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 statement filed 8/21/24 has been considered.
Drawings
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 arrangement in which both the display and speaker are mounted on the same side of the partition as set forth in claim 7, lines 4-6 and in claim 14, lines 5-7 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 6, 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liang et al. (US 10,165,378 B2).
Re claim 1: Liang et al. teaches media playing device, comprising:
a display (100);
a speaker (speaker group (200);
a camera (photographic component (310); and
a controller (340) communicatively coupled to the display, the speaker, and the camera (see figure 4A), wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to a user staying at a first position relative to the display, control the speaker to face the user (figures 5A, 7 and column 7, lines 1-3);
in response to the speaker facing the user, cause the speaker to play a sound associated with the display (sound created in audible region (36));
wherein the camera is located at a second position relative to the speaker (see figures 1 and 4A; location of speaker(s) (200) and camera (310) with respect to each other), adjust a first orientation of the speaker according to an image captured by the camera (see discussion in column 6, line 32 – column 7, line 9), where the speaker faces the user, wherein the first orientation of the speaker is in sync with a second orientation of the camera (note as the captured image is used to make adjustments to the speaker orientation); and
receive an operation on the media playing device from the user corresponding to a second image captured by the camera (the is achieved by receiving a captured image of a new position of the user for further control of the speaker(s) orientations; also note column 7, lines 53-67 in which the user can control adjustments be performed).
Re claim 16: This claim sets forth a method that corresponds to those operation performed by the device of claim 1. This method is taught by the method operations of those elements as discussed in Liang et al with respect to claim 1.
Re claim 2: note the direction of output from the speakers (figure 7) infers that the speaker(s) are directional speaker(s)
Re claims 3 and 17: note sensor (330) used to detect the position of a user in front of display (100)
Re claim 5: note Liang et al. teaches at least a distance sensor (330) satisfying the alternatively claimed feature as set forth
Re claim 6: see for example figure 1 in which a display, i.e. a display surface (111) is mounted separately from the speaker (210,220), which as seen from figure 13 can be mounted in a separate shell (721)
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 4, 10-13, 15, 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang et al. in view of Takahashi (JP2018006822A).
Re claim 11`: This claim sets forth a method that corresponds to those operation performed by the device of claim 1. This method is taught by the method operations of those elements as discussed in Liang et al with respect to claim 1. Note also that Liang et al. uses a processor for the control of the speaker’s orientation, however Liang does not specifically teach that the processor obtains instructions from a memory for these control operations. Takahashi teaches in a similar environment that a processor is controlled using stored instructions, i.e. software (see paragraph [0039]) for control of speaker adjustments thereby providing a software-based control of speaker adjustments. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate such teaching of Takahashi into the arrangement of Liang et al. to predictably provide overall software control of speaker orientation adjustment using stored instructions. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Re claim 12: note in the arrangement taught by Liang et al. detection is made if the user is at a position such as depicted in figure 7 or has moved to a different position such as in figures 8 and 9
Re claims 4 and 18: The teaching of Liang et al. is discussed above and incorporated herein. Although Liang et al. teaches an arrangement that includes both contents that are displayed and contents played by a speaker; Liang et al. does not specifically teach a controller used to control each according to an operation. Takahashi teaches in a similar environment the use of a controller (such as computer (1)) that controls each of the display and speaker outputs (see discussion in paragraphs [0036]) to enable for have both video and corresponding audio provided to a user of a communication unit. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate such a controller taught by Takahashi into the arrangement of Liang et al. to predictably provide a means allowing for both video and corresponding audio to be provided to a user. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Re claims 10 and 19: The teaching of Liang et al. is discussed above and incorporated herein. Liang however does not teach to record possible alternative features including a possible feature of the user as set forth. This feature is interpreted broadly as a possible coordinate of a user. Takahashi teaches in a similar environment to record user’s position points Pn (see discussion in paragraphs [0048-0049]) from a unit (16) that are then used by unit (17), within computer (1) to calculate optimal sound directions toward a user. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate such a feature into the arrangement of Liang et al. to predictably provide a means to calculate optimal sound directions toward a user. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Re claim 13: Takahashi teaches the use of a controller (such as computer (1)) that controls each of the display and speaker outputs (see discussion in paragraphs [0036]) to enable for have both video and corresponding audio provided to a user of a communication unit. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate such a controller taught by Liang et al. in view of Takahashi as applied to claim 11 to predictably provide a means allowing for both video and corresponding audio to be provided to a user. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Re claim 15: Takahashi teaches to record user’s position points Pn (see discussion in paragraphs [0048-0049]) from a unit (16) that are then used by unit (17), within computer (1) to calculate optimal sound directions toward a user. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate such a feature into the arrangement of Liang et al. in view of Takahashi as applied to claim 11 to predictably provide a means to calculate optimal sound directions toward a user. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9,14 and 20 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 a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The claimed media playing device including those features of claim 1 which in combination wherein the display is mounted on one side of a transparent partition facing outwardly, and the speaker is mounted on the other side of the transparent partition; or the display and the speaker are both mounted on a same side of the transparent partition facing outwardly, wherein sounds from the speaker travel outside the transparent partition via holes in the transparent partition as set forth in claim 7 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claims 8-9 depend upon those features of claim 7/1. The claimed operations including those features of claim 11 which in combination wherein the display is mounted on one side of a transparent partition facing outwardly, and the speaker is mounted on the other side of the transparent partition; or the display and the speaker are both mounted on a same side of the transparent partition facing outwardly, wherein sounds from the speaker travel outside the transparent partition via holes in the transparent partition along with providing a prompt as set forth in claim 14 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The claimed method including those features of claim 16 which in combination further comprises controlling a microphone to face the user in response to the user staying at the first position relative to a display of the media playing device; and controlling contents on the display according to sounds received by the microphone as set forth in claim 20 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW SNIEZEK whose telephone number is (571)272-7563. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00 AM-3:30 PM EST.
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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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/ANDREW SNIEZEK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
/A.S./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693 3/11/26