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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/07/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-12, 14-16 and 18-19 have been amended.
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 1-19 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.
Claims 1, 10 and 19 recites the limitation "receiving image data and input audio data…wherein the image data and input audio data” and then later they recite “the audio data”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The Examiner suggests keeping the language of the claim consistent.
Claims 1, 10 and 19 recites the limitation "receiving image data” and then later at the end of the claim they recite “generating multimedia content…based on the aligned audio data and image data”. In the dependent claims, the claims recite “the image data”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The Examiner suggests keeping the language of the claim consistent. The Examiner suggests keeping the claim language consistent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI (US 2025/0061649) in view of Beith (US 2024/0078731) and further in view of Ayoub (US 2013/0201397) and further in view of Huffman (US 2018/0342258).
Regarding claim 1, LI discloses a method for multimedia content generation, comprising:
receiving image data and input audio data from an object (from face recorder and voice recorder via the user interface; see at least Fig. 1 and paragraphs 0019-0020);
performing, with subsequent input audio data being obtained, a conversion operation on at least a portion of the input audio data to obtain converted input audio data (converting voice into sound; see at least paragraph 0036);
generating audio data based at least on the converted input audio data corresponding to the input audio data (converting voice into sound; see at least paragraph 0036);
aligning the audio data with the image data in time (fusing the image data and the voice to create a virtual avatar; see at least paragraph 0037); and
generating multimedia content associated with the object based on the aligned audio data and image data (generating a virtual avatar that incorporates the image and the voice; see at least paragraph 0037).
LI discloses the converted input data, but is not clear about wherein image data and input audio data are captured concurrently in real-time, in response to a selection operation via a selection entry, obtaining a conversion operation to be applied to input audio data, a conversion in a streaming manner and that the aligning is based on a time delay associated with audio data.
Beith discloses wherein image data and input audio data are captured concurrently in real-time, a conversion in a streaming manner; receiving image data from cameras and speech of the user from microphones and generating an avatar based on the captured image data and sound data; see at least paragraphs 0077, 0085-0089 and 0091-0092 in a streaming environment; see at least paragraphs 0220-00221, 0233 and 0243.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify LI by the teachings of Beith by having the above limitations for the purpose of generating representation of an avatar; see at least the Abstract.
Li in view of Beith are not clear about that the aligning is based on a time delay associated with converted sound data and in response to a selection operation via a selection entry, obtaining a conversion operation to be applied to input audio data.
Ayoub discloses that the aligning is based on a time delay associated with converted sound data; receiving audio data associated with video data from a data source, the audio data is processed and converted, the video data is delayed to compensate for audio processing of the audio data, wherein the delay is set to a delay that correlates to the audio processing of the audio data to synchronize the audio generated at an audio rendering device with the video generated at a video rendering device; see at least paragraphs 0015, 0026, 0030 and 0037.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Li in view of Beith by the teachings of Ayoub by having the above limitations to compensate for additional audio data processing; see at least paragraph 0026.
LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub are not clear about in response to a selection operation via a selection entry, obtaining a conversion operation to be applied to input audio data.
Huffman discloses the above missing limitation; a user input a speech segment, selects a target voice and the system transforms the speech segment into the target voice; see at least Figs. 1 and 10 and paragraphs 0033-0036 and 0115.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub by the teachings of Huffman by having the above limitations so to build a new voice having a new timbre; see at least the Abstract
Regarding claim 2, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 1, wherein generating the audio data comprises:
obtaining background audio data played concurrently with capturing the input audio data and the image data;
aligning the converted input audio data with the background audio data in time based on the time delay; and
generating the audio data based on the aligned converted input audio data and background audio data (the claim does not distinguish between the background sound data and the sound data in claim 1; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 3, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 2, wherein aligning the converted input audio data with the background audio data in time comprises:
shifting a start position of the background audio data backwards in time based on the time delay (Beith; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 4, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 1, wherein aligning the audio data with the image data in time comprises:
determining a data amount based on the time delay and a code rate; and
aligning the audio data with the image data in time by removing the data amount of the audio data from a start position of the audio data (the aligning of Ayoub; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 5, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose method of claim 1, wherein the time delay comprises at least one of:
a conversion time delay caused by obtaining the converted input audio data based on the input audio data, or a capture time delay caused by obtaining the input audio data with a microphone (the processing and time delay of Ayoub; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 6, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 5, further comprising:
transmitting, to a remote device, the input audio data and a request for performing the conversion operation on at least the portion of the input audio data (Beith; see at least paragraphs 0082-0083, 0233 and 0237);
receiving the converted input audio data from the remote device (Beith; see at least paragraphs 0082-0083, 0233 and 0237); and
obtaining the conversion time delay based on a transmission of the input audio data and a reception of the converted input audio data (the combination of Beith’s transmitting and Ayoub processing and delay; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 7, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the input audio data comprises a speech of the object, and the conversion operation comprises converting the speech into a user-specified timbre (LI; see a least paragraph 0036).
Regarding claim 8, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 7, wherein the image data comprises a facial image of the object (LI; face recorder; see at least Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 9, LI in view of Beith and further in view of Ayoub and further in view of Huffman disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a user input indicating content shooting; and
in response to the user input, triggering concurrent capture of the image data and the input audio data (LI; a user interface and face/voice recorder; see at least Fig. 1 and paragraphs 0018-0019 and the camera of Beith; see at least the rejection of claim 1).
Claim 10 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Claim 11 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.
Claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.
Claim 13 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 4.
Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 5.
Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.
Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 7.
Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 8.
Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 9.
Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Conclusion
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/YASSIN ALATA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
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