DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the filing of 8/12/24. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been considered below.
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 3, 5-11 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 an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance. The prior art of record fails to disclose adjusting a distance between the audio signal and the terminal device, and in response obtaining the room size (as per claim 2), in combination with other limitations recited within the claimed context. The claims present a combination of limitations that differ from the cited art, and there is no reasonable combination of references that would teach it.
As dependent claims depend from an allowable base claim, they are at least allowable for the same reasons as noted above.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because it comprises a computer program.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-2, 4, 12, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Slamka (2012/0201405.)
Claim 1, 12, 14: Slamka discloses an audio processing method, applied to a terminal device, the terminal device establishing a communication connection to a headset, and the method comprising:
displaying, by the terminal device, a first interface (Fig. 9, LogiHead UI), wherein the first interface comprises a plurality of controls for selecting a head feature (Fig. 9: 52, Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs); 58, Head size);
receiving, by the terminal device, a first operation for a first control in the plurality of controls (Fig. 9-10, user selection of HRTF and/or head size);
obtaining, by the terminal device, a first target parameter corresponding to the first control in response to the first operation, wherein the first target parameter comprises one or more of the following:
an interaural time difference, an interaural level difference, or an inter- aural coherence (par. 46-47, finer localization of time and intensity with HRTF processing affecting; par. 37, head size affecting delays; par. 53, 61-62);
obtaining, by the terminal device, a first audio signal (Fig. 8: 24 Sound Source);
processing, by the terminal device, the first audio signal by using the first target parameter to obtain a second audio signal (Fig. 8: 34, 46, accounting for HRTF and head size; par. 99-101); and
sending, by the terminal device, the second audio signal to the headset (Fig. 8: 38, 40, Left / Right earphones.)
Claim 2: Slamka discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first interface further comprises: a second control for selecting a spatial rendering type, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal device, a second operation for the second control; and obtaining, by the terminal device, a second target parameter corresponding to the second control in response to the second operation, wherein the second target parameter comprises one or more of the following: a BRIR direct-to-reverberant ratio adjustment parameter, echo density, target spectral peaks and valleys, a room size (Fig. 9: 54 Room size), or a reverberation time; and the processing, by the terminal device, the first audio signal by using the first target parameter comprises: processing, by the terminal device, the first audio signal by using the first target parameter and the second target parameter to obtain the second audio signal (Fig. 8: 25, Room Size; par. 99-101, The sound is adjusted for the room size by a user adjustment 25.)
Claim 4: Slamka discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises: displaying, by the terminal device, a second interface, wherein the second interface comprises a third control for performing spatial rendering on the first audio signal; and receiving, by the terminal device, a fourth operation for the third control; and the displaying, by the terminal device, a first interface comprises: displaying, by the terminal device, the first interface in response to the fourth operation (Fig. 9: showing 50, for spatial rendering of the audio signal, allowing the user to remove / adjust positions of the speakers; par. 113.)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Edry (10,149,089) remote personalization of audio, including head size.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREY BELOUSOV whose telephone number is (571) 270-1695 and Andrew.belousov@uspto.gov email. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Adam Queler, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Andrey Belousov/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2172
8/8/26
Prosecution Insights