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 2-5, 7-9 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
Claims 1-9 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claims 1, 3, 4, 5, references to step numbers, e.g. step S100, step S200, step S300. etc., should be deleted.
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, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kumar et al. (US 2019/0215464 A1, “Kumar”).
As to claim 1, Kumar discloses an audio and video control method with an intelligent wireless microphone tracking function, comprising the following process:
step S100: an audio and video control system acquiring audio information and video information of a space where a wireless microphone is located (room video conference endpoint includes one or more video cameras and one or more microphones, para. 0038-0039; input devices may be coupled wirelessly, para. 0086), the audio information comprising first audio information and second audio information (room audio stream, para. 0046; voice print for each participant, para. 0059), and the video information comprising global character image information and local character image information (room video stream, para. 0040; face print for each participant, para. 0053);
step S200: analyzing the first audio information according to the audio information in the step S100 to obtain first audio attributes, and distinguishing audios having different attributes; and combining the distinguished audio attributes with the global character image information for analysis, and matching specific character information in the global character image information corresponding to the audios having different attributes in the audio information (voice recognizer 120 recognizes the identity of the speaker of the audio stream using previously stored voice profiles, para. 0059; determining the face stream associated with an identity matching the active speaker’s identity, Abstract, para. 0060-0061);
step S300: after completion of the matching, positioning locations of different personnel according to the second audio information and the local character image information, and sending location data of each person to the audio and video control system (a plurality of location streams are generated, each associated with an identity of the individual tracked, para. 0007-0009, 0041-0042); and
step S400: after the audio and video control system receiving the location data of all the personnel, monitoring whether the second audio information of the corresponding personnel on all the location data is updated or not; and when the audio and video control system monitoring that the corresponding personnel whose second audio information data has been updated, sending the location data of the personnel, and carrying out global amplification on the local character image information corresponding to the personnel to obtain audio and video monitoring information of the corresponding personnel (another use becomes an active speaker at a later point in time, and face locations are updated, para. 0062; .identity and location of an active speaker is used to automatically pan and zoom into the face of the active speaker, para. 0071, 0075).
As to claim 6, Kumar discloses: wherein the audio and video control method comprises the audio and video control system, which comprises a spatial information acquisition module, a spatial information analysis module, a location data acquisition module, and a monitoring data amplification module; and the spatial information acquisition module is configured to acquire data information of a space where the wireless microphone is located, and transmit the data information to the spatial information analysis module; the spatial information analysis module is configured to analyze the data information from the spatial information acquisition module; the location data acquisition module is configured to determine location information of personnel in the space according to the data information that has been analyzed; and the monitoring data amplification module is configured to, when the spatial information acquisition module obtains new additional data information, globally amplify characters of the new additional data information to obtain audio and video information of corresponding personnel (video decomposition system receives a room video stream, detect faces, and decomposes the room video stream into individual video streams, each focused on a face of a single person located in the room, and rendered in a zoomed-out or zoomed-in manner, para. 0045-0049).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Graham et al. (US 2025/0088795 A1) teach correlating a recognized face with a talker sound source, identified based on the talker’s unique voice characteristics (para. 0069, 0128-0130).
Tanaka et al. (US 10,582,117 B1) teach determining the position of individuals located in a conference room, and automatically zooming the conference camera to focus on a particular participant, such as an active speaker.
Gadnir et al. (US 9936162 B1) teach determining a spatial location of each participant and zooming to focus on an active speaker using facial recognition and speaker localization.
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.
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, 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.
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.
STELLA L. WOO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2693
/Stella L. Woo/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
Prosecution Insights