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 .
Claims filed 11-07-24
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03-31-26 was filed after the mailing date of the 11-07-24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Basso (US
Publication) 20100162117 A1 in view of Fejzo (US Publication) 20120288124 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Basso teaches a network device (Fig 3 [302], server, para 24) comprising: a digital signal processor (Fig 1 [120], processor, may be one or multiple types of processors, which included a DSP, para 16);
data storage (Fig 1 [160], hard disk drive, para 13);
a network interface (Fig 1 [180], communication interface, manages the user’s input and system output, para 15. The computing device [100] can utilize communication or links (either hardwired, wireless or combination thereof), see para 27, 29);
at least one processor (Fig 1 [120]);
and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, and other computer readable media are connected through the system bus [110] within the computing device [100], para 13. Read-only memory (ROM) and Random-access memory (RAM) are present, para 12) such that the network device is configured to: maintain, in the data storage, a plurality of acoustic responses corresponding to respective zones, wherein the plurality of acoustic responses comprises a first acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a first zone comprising a first playback device connected to a local area network (Following Fig 2 [Step 206], in one aspect, the system can generate a 3D model of the playback environment based on images provide, where the acoustic characteristics is calculated by how the sound waves will behave in the environment. In a home theater example, the system can utilize the speakers, the users and play a calibration tone to collect acoustic measurements, see para 19. The environment characteristics and device settings are stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via the network interface, data representing a second acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a second zone comprising a second playback device connected to the local area network (As stated above, the acoustic information is collected from a room/zone but the same method can be applied a home, hotel room, or other locations, see para 30);
add the second acoustic response to the data storage (the acoustic characteristic is stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via the network interface, a command to play back a first media item in the first zone (Fig 2 [202], receives a request to play a media asset and after applying the acoustic characteristics, the media asset is prepared to be played back in Step 212, para 18, 22);
and after the first audio processing algorithm is applied, stream, via the network interface, the first audio signal to the first playback device for playback (Fig 2 [212, the media asset is transferred to the playback device for playback, the transfer may be any form, including streaming, see para 22).
Basso does not explicitly teach apply a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal;
Fejzo discloses apply a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal (In Fig 13, at Step 300, each audio channel & loudspeaker has channel target curve [para 18]. The curve is combined with a bounded per channel room spectral measure to obtain an aggregate room spectral measure [308]. In each frequency bin, the room spectral measure is divided by the corresponding bin of the target curve to provide the aggregate room spectral measure, para 144. At Step 314, the coefficients of the AR model are mapped to the coefficients of a minimum-phase all zero sub-band correction filter. The finite impulse response (FIR) will perform frequency correction according to the inverse of the spectrum, see para 148)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of apply a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to correct loudspeaker/room delay, gain and frequency response or to configure sub-band domain correction filters. In para 12, in Fejzo
Regarding claim 2, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, and other computer readable media are connected through the system bus [110] within the computing device [100], para 13) such that the network device is configured to: receive, via the network interface, a command to play back a second media item in the second zone (In Fig 3, the system [300] includes a server [302] which receives requests to play media from various devices such as a tv box [304], a portable media player [306], and a computer [308]. See para 24);
and stream, via the network interface, the second audio signal to the second playback device for playback (In Fig 3, the server [302] optimizes media and transmit the optimized media to the appropriate [playback device, see para 24).
Basso does not explicitly teach apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal (Fig 2 [310]);
Fejzo discloses apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal (As stated in claim 1, in Fig 13, a correction filter is applied at Step 314, where the FIR filter will perform correction based on the inverse of the spectrum obtained by the Arm model, see para 148. Though performed on a single room, a person with ordinary skill in the art could apply this method to other rooms);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to correct loudspeaker/room delay, gain and frequency response or to configure sub-band domain correction filters. In para 12, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 3, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to: select the first audio processing algorithm from among a plurality of audio processing algorithms maintained in the data storage (In Fig 3, the server generates a media playback setting [320], to account for any changes to the acoustic environment. This way the server [302] can quickly and easily retrieve commonly encountered settings to process media, see para 24. Also, in Fig 2 [Step 208], the system stores environment characteristics and playback capabilities in a playback profile, see para 20).
Regarding claim 4, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to: stream, via the network interface, the first media item from a remote server (In Fig 2 [Step 212], transfers can take any form, including traditional file transfers as well as streaming media, see para 22. The system 32m can be local to the user or the system can be remote and network-based, see para 18).
Regarding claim 5, Basso teaches wherein the first acoustic response (Calibration image and tone being played, see para 19)
Basso does not explicitly teach comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone.
Fejzo discloses comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone (In Fig 4 [Step 74], analysis module performs room response acquisition, which outputs a room response, either time-domain RIR or frequency-domain RFR, para 48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been measurements in the scope of the direct sound with a long measurement period at lower frequencies, and a shorter measurement period at high frequencies. In para 56, in Fejzo
Regarding claim 6, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to apply the first audio processing algorithm comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13).
Basso does not explicitly teach such that the network device is configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal.
Fejzo discloses such that the network device is configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal (In Fig 13[Step 314], the Finite impulse response (FIR) filter will perform frequency correction according to the inverse of the spectrum obtained by the AR model, para 148. The application of a FIR filter to an audio signal is equivalent to convolution. Also, each audio channel is passed through its frequency correction filter, see para 42).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of such that the network device is configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to produce an acoustic response that is transmitted as sound waves into the listening environment. In para 42, in Fejzo
Regarding claim 7, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to apply the first audio processing algorithm comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the network device is configured to:
Basso does not explicitly teach apply an attenuation to the first audio signal that modifies a volume range of the first audio signal.
Fejzo discloses apply an attenuation to the first audio signal that modifies a volume range of the first audio signal (In Fig 4 [Step 82], analysis module stores the delay and gain adjustments and filter coefficients for each audio channel in system memory, para 73. Also, Module 54 (Fig 2, audio playback module) may use the frequency correction parameter, e.g. delay and gain adjustments & filter coefficients. See para 42. A person with ordinary skill in the art would see the gain adjustment as standard component of room calibration combined with the correction filter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to allow for an efficient and accurate measurement of the room response. In para 74, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 8, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to receive the data representing the second acoustic response representing the acoustic characteristics of the second zone comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13. As stated in claim 1, similar how acoustical data was collected from the first acoustic response. In Fig 2 [Step 206], the system has different methods of collection, one aspect being the system can generate a 3D model of the playback environment based on images provided. Using home theater example, the system uses the speakers and plays a calibration tone to collect acoustic measurements, see para 19. A person of ordinary skill in the art would see the applied data collection in different zones) such that the network device is configured to: receive the second acoustic response from a mobile device comprising a microphone, wherein the mobile device is configured to record output of the first playback device via the microphone (In Fig 2 [Step 206], the theater example, the display plays a calibration tone [acoustic response] as the users walks the perimeter and center of the room with a microphone-enabled remote control or Smartphone (like a iPhone) to obtain measurements. The system can prompt the user to move to different locations to gather additional information. See para 19. A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the smartphone is recording the characteristics of the room).
Regarding claim 9, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13) such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to: cause, via the network interface, a graphical user interface on the mobile device to display a prompt to provide an acoustic response for the first zone (In the theater example, the system can instruct the user to take pictures near each speaker and where the user is to move about the room, para 19. In cases where there is no playback profile for the current playback environment, the Server [302] can prompt the user through different playback devices to assist in detecting playback environment acoustic characteristics, such as walking around the environment taking measurements, see para 24 [Fig 3]), wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device is configured to receive the data representing the second acoustic response representing the acoustic characteristics of the second zone comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device is configured to: receive the first acoustic response via the graphical user interface on the mobile device (In the theater example, the system can display a calibration image and play a tone. The system may interact with the user using the iPhone to collect information for the system like taking pictures near each speaker, para 19).
Regarding claim 10, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13)
such that the network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24) is configured to: apply a user-selected (The system can create a user profile based on the user’s behavior or usage history, then optimize the media playback settings [Fig 2 Step 208] based on the user’s profile, see para 20) via the digital signal processor (Fig 1 [120], one or more of the processors may comprise microprocessor and/or digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, para 16).
Basso does not explicitly teach equalization concurrent with the first audio processing algorithm
Fejzo discloses equalization concurrent with the first audio processing algorithm (In Fig 2, Audio playback Module [54] may use the frequency correction parameters to configure one or more digital frequency correction filters for each audio channel, see para 42. A person with ordinary skill in the art would have recognized gain adjustments applied to each channel.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of equalization concurrent with the first audio processing algorithm as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to produce an acoustic response that is transmitted as sound waves into the listening environment. In para 42, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 11, Basso teaches At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13) such that a media playback system(Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to: maintain, in data storage(Fig 1 [160], hard disk drive, para 13) of a network device (Fig 13 [304, 306, 308], para 24), a plurality of acoustic responses corresponding to respective zones, wherein the plurality of acoustic responses comprises a first acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a first zone comprising a first playback device connected to a local area network (Following Step 206 (Fig 2), in one aspect, the system can generate a 3D model of the playback environment based on images provide, where the acoustic characteristics is calculated by how the sound waves will behave in the environment. In a home theater example, the system can utilize the speakers, the users and play a calibration tone to collect acoustic measurements, see para 19. The environment characteristics and device settings are stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via a network interface of the network device, data representing a second acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a second zone comprising a second playback device connected to the local area network (As stated above, the acoustic information is collected from a room/zone but the same method can be applied a home, hotel room, or other locations, see para 30);
add the second acoustic response to the data storage (the acoustic characteristic are stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via the network interface, a command to play back a first media item in the first zone (Fig 2 [202], receives a request to play a media asset and after applying the acoustic characteristics, the media asset is prepared to be played back in Step 212, para 18, 22);
and after the first audio processing algorithm is applied, stream, via the network interface, the first audio signal to the first playback device for playback (Fig 2 [212, the media asset is transferred to the playback device for playback, the transfer may be any form, including streaming, see para 22).
Basso does not explicitly teach apply, via at least one processor of the network device, a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal;
Fejzo discloses apply a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal (In Fig 13, at Step 300, each audio channel & loudspeaker has channel target curve [para 18]. The curve is combined with a bounded per channel room spectral measure to obtain an aggregate room spectral measure [304]. In each frequency bin, the room spectral measure is divided by the corresponding bin of the target curve to provide the aggregate room spectral measure, para 144. At Step 314, the coefficients of the AR model are mapped to the coefficients of a minimum-phase all zero sub-band correction filter. The finite impulse response (FIR) will perform frequency correction according to the inverse of the spectrum, see para 148)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of apply a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to correct loudspeaker/room delay, gain and frequency response or to configure sub-band domain correction filters. In para 12, in Fejzo
Regarding claim 12, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, and other computer readable media are connected through the system bus [110] within the computing device [100], para 13) such that the media playback system is configured to: receive, via the network interface, a command to play back a second media item in the second zone (In Fig 3, the system [300] includes a server [302] which receives requests to play media from various devices such as a tv box [304], a portable media player [306], and a computer [308]. See para 24); and stream, via the network interface, the second audio signal to the second playback device for playback (In Fig 3, the server [302] optimizes media and transmit the optimized media to the appropriate [playback device, see para 24).
Basso does not explicitly teach apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal;
Fejzo discloses apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal (As stated in claim 1, in Fig 13, a correction filter is applied at Step 314, where the FIR filter will perform correction based on the inverse of the spectrum obtained by the Arm model, see para 148. Though performed on a single room, a person with ordinary skill in the art could apply this method to other rooms);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of apply a second audio processing algorithm based on the second acoustic response to a second audio signal representing the second media item, the second audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the second zone when applied to the second audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to correct loudspeaker/room delay, gain and frequency response or to configure sub-band domain correction filters. In para 12, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 13, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to: select the first audio processing algorithm from among a plurality of audio processing algorithms maintained in the data storage (In Fig 3, the server generates a media playback setting [320], to account for any changes to the acoustic environment. This way the server [302] can quickly and easily retrieve commonly encountered settings to process media, see para 24. Also, in Fig 2 [Step 208], the system stores environment characteristics and playback capabilities in a playback profile, see para 20).
Regarding claim 14, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to: stream, via the network interface, the first media item from a remote server(In Fig 2 [Step 212], transfers can take any form, including traditional file transfers as well as streaming media, see para 22. The system can be local to the user or the system can be remote and network-based, see para 18).
Regarding claim 15, Basso teaches wherein the first acoustic response (Calibration image and tone being played, see para 19) measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone (In Fig 4 [Step 74], analysis module performs room response acquisition, which outputs a room response, either time-domain RIR or frequency-domain RFR, para 48).
Basso does not explicitly teach comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone.
Fejzo discloses comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone (In Fig 4 [Step 74], analysis module performs room response acquisition, which outputs a room response, either time-domain RIR or frequency-domain RFR, para 48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of comprises an impulse response measured in a first room corresponding to the first zone as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been measurements in the scope of the direct sound with a long measurement period at lower frequencies, and a shorter measurement period at high frequencies. In para 56, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 16, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to apply the first audio processing algorithm comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the media playback system is
Basso does not explicitly teach configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal.
Fejzo discloses configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal (In Fig 13[Step 314], the Finite impulse response (FIR) filter will perform frequency correction according to the inverse of the spectrum obtained by the AR model, para 148. The application of a FIR filter to an audio signal is equivalent to convolution. Also, each audio channel is passed through its frequency correction filter, see para 42).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to produce an acoustic response that is transmitted as sound waves into the listening environment. In para 42, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 17, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, para 13) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to apply the first audio processing algorithm comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the media playback system is
Basso does not explicitly teach configured to: apply an attenuation to the first audio signal that modifies a volume range of the first audio signal.
Fejzo discloses configured to: apply an attenuation to the first audio signal that modifies a volume range of the first audio signal (In Fig 4 [Step 82], analysis module stores the delay and gain adjustments and filter coefficients for each audio channel in system memory, para 73. Also, Module 54 (Fig 2, audio playback module) may use the frequency correction parameter, e.g. delay and gain adjustments & filter coefficients. See para 42. A person with ordinary skill in the art would see the gain adjustment as standard component of room calibration combined with the correction filter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of configured to: perform a convolution of the first acoustic response with the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to allow for an efficient and accurate measurement of the room response. In para 74, in Fejzo.
Regarding claim 18, Basso teaches wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the media playback system is configured to receive the data representing the second acoustic response representing the acoustic characteristics of the second zone comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13. As stated in claim 1, similar how acoustical data was collected from the first acoustic response. In Fig 2 [Step 206], the system has different methods of collection, one aspect being the system can generate a 3D model of the playback environment based on images provided. Using home theater example, the system uses the speakers and plays a calibration tone to collect acoustic measurements, see para 19. A person of ordinary skill in the art would see the applied data collection in different zones) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to: receive the second acoustic response from a mobile device comprising a microphone, wherein the mobile device is configured to record output of the first playback device via the microphone (In Fig 2 [Step 206], the theater example, the display plays a calibration tone [acoustic response] as the users walks the perimeter and center of the room with a microphone-enabled remote control or Smartphone (like a iPhone) to obtain measurements. The system can prompt the user to move to different locations to gather additional information. See para 19. A person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the smartphone is recording the characteristics of the room).
Regarding claim 19, Basso teaches wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory that houses instructions, para 13) such that the media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) is configured to: cause, via the network interface, a graphical user interface on the mobile device to display a prompt to provide an acoustic response for the first zone (In the theater example, the system can instruct the user to take pictures near each speaker and where the user is to move about the room, para 19. In cases where there is no playback profile for the current playback environment, the Server [302] can prompt the user through different playback devices to assist in detecting playback environment acoustic characteristics, such as walking around the environment taking measurements, see para 24 [Fig 3]), wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device is configured to receive the data representing the second acoustic response representing the acoustic characteristics of the second zone comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the network device is configured to: receive the first acoustic response via the graphical user interface on the mobile device (In the theater example, the system can display a calibration image and play a tone. The system may interact with the user using the iPhone to collect information for the system like taking pictures near each speaker, para 19).
Regarding claim 20, Basso teaches a media playback system (Fig 3 [300], media playing system, para 24) comprising: a network device (Fig 3 [302], server, para 24) comprising data storage (Fig 1 [160], hard disk drive, para 13) and a network interface (Fig 1 [180], communication interface, manages the user’s input and system output, para 15. The computing device [100] can utilize communication or links (either hardwired, wireless or combination thereof), see para 27, 29);
at least one processor (Fig 1 [120]);
and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions that are executable by at least one processor (Fig 1 [130], memory, and other computer readable media are connected through the system bus [110] within the computing device [100], para 13. Read-only memory (ROM) and Random-access memory (RAM) are present, para 12) such that the media playback system is configured to: maintain, in the data storage of the network device, a plurality of acoustic responses corresponding to respective zones, wherein the plurality of acoustic responses comprises a first acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a first zone comprising a first playback device connected to a local area network (Following Step 206 (Fig 2), in one aspect, the system can generate a 3D model of the playback environment based on images provide, where the acoustic characteristics is calculated by how the sound waves will behave in the environment. In a home theater example, the system can utilize the speakers, the users and play a calibration tone to collect acoustic measurements, see para 19. The environment characteristics and device settings are stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via the network interface of the network device, data representing a second acoustic response representing acoustic characteristics of a second zone comprising a second playback device connected to the local area network (As stated above, the acoustic information is collected from a room/zone but the same method can be applied a home, hotel room, or other locations, see para 30);
add the second acoustic response to the data storage (the acoustic characteristic is stored in a playback and/or media asset profile, see para 20);
receive, via the network interface, a command to play back a first media item in the first zone (Fig 2 [202], receives a request to play a media asset and after applying the acoustic characteristics, the media asset is prepared to be played back in Step 212, para 18, 22);
and after the first audio processing algorithm is applied, stream, via the network interface, the first audio signal to the first playback device for playback (Fig 2 [212, the media asset is transferred to the playback device for playback, the transfer may be any form, including streaming, see para 22).
Basso does not explicitly teach apply, via the network device, a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal;
Fejzo discloses apply, via the network device, a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal (In Fig 13, at Step 300, each audio channel & loudspeaker has channel target curve [para 18]. The curve is combined with a bound ed per channel room spectral measure to obtain an aggregate room spectral measure [303]. In each frequency bin, the room spectral measure is divided by the corresponding bin of the target curve to provide the aggregate room spectral measure, para 144. At Step 314, the coefficients of the AR model are mapped to the coefficients of a minimum-phase all zero sub-band correction filter. The finite impulse response (FIR) will perform frequency correction according to the inverse of the spectrum, see para 148).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the teachings of apply, via the network device, a first audio processing algorithm based on the first acoustic response to a first audio signal representing the first media item, the first audio processing algorithm at least partially offsetting the acoustic characteristics of the first zone when applied to the first audio signal as taught by Fejzo in Basso’s invention. The motivation would have been to correct loudspeaker/room delay, gain and frequency response or to configure sub-band domain correction filters. In para 12, in Fejzo
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Virtanen (US Publication) 20160119730 A1 – test audio signal, multi-media user interface with mobile device
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS A BARBOZA whose telephone number is (571)272-9626. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30 am to 5 pm, Alternate Fridays: off.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn R. Edwards can be reached at 571-270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARCUS A BARBOZA/Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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