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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1, 3 – 21 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 - 20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,249,339. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1, 3 – 21 of the instant application are similar in scope and content of the claims of the cited US patent.
It would have been obvious to an artisan at the time the invention was made to use the teaching of claims 1 - 20 of the '339' Patent as a general teaching for quantizing envelope values of sub-bands, to perform method as claimed in the present invention. The instant claims obviously encompass the claimed invention of the '339' Patent and differ only in the method steps. The extent that the instant claims are broaden and therefore generic to claimed invention of '339' Patent [species], In re Goodman 29 USPQ 2d 2010 CAFC 1993, states that a generic claim cannot be issued without a terminal disclaimer, if a species claim has been previously been claimed in a co-pending application. And since the structure is as recited, the method step is obtained and therefore, obvious.
Here is a comparison between claim 9 of the instant application and claim 8 of the cited patent (12,249,339).
Instant Application
Patent 12,249,339
Comparison
9. A signal processing device for processing an audio signal or a speech signal, wherein the signal processing device comprises:
8. An audio signal or a speech signal processing device, comprising:
Similar
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to cause the processor to be configured to:
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to cause the signal processing device to:
Same
obtain N sub-bands by dividing spectral coefficients of a current frame of the audio signal or the speech signal;
obtaining spectral coefficients of a current frame of an audio or a speech signal,
Similar
select M sub-bands from the N sub-bands, wherein a first frequency band of the M sub-bands is lower than a second frequency band of other K sub-bands in the N sub-bands, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1, wherein both M and K are positive integers, and wherein a sum of M and K is N;
wherein a first frequency band of M sub-bands in N sub-bands of the spectral coefficients is lower than a second frequency band of K sub-bands in the N sub-bands except the M sub- bands, wherein N is an integer greater than 1, wherein M and K are positive integers, and wherein a sum of M and K is N;
Same
quantize envelope values of the N sub-bands; determine a ratio of a first total energy of the M sub-bands to a second total energy of the K sub-bands as an energy characteristic of the M sub-bands; and
determine a ratio of a first total energy of the M sub-bands to a second total energy of the K sub-bands as an energy characteristic of the M sub-bands;
Similar
perform, when the energy characteristic falls within a first range and a spectral characteristic of the M sub-bands falls within a second range, a modification operation on second quantized envelope values of the M sub-bands to acquire modified envelope values, wherein the spectral characteristic indicates a degree of spectral fluctuation of the M sub- bands and is based on the second quantized envelope values; and
determine a modification operation on first quantized envelope values of the M sub- bands when the energy characteristic falls within a first range and a spectral characteristic of the M sub-bands falls within a second range, wherein the spectral characteristic indicates a degree of spectral fluctuation of the M sub-bands and is based on the first quantized envelope values;
Similar
perform a first bit allocation on the N sub-bands according to the modified envelope values and quantized envelope values of the K sub-bands.
perform modification on the first quantized envelope values according to a modification factor to acquire modified envelope values of the M sub-[[ ]]bands, wherein the modification factor is based on the first total energy of the M sub-bands and a third energy of a first sub-band that is a largest energy among the M sub-bands; and
perform a first bit allocation on the N sub-bands according to the modified envelope values and second quantized envelope values of the K sub-bands.
Similar
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3 – 5, 9 – 12, 16 – 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US PAP 2015/0317991).
As per claim 1, 9, and 16, Liu et al. teach a signal processing method/device for processing an audio signal or a speech signal, wherein the signal processing method/device comprises:
a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to cause the processor to be configured to (Abstract):
obtain N sub-bands by dividing spectral coefficients of a current frame of the audio signal or the speech signal; select M sub-bands from the N sub-bands, wherein a first frequency band of the M sub-bands is lower than a second frequency band of other K sub-bands in the N sub-bands, wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1, wherein both M and K are positive integers, and wherein a sum of M and K is N("Dominant group determination units and non-dominant group determination unit group all sub-bands into a dominant group that contains the dominant frequency band and a non-dominant group that contains no dominant frequency band."; Abstract, paragraphs 69 - 72);
quantize envelope values of the N sub-bands (“a quantization section that quantizes the energy envelopes”; paragraph 34);
determine a ratio of a first total energy of the M sub-bands to a second total energy of the K sub-bands as an energy characteristic of the M sub-bands("Group energy calculation section 304 calculates group-specific energy of the dominant groups and the non-dominant groups outputted from non-dominant group determining section 303 and outputs the calculated energy to total energy calculation section 305 and group bit distribution section 308... the ratio of the norm to the energy of the groups."; Abstract, paragraphs 69 - 72); and
perform, when the energy characteristic falls within a first range and a spectral characteristic of the M sub-bands falls within a second range, a modification operation on second quantized envelope values of the M sub-bands to acquire modified envelope values, wherein the spectral characteristic indicates a degree of spectral fluctuation of the M sub- bands and is based on the second quantized envelope values("Norm estimation section 103 splits the spectral coefficient outputted from transformation section 102 into bands of different bandwidths and estimates a norm (or energy) of each split band. Norm estimation section 103 outputs the estimated norm of each band to norm quantization section 104 Norm adjustment section 106 adjusts the quantized spectral envelope outputted from norm quantization section 104 based on adaptive spectral weighting and outputs the adjusted quantized spectral envelope to bit allocation section 107"; paragraphs 51 - 54); and
perform a first bit allocation on the N sub-bands according to the modified envelope values and quantized envelope values of the K sub-bands ("allocating bits to the plurality of groups; allocating the bits allocated to the plurality of groups to subbands on a group-by-group basis; and encoding the frequency spectrum using bits allocated to the subbands."; paragraphs 34 - 37, 51 - 54).
As per claims 3, 10, 17, Liu et al. further disclose that the first range is [1/6, 2/3] (paragraphs 72 - 75, 80 - 82).
As per claims 4, 11, 18, Liu et al. further disclose that the second range is [1/(0.575*M), infinity) or [1/(0.5*M),infinity) [paragraphs 72 - 75, 80 - 82].
As per claims 5, 12, 19, Liu et al. further disclose determining the spectral characteristic by: determining an energy of a first sub-band in the M sub-bands according to the second quantized envelope values, wherein the energy is a largest energy among the M sub-bands; and determining a ratio of the energy to the first total energy as the spectral characteristic (“identifies a dominant frequency band in which a norm coefficient value in a spectrum of an input speech/audio signal has a local maximum value, groups all subbands into dominant groups including a dominant frequency band and non-dominant groups not including any dominant frequency band, distributes bits to each group based on group-specific energy and norm variances, and further distributes the bits distributed on a group-by-group basis to each subband according to a ratio of a norm to energy of each group.”; paragraphs 81, 82, 97).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 - 8, 13 – 15, 20, 21 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, and filing a terminal disclaimer over patent 12,249,339. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claims 6 - 8, 13 – 15, 20, 21, the prior art made of record does not teach or suggest determining an energy of a first sub-band in the M sub-bands according to the second quantized envelope values, wherein the energy is a largest energy among the M sub-bands; determining a modification factor according to the first total energy and the energy; and performing the modification operation using the modification factor to acquire the modified envelope values.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Rajendran et al. teach METHODS FOR WIDEBAND ENCODING AND DECODING OF ACTIVE FRAMES. Vos et al. teach speech coding. Ragot et al. teach HIERARCHICAL ENCODING/DECODING DEVICE. Villemoes et al. teach audio encoder and decoder. Kjoerling et al. teach audio processing system. Porov et al. teach audio encoding and decoding method.
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/LEONARD SAINT-CYR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2658
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