CTNF 18/903,695 CTNF 72539 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Status of Application This communication is responsive to the applicant's preliminary amendment filed 10/01/2024. Claims 18-37 are pending. Claims 1-17 have been cancelled. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 18, 29, 31, 33, and 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by BOE Tech Group (CN111210800A, cited in IDS of 10/1/2024, hereinafter, BOE. The paragraph numbers using below is referring to paragraph numbers in the disclosure of CN111210800A) . Regarding claim 18, BOE discloses an apparatus (see Fig. 1) comprising: at least one processor (see modules of Fig. 1); and at least one memory storing instructions (see Fig. 6, and pg. 5, lines 10-15 of the translation) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: sense user movement, wherein the sensing of user movement produces sensing data (see para [0021]: "the gesture recognition module is used to recognize the gesture and the position of the hand when playing the musical instrument", see also pg. 3, line 21-22 of the translation); classify the user movement, in dependence upon at least the sensing data, as a sound-producing user gesture of a user (see para [0022]: "the gesture recognition module i s used to recognize the gesture and the position of the hand when playing the musical instrument"; i.e. the gesture is recognized as sound producing, see also pg. 3, line 23 of the translation); and provide audio feedback to the user in dependence upon the classification (see para [0023]: "The sound wave generating module is used to generate a reduction or attenuation sound wave according to the recognized gesture", see also pg. 3, lines 24-26 of the translation). Regarding claim 29, BOE discloses the apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein providing the audio feedback to the user is configured for conditional operation and provides audio feedback to the user if the user movement is classified based upon at least the sensing data as a sound-producing user gesture and does not provide audio feedback to the user if the user movement, is not classified based upon at least the sensing data as a sound-producing user gesture (see Abstract on pg. 1 of the translation). Regarding claim 31, the gesture recognition module in Fig. 1 of BOE would have inherently including an optical sensor or camera for sensing user movement, detecting different gestures and positions of hands of the user (see also Fig. 6, pg. 5, lines 27-28 of the translation). Method claims 33, and “non-transitory machine readable medium” claim 37 for implementing the method of claim 33 are rejected for the same reasoning as set forth for the rejection of apparatus claim 18 since the apparatus claims perform the same functions as the method claims . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 19-28, 30, 32, and 34-36 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 closest prior art of BOE fails to disclose the limitations as recited in dependent claims 19-28, 30, 32, and 34-36. Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lee et al, Holz, Lehtinemi et al, Yoon et al, Katz, and Sternitzke et al disclose various sound signal processing system including detecting user’s movement, gesture and for controlling signal output . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XU MEI whose telephone number is (571)272-7523. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 10-6:30 est. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivian Chin can be reached on 571-272-7848. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /XU MEI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2695 04/04/2026 Application/Control Number: 18/903,695 Page 2 Art Unit: 2695 Application/Control Number: 18/903,695 Page 3 Art Unit: 2695 Application/Control Number: 18/903,695 Page 4 Art Unit: 2695 Application/Control Number: 18/903,695 Page 5 Art Unit: 2695
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