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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 08/18/2024, 11/20/2024, 04/17/2025, 07/23/2025, 11/19/2025, and 04/09/2026. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the binaural rendering information" in line 1. It is unclear whether “the binaural rendering information” recited in claim 3 refers to “the original binaural rendering information” or “the modified binaural rendering information” as recited in its base claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8, 10-11, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipate by Pellegrini (US 20210195361 A1 – Cited IDS).
Regarding claim 1: Pellegrini teaches an apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises:
a rendering information processor (para [0045] and [0056]) configured for modifying, depending on direction information, original binaural rendering information to acquire modified binaural rendering information in which a spectral distortion is adjusted (Fig. 6: Original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori according to a target direction DIR read on the claimed original binaural rendering information; HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 read on the claimed modified binaural rendering information; gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R corresponding to an amplitude panning for the direction DIR to produce processing parameter PFC and PTC; also see para [0041]-[0049]; and Fig. 5a-f showing spectral distortion is gradually adjusted when applying the processing parameter Pc which are the combination of PFC and PTC through Section B1 then Section B2 ; also see para [0033]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 2: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rendering information processor is configured to modify the original binaural rendering information such that a degree of an adjustment of the spectral distortion depends on the direction information (Fig. 5a-f: a degree of an adjustment of the spectral distortion or the flatness of magnitude over frequency range based on applying the processing parameter Pc which are the combination of PFC and PTC according to the direction information DIR; also see Fig. 6: gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R).
Regarding claim 3: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the modified binaural rendering information is suitable for being used to process one or more audio input signals to acquire a binaural signal comprising two audio channels (Fig. 6: Audio input signal 11 are filtered using HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 via configurable filter 613L and 613R to produce right and left output channels 11out L and 11out R; also see para [0045]).
Regarding claim 4: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the apparatus further comprises a signal processor configured for processing the one or more audio input signals depending on the modified binaural rendering information to acquire the binaural signal comprising the two audio channels (Fig. 6: Audio input signal 11 are filtered using HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 via configurable filter 613L and 613R to produce right and left output channels 11out L and 11out R; also see para [0045]).
Regarding claim 5: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the original binaural rendering information comprises one or more original head-related function pairs, wherein each of the one or more original head-related function pairs comprises a first original head-related function and a second original head-related function, wherein, depending on the direction information, the rendering information processor is configured to modify the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of each of the one or more original head-related function pairs to acquire a first modified head-related function and/or a second modified head-related function of each of one or more modified head-related function pairs (Fig. 6: original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori obtained according to a target direction DIR; and the original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori are modified to produce HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2; and also see para [0041]-[0049]).
Regarding claim 6: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the rendering information processor is configured to determine a factor depending on a direction, and wherein the rendering information processor is configured to apply the factor on the first original head-related function and/or on the second original head-related function of at least one of the one or more original head-related function pairs to acquire the first modified head-related function and/or the second modified head-related function of at least one of the one or more modified head-related function pairs (Fig. 6: gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R corresponding to an amplitude panning for the direction DIR to produce processing parameter PC including PFC and PTC which read on the claimed “factor”; and the original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori according to a target direction DIR after applying PFC and PTC to produce HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 ; also see para [0041]-[0049]).
Regarding claim 7: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the factor is a compression factor (Fig. 4: steps 403 and 408; and para [0030]).
Regarding claim 8: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the rendering information processor is configured to modify the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of each original head-related function pair of the one or more head-related function pairs depending on the direction information such that at least one magnitude difference between two frequency bands of the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of said original head-related function pair is modified (Fig. 5a-f show the Magnitude/Frequency graphs of HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori gradually become flat or the magnitude difference between two frequency bands gradually get smaller when Pc is applied; also see para [0033]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 10: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the rendering information processor is configured to modify the original binaural rendering information such that a degree of an adjustment of the spectral distortion depends on the direction information (Fig. 5a-f: a degree of an adjustment of the spectral distortion or the flatness of magnitude over frequency range based on applying the processing parameter Pc which are the combination of PFC and PTC according to the direction information DIR; also see Fig. 6: gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R),
wherein the original binaural rendering information comprises one or more original head-related function pairs, wherein each of the one or more original head-related function pairs comprises a first original head-related function and a second original head-related function (Fig. 6: original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori ),
wherein, depending on the direction information, the rendering information processor is configured to modify the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of each of the one or more original head-related function pairs to acquire a first modified head-related function and/or a second modified head-related function of each of one or more modified head-related function pairs (Fig. 6: gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R corresponding to an amplitude panning for the direction DIR to produce processing parameter PC including PFC and PTC which read on the claimed “factor”; and the original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori according to a target direction DIR after applying PFC and PTC to produce HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 ; also see para [0041]-[0049]),
wherein the direction information comprises direction information for each of the one or more head-related function pairs (para [0052]),
wherein the direction information for each of the one or more head-related function pairs comprises an elevation angle and/or an azimuth angle for said head-related function pair (para [0042]), and
wherein the rendering information processor is configured to modify the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of said original head-related function pair depending on the elevation angle and/or depending on the azimuth angle for said head-related function pair (para [0042]).
Regarding claim 11: Pellegrini teaches the apparatus according to claim 10,
wherein the rendering information processor is configured to determine one or more modification parameters depending on the direction information (Fig. 6: gain factor determining module 606L/606R and 607L/607R corresponding to an amplitude panning for the direction DIR to produce processing parameter PC including PFC and PTC read on the claimed modification parameters),
wherein the rendering information processor is configured to modify the first original head-related function and/or the second original head-related function of each of the one or more original head-related function pairs depending on the at least one of the one or more modification parameters (Fig. 6: original HRTFL.ori and HRTFR.ori according to a target direction DIR after applying PFC and PTC to produce HRTFL.mod1 and HRTFR.mod2 ; also see para [0041]-[0049]),
wherein each of the one or more modification parameters indicates the degree of the adjustment of the spectral distortion (Fig. 5a-f: different Pc applied to original HRTFs have different degrees of spectral distortion adjustments; also see para [0033]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 14: the apparatus discussed in claim 1 also supports this corresponding method claim.
Regarding claim 15: the apparatus discussed in claim 1 also supports this corresponding non-transitory digital storage medium claim. Also see para [0056].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 12-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID L TON whose telephone number is (571)270-7839. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached at (571)272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID L TON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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