DETAILED ACTION
This examination is in response to the communication filed on 08/13/2024. Claims 1-18 are currently pending, where claims 1, 8 and 15-16 are independent.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/13/2024, 08/16/2024 and 09/13/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 13-5, 8, 10-12, 15 and 16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 17 recites “a lower horizontal plane of the sphere” and should read “a lower horizontal plane of the 3D sphere” for consistency.
Claim 3, lines 5, 7 and 10 recites “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “…North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 4, line 5 recites “…this same plane of the sphere…” and should read “…this same plane of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 4, line 10 recites “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “…North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 5, line 6 recites “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “… North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 8, line 17 recites “a lower horizontal plane of the sphere” and should read “a lower horizontal plane of the 3D sphere” for consistency.
Claim 10, line 5 and 10 recite “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “… North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 10, line 7 recites “…target number of points of the sphere…” and should read “… target number of points of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 11, line 5 recites “…same plane of the sphere” and should read “…same plane of the 3D sphere” for consistency.
Claim 11, line 10 recites “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “… North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 12, line 6 recites “…North and South poles of the sphere…” and should read “… North and South poles of the 3D sphere…” for consistency.
Claim 15, line 19 recites “a lower horizontal plane of the sphere” and should read “a lower horizontal plane of the 3D sphere” for consistency.
Claim 16, line 19 recites “a lower horizontal plane of the sphere” and should read “a lower horizontal plane of the 3D sphere” for consistency.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-18 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “coding the received spatial direction of a sound source” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “coding the received spatial direction parameter of a sound source”.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the spatial direction" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “the spatial direction represented by the received spatial direction parameter”.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "a number of points per level…is determined on the basis of two successive cumulative cardinality values…" in lines 11-12 making it unclear whether the “number of point per level” in this limitation is the same or different from the “number of point per level” recited in line 9. For purposed of Examination this limitation has been interpreted as reciting “the number of points per level…”.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the upper horizontal plane…of the positive elevation level…” in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “an upper horizontal plane…of a positive elevation level…”.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “the upper horizontal plane…of the positive elevation level…” in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “an upper horizontal plane…of a positive elevation level…”.
Claim 15 recites the limitation “code the received spatial direction of a sound source” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “code the received spatial direction parameter of a sound source”.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "a number of points per level…is determined on the basis of two successive cumulative cardinality values…" in lines 13-14 making it unclear whether the “number of points per level” in this limitation is the same or different from the “number of points per level” recited in line 10. For purposed of Examination this limitation has been interpreted as reciting “the number of points per level…”.
Claim 15 recites the limitation “the upper horizontal plane…of the positive elevation level…” in line 18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “an upper horizontal plane…of a positive elevation level…”.
Claim 16 recites the limitation “the upper horizontal plane…of the positive elevation level…” in line 18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For purposed of Examination it has been interpreted as “an upper horizontal plane…of a positive elevation level…”.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claims 3 and 10 recite the broad recitation “a target number of points”, and the claims also recite “(Ntot = 216)” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claims are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Claims 2, 4-7, 9, 11-14 and 17-18 variously depend from independent claim 1 or 8 and therefore, are rejected for the same reasons as claims 1 and 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-18 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, and claim objections set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding independent claims 1, 15 and 17, Vasilache (GB 2572761) teaches a method implemented by a coding device (Fig. 3A direction metadata encoder 300); a coding device comprising a processing circuit configured to perform the method (p. 35, lines 4-14 teaches “…the various embodiments…may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits…”); and a non-transitory storage medium able to be read by at least one processor and storing a computer program (p. 35, lines 14-125 teaches “The embodiments…may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor … or by a combination of software and hardware…The software may be stored on such physical media…”), the method comprising
receiving a spatial direction parameter of a sound source in a sound scene (Fig. 6, step 602 “Receive direction parameter” and the Abstract teaches “A spatial audio codec for multichannel audio signals determines a spatial audio direction parameter 108 with an elevation component θ and an azimuth component Φ and converts these components to index values Id 306 based on L2 norm distances measured between points on a unitary spherical grid” );
coding the received spatial direction of a sound source, the spatial direction being defined by spherical coordinates comprising an elevation coordinate and an azimuth coordinate (Fig. 6, step 605 “convert direction parameter (θ Φ) to direction index Id based on sphere positioning” and the Abstract teaches “A spatial audio codec for multichannel audio signals determines a spatial audio direction parameter 108 with an elevation component θ and an azimuth component Φ and converts these components to index values Id 306 based on L2 norm distances measured between points on a unitary spherical grid” and p. 18 lines 20-21 teaches “the estimated direction 108 parameters may be output ( and passed to an encoder)”),
wherein a spherical quantization dictionary is defined on a 3D sphere by an elevation coding and azimuth coding (p. 4, lines 11-14 teaches “The elevation component and the azimuth component may each be indexed to a codebook comprising a plurality of indexed elevation values and indexed azimuth values” and p.20, lines 15-19 teaches “The proposed spherical grid uses the idea of covering a sphere with smaller sphere and considering the centres of the smaller spheres as points defining a grid of almost equidistant directions, such that the spherical grid comprises a number of points arranged in a form of a sphere”), and wherein:
the elevation coding uses a scalar quantization, giving at least one coded elevation index (i) on a number of elevation level (NΦ) (Fig. 7, steps 701 and 703, “Scalar quantize elevation value θ to nearest indexed elevation value
θ
^
” ),
the azimuth coding uses a scalar quantization, according to a number of points per level (Nθ(i)) depending on the coded elevation index (i) (Fig. 7, steps 705 and 707, “Scalar quantize azimuth Φ according to nearest indexed elevation value to give value
θ
^
” and p. 6, lines 24-25 teaches “Each indexed elevation value within the codebook may be associated with a number of indexed azimuth values” Also, p. 25, lines 1-4 teaches “…for each elevation entry θi there can be differing numbers of discrete azimuth values Φl for j=0: f(θi), where f(θi) denotes that the number of azimuth values in the set of azimuth values associated with the elevation value θi is a function of the elevation value θi),and
obtaining a quantized spatial direction index based on the elevation coding and the azimuth coding (Fig. 6, step 605 and p. 24, lines 16-19 teaches “…receiving the direction parameters and the sphere positioning information the method may comprise converting the direction parameter to a direction index based on the sphere positioning information…” ).
In addition, p. 21, lines 20 to p. 22, line 24 discloses how the number of circles and number of point on each circle are calculated. More specifically, step 10 teaches that the number of points on each circle, i.e., the number of azimuth points on each elevation level, is calculated by
n
i
=
π
R
(
i
)
r
wherein R(i) is the radius of the circle at the elevation i and r is the radius of the smaller spheres at the elevation i.
However Vasilache fails to disclose or suggest a number of points per level (Nθ(i)) is determined on the basis of two successive cumulative cardinality values (cumN(i), cum(N(i-1)) and the cumulative cardinality value cumN(i) for a coded elevation index (i) being representative of a number of points proportional to a total number of points and according to the area of a spherical zone comprising at least one zone delimited by the upper horizontal plane
∅
=
i
+
1
2
δ
∅
of the positive elevation level of the coded elevation index (i) and a lower horizontal plane of the sphere as recited in independent claims 1, 15 and 17.
Claims 2-7 dependent from independent claim 1 and therefore are allowable for the same reasons as independent claim 1.
Regarding independent claims 8, 16 and 18, Vasilache (GB 2572761) teaches a method implemented by a decoding device (p. 1, line 31 to p. 2, line 2 teaches “A decoder can decode the audio signal…process the sound in frequency bands (using the spatial metadata) to obtain the spatial output…”); a decoding device comprising a processing circuit configured to perform the method (p. 35, lines 4-14 teaches “…the various embodiments…may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits…”); and a non-transitory storage medium able to be read by at least one processor and storing a computer program (p. 35, lines 14-125 teaches “The embodiments…may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor … or by a combination of software and hardware…The software may be stored on such physical media…”), the method comprising
receiving a quantized spatial direction index of a sound source in a sound scene (Fig. 8, step 802 “Receive direction index”);
decoding the received spatial direction index of a sound source, a spatial direction being defined by spherical coordinates comprising an elevation coordinate and an azimuth coordinate (Fig. 8, step 805 “convert direction index Id to quantized direction parameter (
θ
^
Φ
^
) based on sphere positioning”),
wherein a spherical quantization dictionary is defined on a 3D sphere by an elevation coding and azimuth coding (p. 4, lines 11-14 teaches “The elevation component and the azimuth component may each be indexed to a codebook comprising a plurality of indexed elevation values and indexed azimuth values” and p.20, lines 15-19 teaches “The proposed spherical grid uses the idea of covering a sphere with smaller sphere and considering the centres of the smaller spheres as points defining a grid of almost equidistant directions, such that the spherical grid comprises a number of points arranged in a form of a sphere”), and wherein:
the elevation decoding uses a scalar quantization, giving at least one decoded elevation index (i) on a number of elevation level (NΦ) (Fig. 7, steps 701 and 703, “Scalar quantize elevation value θ to nearest indexed elevation value
θ
^
” ),
the azimuth decoding uses a scalar quantization, according to a number of points per level (Nθ(i)) depending on the decoded elevation index (i) (Fig. 7, steps 705 and 707, “Scalar quantize azimuth Φ according to nearest indexed elevation value to give value
θ
^
” and p. 6, lines 24-25 teaches “Each indexed elevation value within the codebook may be associated with a number of indexed azimuth values” Also, p. 25, lines 1-4 teaches “…for each elevation entry θi there can be differing numbers of discrete azimuth values Φl for j=0: f(θi), where f(θi) denotes that the number of azimuth values in the set of azimuth values associated with the elevation value θi is a function of the elevation value θi),and
obtaining the spatial direction of the sound source based on the elevation decoding and the azimuth decoding (Fig. 8, step 807 output quantized parameter (
θ
^
Φ
^
)).
In addition, p. 21, lines 20 to p. 22, line 24 discloses how the number of circles and number of point on each circle are calculated. More specifically, step 10 teaches that the number of points on each circle, i.e., the number of azimuth points on each elevation level, is calculated by
n
i
=
π
R
(
i
)
r
wherein R(i) is the radius of the circle at the elevation i and r is the radius of the smaller spheres at the elevation i.
However Vasilache fails to disclose or suggest the number of points per level (Nθ(i)) is determined on the basis of two successive cumulative cardinality values (cumN(i), cum(N(i-1)) and the cumulative cardinality value cumN(i) for a decoded elevation index (i) being representative of a number of points proportional to a total number of points and according to the area of a spherical zone comprising at least one zone delimited by the upper horizontal plane
∅
=
i
+
1
2
δ
∅
of the positive elevation level of the coded elevation index (i) and a lower horizontal plane of the sphere as recited in independent claims 1, 15 and 17.
Claims 9-14 dependent from independent claim 8 and therefore are allowable for the same reasons as independent claim 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Vasilache, Adriana (GB 2572761 A) teaches a spatial audio code that determines a spatial audio direction parameter 108 with an elevation component and an azimuth component and converts these components to index values using a scalar quantization index codebook.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PENNY L CAUDLE whose telephone number is (703)756-1432. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8:00 am to 5:00 pm eastern.
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/PENNY L CAUDLE/Examiner, Art Unit 2657
/DANIEL C WASHBURN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2657