DETAILED ACTION
This is a non-final office action on the merits. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) has received claims 1–20 in application number 18783483. Claims 1–20 are pending and have been examined on the merits.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after 16 March 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Objections – Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following features:
“microphone” and “3-state toggle switch” (claims 1, 17, and 20)
“a cooling feature” (claim 4)
“a plurality of connection features” (claim 6)
“decimal LED” (claims 9, 14, 16, and 17)
“a programming port” (claim 10)
“a plurality of attachment features” (claim 11)
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). Although at least some of these features are shown schematically as circuit components in Figure 13, they are not illustrated in the exterior perspective views of the device in Figures 7–11. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Objections – Specification
The specification is objected to because paragraphs 73 and 107 references an “sB PCL” setting of the toggle and display. However, it appears these were intended to refer to the “dB SPL” setting of the toggle and display referred to throughout the remainder of the specification.
Objections – Claims
Claims 12 and 19 are objected to for informalities. Both recite the system “further comprising … a sensory system; the sensor system having a plurality of sensors.” It is not clear if “sensory” should be “sensor” to be consistent with the subsequent instance of the phrase, or if the first instance of “sensor” should be “sensory” to be consistent with the first instance. For purposes of examination, the limitation will be interpreted as “a sensory system; the sensor[y] system having a plurality of sensors.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 17 and 20 are objected to because they both recite the phrase, “wherein both the dB SPL of the sounds in the environment is displayed on the display and the tempo of the sounds of the environment is displayed on the display when the toggle switch is in the dB SPL position and the tempo display” which is not grammatical and difficult to parse in terms of subject and verb correspondence. For example, the phrase “wherein both the” implies that two nouns will follow (i.e., both implies “two”) however only one noun follows (“the dB SPL of the sounds in the environment”) before a verb phrase (“is displayed on the display”) is introduced prior to the subsequent noun (“the tempo of the sounds in the environment”) which has its own verb phrase. Additionally, the phrase “wherein both the” implies that a plural verb follows, but all of the following verb phrases are singular (“is displayed”). The examiner respectfully requests that the applicant revise this entire phrase in claims 17 and 20 for proper syntax and grammar in addition to revisions to address the 112(a) and 112(b) rejections below.
Claim 17, line 10 ends with a colon (“:”) and it appears this should be a semi-colon (“;”). Appropriate correction is requested.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
IN GENERAL—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 17–20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 17–20. Claims 17 and 20 recite, and claims 18–19 incorporate from claim 17, the limitation, “displaying both the dB SPL of the sounds in the environment is displayed on the display and the tempo of the sounds of the environment is displayed on the display when the toggle switch is in the dB SPL position and the tempo display.”
Notwithstanding the 112(b) issues in this phrase (discussed below), the broadest reasonable interpretation of this limitation encompasses “displaying both the dB SPL of the sounds in the environment … and the tempo of the sounds in the environment.” The originally filed disclosure does not explain how the display can achieve this. Paragraphs 73 and 107 describes (and original claims 1 and 20 recite) that the toggle switch has three positions: off, dB SPL,1 and tempo. Claim 20 further recites, “activating the 3-state toggle switch; wherein activating is switching to one of several on positions,” implying that only “one of several on positions” may be selected at a time. Figures 7–11 showing a perspective view of the device also show a display having 4 nixie tubes, which can only display one digit per tube. Accordingly, between broadest reasonable interpretation encompassing the 4-digit display and the mutually exclusive toggle switch options, one of skill in the art would not have understood that the invention in applicant’s possession at the time of filing included the ability to select, let alone display (simultaneously) both the dB SPL and the tempo as recited in claims 17 and 20 above. Claims 18 and 19 incorporate the issue from claim 17.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1–20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1–20. Claim 1 (line 19), claim 17 (line 19), and claim 20 (line 20) each recite “the onboard computing platform.” There is no antecedent basis for “the onboard computing platform” so it is unclear if this element is intended to be introduced for the first time (i.e., “an onboard computing platform”) or refers back to another element in claims 1, 17, and 20. In the latter instance, it is not clear which previously recited element “the onboard computing platform” refers to.
Further regarding claim 5 (line 2) and claim 19 (line 7) which recite “an onboard computing platform,” it is not clear if these claims are introducing a computing platform in addition to “the onboard computing platform” discussed in the previous paragraph, or are introducing a second onboard computing platform.
Further regarding claim 20, which recites “an onboard computing system” in lines 24–25, it is not clear if this was intended to be an introduction of an onboard computing “platform” to be consistent with that element recited elsewhere in the claims, to refer back to “the onboard computing platform” previously recited in claim 20, or to in fact introduce a new “system” into the claim.
Claims depending from claim 1 and claim 17 inherit these issues and are indefinite for at least the reasons stated above.
Given these interrelated issues, one of skill in the art would not have been able to determine the metes and bounds of the claimed invention in terms of the number of required onboard computing platform(s) or system(s). Appropriate correction is required.
Regarding claims 14 and 16. Claim 14 recites “the decimal LED” at line 9, and claim 16 recites “the decimal LED” at line 7. There is no antecedent basis for “the decimal LED” in claim 1 from which claims 14 and 16 depend. Claim 9 does recite/introduce “a decimal LED” so it is not clear if claims 14 and 16 are intended to depend from claim 1 but to introduce this element or if claims 14 and 16 were intended to depend from claim 9 which provides antecedent basis. Therefore, one of skill in the art could not ascertain the metes and bounds of claims 14 and 16 to avoid infringement.
Regarding claims 16 and 20. Claim 16 recites “the nixie tubes” in line 6. There is no antecedent basis for “the nixie tubes” in claim 1 from which claim 16 depends. Claim 8 does recite/introduce “a plurality of nixie tubes” so it is not clear if claim 16 is intended to depend from claim 1 but to introduce this element or if claim 16 was intended to depend from claim 8 which provides antecedent basis. Therefore, one of skill in the art could not ascertain the metes and bounds of claim 16 to avoid infringement.
Claim 20 recites “the nixie tubes” in line 29. There is no antecedent basis for this element in claim 20 so it would not be clear to one of skill in the art if “the nixies tubes” is intended to introduce “a plurality of nixie tubes” into claim 20 or if some other previously recited element in claim 20 is referred to by “the nixie tubes” and if so, which previous element is referred to. Accordingly, one of skill in the art could not ascertain the metes and bounds to avoid infringement.
Novel / Non-Obvious Subject Matter
Claims 1, 17, and 20 recite features that are novel or non-obvious over the prior art based on the search conducted during examination. As shown in the Relevant Prior Art Not Relied Upon below, there are numerous examples of devices that detect and analyze tempo/BPM and/or sound pressure level/decibels. In some cases the device interprets the detects tempo and volume into visualizations synchronized with the audio (e.g., Yamauchi) or to synchronize lighting (e.g., Khoo) or movement (e.g., Johnson) with the live audio. Other prior art that does detect both tempo and volume of music through a microphone either does not operate in combination with a toggle switch or does not operate expressly with a simple display (e.g., Sumita) as in the claimed invention. Many prior art devices that include toggle switches related to tempo and volume are audio generating devices such as electronic keyboard instruments, rather than audio detection/analysis devices (e.g., Kawasaki, Kozuki). Some of the prior art devices detect either tempo alone (e.g., Shiraishi) or volume alone (e.g., sound level meters are ubiquitous in the art). Some that do detect both tempo and volume, among other parameters, do so within various types of signals (e.g., MIDI, radio wave, digital electronic information) other than through a microphone (e.g., Yamauchi, Taruguchi). There are also speech analysis systems that use tempo and volume detection to determine the speaker’s sentiments (e.g., McEnroe). Solutions to the problem of simultaneous BPM and volume detection even arise outside of the applicant’s field of endeavor such as in monitoring cardiovascular health (e.g., Sartini, Yuan).
Although the individual features of the system in claims 1–19 and used in the method of claim 20 are disclosed in the art, none of the prior art teaches all of the claimed features. Additionally, the examiner finds that combining the features would rely on impermissible hindsight to arrive at the combination of (1) tempo and volume detection, (2) a toggle switch to select modes, (3) detection through a microphone, and (4) display of either BPM or dB SPL. The reliance on nixie tubes as recited in claims 8, 17, and 20 further narrows the invention and distinguishes it from the prior art. Although nixie tubes were well known (e.g., De Faymoreau, Hogan) and would suitable display any numerical data given, the use of nixie tubes in the audio processing art was found to be in controls (e.g., Pouyania) rather than detectors.
Accordingly, the examiner is not able to find evidence against the novelty or non-obviousness of the claimed invention.
Relevant Prior Art Not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure. The additional cited art, including but not limited to the excerpts below, further establishes the state of the art at the time of Applicant’s invention and shows the following was known:
A negative shift can be detected based on pattern recognition and detecting deviation(s) from the patterns, such as determining a baseline pattern for the user based on one or more characteristics of one or more interactions such as vocabulary, sentence structure, speech volume, speech frequency, speech tempo, and so forth. (McEnroe)
A vehicle operator may activate turn signals without interfering with his/her enjoyment of ambient music. A turn signal system has a tempo extractor to determine the tempo of the ambient music and a trigger generator to transmit to a turn signal controller a trigger that causes the system's turn signaling mechanism to produce a repetitive sound that coincides with the ambient music. As the repetitive sound does not interfere with the vehicle operator's music enjoyment, the system increases diligence in the use of turn signals and thus increases safety of the vehicle operator and the safety of those proximate the vehicle operator who would be affected by a vehicle turn or lane change. (Salomon)
The system provides improvements to tempo detection which include: Accommodates variations in music volume whether from a radio or live rock band Accommodates variations in tempo which occur as a result of the music speeding up or slowing down Synchronizes mechanized motion by predicting the time of upcoming beats Reduction to practice in an inexpensive circuit suitable for integration with animated toys and consumer products. (Johnson)
According to the present invention, said digital signal decoder comprises: an amplitude detector to store the current step information of the staircase waveform for which said amplitude comparator outputs a signal corresponding to the instantaneous amplitude of the music input signal; a music tempo decoder that takes in the stored current step information to perform an averaging of the input signals within a pre-determined time frame, and compare the averaged signal with the instantaneous amplitude of the music input signal, so as to output a first pulse width modulated signal; and a music volume decoder that takes in the stored current step information to produce a second pulse width modulated signal that has a duty cycle linearly proportional to the amplitude of the music input signal. (Khoo)
This tempo detection apparatus includes tempo change section which detects, based on performance information indicating the tone, sound volume and sound timing of each note in externally input performance sound, an accent caused by the sound volume and an accent caused by a musical factor other than the sound volume. The tempo change means predicts change of tempo based on performance information according to these two accents, and adjusts an internally produced tempo to follow the predicted tempo. Therefore, it is necessary to detect musical-notation information in order to detect the tempo. When a musical instrument such as a MIDI device having a function to output musical-notation information, is used for performance, musical-notation information can be obtained easily. However, if an ordinary musical instrument not having such a function is used for performance, a music transcription technique for detecting musical notation information from the performance sound is required. (Sumita)
Operation panel 20 is also connected with operation-member-group-switch circuit 21 that detects various operations when operation members 20c or mouse 20b is operated and supplies the detection information to bus 30. These piece of detection information include rhythm data (such as 8 beats or samba), tone-color data (such as a piano or a flute), volume adjustment data of musical tones to be generated, tempo adjustment data of musical tones to be generated, data indicating the start of an automatic performance or the start of recording of the performance data, data indicating the stop of the automatic performance or the stop of recording of the performance data, etc.. (Kawasaki)
In step 154, operation members such as the tone color switch, the tempo switch, the tone volume control, and the like are scanned. When events of these operation member are detected, keyboard tone color setting, tempo alteration, tone volume alteration processing, and the like are performed in correspondence with the detected events. After other processing in step 154 is executed, the flow returns to step 110, and the loop processing of steps 110 to 154 is repeated. (Kozuki)
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the key display process in the tempo control function. First, in a step S10, a variable width of a key adjusted by the key control function is displayed on the key display 111. Next, in a step S11, the tempo control is performed to vary a tempo. That is, the tempo volume 102 shown in FIG. 4 is moved up and down to a predetermined position so that the tempo is varied. Then, in a step S12, the microcomputer 42 shown in FIG. 1 detects the position of the tempo volume 102. According to the detection result, in a step S13, a variable width of the tempo volume 102 from a zero percent position is calculated in percentage, for example, with a maximum variable width being .+-.32 percent. In a step S14, the calculated variable width of the tempo volume is added, as a variable width of the key according to the tempo adjustment, to the variable width of the key displayed in the step S10. In a step S15, the value summed in the step S14 is displayed on the key display 111 in percentage. (Inoue)
Advantageously, blood pressure detection apparatuses and methods according to the present disclosure are not limited to a device designed as solely a “dedicated” blood pressure detection device. Specifically, the blood pressure detection apparatus may be implemented using other devices. For example, the blood pressure detection apparatus can be a smart phone, a camera or a music player. For example, the blood pressure detection apparatus or BPM device 10 may be an iPhone 6S. If for example the BPM device 10 is a smart phone, such as an iPhone made by Apple, Inc., the force sensor 114 may be arranged beneath or within the touchscreen of the smart phone and the optical sensor 110 may be a camera of the phone for taking pictures or videos and the light source 108 may be a flash light bulb of the device. Other force sensors are within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the force sensor 104 may be a Force Sensitive Resistor (part no. SEN-09375) having a diameter of 0.5″ as sold by SparkFun Electronics. (Yuan)
Noise gate 170 monitors the energy levels E(m,n) of the sampled audio signal 118 about the onset detection of a note. If the energy levels E(m,n) of the sampled audio signal 118 about the onset detection of a note are generally in the low noise range, e.g., the energy levels E(m,n) are -90 dB, then the onset detection is considered suspect and rejected as unreliable. … Tempo detector 184 monitors the energy function E(m,n) in each frame 1-n over frequency bands 1-m to determine the time interval between onset detection of adjacent notes, i.e., the duration of each note. The tempo detector is a time domain parameter or characteristic of each frame n for all frequency bands 1-m and is stored as a value in runtime matrix 174 on a frame-by-frame basis. (Chapman)
In some embodiments, the processor may use signal processing techniques that are enhanced with ML/AI models. For example, the processor may perform tempo analysis operations that include applying beat detection algorithms to identify the beats per minute (BPM) of a music track and use ML/AI models to correlate the BPM with specific genres or moods. The processor may perform volume or loudness analysis that includes measuring the amplitude of the audio waveform, use ML/AI models to detect patterns in volume changes, and use the detected patterns to determine emotional states or identify key moments in a narrative (O’Neill)
The microphone port 202 is connected to an inlet port of a TRS connector to transfer the plurality of sampled voices. The headphone port 204 is used for hearing the sound of tempos and the structure of the projects saved and defined. The seven-segment indicator 102 counts the number of tempos by detecting at least one of the simple time signature, the compound time signature, and the mixed time signature. The seven segment indicator 102 displays the number of tempos counted in the voice samples. The display unit 104 displays a plurality of administrative stages involved in sampling the one or more voices in different menus. The display unit 104 is the LCD. The LCD includes different menu. The beat counter device 100 includes two LEDs that are used to determine a weak tempo and a strong tempo in the plurality of signatures. (Pouyania)
FIGS. 5A and 5B then illustrate aspects of audio data that can be used for aspects of the pseudorandom animation described herein. Wis. 5A and 5B illustrate aspects of audio data 500 which can be used with a system for generating and displaying animations in accordance with some embodiments. The audio data 500 of shows an amplitude over time for a particular set of audio inputs. While audio data 500 is illustrated as time based amplitude information, such information can be received at a client device 102 and analyzed for various audio characteristics. As shown in FIG. 5B the particular audio data 500 can be analyzed for audio characteristics including identification of a tempo 504 from beats 502, and a harmonic 514 that can be associated with other pattern data 512 within the audio data. The audio stream can be from a microphone of the client device 102, or can be from a file or other memory of the device. The tempo of audio data is a basic audio characteristic that can be identified as part of a set of audio data from analyzing a stream of audio data at a device such as a client device 102. In addition to identifying beats within the audio data and a tempo associated with a portion of the audio data (e.g. beats per time period for a section of the audio data), other audio characteristics can be identified. Such audio characteristics can include, but are not limited to melody analysis, harmony analysis, frequency content of the music, consistency of beats, varying “voices” or expected contributors to the audio, or other direct details of the sounds, frequencies, and changes within the audio data. Additionally, indirect characteristics of the audio data can be assigned audio characteristics, such as an “energy” of the audio data, a “danceability” of the audio data, changes and transitions in any identified characteristic, pauses or transitions between repeated audio characteristics, matches to known or audio patterns, or any such characteristics. As a device analyses a stream of audio data, values can be assigned to any such characteristics, and the values can be updated over time as the audio stream continues. For example, an audio stream can simply contain voices, and be assigned a tempo value of 0. As a piece of music is played, analysis of the audio data stream can identify that a repeated beat is detected, and adjust the tempo value to match the detected beat repetitions within the audio stream. As additional characteristics or changes in characteristics of the audio data are identified by device processors, values for those characteristics can be assigned or updated. (Kirshnan Gorumkonda)
The visualizer (FIG. 9B) includes a list of beat detection frequencies as shown with slider bars 907. These frequencies are in a list that enable the user to select a frequency to use as a trigger for LED audio changes. Each frequency also has a sensitivity bar 911, as one example, that enables the user to select the sensitivity in which that frequency detects a beat. There is also a visual indicator 913, for example, showing when each frequency triggers a beat detection. Microphone select button 905 enables the user to enter microphone-based detection mode, which enables the audio source detected to be a smart device's microphone rather than a music file. Internal microphone button 906 enables the use of hardware-based beat detection using the internal PDM microphone (reference numeral 1690 in FIG. 16). This internal PDM microphone beat detection enables the color changer to function with audio detection independently from the app. Media playback controls 908 include play, stop, pause, front, back, playlist, and other audio controls. (Maderic)
This invention relates to a system that will allow plural turntable recorded music sources that can have unique basic bass rhythm beat patterns played consecutively with the basic bass rhythm patterns synchronized such that a listener of the music senses that the bass beat rhythm patterns appear uninterrupted from one recorded musical piece to the next. (Lambl)
According to the tempo setting apparatus for an electronic musical instrument which embodies the present invention, when a rhythm is selected, for example a standard tempo, the adjusting point of the tempo setting means is associated with the selected rhythm. A new tempo value is calculated based on the standard tempo value and in accordance with an offset of the position of the pointer of the tempo setting means. This new tempo value is set as a tempo value for the selected rhythm. Thereafter, an automatic rhythm performance is carried out with a tempo corresponding to the newly set tempo value. (Wakuda)
Thus, it would seem natural to use computers to automatically determine the tempo of a composition and, in fact, many have devised algorithms that do exactly that. However, the goal of obtaining a general purpose algorithm that is accurate for a wide variety of styles of music and instrument/vocal combinations has proven to be elusive for a number of reasons. First, it is the rare musical work that does not have some inherent imprecision in its tempo, wherein the beats occur slightly out of their proper time position. Additionally, it is common in musical works for "drift" to occur, i.e., for one portion of a single musical work to have slightly faster or slower tempo than another. Further, since the "beat" might be carried by a drum one moment and the bass the next, beat determination must generally be robust enough to accommodate these sorts of changing musical conditions. Thus, those that are skilled in the art will recognize that these, and many other, practical problems make automatic tempo determination a difficult problem for a computer generally, although most such algorithms may work acceptably in limited circumstances. For example, a musical work that includes a percussive instrument such as a drum would be a better candidate for automatic BPM determination than, say, a musical work that features vocalist that is singing a cappella (Herberger)
The prominent tempo of an audio data is determined by detecting a plurality of beat rates of the audio data. One or more audio data characteristics are used to filter through the beat rates to determine the prominent tempo. Systems, methods, and apparatuses to determine the prominent tempo are discussed herein. (Chen)
A signal processing apparatus and method is disclosed by which a feature value of an audio signal such as the tempo can be detected with a high degree of accuracy. A level calculation section produces a level signal representative of a transition of the level of an audio signal. A frequency analysis section frequency analyzes the level signal. A feature value extraction section determines a tempo, a speed feeling and a tempo fluctuation of the audio signal based on a result of the frequency analysis of the level signal. The invention can be applied to an apparatus which determines, for example, a tempo from an audio signal. (Kobayashi)
The present invention is directed to a controller having a music analysis module that processes music to infer perceived musical features, musical structures, feelings, and emotions, and a display control module that translates the musical features into visual displays. The music analysis module includes a plurality of artificial intelligence and neural network circuits that can recover musical structures, including but not limited to tonal features such as pitch, consonance/dissonance, harmony, tension/relaxation, tonality, and key, timbral features, such as envelope, onset, attack time, spectral centroid and spectral flux, rhythmic features such as pulse, meter, tempo, rate, and rhythmic pattern, and structural features such as verse, chorus, and song endings. The music analysis module also provides a means for using these structures to determine affect parameters such as arousal (energetic/relaxed) and valence (positive/negative), and emotional responses such as happy, sad, and fearful. The display control module includes a means for driving visual displays, including but not limited to light sources, water jets, pyrotechnics, animated characters, and mechanical devices (e.g., robots), in response to an electrical signal. The music analysis module is operatively coupled with the display control module, and provides signals that encode the musical features that the display control module can use to control the visual display. (Large)
The counter 7 is started by the slow time base 6 at the same time that the fast time base 5 and the slow time base 6 start up in synchronism. However, the counter 7 counts 1 unit for each complete cycle of the slow time base 6. Thus, the counter 7 keeps a cumulative total of the number of cycles during one data cycle as measured by the slow time base 6. This counter 7 has connected to it an associated display unit 8 which provides for convenient visual or other display of the reading of the counter in whatever types of units are convenient, for ex- ample, binary numbers or decimal numbers. Display unit 8 might consist of neon lights to indicate binary numbers or it might consist of a device such as a digital volt- meter, for example, to present decimal numbers or it might present a display such as Nixie tubes, all of which are well known in the art. The counter 7 is started by the slow time base 6 and its rate of operation is determined by the slow time base 6. However, the output of a receiver 9 is shown connected to the counter 7, and the counter 7 is stopped by the output of the receiver '9. (De Faymoreau)
A simple numeric decoding arrangement at 36 fans out the two-out-of-eight codes to appropriate "0" to "9" decimal terminals. A readout panel 38, gated by the rest pulses, makes connection to the decimal terminals, and displays the numbers as an "OnLine" operation. More importantly, the same "0" to "9" terminals are connected 1to a diode matrix encoder 40, which provides an output at 42 to operate a tape printer 44 which may be of the segmental type disclosed in Patent No. 3,099,711 of Daniel E. Foley and Alfred Skrobish, Patent No. 3,099,- 711 issued July 30, 1963 and entitled "Printing Device." … FIGURE 5 includes details of diode matrix encoder 40 for an impact matrix printer because this printer is new in the printing art. Details of control circuitry for visual displays such as electroluminescent panels, Nixie tubes, etc. are not shown because such devices are known to the art and are readily available. (Hogan)
Additionally, electronic device 10 includes audio input device 40, which may be configured to receive audio signals. In one embodiment, audio input device 40 may include one or more audio receivers, such as microphones. Based upon certain audio events, which may be the detection of certain properties of a received audio signal, such as a key, tempo, beat, frequency, volume, spectral content, RMS level, etc., image processing logic 30 may determine whether or not to apply an image alteration effect to an image that is being displayed on display 28. (Lindahl)
Analysis may be performed directly on the speech waveform (e.g. by measuring tempo, cadence, loudness, etc.) as well as after processing the speech through a speech-to-text engine to detect speaker sentiment and keywords. (Carrier)
For example, a microphone may detect a decibel level in the cabin and a processor may assign a cabin environmental characteristic (e.g., loud, semi-noisy, silent) based on the measurement. Also, more specific characteristics (e.g., talking, music playing, passenger sleeping, etc.) may be determined from the audio based on a time-frequency analysis of the captured cabin audio. … The example of FIG. 4 may be configured such that the different modalities discussed herein may be dynamically activated and/or deactivated to communicate navigation instructions with a driver (or other passengers) occupying the vehicle interior 400. For example, a microphone (e.g., part of sensor system 420) may detect a passenger breathing cadence or snoring within the vehicle interior 400. (Winther)
Referring to a performance flowchart shown in FIG. 17, it is determined in step S111 whether music data is held in the performance data buffer. If the decision is yes, the processing flow goes to step S112. Otherwise, the processing flow returns to the main flowchart. In step S112, sound reproduction processing Is executed based on note-on data sequentially retrieved from the performance data buffer. Then, the processing flow goes to step S113. In steps S113 through S115, the player icons and the conductor icon are displayed in animation. First, in step S113, the sound level of the performance part during the sound generation is detected and the player icon images that provide a motion in response to the detected sound level are selected. Thus, according to the sounding level, the motion of each corresponding player icon is made large or small. At the same time, the player icon images are animated according to the tempo, upon which the processing flow goes to step S114. (Yamauchi)
A tempo analyzer to analyze the tempo of sound such as a musical composition or the like is provided in which a controller (9) takes, based on level information on a sound signal from an analysis data extraction unit (62), a frame which is a predetermined unit-time interval as a unit of process, detects positions of peaks of the level of the sound signal (apex of the change in level) higher than a predetermined level to find a time interval (peak-to-peak interval) between the peak positions in the frame, and determines a peak-to-peak time interval having occurred frequently as a tempo. (Shiraishi)
As another example, environmental conditions can be monitored by control circuitry 1104 by detecting the sound and/or light levels, sound and/or light repetitions, etc. of the environment. Such levels and/or repetitions can indicate that mood of a user is quiet, festive, has a certain tempo or beat, etc. (Wong)
The real-time performance data may be in the form of performance information including note data such as MIDI data. Alternatively, the real-time performance data may be analog or digital audio data generated by live performance of a musical instrument. The performance data received in real time via a microphone or input interface is analyzed to detect a tone pitch of the received performance data. (Taruguchi)
Accordingly, heterogeneous sensors 102 of system 100 may be configured to remotely monitor a vast assortment of end-user environments. In this manner, and as will become more apparent in the discussion of FIG. 11, heterogeneous sensors 102 may include one or more sensor modules (or transducers) for detecting or otherwise monitoring one or more parameters associated with particular end-user environments. For instance, sensor modules may be configured for detecting parameters, such as thermal parameters (e.g., temperature, heat, etc.), biological parameters (e.g., pheromones, nutrients, cell division, neuron transmission, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.), electromagnetic parameters (e.g., resistance, current, voltage, power, magnetism, metal, radar, etc.), mechanical parameters (e.g., distance, pressure, flow, level, viscosity, density, motion, acceleration, position, occupancy, orientation, stress, state, velocity, etc.), chemical parameters (e.g., acidity, basicity, gas, odor, toxicity, etc.), optical radiation parameters (e.g., light, proximity, focus, interference, wavelength, frequency, etc.), ionizing radiation parameters (e.g., radiation, subatomic particles, etc.), acoustic parameters (e.g., sounds, patterns, tempo, frequency, range, decibel, etc.), networking parameters (e.g., bandwidth, congestion, transmission rate, reception rate, etc.), and the like. Namely, it is contemplated that any detectable parameter, state, or variable may be sensed by one or more of the modules of a heterogeneous sensor 102 of system 100. (Sartini)
An automatic parameter editing apparatus comprising a supply device that supplies performance data, an extracting device that extracts data regions from the supplied performance data which each correspond to a phrase, a calculating device that calculates a value of tempo set for each extracted data region, a detecting device that detects performance data indicating sounding and located at the end of the extracted data region as well as a sounding length of the performance data, and a parameter editing device that edits a volume parameter value for the detected performance data in such a manner that the volume of the performance data progressively attenuates for a duration dependent on the calculated tempo value and the detected sounding length (Nishimoto)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Patrick McAtee whose telephone number is (571)272-7575. The examiner can normally be reached Weekdays 8:30am - 4:30pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tariq Hafiz can be reached at (571) 272-5350. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Patrick McAtee
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3698
/PATRICK MCATEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3698
1 These paragraphs actually stated “sB PCL” which appears to be a mistake. The examiner is interpreting applicant’s intent as referring to “dB SPL” in these paragraphs which is consistent with the remainder of the specification and consistent with terminology in the art.
