DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 8, 11-15, 18-20 is 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.
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) 1-2, 6-7, 9-10, 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kraegeloh et al. (US 2021/0243491 A1, “Kraegeloh”) in view of Yu et al. (US 2023/0297324 A1, “Yu”).
As to claims 1, 16, Kraegeloh discloses a display apparatus, comprising:
a display configured to display an image and/or a user interface (sink device may be a TV set, para. 0009);
one or more external device interfaces, configured to connect with one or more external devices (digital media interfaces include HDMI, HDMI ARC and S/PDIF links, para. 0008-0010, 0030);
one or more processors (processing means, para. 0551, 0559) in connection with the display and the one or more external device interfaces, and configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
obtain a control instruction for outputting an audio signal (mode instruction selects playback mode, para. 0020-0021, 0049, 0412, 0485, and latency value, para. 0475);
in response to the control instruction, detect a current audio output mode of the display apparatus, wherein the audio output mode comprises a normal mode and/or a low-latency mode (audio mode may be a standard audio mode or a low latency audio mode, para. 0049, 0053, 0055);
receive audio data from a first external device in connection with the display apparatus; wherein a data format of the audio data is determined according to the audio output mode (playback of audio/video content sends an audio and video stream from a source device to a sink device, para. 0008-0009, 0020; low latency playback mode uses a first input data format, para. 0063);
based on that the audio output mode is the low-latency mode, perform a first type of sound effect processing on the audio data; and
based on that the audio output mode is the normal mode, perform a second type of sound effect processing on the audio data; wherein processing time of the second type of sound effect processing is greater than processing time of the first type of sound effect processing.
Kraegeloh differs from claims 1, 16 in that it does not teach the above underlined limitations.
Yu teaches processing audio data in a low-latency mode which requires a particular processing time based on a first duration, processing audio in a non-low-latency mode based on a second duration, where the second duration is greater than the first duration (para. 0020-0022), and including sound effect processing (para. 0008-0009, 0503, 0522). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kraegeloh with the above teaching of Yu in order to flexibly play and control audio data of a source terminal by one or more other terminals, as taught by Yu (para. 0004).
As to claims 2, 17, Kraegeloh in view of Yu teaches: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
obtain a sound low-latency switch state, wherein the sound low-latency switch state comprises one of an on-state, an off-state, or an automatic state (Kraegeloh: sink device reports a latency playback mode, para. 0063);
based on that the sound low-latency switch state is the on-state, mark the audio output mode as the low-latency mode (Kraegeloh: low-latency playback mode, para. 0063, 0073);
based on that the sound low-latency switch state is the off-state, mark the audio output mode as the normal mode (Kraegeloh: legacy audio mode, para. 0066, 0073);
based on that the sound low-latency switch state is the automatic state, obtain a status of an image low-latency switch in the display apparatus, and set the current audio output mode according to the status of the image low-latency switch (Kraegeloh: latency mode is set based on source latency information, para. 0053, 0055, 0063).
As to claim 6, Kraegeloh in view of Yu teaches: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
obtain a set of basic processing items currently supported by the display apparatus, wherein a sound effect processing item in the set of basic processing items is a sound effect processing item of the first type of sound effect processing (Yu: audio capability of a slave device may include a sound effect parameter, para. 0010-0011);
parse the audio data to obtain a current format version of the audio data (Yu: parse the feature information in the audio data, para. 0126);
filter out an essential sound effect processing item of the current format version from the set of basic processing items (Yu: required sound effect, para. 0547); and
call a sound effect processing algorithm corresponding to the essential sound effect processing item, to perform sound effect processing on the audio data by using the sound effect processing algorithm corresponding to the essential sound effect processing item (Yu: sound effect processing algorithm, para. 0008, 0260, 0539).
As to claim 7, Kraegeloh in view of Yu teaches: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
obtain the content source information sent from a third external device, after obtaining the set of basic processing items currently supported by the display apparatus (Yu: audio capability parameter of a device, para. 0042) ;
read a current content source type of the third external device from the content source information (Yu: audio play policy content of received audio data, para. 0028);
filter out an unessential sound effect processing item from the set of basic processing items according to the current content source type (Yu: it is determined that sound effect adding does not need to be performed, para. 0042); and
disable a sound effect processing algorithm corresponding to the unessential sound effect processing item (Yu: audio is played without sound effect adding, para. 0042).
As to claim 9, Kraegeloh in view of Yu teaches: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
decode the audio data to obtain an audio signal (Yu: audio is decoded, para. 0209);
call a basic sound effect processing algorithm, and adjust the audio signal according to the basic sound effect processing algorithm (Yu: sound effect algorithm, para. 0260); and
play the adjusted audio signal (Yu: second device plays the audio data, para. 0042, 0465).
As to claim 10, Kraegeloh in view of Yu teaches: wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions to cause the display apparatus to:
send a connection request to a fourth external device to establish an audio input channel (Kraegeloh: TV set wirelessly connects with a loudspeaker, para. 0011, 0013); and
based on that the audio output mode is the low-latency mode, receive the first audio data sent from the fourth external device through the audio input channel, and play the first audio data (Kraegeloh: audio latency is applied to audio sent to loudspeaker, para. 0063).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yang et al. (US 2021/0360235 A1) teach a low-delay flag. Young (US 10,705,793 B1) teach low latency mode between wireless devices.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Stella L Woo whose telephone number is (571)272-7512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached at 571-272-7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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STELLA L. WOO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2693
/Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693 68