DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 13 is 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.
As to claim 13, there is a lack of antecedent basis for “the number of reverberators” in line 2.
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, 3, 12-15, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schlecht et al. (US 2017/0283119 A1), hereinafter “Schlecht.”
As to claim 1, Schlecht discloses an apparatus for applying reverberation to at least one audio signal (Fig. 1a), the apparatus comprising at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing instructions (¶0119, Fig. 1a.) that, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
obtain the at least one audio signal (¶0056, Fig. 1a. “audio source signals 104a and 104b.”);
obtain a number of sound reproduction positions for playback audio in relation to a listening position (¶0070 and ¶0072-0073, Figs. 1a-b. “A time delay of the audio source signal 104a and 104b, i.e., a position of the signal input with respect to the delay line 108a-d may be adjusted or set according to a position of a virtual loudspeaker 132a-d in a virtual reproduction room 130.” “The time delays of the delay lines 108a-d may refer to a delay of a propagated sound in the virtual reproduction room before arriving at a virtual listening position.”);
determine a reverberator comprising a number of channels, wherein the number of channels is configured with at least two respective delay lines having different delays (¶0057-0060, Fig. 1A. “The apparatus 100 comprises four delay lines 106a-d. Each delay path 106a-d comprises a delay line 108a-d and an attenuation filter 112a-d.” “every delay line 108a-d is configured for delaying a received (input) signal and for combining the received and delayed signal such that a combined signal 116 is obtained. The combined signal 116 comprises, e.g. by a different time delay, delayed portions of the audio source signals 104a and 104b and of the reverberated signal 114a, 114b, 114c or 114c.”);
assign the reverberator channels to the sound reproduction positions based on the delays of the number of channels (¶0074 and ¶0076, Figs. 1a-b. “Based on a variable position of a virtual audio source in the virtual reproduction room 130 also time delays may vary, for example, when the virtual audio source is moving closer to a wall, then the emitted sound is reflected earlier. The apparatus 100 comprises an input controller 140 configured for connecting the audio source signals 104a and 104b, amplified versions 104a″ and 104b″ respectively, with different inputs of the delay lines 108a-d, wherein the different inputs are related to a different time delay between the respective input and the output. Simplified, the input controller 140 is configured for receiving parameters related to a necessitated or aimed time delay and for adapting the time delay by which the audio source signal is delayed by the delay line 108a-d.”); and
process the at least one audio signal with the reverberator based on the assigned channels to generate reverberated playback audio signals for the listening position (¶0076-0077, Fig. 1b, 150. “the panner 150 is configured for panning a number of loudspeaker signals 144a-d having a number according to a number of the virtual loudspeakers 132a-d to a number of loudspeaker signals 152a-f having a number according to a number of real loudspeakers 162a-f.” “the panner 150 may provide the loudspeaker signals 152a-d comprising an information related to the direct sound, to the early reflections and to the late reverberations.”).
As to claim 3, Schlecht discloses order the channels based on the delays (¶0072. “By varying a time delay of the delay line 108a-d, a position of a corresponding virtual loudspeaker 132a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130 may be influenced or vice versa.”); and
assign the channels to the sound reproduction positions based on the ordering of the channels (¶0072. “By varying a time delay of the delay line 108a-d, a position of a corresponding virtual loudspeaker 132a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130 may be influenced or vice versa.”).
As to claim 12, Schlecht discloses assign a first ordered channel to a first sound reproduction position (¶0072-0074, Figs. 1a-b. “By varying a time delay of the delay line 108a-d, a position of a corresponding virtual loudspeaker 132a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130 may be influenced or vice versa.” “Each delay path 106a-d may be related to a virtual loudspeaker 130a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130.”); and
assign a succeeding ordered channel to an unassigned sound reproduction position a minimum distance away from a preceding assigned sound reproduction position (¶0072-¶0074, Figs. 1a-b. “By varying a time delay of the delay line 108a-d, a position of a corresponding virtual loudspeaker 132a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130 may be influenced or vice versa.” “Each delay path 106a-d may be related to a virtual loudspeaker 130a-d in the virtual reproduction room 130.”).
As to claim 13, Schlecht discloses wherein the reverberator comprises the number of reverberators, the number of reverberators comprising a single channel (¶0081-0082, Fig. 1a and 2. “a novel delay networks multichannel reverberator.”), and
to arrange the number of reverberators in the order of increasing delay-line delay (¶0081-0082, Fig. 1a and 2. “a novel delay networks multichannel reverberator.” One is a number of reverberators.).
As to claim 14, Schlecht discloses wherein the reverberator comprises a feedback delay network reverberator (¶0081, Fig. 1a and 2. “The delay network 202 and the feedback processor 120 form a FDN”).
As to claim 15, Schlecht discloses wherein the channels are configured with respective delay lines having different delays (¶0074, Figs. 1a-b. “The apparatus 100 comprises an input controller 140 configured for connecting the audio source signals 104a and 104b, amplified versions 104a″ and 104b″ respectively, with different inputs of the delay lines 108a-d, wherein the different inputs are related to a different time delay between the respective input and the output.”).
As to claim 17, it is directed towards substantially the same subject matter as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale as claim 1 above.
Claim 19 is rejected under claim 17 using the same rationale as claims 3 above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schlecht, as applied to claims 1 and 17 above, in view of Reilly et al. (US 2005/0100171 A1), hereinafter “Reilly.”
As to claim 2, Schlecht does not expressly disclose determine directional filter pairs associated with the sound reproduction positions for playback audio; and
filter the reverberated playback audio signals with the associated directional filter pairs to generate reverberated playback binaural audio signals.
Reilly discloses determine directional filter pairs associated with the sound reproduction positions for playback audio (Reilly, ¶0036-0039, Fig. 3. “each of the HRTF filters consists of separate left sub-filters and right sub-filter to provide the left- and right-ear outputs, respectively. Each left and right HRTF filter is implemented as a FIR filter.”); and
filter the reverberated playback audio signals with the associated directional filter pairs to generate reverberated playback binaural audio signals (Reilly, ¶0036-0039, Fig. 3. “a multi-channel reverberator 14 generates echoes that are also processed by the HRTF filters. The multi-input, multi-output reverberator 14 accepts the set of input signals and generates a set of output signals, one for each of a set of directions, each output signal including delayed reverberation components simulating the reverberations a listener is likely to hear in a listening environment.”).
Schlecht and Reilly are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to reverberators.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use HRTF filters, as taught by Reilly. The motivation would have been to improve spatialization of the playback audio around the listener (Reilly, ¶0007).
Claim 18 is rejected under claim 17 using the same motivation as claim 2 above.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schlecht, as applied to claim 15 above, in view of Betbeder (US 8,345,887 B1).
As to claim 16, Schlecht does not expressly disclose wherein the channels are configured with respective delay lines having different delays which are made mutually prime.
Betbeder discloses wherein the channels are configured with respective delay lines having different delays which are made mutually prime (Betbeder, Col. 2 lines 47-62, Fig. 1. “Delay line delays should be mutually prime (i.e. they should have no common divisors besides 1) to maximize time-domain feedback scattering (density) and to avoid frequency-domain pole superposition (eigenmodes shared by multiple delay lines).”).
Schlecht and Betbeder are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to feedback delay network reverb.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have the delay lines be mutually prime, as taught by Betbeder. The motivation would have been “to maximize time-domain feedback scattering (density) and to avoid frequency-domain pole superposition (eigenmodes shared by multiple delay lines)” (Betbeder, Col. 2 lines 58-62).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-11 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES K MOONEY whose telephone number is (571)272-2412. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM -5:00 PM EST.
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/JAMES K MOONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695
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