DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed 12/30/2024:
Claims 1-20 are pending
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-10, 12, 14-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (US20230412980) in view of Seldess et al (US20230025801, hereinafter “Seldess”).
Regarding claim 1, Huang teaches a computer-implemented method (¶35, method), comprising:
generating, by an audio playback module from an input audio signal, a plurality of audio feeds that includes at least a midband feed and an additional feed (Figs. 7-8, plurality of audio feeds that can be processed to generate a midband and an additional feed);
applying a crosstalk cancellation filter on the midband feed to generate a processed midband audio signal (Figs. 7-8, ¶36, applying a crosstalk cancellation filter on the midband);
generating a plurality of processed audio signals based on both the processed midband audio signal and the additional audio signal (Figs. 7-8, processing the plurality of input feeds including crosstalk cancellation filter, delay, attenuation, etc.); and
transmitting, by the audio playback module, the plurality of processed audio signals to a plurality of speakers (Fig. 3, generating output signals to be rendered by a plurality of speakers).
Huang fails to explicitly teach applying an additional filter on the additional feed to generate an additional audio signal, wherein the additional filter applies at least a delay value to the additional feed;
Seldess teaches applying an additional filter on the additional feed to generate an additional audio signal, wherein the additional filter applies at least a delay value to the additional feed (Fig. 6, applying a delay and gain adjustment to the resultant signals from a crossover module);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the audio system (as taught by Huang) with the additional delay and gain adjustment modules (as taught by Seldess). The rationale to do so is to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield the predictable result of enhancing audio output (Seldess, ¶239).
Regarding claim 2, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the additional feed comprises a low-frequency feed, and the additional filter comprises a low-frequency filter (Huang, Fig. 8, low pass filter).
Regarding claim 3, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the additional feed comprises a high-frequency feed, and the additional filter comprises a high-frequency filter (Huang, Fig. 8, high pass filter).
Regarding claim 4, Huang in view of Seldess teaches further comprising:
generating, by a splitter and based on the additional audio signal, a plurality of processed high-frequency audio signals (Huang, Fig. 8, band splitting module to produce at least a left and right high frequency signals),
wherein each processed high-frequency audio signal of the plurality of processed high-frequency audio signals corresponds to an audio channel in a multichannel configuration (Huang, Fig. 8, the resultant signals are a left and right high frequency signal).
Regarding claim 5, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the additional filter is included in a separate device remote to the audio playback module (Huang, Fig. 6A-6B, attenuation or delay filter included in a remote device).
Regarding claim 6, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the delay value is based at least on a distance between a separate device from which the additional audio signal is to appear to originate and at least one speaker included in the plurality of speakers (Huang, ¶26, delay value set as a sum of electrical transmission time and air propagation time).
Regarding claim 7, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the delay value is based at least on a delay associated with applying the crosstalk cancellation filter to the midband feed (Seldess, ¶47, compensation for crosstalk processing).
Regarding claim 8, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the additional filter also applies a gain value to the additional feed (Huang, Fig. 6A, attenuation filter/gain filter).
Regarding claim 9, Huang in view of Seldess teaches wherein the gain value is based at least on an amplitude difference between the midband feed and the processed midband audio signal (Seldess, Fig. 15, applying a plurality of mid EQ filters wherein EQ filters are known to adjust a gain level across a plurality of frequency bands).
Regarding claim 10, Huang in view of Seldess teaches further comprising:
setting one or more cutoff frequencies for the midband feed, wherein the cutoff frequency is based one or more mechanical characteristics of the plurality of speakers (Huang, ¶22, 36, a cutoff is set as 250-5000 Hz and wherein a plurality of speakers are used and some speakers comprising more than one driver (see Fig. 2) and wherein each driver is capable of producing a set frequency range (i.e. mid-range driver) and subwoofers for producing the low-range frequency sounds).
Regarding claim 12, Huang in view of Seldess teaches further comprising:
receiving a manual input for a second delay value; and
adjusting, in real time, the additional filter to apply the second delay value to the additional feed (Huang, Fig. 6A, since a delay module is used to adjust audio delay output as a result of the user’s position (distance from the other set of speakers), a user can manually adjust by moving around the listening environment).
Regarding claims 14-16, they are rejected similarly as claims 1-3, respectively. The media can be found in Seldess (¶235, memory).
Regarding claims 17-18, they are rejected similarly as claims 7-8, respectively. The media can be found in Seldess (¶235, memory).
Regarding claim 20, it is rejected similarly as claim 1. The system can be found in Huang (abstract, system).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (US20230412980) in view of Seldess et al (US20230025801, hereinafter “Seldess”) in further view of Hoffmann et al (US20230224663, hereinafter “Hoffmann”).
Regarding claim 13, Huang in view of Seldess fail to explicitly teach further comprising:
storing, by the audio playback module, a preset that includes a second delay value;
receiving an input selecting the preset;
retrieving the second delay value from the preset; and
adjusting, in real time, the additional filter to apply the second delay value to the additional feed.
Hoffmann teaches further comprising:
storing, by the audio playback module, a preset that includes a second delay value;
receiving an input selecting the preset;
retrieving the second delay value from the preset; and
adjusting, in real time, the additional filter to apply the second delay value to the additional feed (¶60, 66, a database comprising head dimensions and appropriate ITD models that can be selected for each unique user).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the delay database (as taught by Hoffmann) to the audio rendering apparatus (as taught by Huang in view of Seldess). The rationale to do so is to use a known technique to improve similar devices to achieve the predictable result of adjusting one or more audio parameters as a result of unique user characteristics (Hoffmann, ¶25).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 and 19 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to PTO-892, Notice of References Cited for a listing of analogous art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QIN ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1304. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6AM-4PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Duc Nguyen can be reached on 571-272-7503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QIN ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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