the bitstream payload ([As previously cited, a framed bit stream of frames (m), where each bit is sequential, e.g., exhibits a position, and where a missing bit can, for example, trigger a bad frame indicator due to a CRC check error]),
wherein the method comprises:
reconstructing the audio signal ([Fig. 5, IFFT], [Audio in a time domain indicates that audio to be reconstructed with respect to a frequency transform, i.e. an IFFT, as is required for generation of spectral coefficients]); and
outputting the audio signal ([Fig. 5, Output from Overlap-Add 48], [Col. 8, Lines 48-53] quantized coefficients are simply inverse transformed in an IFFT (Inverse FFT) unit 46 to obtain a time domain signal, which is multiplied by a window function w(n) and overlap-added in the overlap-add unit 48 to restore a time domain decoded signal x.sub.q(n), [A time-domain signal indicates an output audio signal with respect to the overlap-add operation]).
Taleb is not relied upon to disclose:
A non-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program stored thereon to perform the method for decoding a current frame to reconstruct an audio signal,
wherein, if error concealment is conducted, error concealment is conducted in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic,
when said computer program is run by a computer.
Sung is relied upon to disclose:
A non-transitory digital storage medium having a computer program stored thereon to perform the method for decoding a current frame to reconstruct an audio signal ([0299] The methods according to the embodiments can be written as computer-executable programs and can be implemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programs by using a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, [Applied to the error concealment of Taleb disclosed above]),
wherein, if error concealment is conducted, error concealment is conducted in a way that depends on whether or not a previous bitstream payload of a previous frame preceding the current frame encodes a signal component of the audio signal which is tonal or harmonic ([0111] The signal classification unit 513 may analyze a spectrum provided from the transform unit 512 to determine whether each frame corresponds to a harmonic frame, [0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]),
when said computer program is run by a computer ([See use of digital computers cited in [0299] of Sung above]).
Taleb and Sung are considered analogous art within frame error concealment in the context of audio decoding. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb to incorporate the teachings of Sung, because of the novel way to discloses frame error concealment techniques that conceal a frame error with low complexity [and] without an additional time delay when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using the time-frequency transform processing, minimizing deterioration of reconstructed sound quality due to a frame error when an audio signal is encoded and decoded using time-frequency processing (Sung, [0006]-[0007]).
Claim(s) 4, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Kovesi et al. (US-20100070271-A1), hereinafter Kovesi, further in view of Virette et al. (US-8417520-B2), hereinafter Virette.
Regarding claim 4, Taleb in view of Sung discloses: the decoder according to claim 2.
Taleb in view of Sung is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic, the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum,
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 %.
Kovesi is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module ([Fig. 1, Decoder 4 in a recursive loop with Conceal Errors 5], [A recursive decoding operation with concealed errors being sent back into a decoder to be decoded indicates the error concealment to be performed by a decoding module, wherein the module is represented in the combination of blocks 4 and 5 of Fig. 1]), and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([See the cited portion of [0132] below which describes making a signal non-periodic, indicating a previous frame to be periodic, i.e. harmonic, which is being adjusted via the sign flipping operation to result in the non-periodic signal. See “Past decoded signal” of Fig. 3 as input to the operations described in [0132] indicating a previous frame which must have been encoded in order to be decoded]), the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum ([0132] For a non-voiced frame, the excitation signal exc is obtained likewise by third order LTP filtering using the coefficients [0.15, 0.7, 0.15] but it is made non-periodic by increasing the fundamental period by a value equal to 1 once every ten samples, with sign being inverted with a probability of 0.2, [Inversion is a method of flipping]),
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 % ([In view of cited [0132], wherein 0.2, i.e. 20%, is clearly within the range defined and required by the claim]).
Taleb, Sung, and Kovesi are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung to incorporate the teachings of Kovesi, because of the novel way to improve the subjective quality of a speech signal as played back by a decoder in any system for compressing speech or sound in the event that a set of consecutive coded data items have been lost due to non-reception of a packet through controlling gain of a synthesized signal based on parameter characteristics of frequency spectrums and energy values for samples corresponding to valid data (Kovesi, [0012]-[0031]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Kovesi is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p.
Virette is relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p ([Fig. 4, Determining Pitch Period T to be used for Inversion 58], [Col. 7, Lines 40-45] the pitch period T is determined on the last samples of the signal Si validly received (by a technique 56 which can be known per se), [Col. 8, Lines 19-26] a variable probability can also be chosen, for example in the form: p=corr (4) where the variable corr corresponds to the maximum value of the correlation function over the pitch period, marked Corr(T), [Wherein Fig. 4 describes the invention “at decoding” (see brief description of the drawings for Fig. 4), indicating a percentage value p which is used for sign inversion which is variably determined at a decoding module, i.e. Fig. 4, through use of a pitch period of a previous, i.e. validly received, frame]).
Taleb, Sung, Kovesi, and Virette are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Kovesi to incorporate the teachings of Virette because of the novel way to propose attenuation of overvoicing through use of a probability threshold for inverting samples of a group advantageously dependent upon pitch period, preventing synthesized speech from exhibiting over-harmonicity or overvoicing (Virette, [Col. 4, Lines 25-60]).
Regarding claim 9, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Kovesi, further in view of Virette discloses: the decoder according to claim 4.
Virette is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module ([Col. 9, Lines 10-15] In the context of the embodiment of the invention described in detail above, the excitation generation in coding by CELP predictive synthesis aims to avoid overvoicing in the context of frame transmission error concealment, [In view of the decoding operation of Fig. 4]), and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame does not encode a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([Col. 5, Lines 55-60] In a non-voiced block, the previous signal is non-harmonic; by applying the processing within the meaning of the invention to a sufficiently large period, it can be guaranteed that the signal thus generated remains non-harmonic, [A non-harmonic signal which is non-voiced indicates a non-tonal (see voice and music tones described in [Col. 4, Lines 5-10] indicating a non-voiced, non-harmonic signal can also be non-tonal if not including music) and non-harmonic signal, wherein encoding is necessarily required in order to perform the decoding of Virette]), the decoding module is configured to flip 50 % of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum ([Col. 8, Lines 15-20] For example, the value p can be set such that p=50%, [In view of the previously disclosed use of previous frame of Virette for error concealment of a current frame, wherein the probability is in the context of inversion of samples (see Col. 6, Lines 35-45].]).
Claim(s) 10-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim et al. (US-5630011-A), hereinafter Lim.
Regarding claim 10, Taleb in view of Sung discloses: the decoder according to claim 1.
Taleb in view of Sung is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to reconstruct a current spectrum of the audio signal by conducting error concealment using a plurality of amplitudes of the previous spectrum of the audio signal depending on whether or not the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic, said plurality of amplitudes being encoded within the previous frame.
Lim is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to reconstruct a current spectrum of the audio signal by conducting error concealment using a plurality of amplitudes of the previous spectrum of the audio signal depending on whether or not the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic, said plurality of amplitudes being encoded within the previous frame ([Col. 12, Lines 40-45] the decoder makes predictions as to the amplitudes of the spectral harmonics for a current frame based on the amplitudes of the spectral harmonics for the previous frame, where the steps taken to predict the amplitudes are based on parameters that are highly protected against bit errors, [Wherein Lim discloses encoding spectral amplitude (see [Col. 12, Lines 45-50]) indicating the amplitudes of a previous frame are encoded within the previous frame. Further, disclosing protection against bit errors as an objective indicates the amplitude prediction is for purposes of error concealment within bits. See “error correction” within Lim]).
Taleb, Sung, and Lim are considered analogous art within decoder error concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung to incorporate the teachings of Lim, because of the novel way to take advantage of similarities in shape between spectral amplitude envelopes of differing frames, reducing the degree of differential coding if the number of spectral amplitudes required to be encoded is relatively low through preservation of amplitude values from previous frames of the coded audio, allowing for bit errors to decay away more quickly (Lim, [Col. 12, Lines 40-60]).
Regarding claim 11, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: a decoder according to claim 10.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to attenuate the plurality of amplitudes of the previous spectrum according to a non-linear attenuation characteristic to reconstruct the current spectrum ([Col. 10, Lines 25-45] For example, the predicted spectral magnitude can be written as: .sub.q(m,k)=.gamma.G(m)Y.sub.q(m-1,k), where G(m) is an adaptive gain obtained by matching the energy of non-erroneous/recovered spectral coefficients of the current frame with the corresponding spectral coefficients of the previous frame, the factor .gamma. is an attenuation factor, 0<.gamma..ltoreq.1, e.g. .gamma.=0.9, [Applying an attenuation factor to spectral coefficient energies of a previous frame for a current frame indicates attenuating amplitude, i.e. corresponding to the energies, based on a non-linear attenuation characteristic gamma, wherein gamma is only set to 0.9 as an example and is not limited to this value indicating non-linearity is within the scope of Taleb. The examiner asserts that spectral magnitude/energy matching as disclosed in Taleb is directly related to amplitude]),
wherein the non-linear attenuation characteristic depends on whether or not the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([Considering the previous disclosure of Sung for determining whether a signal component is harmonic (based on peak and average energy values [0111]), wherein Sung also discloses extracting energy, power, scale factors, from encoded spectral coefficients ([0067]), indicating extraction of energy values from previous frames based on the frames being harmonic which are then used for performing non-linear attenuation using energy as disclosed in Taleb]).
Regarding claim 12, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: the decoder according to claim 10.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([As previously disclosed using the combination of Taleb in view of Sung]), the decoding module is configured to attenuate the plurality of amplitudes of the previous spectrum depending on a stability factor ([Col. 10, Lines 25-45] For example, the predicted spectral magnitude can be written as: .sub.q(m,k)=.gamma.G(m)Y.sub.q(m-1,k), where G(m) is an adaptive gain obtained by matching the energy of non-erroneous/recovered spectral coefficients of the current frame with the corresponding spectral coefficients of the previous frame, the factor .gamma. is an attenuation factor, 0<.gamma..ltoreq.1, e.g. .gamma.=0.9. An example of energy matching can be to compute the adaptive gain as:, [See G(m) of Col. 10, wherein an equation to perform attenuation (gain, consider negative gain) based on energy matching indicates performing attenuation to increase similarity between a previous frame and a current frame, wherein matching energies between two sets of coefficients necessarily requires a “stability factor” to check for appropriate matching. An original lost packet/frame will have low stability factor compared to the previous frame which increases stability factor between the two frames as the coefficients are matched]),
wherein said stability factor indicates a similarity between the current spectrum and the previous spectrum ([Clearly indicated in the above cited section comparing spectral coefficients (comprising a spectrum) of a previous frame to a current frame]);
or wherein the stability factor indicates a similarity between the previous spectrum and a pre-previous spectrum of a pre-previous frame preceding the previous frame ([Col. 11, Lines 20-25] For the case when all spectral coefficients are lost, then the adaptive gain matching may be estimated either by using the previous two frames).
Regarding claim 13, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: the decoder according to claim 12.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein said pre-previous frame is a last received frame before the previous frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment ([The examiner would like to note that this claim element does not require a mapping due to the disjunctive nature of the claim]),
or wherein said pre-previous frame is a last received frame before the previous frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment in a full frame loss concealment mode ([The examiner would like to note that this claim element does not require a mapping due to the disjunctive nature of the claim]),
or wherein said pre-previous frame is a last received frame before the previous frame, which has been decoded by the decoding module without conducting error concealment in a partial frame loss concealment mode or in a full frame loss concealment mode ([Col. 11, Lines 20-25] For the case when all spectral coefficients are lost, then the adaptive gain matching may be estimated either by using the previous two frames, [In view of the previously disclosed error concealment of Taleb, indicating partial frame loss concealment mode for a pre-previous frame last received before the previous frame]).
Regarding claim 14, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: the decoder according to claim 12.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein said stability factor indicates said similarity between the current spectrum and the previous spectrum, if the decoding module is set to conduct partial frame loss concealment ([Col. 10, Lines 25-45] For example, the predicted spectral magnitude can be written as: .sub.q(m,k)=.gamma.G(m)Y.sub.q(m-1,k), where G(m) is an adaptive gain obtained by matching the energy of non-erroneous/recovered spectral coefficients of the current frame with the corresponding spectral coefficients of the previous frame, the factor .gamma. is an attenuation factor, 0<.gamma..ltoreq.1, e.g. .gamma.=0.9. An example of energy matching can be to compute the adaptive gain as:, [Performing spectral coefficient matching indicates a similarity monitoring between the spectrums to know when the lost frame has been appropriately reconstructed. Further, consider the title “Partial spectral loss…”]);
wherein said stability factor indicates said similarity between the previous spectrum and the pre-previous spectrum, if the decoding module is set to conduct full frame loss concealment ([Col. 11, Lines 20-25] For the case when all spectral coefficients are lost, then the adaptive gain matching may be estimated either by using the previous two frames, [Having no spectral coefficients for a frame indicates a complete loss of that frame, in view of the matching operation previously disclosed to be representative of stability between two frames. Taleb discloses that spectral coefficients may be partially or totally lost, [Col. 4, Lines 65-67]]).
Claim(s) 15, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin et al. (US-20100198590-A1), hereinafter Tackin.
Regarding claim 15, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: the decoder according to claim 12.
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine an energy of a spectral bin of the previous spectrum ([0213] The envelope delta env_delta is obtained using information on the frequency domain and indicates average energy of per-band Norm value differences between the previous frame and the current frame, [Determining an energy difference between a previous frame and a current frame necessarily required knowledge of the energy of the previous frame, i.e. spectrum, wherein a band tracks to a spectral bin]);
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine whether or not said energy of said spectral bin is smaller than an energy threshold ([0214] when the energy difference diff_energy is less than a first threshold and the envelope delta env_delta is less than a second threshold, [An energy difference meeting a threshold necessarily determines whether the resulting energy from the difference, i.e. subtraction, operation is bigger than a threshold, wherein that energy is based on spectral bins]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if said energy is smaller than said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate an amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a first fading factor,
wherein, if said energy is greater than or equal to said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate said amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a second fading factor, being smaller than the first fading factor,
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct attenuation such that by using a smaller fading factor for the attenuation of one of the plurality of amplitudes, the attenuation of said one of the amplitudes is increased.
Tackin is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if said energy is smaller than said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate an amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a first fading factor ([0145] For signals with power levels below the comfort zone (less than minVoice) but above the maximum noise threshold, the gain calculator 160 preferably increments the gain factor 152 logarithmically at a rate of about 0.1-0.3 dB/sec, until the power level of the signal is within the comfort zone or a gain of approximately 10 dB is reached, [The comfort zone tracks to the energy threshold level, wherein the first fading factor is the 0.1-0.3dB/sec. The examiner asserts that a gain is a negative attenuation]),
wherein, if said energy is greater than or equal to said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate said amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a second fading factor, being smaller than the first fading factor ([0144] The gain calculator 160 preferably decrements the gain factor 152 for signals with power levels that are above the comfort level of hearing 164 (MaxVoice) but below the clipping threshold 166 (Clip) relatively slowly, preferably on the order of about 0.1-0.3 dB/sec until the signal has been attenuated approximately 4 dB or the power level of the signal drops to the comfort zone, [The second fading factor being the variable 0.1-0.3dB/sec in view of the spectral bin analysis disclosed in Sung. In view of the previously disclosed first fading factor also being defined in a similar range, the first facing factor could be 0.3 with the second being 0.1 as required by the claim without extending beyond the scope of Tackin]),
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct attenuation such that by using a smaller fading factor for the attenuation of one of the plurality of amplitudes, the attenuation of said one of the amplitudes is increased ([0137] established, and is typically 0 dB. If adaptive gain control is used, the initial gain value is specified by this default gain. The AGC adjusts the gain factor in accordance with the power level of an input signal. Input signals with a low energy level are amplified to a comfortable sound level, while high energy signals are attenuated, [Adjusting a signal to be amplified indicates an increased amplitude. The examiner asserts that a negative attenuation tracks to a positive gain factor]).
Taleb, Sung, Lim, and Tackin are considered analogous art within audio packet loss mitigation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim to incorporate the teachings of Tackin, because of the novel way to minimize the impact of large amplitude spikes and improve accuracy of voice data exchange systems through use of a non-linear filter to limit maximum adjustments of scaling values made to input signals which have experienced incomplete transmission (Tackin, [0448]).
Regarding claim 16, Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim discloses: the decoder according to claim 12.
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine an energy of a spectral band comprising a plurality of spectral bins of the previous spectrum ([0213] The envelope delta env_delta is obtained using information on the frequency domain and indicates average energy of per-band Norm value differences between the previous frame and the current frame, [Determining an energy difference between a previous frame and a current frame necessarily requires knowledge of the energy of the previous frame, i.e. spectrum, wherein a band tracks to a plurality of spectral bins, i.e. frequencies]);
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine whether or not said energy of said spectral bin is smaller than an energy threshold ([0214] when the energy difference diff_energy is less than a first threshold and the envelope delta env_delta is less than a second threshold, [An energy difference meeting a threshold necessarily determines whether the resulting energy from the difference, i.e. subtraction, operation is bigger than a threshold energy, wherein that energy is based on spectral bins]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if said energy is smaller than said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate an amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a first fading factor,
wherein, if said energy is greater than or equal to said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate said amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin of said spectral band with a second fading factor, being smaller than the first fading factor,
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct attenuation such that by using a smaller fading factor for the attenuation of one of the plurality of amplitudes, the attenuation of said one of the amplitudes is increased.
Tackin is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if said energy is smaller than said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate an amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin with a first fading factor ([0145] For signals with power levels below the comfort zone (less than minVoice) but above the maximum noise threshold, the gain calculator 160 preferably increments the gain factor 152 logarithmically at a rate of about 0.1-0.3 dB/sec, until the power level of the signal is within the comfort zone or a gain of approximately 10 dB is reached, [The comfort zone tracks to the energy threshold level, wherein the first fading factor is the 0.1-0.3dB/sec. The examiner asserts that a gain is a negative attenuation]),
wherein, if said energy is greater than or equal to said energy threshold, the decoding module is configured to attenuate said amplitude of the plurality of amplitudes being assigned to said spectral bin of said spectral band with a second fading factor, being smaller than the first fading factor ([0144] The gain calculator 160 preferably decrements the gain factor 152 for signals with power levels that are above the comfort level of hearing 164 (MaxVoice) but below the clipping threshold 166 (Clip) relatively slowly, preferably on the order of about 0.1-0.3 dB/sec until the signal has been attenuated approximately 4 dB or the power level of the signal drops to the comfort zone, [The second fading factor being the variable 0.1-0.3dB/sec in view of the spectral bin analysis disclosed in Sung. In view of the previously disclosed first fading factor also being defined in a similar range, the first facing factor could be 0.3 with the second being 0.1 as required by the claim without extending beyond the scope of Tackin]),
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct attenuation such that by using a smaller fading factor for the attenuation of one of the plurality of amplitudes, the attenuation of said one of the amplitudes is increased ([0137] established, and is typically 0 dB. If adaptive gain control is used, the initial gain value is specified by this default gain. The AGC adjusts the gain factor in accordance with the power level of an input signal. Input signals with a low energy level are amplified to a comfortable sound level, while high energy signals are attenuated, [Adjusting a signal to be amplified indicates an increased amplitude. The examiner asserts that a negative attenuation tracks to a positive gain factor]).
Taleb, Sung, Lim, and Tackin are considered analogous art within audio packet loss mitigation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim to incorporate the teachings of Tackin, because of the novel way to minimize the impact of large amplitude spikes and improve accuracy of voice data exchange systems through use of a non-linear filter to limit maximum adjustments of scaling values made to input signals which have experienced incomplete transmission (Tackin, [0448]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 5-8, and 17-21 are allowed over the prior art.
Claims 5-8 and 17-21 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Considering claim 5, the closest prior art of record is Taleb, Sung, Kovesi, Virette, Delfosse et al. (US-11700020-B2), hereinafter Delfosse, and Grancharov et al. (US-9546924-B2), hereinafter Grancharov.
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Kovesi, further in view of Virette discloses: the decoder according to claim 4.
Taleb in view of Sung does not disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to increase the percentage value p depending on a number of subsequent frames;
wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequently partially or fully lost frames error concealment has been conducted by the decoding module;
or wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequent frames error concealment in a particular error concealment mode has been conducted by the decoding module.
Sung discloses monitoring a number of error frames ([0144]-[0145]) which could be interpreted to be representative of a number of error concealed frames if error concealment is performed on all frames; however, Sung does not disclose anything related to a probability with regard to sign inversion. Sung discloses a time-frequency inverse transform for processing a current frame based on a previous frame, but this is not performed with anything similar to the probability claimed.
Kovesi discloses a system (previously described) in which the probability or percentage of signs being flipped is deterministically set before operation. The probability disclosed in Kovesi is not subject to change or “determination” by a decoding module. The decoding module merely receives the required probability; therefore, the system of Kovesi will be unable to adjust the percentage required by the claims without the required decoding module to perform said action.
Virette discloses a system (previously described) in which the probability or percentage of signs being flipped is determined variably based on an amount of correlation (correlation function) over a pitch period, wherein the data being flipped is gathered from a previous, correctly received packet/frame. The variable flipping probability of Virette is based on a maximum value of a correlation function of a pitch period, wherein the samples are from a stored signal, i.e. a previous frame, (see [Col. 8, Lines 15-30]). Virette does not track an amount of frames which have previously been concealed; therefore, Virette cannot discloses increasing a percentage value of signs flipped based on a number of subsequent frames. As seen in Fig. 4, the change in probability of inversion if based on the amount of samples comprising the pitch period T. This does not relate to an amount of remaining and/or previous samples to have error concealment performed. Instead, this looks at previous frames to determine modification for a current frame in terms of energy/frequency components without regard for a quantity of frames. Virette does not disclose tracking a total number of frames, nor a number of frames which have had error concealment performed.
Delfosse discloses bit flipping in the context of quantum error code correction ([Col. 6, Lines 15-35]). Specifically, within this section of Delfosse, there is disclosed a number of bit flips required to occur to satisfy an equation. Further, Delfosse discloses a bit flip probability p, wherein “Each bit is flipped independently with probability p”, wherein p<0.5 ([Col. 7, Lines 30-50]). This does not indicate a decoding module adaptively setting the percentage value for flipping bits. Similarly to Kovesi, Delfosse discloses a system in which the probability is predetermined and not actively determined by a decoding module. Further, Delfosse discloses “one may consider different flip probabilities for each flip location” ([Col. 11, Lines 10-20]); however, this does not indicate a decoding module to be responsible for the probability determination. Because Delfosse does not disclose the required probabilities and/or the required methods for how those probabilities are determined, Delfosse cannot reasonably be understood to adjust a percentage which it never discloses in the first place.
Grancharov discloses a method for limiting processing resources required to compute complex vectors for audio reconstruction through use of sign flipping non-zero coefficients of residual vectors ([Col. 9, Lines 55-67], [Col. 10, Lines 1-7]). Similarly to Delfosse, Grancharov does not disclose the flipping probability as required; therefore, it cannot be reasonably understood to adjust a percentage correlating to a probability which it never determines.
The examiner believes this is the best prior art available before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, 02/13/2019 (pending resolution of outstanding foreign priority claim issues). As can be seen through the above prior art, there is nothing which explicitly discloses or implicitly suggests the concept of modifying an amount of error concealment within a decoder, wherein the method of error concealment is a sign flipping operation of signs of components of a spectrum of a previously received frame of audio, further wherein the sign flipping operation is performed based on a probability which is determined within the decoding module, further wherein the probability of flipping a current frame is dependent upon a subsequent amount of frames which have had error concealment performed. Art might discloses concepts involving sign flipping based on a probability (Kovesi, Delfosse, Virette), but no art performs this operation within a decoding module which also monitors an amount of subsequent frames having error concealment performed which modifies the probability of sign flipping for a current frame. Further, there is no reasonable combination of art which could be formed to reach the claimed invention except through use of impermissible hindsight reasoning. All claims dependent on claim 5 (claims 6-8) are also allowed as they further define the allowable subject matter of claim 5.
Considering claim 17, the closest prior art of record is Taleb, Sung, Lim, Tackin, Kovesi, Virette, and Kim et al. (US-20090240490-A1), hereinafter Kim.
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin discloses: the decoder according to claim 16.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to reconstruct a current spectrum of the audio signal by conducting error concealment using a plurality of signs of the previous spectrum of the audio signal, said plurality of signs being encoded within the previous frame ([Col. 6, Lines 63-67] for a given erroneous coefficient it is possible to estimate a new coding coefficient based on coding coefficients from the same frame as the erroneous coding coefficient together with coefficients from one or more previous and/or subsequent frames, [Col. 7, Lines 15-20] the considered erroneous coefficient is replaced based on the previous coefficient of the same frequency bin, [Wherein a missing, i.e. erroneous, coefficient tracks to a sign of a spectrum, further wherein the error/missing coefficient representing signs is replaced, i.e. concealed, with the value/coefficient/sign of a previous frame]),
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct error concealment in a way that depends on whether or not said previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([0111] The signal classification unit 513 may analyze a spectrum provided from the transform unit 512 to determine whether each frame corresponds to a harmonic frame, [0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic, the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum,
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 %,
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p;
wherein the decoding module is configured to increase the percentage value p depending on a number of subsequent frames;
wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequently partially or fully lost frames error concealment has been conducted by the decoding module;
or wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequent frames error concealment in a particular error concealment mode has been conducted by the decoding module,
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the first fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the first fading factor becomes smaller, and
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the second fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the second fading factor becomes smaller.
Kovesi is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module ([Fig. 1, Decoder 4 in a recursive loop with Conceal Errors 5], [A recursive decoding operation with concealed errors being sent back into a decoder to be decoded indicates the error concealment to be performed by a decoding module, wherein the module is represented in the combination of blocks 4 and 5 of Fig. 1]), and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([See the cited portion of [0132] below which describes making a signal non-periodic, indicating a previous frame to be periodic, i.e. harmonic, which is being adjusted via the sign flipping operation to result in the non-periodic signal. See “Past decoded signal” of Fig. 3 as input to the operations described in [0132] indicating a previous frame which must have been encoded in order to be decoded]), the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum ([0132] For a non-voiced frame, the excitation signal exc is obtained likewise by third order LTP filtering using the coefficients [0.15, 0.7, 0.15] but it is made non-periodic by increasing the fundamental period by a value equal to 1 once every ten samples, with sign being inverted with a probability of 0.2, [Inversion is a method of flipping]),
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 % ([In view of cited [0132], wherein 0.2, i.e. 20%, is clearly within the range defined and required by the claim]),
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p ().
Taleb, Sung, Lim, Tackin, and Kovesi are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin to incorporate the teachings of Kovesi, because of the novel way to improve the subjective quality of a speech signal as played back by a decoder in any system for compressing speech or sound in the event that a set of consecutive coded data items have been lost due to non-reception of a packet through controlling gain of a synthesized signal based on parameter characteristics of frequency spectrums and energy values for samples corresponding to valid data (Kovesi, [0012]-[0031]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin, further in view of Kovesi is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p.
Virette is relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p ([Fig. 4, Determining Pitch Period T to be used for Inversion 58], [Col. 7, Lines 40-45] the pitch period T is determined on the last samples of the signal Si validly received (by a technique 56 which can be known per se), [Col. 8, Lines 19-26] a variable probability can also be chosen, for example in the form: p=corr (4) where the variable corr corresponds to the maximum value of the correlation function over the pitch period, marked Corr(T), [Wherein Fig. 4 describes the invention “at decoding” (see brief description of the drawings for Fig. 4), indicating a percentage value p which is used for sign inversion which is variably determined at a decoding module, i.e. Fig. 4, through use of a pitch period of a previous, i.e. validly received, frame]).
Taleb, Sung, Lim, Tackin, Kovesi, and Virette are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin, further in view of Kovesi to incorporate the teachings of Virette because of the novel way to propose attenuation of overvoicing through use of a probability threshold for inverting samples of a group advantageously dependent upon pitch period, preventing synthesized speech from exhibiting over-harmonicity or overvoicing (Virette, [Col. 4, Lines 25-60]).
Talen in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin, further in view of Kovesi, further in view of Virette is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the first fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the first fading factor becomes smaller, and
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the second fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the second fading factor becomes smaller.
Kim is relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the first fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the first fading factor becomes smaller ([Fig. 12], [0064] The frame number-based attenuation factor calculator 234 obtains a first attenuation constant NS based on the number of continuously lost frames, [In view of Fig. 12, wherein the attenuation decreases as continuous frames lost increases]), and
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the second fading factor such that, depending on said number of subsequent frames, the second fading factor becomes smaller ([Considering the second fading factor to have the same definition as the first fading factor, the same mapping cited above from Kim for the first fading factor can be applied here without a change in functionality to Kim as Kim discloses two attenuation constants ([0064])]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Tackin, further in view of Kovesi, further in view of Virette, further in view of Kim does not disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to increase the percentage value p depending on a number of subsequent frames;
wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequently partially or fully lost frames error concealment has been conducted by the decoding module;
or wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequent frames error concealment in a particular error concealment mode has been conducted by the decoding module.
The above limitations correspond to similar limitations cited in claim 5, previously deemed to be containing allowable subject matter for reasons cited above. See cited reasons for allowability. Further, as can be seen with the number of required references to cite to what is taught by the prior art, there is no motivation for combining this amount of references, wherein each element introduces something relevant to the claim which is not generic, well-known, or standard. The examiner asserts that the only reason to combine these pieces of art to arrive at the claimed invention would be through impermissible hindsight reasoning. Similarly, claims 18-19 are allowed as further defining the allowable subject matter of claim 17.
Considering claim 20, the closest prior art of record is Taleb, Sung, Lim, Tackin, Kovesi, Virette, Wang et al. (US-20170103764-A1), hereinafter Wang, further in view of Huang et al. (US-20150255079-A1), hereinafter Huang.
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim is relied upon to disclose: the decoder according to claim 15.
Taleb is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, the decoding module is configured to reconstruct a current spectrum of the audio signal by conducting error concealment using a plurality of signs of a previous spectrum of the audio signal, said plurality of signs being encoded within the previous frame ([Col. 6, Lines 63-67] for a given erroneous coefficient it is possible to estimate a new coding coefficient based on coding coefficients from the same frame as the erroneous coding coefficient together with coefficients from one or more previous and/or subsequent frames, [Col. 7, Lines 15-20] the considered erroneous coefficient is replaced based on the previous coefficient of the same frequency bin, [Wherein a missing, i.e. erroneous, coefficient tracks to a sign of a spectrum, further wherein the error/missing coefficient representing signs is replaced, i.e. concealed, with the value/coefficient/sign of a previous frame]).
Sung is further relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to conduct error concealment in a way that depends on whether or not said previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([0111] The signal classification unit 513 may analyze a spectrum provided from the transform unit 512 to determine whether each frame corresponds to a harmonic frame, [0224] In FIG. 24, types of parameters used to select an FEC mode when a current frame is an error frame are as follows; an error flag of the current frame, an error flag of a previous frame, harmonic information of a PGF, harmonic information of an NGF, and the number of continuous error frames. The number of continuous error frames may be reset when the current frame is a normal frame. In addition, the parameters may further include stationary information of the PGF, an energy difference, and envelope delta. Each piece of the harmonic information may be transmitted from an encoder or separately generated by a decoder, [Consider modifying the error concealment unit 44 of Taleb to consider the harmonics of a previous good frame as in Sung when determining the manner for performing error concealment]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module, and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic, the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 %.
Kovesi is relied upon to disclose:
wherein, if error concealment is conducted by the decoding module ([Fig. 1, Decoder 4 in a recursive loop with Conceal Errors 5], [A recursive decoding operation with concealed errors being sent back into a decoder to be decoded indicates the error concealment to be performed by a decoding module, wherein the module is represented in the combination of blocks 4 and 5 of Fig. 1]), and if the previous bitstream payload of the previous frame encodes a signal component which is tonal or harmonic ([See the cited portion of [0132] below which describes making a signal non-periodic, indicating a previous frame to be periodic, i.e. harmonic, which is being adjusted via the sign flipping operation to result in the non-periodic signal. See “Past decoded signal” of Fig. 3 as input to the operations described in [0132] indicating a previous frame which must have been encoded in order to be decoded]), the decoding module is configured to flip one or more signs of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to reconstruct the current spectrum ([0132] For a non-voiced frame, the excitation signal exc is obtained likewise by third order LTP filtering using the coefficients [0.15, 0.7, 0.15] but it is made non-periodic by increasing the fundamental period by a value equal to 1 once every ten samples, with sign being inverted with a probability of 0.2, [Inversion is a method of flipping]),
wherein a percentage value p, indicating a probability for a sign of the plurality of signs of the previous spectrum to be flipped by the decoding module to reconstruct the current spectrum, is between 0 % ≤ p ≤ 50 % ([In view of cited [0132], wherein 0.2, i.e. 20%, is clearly within the range defined and required by the claim]).
Taleb, Sung, Lim, and Kovesi are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim to incorporate the teachings of Kovesi, because of the novel way to improve the subjective quality of a speech signal as played back by a decoder in any system for compressing speech or sound in the event that a set of consecutive coded data items have been lost due to non-reception of a packet through controlling gain of a synthesized signal based on parameter characteristics of frequency spectrums and energy values for samples corresponding to valid data (Kovesi, [0012]-[0031]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Kovesi is not relied upon to disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine the percentage value p.
Virette is relied upon to disclose:
[Fig. 4, Determining Pitch Period T to be used for Inversion 58], [Col. 7, Lines 40-45] the pitch period T is determined on the last samples of the signal Si validly received (by a technique 56 which can be known per se), [Col. 8, Lines 19-26] a variable probability can also be chosen, for example in the form: p=corr (4) where the variable corr corresponds to the maximum value of the correlation function over the pitch period, marked Corr(T), [Wherein Fig. 4 describes the invention “at decoding” (see brief description of the drawings for Fig. 4), indicating a percentage value p which is used for sign inversion which is variably determined at a decoding module, i.e. Fig. 4, through use of a pitch period of a previous, i.e. validly received, frame]).
Taleb, Sung, Lim, Kovesi, and Virette are considered analogous art within error/loss concealment. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Kovesi to incorporate the teachings of Virette because of the novel way to propose attenuation of overvoicing through use of a probability threshold for inverting samples of a group advantageously dependent upon pitch period, preventing synthesized speech from exhibiting over-harmonicity or overvoicing (Virette, [Col. 4, Lines 25-60]).
Taleb in view of Sung, further in view of Lim, further in view of Kovesi, further in view of Virette does not disclose:
wherein the decoding module is configured to increase the percentage value p depending on a number of subsequent frames;
wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequently partially or fully lost frames error concealment has been conducted by the decoding module;
or wherein said number of subsequent frames indicates for how many subsequent frames error concealment in a particular error concealment mode has been conducted by the decoding module,
wherein the decoding module is configured to determine said energy threshold, such that said energy threshold is equal to a first energy value, if said number of subsequent frames is smaller than a third threshold value;
such that said energy threshold is smaller than said first energy value and is greater than a second energy value, if said number of subsequent frames is greater than or equal to the third threshold value and smaller than a fourth threshold value;
such that said energy threshold is equal to said second energy value, if said number of subsequent frames is greater than the fourth threshold value.
The above underlined limitations correspond to similar limitations cited in claims 5 and 17, previously deemed to be containing allowable subject matter for the reasons cited above. See cited reasons for allowability. Further, as can be seen with the number of required references to cite to what is taught by the prior art, there is no motivation for combining this amount of references, wherein each element introduces something relevant to the claim which is not generic, well-known, or standard. The examiner asserts that the only reason to combine these pieces of art to arrive at the claimed invention would be through impermissible hindsight reasoning.
Further still, claim 20 incorporates additional concepts related to energy thresholding based on a subsequent number of frames with respect to a current frame. Specifically, ranges are determined between first and second energy values/threshold based on a subsequent number of frames as compared to third and fourth frame thresholds, wherein the energies are defined based on the subsequent frame ranges.
Sung discloses determining modes of operation of a current frame based on an energy difference between a current frame and a previous frame being less than a first threshold energy ([0214]).
Tackin discloses monitoring energy levels of received sounds to know when sounds are in an audible range and need to be echo cancelled, or have some other signal processing operation performed ([0102]). Further, Tackin discloses comparing energy levels of reference signals as compared to background noise energy levels, wherein the threshold level for voice activity detection as disclosed in Tackin can be performed adaptively based on energy in a current period being larger than background noise estimates ([0154]). Tackin does not disclose any connection between threshold energy and a number of frames processed, wherein that number is used to set the energy threshold.
Wang discloses tracking of a quantity of consecutive lost frames ([0138]), wherein a lost frame equal to 1 causes operations to be performed including generation of an energy ratio between signal energy of a current lost frame and a previous frame within a preset interval ([0138]-[0139]). Further, Wang discloses a second example interval of frames = 5 ([0186]). This indicates two threshold sequences of frames as required by the claims; however, Wang fails to make the connection between amount of frames and an energy threshold as required by the claims. The system of Wang generates frame thresholds based on energy comparisons of previous-to-current audio frames, not using the audio frames to generate thresholds as required by the claims.
Huang discloses a system for performing packet loss concealment based on a confidence of voicing measure, wherein the measure decides how many lost frames to conceal based on an amount of energy within a received signal ([0106]). Similar to Wang, Huang operates beginning with energy values to be turned into frame concealing thresholds. This is the opposite operation of determining energy thresholds based on previously error concealed frame counts as required by the claim.
The examiner believes this is the best prior art available before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, 02/13/2019 (pending resolution of outstanding foreign priority claim issues). As can be seen through the above prior art, there is nothing which explicitly discloses or implicitly suggests the concept of modifying an amount error concealment within a decoder, wherein the method of error concealment is a sign flipping operation of signs of components of a spectrum of a previously received frame of audio, further wherein the sign flipping operation is performed based on a probability which is determined within the decoding module, further wherein the probability of flipping a current frame is dependent upon a subsequent amount of frames which have had error concealment performed. Art might discloses concepts involving sign flipping based on a probability (Kovesi, Delfosse, Virette), but no art performs this operation within a decoding module which also monitors an amount of subsequent frames having error concealment performed which modifies the probability of sign flipping for a current frame. Further, with regard to the energy thresholding based on a number of subsequent frames, there is no art which explicitly teaches or implicitly suggests the concept of determining energy thresholds based on a number of subsequent frames as compared to their own respective thresholds. Art like Sung, Tackin, Wang, and Huang disclose a relationship between energy and an amount of frames, but this is the inverse relationship of what is required of the claims. Most prior art establishes energy values of signals which are then applied to series of frames based on the energy values with respect to thresholds, not determining frames for determining thresholds. Further still, there is no reasonable combination of art which could be formed to reach the claimed invention except through use of impermissible hindsight reasoning. All claims dependent on claim 20 (claim 21) is also allowed as it further defines the allowable subject matter of claim 20.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Laaksonen et al. (US-20100115370-A1) discloses “A method of frame error concealment in encoded audio data comprises receiving encoded audio data in a plurality of frames; and using saved one or more parameter values from one or more previous frames to reconstruct a frame with frame error. Using the saved one or more parameter values comprises deriving parameter values based at least part on the saved one or more parameter values and applying the derived values to the frame with frame error” (abstract). See entire document.
Sharon et al. (US-20200004627-A1) discloses “Enhanced error correction for data stored in storage devices are presented herein. An error correction circuit decodes an encoded data segment retrieved from a storage media. This decode uses a selected error correction scheme having an error correction limit. The error correction circuit tracks a number of bit corrections made to the encoded data segment during decode. A detection circuit sends a redundant version of the encoded data segment to the error correction circuit in response to the number of bit corrections satisfying a threshold limit set below the error correction limit to mitigate undetected errors in decoding the encoded data segment. An output circuit can transfer resultant data decoded by the error correction circuit to other systems, such as a host device” (abstract).
Kawashima et al. (US-20090061785-A1) discloses “A scalable decoder capable of avoiding deterioration in subjective quality of a listener. The scalable decoder for decoding core layer encoding data and extension layer encoding data including an extension layer gain coefficient, wherein a voice analysis section detects variation in power of a core layer decoding voice signal being obtained from the core layer encoding data, a gain attenuation rate calculating section (140) sets the attenuation intensity variable depending on variation in power, and a gain attenuation section (143) attenuates the extension layer gain coefficient in a second period preceding a first period according to a set attenuation intensity when extension layer encoding data in the first period is missing, thus interpolating the extension layer gain coefficient in the first period” (abstract). See entire document.
Bruhn (US-20160284356-A1) discloses “There is provided mechanisms for frame loss concealment. A method is performed by a receiving entity. The method comprises adding, in association with constructing a substitution frame for a lost frame, a noise component to the substitution frame. The noise component has a frequency characteristic corresponding to a low-resolution spectral representation of a signal in a previously received frame” (abstract). See entire document.
Taleb et al. (“Partial Spectral Loss Concealment in Transform Coders”) discloses “a novel error concealment technique for partial spectral loss in transform coders is presented. Based on amplitude and phase inter- and intra- frame correlations, an algorithm for missing spectral coefficients restoration is derived. The algorithm restores the missing spectral coefficients by predicting the amplitude using energy matching and the phase using group delay conservation principles” (abstract). See entire document.
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/THEODORE WITHEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2655
/ANDREW C FLANDERS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2655