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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant is advised that the new art unit number is 2692. Please use the new art unit number for all future communications.
This Office action is in response to the Preliminary Amendment filed on 3/25/2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/31/2026, 3/31/2026, 3/31/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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(s) 1-6, 9-14, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Riggi et al. (US 2016/0021473) in view of Goh et al. (US 2013/0051572).
Regarding claim 9, Riggi discloses a system comprising:
a subwoofer (Fig. 1: 12) (¶ 0026) comprising a network interface (32) (¶ 0032), an amplifier (28) (¶ 0031), and one or more audio transducers (18) (¶ 0028) configured to reproduce bass frequencies (¶ 0029); and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium (Fig. 1: 36) (¶ 0034) comprising program instructions that are executable by at least one processor such that a mobile device (14) is configured to (¶ 0034):
display, via a graphical user interface, a plurality of controls comprising first controls to adjust one or more settings of the subwoofer (Figs. 6A/B), wherein the plurality of controls comprising a first control (Auto EQ) selectable to initiate a calibration of the subwoofer (¶ 0046-0047) (¶ 0073: Auto EQ is the calibration steps of Fig. 3);
according to a selection of the first control (Auto EQ), display a first portion of a guide to perform the calibration of the subwoofer (Fig. 6A: 142), the first portion including a prompt to position the mobile device at a first position (Fig. 2A: L1) (Fig. 6A: 142: see instruction) (¶ 0048 and Fig. 3: step 70) and a selectable control (Fig. 6A: 142: press “calibrate”) to initiate playback of first calibration audio by the subwoofer when the mobile device is positioned at the first position (¶ 0073);
according to a selection of the selectable control to initiate playback of the first calibration audio, cause, via a network interface of the mobile device, the subwoofer to play back the first calibration audio via the one or more audio transducers (¶ 0049) (Fig. 3: step 72), wherein the network interface of the mobile device and the network interface of the subwoofer are connected via a wireless network (¶ 0046);
record, via at least one microphone of the mobile device, first microphone data representing playback of the first calibration audio by the subwoofer via the one or more audio transducers (¶ 0050) (Fig. 3: step 78);
after playback of the first calibration audio is recorded, display a second portion of the guide to perform the calibration of the subwoofer (Fig. 6A: 144) (¶ 0053) (Fig. 3: step 86 > Yes > step 70), the second portion including a prompt to position the mobile device at a second position (Fig. 2B: L2) (Fig. 6A: 144: see instruction) and a selectable control (Fig. 6A: 144: press “start”) to initiate playback of second calibration audio by the subwoofer when the mobile device is positioned at the second position (¶ 0073);
according to a selection of the selectable control to initiate playback of the second calibration audio, cause, via the network interface of the mobile device, the subwoofer to play back the second calibration audio via the one or more audio transducers (¶ 0049) (Fig. 3: step 72);
record, via the at least one microphone of the mobile device, second microphone data representing playback of the second calibration audio by the subwoofer via the one or more audio transducers (¶ 0050) (Fig. 3: step 78);
determine, via the subwoofer, a calibration based on the first microphone data and the second microphone data, the calibration at least partially offsetting environmental acoustic characteristics (¶ 0068-0069) (Fig. 4: step 118); and
cause, via the network interface of the mobile device, the subwoofer to apply the determined calibration (¶ 0073) (Fig. 6A: 146).
Riggi discloses that the subwoofer, rather than the mobile device, is what is configured to determine the calibration.
In a similar field of endeavor, Goh discloses a mobile device (¶ 0058) that is configured to determine a calibration from microphone data (¶ 0063-0064).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: configure the mobile device of Riggi to determine the calibration of Riggi,
the motivation being to perform the simple substitution of one processing device for another to obtain predictable results of a determination of a calibration based on microphone data. See MPEP § 2143(B).
Regarding claim 10, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9, and Riggi discloses wherein the second position (L2) is a preferred listening position for the subwoofer (¶ 0041), and wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to display the second portion of the guide to perform the calibration of the subwoofer comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
display a particular prompt to position the mobile device at the preferred listening position for the subwoofer (Fig. 6A: 144) (¶ 0048, 0053, 0041).
Regarding claim 11, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9, and Riggi discloses wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
after playback of the second calibration audio is recorded, display a third portion of the guide to perform the calibration of the subwoofer, the third portion including a prompt to position the mobile device at a third position and a selectable control to initiate playback of third calibration audio by the subwoofer when the mobile device is positioned at the third position;
according to a selection of the selectable control to initiate playback of the third calibration audio, cause, via the network interface of the mobile device, the subwoofer to play back the third calibration audio via the one or more audio transducers; and
record, via the at least one microphone of the mobile device, third microphone data representing playback of the third calibration audio by the subwoofer via the one or more audio transducers, wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to determine the calibration based on the first microphone data and the second microphone data comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
determine the calibration based on the first microphone data, the second microphone data, and the third microphone data (¶ 0053: any number of locations may be processed, so the steps of claim 11 which have already been shown in the claim 9 rejection to take place with respect to locations L1 and L2 can also take place with respect to a location L3).
Regarding claim 12, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9, and Riggi discloses wherein the plurality of controls comprise selectable equalization controls (Fig. 6A: 130), and wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
receive, via the selectable equalization controls, input data modifying equalization of the subwoofer from a default equalization (normal) to a set equalization (Auto EQ) (¶ 0047) (Fig. 6A: 130).
Regarding claim 13, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 12, and Riggi discloses wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to determine the calibration based on the first microphone data and the second microphone data comprise program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
determine the calibration to at least partially offset environmental acoustic characteristics such that when applied by the subwoofer, output by the subwoofer more closely corresponds to the set equalization (¶ 0068-0069).
Regarding claim 14, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9, and Riggi discloses wherein the guide comprises a series of substantially full screen prompts arranged in a particular order to facilitate the calibration, and wherein the substantially full screen prompts comprise the prompt to position the mobile device at the first position (Fig. 6A: 142) and the prompt to position the mobile device at the second position (Fig. 6A: 144) (¶ 0073).
Claims 1-6, 17-19, 20 recite similar limitations as claims 9-14, 9-11, 13, respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons set forth above in the rejections of claims 9-14, 9-11, 13, respectively.
Claim(s) 7, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Riggi in view of Goh in view of Carlsson et al. (US 2015/0208188).
Regarding claim 15, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9.
Riggi-Goh is not relied upon to disclose wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
display, via the graphical user interface, a prompt to position the subwoofer for calibration at the position where the subwoofer will be used for playback.
In a similar field of endeavor, Carlsson discloses display, via a graphical user interface (UI) (Fig. 6: 174), a prompt to position the subwoofer for calibration at the position where the subwoofer will be used for playback (Fig. 2: 122) (¶ 0053).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor such that the mobile device is configured to:
display, via the graphical user interface, a prompt to position the subwoofer for calibration at the position where the subwoofer will be used for playback,
the motivation being to make sure the speaker arrangement meets basic requirements (Carlsson - ¶ 0053).
Claims 15 recite similar limitations as claims 7, respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons set forth above in the rejections of claims 7, respectively.
Claim(s) 8, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Riggi in view of Goh in view of Griffiths et al. (US 2013/0305152).
Regarding claim 16, Riggi-Goh discloses the system of claim 9.
Riggi-Goh is not relied upon to disclose wherein the network interface of the subwoofer and the network interface of the mobile device are 802.15 compatible, and wherein the wireless network is an 802.15 compatible wireless network.
In a similar field of endeavor, Griffiths discloses a mobile device (Fig. 6) (¶ 0066) and a speaker (Fig. 2) communicating with each other over an 802.15 compatible wireless network via their network interfaces (608 and 202, respectively) which are 802.15 compatible (¶ 0063, 0045).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to: substitute the network interfaces and wireless network of Riggi with the 802.15 compatible network interfaces and wireless network of Griffiths,
which would result in: wherein the network interface of the subwoofer and the network interface of the mobile device are 802.15 compatible, and wherein the wireless network is an 802.15 compatible wireless network,
the motivation being to perform the simple substitution of one type of network interfaces and wireless network for another to obtain predictable results of network interfaces and wireless network capable of intercommunication and working together. See MPEP § 2143(B).
Claims 8 recite similar limitations as claims 16, respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons set forth above in the rejections of claims 16, respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK FISCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-3549. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 1-6, 7:30-11:59pm EST.
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/MARK FISCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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