DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shah (US 11,868,677) in view of Gu et al. (US 2018/0116003).
Referring to Claim 1, Shah teaches an audio data processing method comprising:
determining that a first electronic device is in a first mode (see col. 19, lines 18-47 which shows the determination of a first electronic device 118 in Bluetooth search and pairing mode), and obtaining first audio data based on a wireless communication module of the first electronic device (see col. 19, lines 66-67 which shows a first electronic device 118 obtaining an audio file from a server and col. 17, lines 36-49 which shows the device 118 operating on a wireless communication network);
transmitting the first audio data to a virtual module of the first electronic device, the virtual module communicating with the wireless communication module by simulating compliance with a target communication protocol (see col. 19, lines 18-47 which shows the process of the device 118 simulating as a Bluetooth device in compliance with Bluetooth protocol in order to transmit an obtained audio file to a remote device); and
sending, by the virtual module, the first audio data to a second electronic device (see col. 20, lines 12-21 which shows the first device 118 sending the audio file to the second device 114).
Shah does not teach wherein in response to the first electronic device being in a second mode, the first audio data is sent to a third electronic device for playback through the wireless communication module; and
the third electronic device communicates with the wireless communication module following the target communication protocol.
Gu teaches wherein in response to the first electronic device being in a second mode, the first audio data is sent to a third electronic device for playback through the wireless communication module (see paragraph 40 which shows the audio data sent to a different Bluetooth speaker depending on what source is used where the source defines the different modes); and
the third electronic device communicates with the wireless communication module following the target communication protocol (see paragraph 40 which shows the BT speaker communicating the device 190 using Bluetooth protocol).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Gu the device of Shah in order to more efficiently output audio data to the devices which will have the best quality.
Claims 10 and 11 have similar limitations as claim 1.
Referring to Claims 2 and 12, Gu also teaches transmitting the first audio data to a protocol stack of the first electronic device following the target communication protocol; and transmitting the first audio data to the virtual module accessing the protocol stack through the protocol stack (see fig. 1B which shows audio data transmitted through protocol stack 193 and then to virtual module 17 as described in paragraph 34); wherein:
in response to the second electronic device being in a second mode, the first audio data is sent to the third electronic device via the protocol stack and the wireless communication module and through a target wireless communication connection (see paragraph 40 which shows the audio data sent to a different Bluetooth speaker depending on what source is used where the source defines the different modes and fig. 1B which shows audio data transmitted through protocol stack 193 and then to virtual module 17 as described in paragraph 34); and the target wireless communication connection is a wireless connection established between the first electronic device and the third electronic device based on the target communication protocol (see paragraph 40 which shows the BT speaker communicating the device 190 using Bluetooth protocol).
Referring to Claims 3 and 13, Shah determining an address identifier of the virtual module; and establishing a connection between the virtual module and the wireless communication module based on the address identifier of the virtual module (see col. 19, lines 18-47 which shows the host device receiving a BT MAC address identifier which determines which device the host simulates in order to pair with an external device further noting that it is known in the art for every Bluetooth device to include a MAC address identifier).
Referring to Claims 4 and 14, Shah also teaches in response to a voice call application of the first electronic device being in a voice communication state, obtaining the first audio data based on the wireless communication module of the first electronic device (see col. 16, line 58 to col. 17, line 2 which shows voice enabled features which include voice calling).
Referring to Claims 5 and 15, Gu also teaches in response to the voice call application of the first electronic device being not in a voice communication state, obtaining second audio data from an operating system of the first electronic device and transmitting the second audio data to the second electronic device (see fig. 1B which shows audio data from a second source transmitted to BT speaker without the use of voice commands).
Referring to Claims 6 and 16, Shah also teaches obtaining the first audio data based on the wireless communication module of the first electronic device includes at least one of: obtaining the first audio data required for playback by an audio output application based on the wireless communication module of the first electronic device (see col. 19, lines 18-47 which shows the process of the device 118 simulating as a Bluetooth device in compliance with Bluetooth protocol in order to transmit an obtained audio file to a remote device and col. 20, lines 12-21 which shows the first device 118 sending the audio file to the second device 114); or obtaining the first audio data required for playback by a voice call application based on the wireless communication module of the first electronic device (no patentable weight since “or” was used).
Referring to Claims 7 and 17, Shah also teaches sending, by the virtual module, the first audio data to the second electronic device includes: in response to the first audio data being from the audio output application, processing the first audio data by the virtual module using a first sub-protocol of the target communication protocol and sending the processed first audio data to the second electronic device; and in response to the first audio data being from the voice call application, processing the first audio data by the virtual module using a second sub-protocol of the target communication protocol and sending the processed first audio data to the second electronic device (see col. 17, line 50 to col. 18, line 7 which shows two separate BT sub-protocols including A2DP and HFP being used and col. 16, line 58 to col. 17, line 2 which shows voice enabled features which include voice calling).
Referring to Claims 8 and 18, Gu also teaches obtaining third audio data sent by the second electronic device (see paragraph 49 which shows the BT headset in phone mode which implies voice transmissions back towards the hub);
transmitting the third audio data to the wireless communication module through the virtual module; and outputting the third audio data obtained by the wireless communication module (see paragraph 49 where voice transmissions back towards the hub implies audio output at either the hub or the source device).
Referring to Claims 9 and 19, Gu also teaches wherein outputting the third audio data obtained by the wireless communication module includes:
in response to a target application of the third audio data being the voice communication application of the first electronic device, sending the third audio data to a voice communication processing module of the first electronic device, and outputting the third audio data through the voice communication processing module (see paragraph 49 which shows the BT headset in phone mode which implies voice transmissions back towards the hub); in response to the target application of the third audio data being the audio output application of the first electronic device, outputting the third audio data to an audio playback apparatus through the operating system (see paragraph 50 which shows transfer of audio data between HF/second device and AG).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE YUN whose telephone number is (571)272-7860. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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, Wesley Kim can be reached at 5712727867. 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.
/EUGENE YUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
Prosecution Insights