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 .
This action is in response to the communication filed on December 31, 2024.
Claims 1-37 are pending in this action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, 17-20, 24, and 33-37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tyagi et al. (WO 2021/086965A1).
As per claim 1, Tyagi discloses, an apparatus for generating one or more audio output signals from one or more encoded audio signals (Paragraphs 0002-0003; and 0049; Fig. 2, elements 208, 204, 209, and 210), wherein the apparatus comprises:
at least one entropy decoding module for decoding encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is entropy-encoded, to acquire decoded additional audio information (Paragraph 0049, Fig. 2, element 204), and
a signal processor for generating the one or more audio output signals depending on the one or more encoded audio signals and depending on the decoded additional audio information (Paragraph 0049, “the received special metadata and audio signals an input into spatial synthesis/rendering unit 209, which synthesizes/renders the audio signals using the spatial metadata for playback on various audio systems 210”; Fig. 2, elements 209 and 210).
As per claims 34 and 36, they are analyzed and thus rejected for the same reasons set for the in the claim 1, because the corresponding claims have similar limitations.
As per claim 17, Tyagi discloses, an apparatus for encoding one or more audio signals and additional audio information (Paragraphs 0002-0003, 0045-0047 and Fig. 2, elements 203 and 206), wherein the apparatus comprises:
an audio signal encoder for encoding the one or more audio signals to acquire one or more encoded audio signals (Paragraphs 0046-0047), and
at least one entropy encoding module for encoding the additional audio information using entropy encoding to acquire encoded additional audio information (Paragraph 0047).
As per claims 35 and 37, they are analyzed and thus rejected for the same reasons set for the in the claim 17, because the corresponding claims have similar limitations.
As per claims 2 and 18 Tyagi discloses, wherein the apparatus further comprises:
at least one non-entropy decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is not entropy- encoded, to acquire the decoded additional audio information, and a selector for selecting one of the at least one entropy decoding module and of the at least one non-entropy decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information depending on whether or not the encoded additional audio information is entropy-encoded (Paragraphs 0115-0120).
As per claims 3 and 19, Tyagi discloses, wherein the encoded additional audio information comprises augmented reality data or virtual reality data (Paragraphs 0003 and 0045).
As per claims 4 and 20, Tyagi discloses, wherein the encoded additional audio information depends on a real listening environment or depends on a virtual listening environment or depends on an augmented listening environment (Paragraphs 0003 and 0045).
As per claims 8, 24, Tyagi discloses, wherein the signal processor is configured to generate a binaural signal comprising two binaural channels as the one or more audio output signals (Paragraph 0135); or wherein the at least one entropy decoding module comprises a Huffman decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is Huffman-encoded (Paragraph 0047); or wherein the at least one entropy decoding module comprises an arithmetic decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is arithmetically-encoded (Paragraph 0047).
As per claim 33, Tyagi discloses, a system comprising: an apparatus according to claim 17 for encoding one or more audio signals and additional audio information to acquire one or more encoded audio signals and encoded additional audio information, and an apparatus for generating one or more audio output signals from one or more encoded audio signals, wherein the apparatus comprises: at least one entropy decoding module for decoding encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is entropy-encoded, to acquire decoded additional audio information, and a signal processor for generating the one or more audio output signals depending on the one or more encoded audio signals and depending on the decoded additional audio information (Figure 2).
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) 5-7, 16, 21-23, and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tyagi et al. (WO 2021/086965A1) as applied to claims 1, 4, 17, and 20 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2020/0374646).
Tyagi discloses an audio encoder/decoder for immersive audio rendering in virtual/augmented reality devices.
As per claim 5, Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Lee discloses, wherein the encoded additional audio information comprises propagation information depending on one or more propagations of one or more sound waves along one or more propagation paths in the real listening environment or in the virtual listening environment or in the augmented listening environment (Paragraphs 0003,-0008; 0062-0074, and 0088-0100 and Figures 1-3).
As per claim 6, Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Lee discloses, wherein the propagation information is reflection information depending on one or more reflections at one or more reflection objects of one or more sound waves propagating along one or more propagation paths in the real listening environment or in the virtual listening environment or in the augmented listening environment; or wherein the propagation information is diffraction information depending on one or more diffractions at one or more diffraction objects of one or more sound waves propagating along one or more propagation paths in the real listening environment or in the virtual listening environment or in the augmented listening environment (Paragraphs 0003,-0008; 0062-0074, and 0088-0100, and Figures 1-3).
As per claim 7, Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Lee discloses, wherein the encoded additional audio information comprises data for rendering early reflections, wherein the signal processor is configured to generate the one or more audio output signals depending on the data for rendering early reflections (Paragraphs 0003,-0008; 0062-0074, and 0088-0100).
As per claim 16, Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Lee discloses, wherein the encoded additional audio information comprises voxel position information, wherein the position information comprises information on one or more positions of one or more voxels out of a plurality of voxels within a three-dimensional coordinate system, wherein the signal processor is configured to generate the one or more audio output signals depending on the voxel position information; or wherein the at least one entropy decoding module is configured to decode encoded additional audio information being entropy-encoded, wherein the encoded additional audio information being entropy-encoded comprises at least one of the following:- a list of triangle indexes,- an array length of a list of triangle indexes,- an array with azimuth angles specifying surface normals in spherical coordinates,- an array with elevation angles specifying surface normals in spherical coordinates,- an array with distance values,- an array with positions of a listener,- an array with positions of one or more sound sources,- a removal list or a removal set, specifying indices of reflection sequences of a set of reflection sequences that shall be removed or a reference reflection sequence list that shall be removed, - a number of reflection sequences or a number of reflection paths, - an array specifying a reflection order, - reflection sequences (Paragraphs 0003,-0008; 0062-0074, and 0088-0100).
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 the invention of Tyagi by including metadata associated with sech virtual/augmented reality application as taught by Lee for the advantage of BRIR may be the most basic and important element in playing immersive audio using headphone in the fields such as VR (Paragraph 0061).
Claim(s) 9 and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tyagi et al. (WO 2021/086965A1) as applied to claims 2 and 18 above, and further in view of Mehrotra et al. (US 2014/0229186).
As per claims 9 and 25, Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Mehrotra discloses, wherein the selector is configured to select one of the at least one non-entropy decoding module and of the Huffman decoding module and of the arithmetic decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information; or wherein the at least one non-entropy decoding module comprises a fixed-length decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information, when the encoded additional audio information is fixed-length-encoded; or wherein the apparatus is configured to receive selection information, and wherein the selector is configured to select one of the at least one entropy decoding module and of the at least one non-entropy decoding module depending on the selection information (Paragraphs 003 and 0106-0125).
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 the invention of Tyagi by including select one of the at least one non-entropy decoding module and of the Huffman decoding module and of the arithmetic decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information select one of the at least one non-entropy decoding module and of the Huffman decoding module and of the arithmetic decoding module for decoding the encoded additional audio information as taught by Mehrotra for the advantage of optimum coding as adaptive entropy encoding.
Claim(s) 10-12, 26-27, and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tyagi et al. (WO 2021/086965A1) as applied to claims 1 and 17 above, and further in view of Well-known prior art.
As per claims 10 and 26, Tyagi does not explicitly discloses, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive a codebook or a coding tree on which the encoded additional audio information depends, and, wherein the at least entropy decoding module is configured to decode the encoded additional audio information using the codebook or using the coding tree.
As per claims 11, Tyagi does not explicitly discloses, wherein the apparatus is configured to receive an encoding of a structure of the coding tree on which the encoded additional audio information depends, wherein the at least entropy decoding module is configured to reconstruct a plurality of codewords of the coding tree depending on the structure of the coding tree, and wherein the at least entropy decoding module is configured to decode the encoded additional audio information using the codewords of the coding tree.
As per claims 12, 27, and 28, Tyagi does not explicitly discloses, wherein the apparatus further comprises a memory having stored thereon a codebook or a coding tree, wherein the at least entropy decoding module is configured to decode the encoded additional audio information using the codebook or using the coding tree ; or wherein the apparatus is configured to receive the encoded additional audio information comprising a plurality of transmitted symbols and an offset value, and wherein the at least one non-entropy decoding module is configured to decode the encoded additional audio information using the plurality of transmitted symbols and using the offset value.
Official Notice is taken on the well-known codebook.
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 the invention of Tyagi by including well-known codebook because all the claimed elements were known in the art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
“common sense teaches, however, that familiar items may have obvious uses beyond their primary purposes, and in many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle.” KSR Int’l Co. V. Teleflex Inc. 550 U.S.-,82USPQ2d 1385 (Supreme Court 2007) (KSR).
Claim(s) 13-15 and 29-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tyagi et al. (WO 2021/086965A1) as applied to claims 1 and 17 above, and further in view of Mate et al. (WO 2022/144493A1).
As per claims 13-15 and 29-31 Tyagi does not explicitly disclose, but Mate discloses, wherein the data for rendering early reflections comprises information on a location of one or more walls, being one or more real walls or virtual walls in an environment, wherein the signal processor is configured to generate the one or more audio output signals depending on the information on the location of one or more walls.
wherein the information on each wall of the one or more walls comprises information on a azimuth angle and/or an elevation angle of said wall, wherein the azimuth angle of said wall is entropy-encoded and/or the elevation angle of said wall is entropy- encoded, and wherein one or more entropy decoding modules of the at least one entropy decoding module are configured to decode an entropy-encoded azimuth angle of said wall and/or an entropy-encoded elevation angle of said wall.
wherein the information on each wall of the one or more walls comprises information on a azimuth angle and/or an elevation angle of said wall, wherein the azimuth angle of said wall is entropy-encoded and/or the elevation angle of said wall is entropy- encoded, wherein one or more entropy decoding modules of the at least one entropy decoding module are configured to decode an entropy-encoded azimuth angle of said wall and/or an entropy-encoded elevation angle of said wall, and wherein said one or more of the at least one entropy decoding module are configured to decode the entropy-encoded azimuth angle of said wall and/or the entropy- encoded elevation angle of said wall using the codebook or the coding tree (Page 18, line 9-Page 19, line 17; Page 21, line 1-Page 27, line 11).
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 the invention of Tyagi by including metadata describing a wall for defining the virtual environment as taught by Mate for the advantage of prepare the audio scene using the at least one information of virtual scene and the at least one acoustic characteristic of physical space, such that the virtual scene acoustics and physical space acoustics are merged; and render the prepared audio scene according to the listening position (Abstract).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Abul K. Azad whose telephone number is (571) 272-7599. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Bhavesh Mehta, can be reached at (571) 272-7453.
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Commissioner for Patents
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Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
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July 30, 2026
/ABUL K AZAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2656
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