DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the communications filed 2/25/2025. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Europe on 3/4/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the EP 24386019.4 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Automatic retrieval of the priority documents was unsuccessful. As such, the certified copy of the priority document still requires filing.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/25/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-9 are objected to because of the following informalities: Each claim should begin with "The method" in place of "a method", as they are dependent upon claim 1.. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wardle et al, US Publication No. 2019/0246229 A1, in view of Abe et al, US Publication No. 2017/0272889..
Regarding Claim 1, Wardle et al teaches, a method of spatial sound output (Title/Abstract), comprising: obtaining a distance between one or more fixed loudspeakers and a user (Paragraph 16, “As shown in FIG. 3, each speaker location of a plurality of speakers in the speaker system may be determined at 310. User location and orientation information are determined, as indicated at 320. Audio signals from the speakers may then be modified based on the relative locations of speakers and the user, as indicated at 330. In some implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve using at least two microphones to determine a distance between the microphones and each of the plurality of speakers from time delays in arrival of signals from the speakers at the different microphones. In other implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve obtaining an image of a room in which the speakers are located with an image capture unit and analyzing the image.”); and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “After determining the speaker locations and the user location, the audio signals to be transmitted to each of the plurality of speakers for playout can be modified accordingly at step 330.”) at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “Based upon the determined user location (i.e., the location of user's head and/or the orientation of user's head) relative to a particular speaker location, a corresponding signal to be transmitted to that speaker can be modified by delaying it to change its signal delay time or by adjusting its signal amplitude to equalize the sound channels.”); wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker, and to be consistent with the audio being located at a predetermined spatial position between these loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “the modification step includes modifying the audio signals to eliminate location sound effects (e.g., echo effect) based on the information of the user location and the room dimensions to eliminate echo or location-dependent sound effects. A method according to the aspects of the present disclosure provides a user to enjoy high quality stereoscopic sounds even when the speakers in the speaker system are not installed exactly as required and/or the user is not situated in the center of the speaker system.”).
Wardle et al does not further teach, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user; and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers, and for the at least first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers; wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from the at least first hand-held loudspeaker.
However, Abe et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user (Paragraph 69, “In FIG. 10, a sound image is localized at one position of the virtual loudspeaker 22 for each input signal. To localize different input signals at different virtual loudspeaker positions shown in FIG. 1, the image control unit 30 may be provided by an amount equal to the number of virtual loudspeaker positions so that sound image control processing can be performed for the respective sound sources.”);
and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers, and for the at least first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 21, “Further, in the sound reproduction system, the sound processing device may further include a delay correction unit configured to correct one of the first sound output signal and the second sound output signal to mitigate perception of a time difference at a listener's position, the time difference being a difference between a time delay of arrival of an output from the first sound output units and a time delay of arrival of an output from the second sound output units.”);
wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from the at least first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 22, “This configuration reduces a user's feeling of strangeness caused by the time-delay-of-difference since the user's perception is mitigated of a time-difference-of-arrival between the low-frequency components of the second sound output signal delayed by the first output device and the high-frequency components of the second sound output signal reproduced from the second output device.”).
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 teachings of obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user, and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers, and for the at least first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers, wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from the at least first hand-held loudspeaker, as taught by Abe et al, with the method as taught by Wardle et al. The motivation being that with the inclusion of a hand-held loudspeaker, similar audio principles can be utilized to further enhance the sound quality for the user, and considering distance calculations can ensure that the audio reproduction is consistent between different loudspeaker orientations.
Regarding Claim 2, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Wardle et al further teaches, in which a respective time for a fixed loudspeaker precedes a time for an equivalent stereo signal by a period equivalent to a time of flight of audio from the fixed loudspeaker to the predetermined spatial position (Paragraph 22, “By way of example, the isolated signals corresponding to sounds originating from a given speaker, e.g., as determined from ICA, may be analyzed to detect differences in time of arrival at different microphones due to sounds travelling directly from the speaker to the microphones and sounds from the speaker that reflect off the walls, floor, or ceiling. The time delays can be converted to differences in distance using the previously determined relative locations of the speakers with respect to the microphones. The differences in distance may be analyzed to determine the relative locations of the walls, ceiling, and floor.”).
Regarding Claim 3, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Wardle et al further teaches, in which a respective time for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker precedes a time for an equivalent stereo signal by a period equivalent to a time of flight of audio from at least the first hand-held loudspeaker to the user minus the time of flight of audio from the predetermined spatial position to the user (Paragraph 22, “By way of example, the isolated signals corresponding to sounds originating from a given speaker, e.g., as determined from ICA, may be analyzed to detect differences in time of arrival at different microphones due to sounds travelling directly from the speaker to the microphones and sounds from the speaker that reflect off the walls, floor, or ceiling. The time delays can be converted to differences in distance using the previously determined relative locations of the speakers with respect to the microphones. The differences in distance may be analyzed to determine the relative locations of the walls, ceiling, and floor.”, While not explicitly mentioning the handheld speaker, the prior art utilizes distance measurements, based upon arrival times, to determine how to modify the signals, including the utilization of delay to impact the timing of the audio. As such, the inclusion of the hand-held loudspeaker, in combination with the prior art, would necessarily be capable of further determining the timing of the hand-held speaker audio.).
Regarding Claim 4, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Wardle et al further teaches, comprising the step of estimating the distance of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker from at least one fixed loudspeaker based on a measured time of flight of audio from the at least one fixed loudspeaker to a microphone proximate to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 16, “As shown in FIG. 3, each speaker location of a plurality of speakers in the speaker system may be determined at 310. User location and orientation information are determined, as indicated at 320. Audio signals from the speakers may then be modified based on the relative locations of speakers and the user, as indicated at 330. In some implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve using at least two microphones to determine a distance between the microphones and each of the plurality of speakers from time delays in arrival of signals from the speakers at the different microphones. In other implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve obtaining an image of a room in which the speakers are located with an image capture unit and analyzing the image.”).
Regarding Claim 5, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 4, and Wardle et al further teaches, the step of estimating a position of the user's head relative to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker based on one or more selected from a list consisting of: an assumed relationship between the position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and the user's head in normal use of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 23, “Referring back to FIG. 3, the method according to aspects of the present disclosure also includes determining a user location of a user in the room at step 320. The step for detecting the user location can be performed prior to or after the step of determining the speaker locations discussed in connection with FIG. 4. It should be noted that the user location within the room comprises a position and/or an orientation of the user's head. The user location can be detected or tracked using one or more inertial sensors mounted upon the user or upon an object (such as a game controller or remote controller) attached to the user.”); and a measure of displacement between the position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and the user's head based on signals from a motion sensor proximate to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker, after holding this to the user's head (Paragraph 23, “In one embodiment, a game controller held by the user includes one or more inertial sensors which may provide position and/or orientation information via an inertial signal. Orientation information may include angular information such as a tilt, roll or yaw of the game controller, thereby the orientation of the user. By way of example, the inertial sensors may include any number and/or combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes or tilt sensors. In another embodiment, the user location can be tracked using an image capture unit (e.g., a camera) for detecting locations of one or more light sources.”).
Regarding Claim 6, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Wardle et al further teaches, the step of estimating a position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker relative to a camera, the camera being in a known positional relationship to the at least one fixed loudspeaker, based on a known size of an apparatus housing at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and an apparent size and position of that apparatus in a captured image of the camera (Paragraph 23, “In another embodiment, the user location can be tracked using an image capture unit (e.g., a camera) for detecting locations of one or more light sources.”, 2017, Paragraph 94, “Furthermore, the sound image control filters may be switched to another, based on the result of face recognition that has been performed by use of an image of an internal camera of the second output device or the like. As previously stated, the effects of the sound image control filters 31 and 32 vary when the listener changes to another listener. For example, the user's characteristics such as gender and face size are detected through face recognition, so that the optimal sound image control filter can be selected on the basis of the result of the face recognition, from among the previously provided sound image control filters.”).
Regarding Claim 7, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 6, and Wardle et al further teaches, the step of estimating the position of the user's head relative to the camera based on a known size of the user's head and the apparent size and the position of the user's head in a captured image of the camera (Paragraph 30, “The image capture unit 623 may capture images containing the game controller 630 and light sources 634. Analysis of such images can determine the location and/or orientation of the game controller, thereby the user.”),
And Abe et al further teaches, a size of the user's head being obtained by comparison with the known size of the apparatus housing at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 94, “Furthermore, the sound image control filters may be switched to another, based on the result of face recognition that has been performed by use of an image of an internal camera of the second output device or the like. As previously stated, the effects of the sound image control filters 31 and 32 vary when the listener changes to another listener. For example, the user's characteristics such as gender and face size are detected through face recognition, so that the optimal sound image control filter can be selected on the basis of the result of the face recognition, from among the previously provided sound image control filters.”).
Regarding Claim 8, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Wardle et al further teaches, the steps of: tracking a position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 51, “Here, HRTFs include all the acoustic characteristics of sounds between the loudspeakers and the ears of the listener 10. It means that HRTFs vary when a relative positional relationship between the loudspeakers and the listener 10 changes and when the listener 10 changes to another listener”, Paragraph 101, “The sound reproduction system according to the present disclosure allows its user to pleasantly enjoy audio reproduction and 3-D sound effects even when such user moves, and thus is widely applicable to sound reproduction systems.”),
And Abe et al further teaches, adjusting the respective times outputting corresponding audio signals responsive to the tracked position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker to maintain an absolute position of the predetermined spatial position between the loudspeakers (Paragraph 23, “Referring back to FIG. 3, the method according to aspects of the present disclosure also includes determining a user location of a user in the room at step 320. The step for detecting the user location can be performed prior to or after the step of determining the speaker locations discussed in connection with FIG. 4. It should be noted that the user location within the room comprises a position and/or an orientation of the user's head. The user location can be detected or tracked using one or more inertial sensors mounted upon the user or upon an object (such as a game controller or remote controller) attached to the user. In one embodiment, a game controller held by the user includes one or more inertial sensors which may provide position and/or orientation information via an inertial signal.”).
Regarding Claim 9, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and Abe et al further teaches, in which at least the first hand-held loudspeaker is housed in a videogame controller apparatus (Paragraph 53, “Meanwhile, there is a home-use game system, which is another example of the sound reproduction system, including a controller with loudspeakers in addition to joysticks and buttons. A new type of entertainment has been proposed by a combined use of the loudspeakers of a television connected to such a home-use game machine and the Internal loudspeakers of the controller.”).
Regarding Claim 10, Wardle et al teaches, A non-transitory, computer readable storage medium containing a computer program comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer system (Paragraph 27, “The apparatus 600 may also include well-known support functions 610, such as input/output (I/O) elements 611, power supplies (P/S) 612, a clock (CLK) 613 and cache 614. The apparatus 600 may optionally include a mass storage device 615 such as a disk drive, CD-ROM drive, tape drive, or the like to store programs and/or data.”), cause the computer system to perform a method of spatial sound output (Title/Abstract), comprising: obtaining a distance between one or more fixed loudspeakers and a user (Paragraph 16, “As shown in FIG. 3, each speaker location of a plurality of speakers in the speaker system may be determined at 310. User location and orientation information are determined, as indicated at 320. Audio signals from the speakers may then be modified based on the relative locations of speakers and the user, as indicated at 330. In some implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve using at least two microphones to determine a distance between the microphones and each of the plurality of speakers from time delays in arrival of signals from the speakers at the different microphones. In other implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve obtaining an image of a room in which the speakers are located with an image capture unit and analyzing the image.”); and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “After determining the speaker locations and the user location, the audio signals to be transmitted to each of the plurality of speakers for playout can be modified accordingly at step 330.”), wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker, and to be consistent with audio being located at a predetermined spatial position between these loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “the modification step includes modifying the audio signals to eliminate location sound effects (e.g., echo effect) based on the information of the user location and the room dimensions to eliminate echo or location-dependent sound effects. A method according to the aspects of the present disclosure provides a user to enjoy high quality stereoscopic sounds even when the speakers in the speaker system are not installed exactly as required and/or the user is not situated in the center of the speaker system.”).
Wardle et al does not further teach, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user; and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers and for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers, wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from at least the first hand-held loudspeaker.
However, Abe et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user (Paragraph 69, “In FIG. 10, a sound image is localized at one position of the virtual loudspeaker 22 for each input signal. To localize different input signals at different virtual loudspeaker positions shown in FIG. 1, the image control unit 30 may be provided by an amount equal to the number of virtual loudspeaker positions so that sound image control processing can be performed for the respective sound sources.”); and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers and for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 21, “Further, in the sound reproduction system, the sound processing device may further include a delay correction unit configured to correct one of the first sound output signal and the second sound output signal to mitigate perception of a time difference at a listener's position, the time difference being a difference between a time delay of arrival of an output from the first sound output units and a time delay of arrival of an output from the second sound output units.”), wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 22, “This configuration reduces a user's feeling of strangeness caused by the time-delay-of-difference since the user's perception is mitigated of a time-difference-of-arrival between the low-frequency components of the second sound output signal delayed by the first output device and the high-frequency components of the second sound output signal reproduced from the second output device.”).
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 teachings of obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user, and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers, and for the at least first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers, wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from the at least first hand-held loudspeaker, as taught by Abe et al, with the method as taught by Wardle et al. The motivation being that with the inclusion of a hand-held loudspeaker, similar audio principles can be utilized to further enhance the sound quality for the user, and considering distance calculations can ensure that the audio reproduction is consistent between different loudspeaker orientations.
Regarding Claim 11, Wardle et al teaches, A spatial sound apparatus, comprising: an audio processor (Title/Abstract, Paragraph 26, “The apparatus 600 may include a processor 601 and a memory 602 (e.g., RAM, DRAM, ROM, and the like). In addition, the signal processing apparatus 600 may have multiple processors 601 if parallel processing is to be implemented. The memory 602 includes data and code instructions configured as described above.”) configured to obtain: a distance between one or more fixed loudspeakers and a user (Paragraph 16, “As shown in FIG. 3, each speaker location of a plurality of speakers in the speaker system may be determined at 310. User location and orientation information are determined, as indicated at 320. Audio signals from the speakers may then be modified based on the relative locations of speakers and the user, as indicated at 330. In some implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve using at least two microphones to determine a distance between the microphones and each of the plurality of speakers from time delays in arrival of signals from the speakers at the different microphones. In other implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve obtaining an image of a room in which the speakers are located with an image capture unit and analyzing the image.”), output corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “After determining the speaker locations and the user location, the audio signals to be transmitted to each of the plurality of speakers for playout can be modified accordingly at step 330.”, Paragraph 24, “Based upon the determined user location (i.e., the location of user's head and/or the orientation of user's head) relative to a particular speaker location, a corresponding signal to be transmitted to that speaker can be modified by delaying it to change its signal delay time or by adjusting its signal amplitude to equalize the sound channels.”), wherein the respective times are selected by the audio processor to: cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker; and be consistent with audio being located at a predetermined spatial position between these loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “the modification step includes modifying the audio signals to eliminate location sound effects (e.g., echo effect) based on the information of the user location and the room dimensions to eliminate echo or location-dependent sound effects. A method according to the aspects of the present disclosure provides a user to enjoy high quality stereoscopic sounds even when the speakers in the speaker system are not installed exactly as required and/or the user is not situated in the center of the speaker system.”).
Wardle et al does not further teach, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user; Output corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers and for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers, wherein the respective times are selected by the audio processor to: cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and at least the first hand-held loudspeaker.
However, Abe et al, in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor, teaches, obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user (Paragraph 69, “In FIG. 10, a sound image is localized at one position of the virtual loudspeaker 22 for each input signal. To localize different input signals at different virtual loudspeaker positions shown in FIG. 1, the image control unit 30 may be provided by an amount equal to the number of virtual loudspeaker positions so that sound image control processing can be performed for the respective sound sources.”);
Output corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers and for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers (Paragraph 21, “Further, in the sound reproduction system, the sound processing device may further include a delay correction unit configured to correct one of the first sound output signal and the second sound output signal to mitigate perception of a time difference at a listener's position, the time difference being a difference between a time delay of arrival of an output from the first sound output units and a time delay of arrival of an output from the second sound output units.”),
wherein the respective times are selected by the audio processor to: cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 22, “This configuration reduces a user's feeling of strangeness caused by the time-delay-of-difference since the user's perception is mitigated of a time-difference-of-arrival between the low-frequency components of the second sound output signal delayed by the first output device and the high-frequency components of the second sound output signal reproduced from the second output device.”).
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 teachings of obtaining a distance between at least a first hand-held loudspeaker and the user, and outputting corresponding audio signals for one or more of the fixed loudspeakers, and for the at least first hand-held loudspeaker at respective times both preceding a timing for an equivalent stereo signal for the fixed loudspeakers, wherein the respective times are selected to cause resulting audio to reach the user substantially simultaneously from at least one fixed loudspeaker and from the at least first hand-held loudspeaker, as taught by Abe et al, with the method as taught by Wardle et al. The motivation being that with the inclusion of a hand-held loudspeaker, similar audio principles can be utilized to further enhance the sound quality for the user, and considering distance calculations can ensure that the audio reproduction is consistent between different loudspeaker orientations.
Regarding Claim 12, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 11, and Wardle et al further teaches, a respective time for a fixed loudspeaker precedes a time for an equivalent stereo signal by a period equivalent to a time of flight of audio from the fixed loudspeaker to the predetermined spatial position (Paragraph 22, “By way of example, the isolated signals corresponding to sounds originating from a given speaker, e.g., as determined from ICA, may be analyzed to detect differences in time of arrival at different microphones due to sounds travelling directly from the speaker to the microphones and sounds from the speaker that reflect off the walls, floor, or ceiling. The time delays can be converted to differences in distance using the previously determined relative locations of the speakers with respect to the microphones. The differences in distance may be analyzed to determine the relative locations of the walls, ceiling, and floor.”); and a respective time for at least the first hand-held loudspeaker precedes a time for an equivalent stereo signal by a period equivalent to the time of flight of audio from at least the first hand-held loudspeaker to the user minus the time of flight of audio from the predetermined spatial position to the user (Paragraph 22, “By way of example, the isolated signals corresponding to sounds originating from a given speaker, e.g., as determined from ICA, may be analyzed to detect differences in time of arrival at different microphones due to sounds travelling directly from the speaker to the microphones and sounds from the speaker that reflect off the walls, floor, or ceiling. The time delays can be converted to differences in distance using the previously determined relative locations of the speakers with respect to the microphones. The differences in distance may be analyzed to determine the relative locations of the walls, ceiling, and floor.”, While not explicitly mentioning the handheld speaker, the prior art utilizes distance measurements, based upon arrival times, to determine how to modify the signals, including the utilization of delay to impact the timing of the audio. As such, the inclusion of the hand-held loudspeaker, in combination with the prior art, would necessarily be capable of further determining the timing of the hand-held speaker audio.).
Regarding Claim 13, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 11, and Wardle et al further teaches, wherein the audio processor is also configured to estimate the distance of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker from at least one fixed loudspeaker based on a measured time of flight of audio from the at least one fixed loudspeaker to a microphone proximate to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 16, “As shown in FIG. 3, each speaker location of a plurality of speakers in the speaker system may be determined at 310. User location and orientation information are determined, as indicated at 320. Audio signals from the speakers may then be modified based on the relative locations of speakers and the user, as indicated at 330. In some implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve using at least two microphones to determine a distance between the microphones and each of the plurality of speakers from time delays in arrival of signals from the speakers at the different microphones. In other implementations, determining the speaker locations may involve obtaining an image of a room in which the speakers are located with an image capture unit and analyzing the image.”).
Regarding Claim 14, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 13, and Wardle et al further teaches, wherein the audio processor is also configured to estimate a position of the user's head relative to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker based on one or more selected from a list consisting of: an assumed relationship between the position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and the user's head in normal use of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 23, “Referring back to FIG. 3, the method according to aspects of the present disclosure also includes determining a user location of a user in the room at step 320. The step for detecting the user location can be performed prior to or after the step of determining the speaker locations discussed in connection with FIG. 4. It should be noted that the user location within the room comprises a position and/or an orientation of the user's head. The user location can be detected or tracked using one or more inertial sensors mounted upon the user or upon an object (such as a game controller or remote controller) attached to the user.”); and a measure of displacement between the position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and the user's head based on signals from a motion sensor proximate to at least the first hand-held loudspeaker, after holding this to the user's head (Paragraph 23, “In one embodiment, a game controller held by the user includes one or more inertial sensors which may provide position and/or orientation information via an inertial signal. Orientation information may include angular information such as a tilt, roll or yaw of the game controller, thereby the orientation of the user. By way of example, the inertial sensors may include any number and/or combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes or tilt sensors. In another embodiment, the user location can be tracked using an image capture unit (e.g., a camera) for detecting locations of one or more light sources.”).
Regarding Claim 15, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 11, and Wardle et al further teaches, wherein the audio processor is also configured to estimate a position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker relative to a camera, the camera being in a known positional relationship to the at least one fixed loudspeaker, based on a known size of an apparatus housing at least the first hand-held loudspeaker and an apparent size and position of that apparatus in a captured image of the camera (Paragraph 23, “In another embodiment, the user location can be tracked using an image capture unit (e.g., a camera) for detecting locations of one or more light sources.”, 2017, Paragraph 94, “Furthermore, the sound image control filters may be switched to another, based on the result of face recognition that has been performed by use of an image of an internal camera of the second output device or the like. As previously stated, the effects of the sound image control filters 31 and 32 vary when the listener changes to another listener. For example, the user's characteristics such as gender and face size are detected through face recognition, so that the optimal sound image control filter can be selected on the basis of the result of the face recognition, from among the previously provided sound image control filters.”).
Regarding Claim 16, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 15, and Wardle et al further teaches, wherein the audio processor is also configured to estimate the position of the user's head relative to the camera based on a known size of the user's head and the apparent size and the position of the user's head in a captured image of the camera (Paragraph 30, “The image capture unit 623 may capture images containing the game controller 630 and light sources 634. Analysis of such images can determine the location and/or orientation of the game controller, thereby the user.”),
And Abe et al further teaches, a size of the user's head being obtained by comparison with the known size of the apparatus housing at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 94, “Furthermore, the sound image control filters may be switched to another, based on the result of face recognition that has been performed by use of an image of an internal camera of the second output device or the like. As previously stated, the effects of the sound image control filters 31 and 32 vary when the listener changes to another listener. For example, the user's characteristics such as gender and face size are detected through face recognition, so that the optimal sound image control filter can be selected on the basis of the result of the face recognition, from among the previously provided sound image control filters.”).
Regarding Claim 17, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 11, and Wardle et al further teaches, wherein the audio processor is also configured to: track a position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 51, “Here, HRTFs include all the acoustic characteristics of sounds between the loudspeakers and the ears of the listener 10. It means that HRTFs vary when a relative positional relationship between the loudspeakers and the listener 10 changes and when the listener 10 changes to another listener”, Paragraph 101, “The sound reproduction system according to the present disclosure allows its user to pleasantly enjoy audio reproduction and 3-D sound effects even when such user moves, and thus is widely applicable to sound reproduction systems.”);
And Abe et al further teaches, and adjust the respective times outputting corresponding audio signals responsive to the tracked position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker to maintain an absolute position of the predetermined spatial position between the loudspeakers (Paragraph 23, “Referring back to FIG. 3, the method according to aspects of the present disclosure also includes determining a user location of a user in the room at step 320. The step for detecting the user location can be performed prior to or after the step of determining the speaker locations discussed in connection with FIG. 4. It should be noted that the user location within the room comprises a position and/or an orientation of the user's head. The user location can be detected or tracked using one or more inertial sensors mounted upon the user or upon an object (such as a game controller or remote controller) attached to the user. In one embodiment, a game controller held by the user includes one or more inertial sensors which may provide position and/or orientation information via an inertial signal.”).
Regarding Claim 18, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 11, and Wardle et al further teaches, A videogame console (Paragraph 26, “According to aspects of the present disclosure, a signal processing method of the type described above with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4 operating as described above may be implemented as part of a signal processing apparatus 600, as depicted in FIG. 6. The apparatus 600 may be incorporated in an entertainment system, such as a TV, video game console, DVD player or setup/cable box.”).
Regarding Claim 19, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 18, and Abe et al further teaches, at least a first videogame controller comprising a hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 53, “Meanwhile, there is a home-use game system, which is another example of the sound reproduction system, including a controller with loudspeakers in addition to joysticks and buttons. A new type of entertainment has been proposed by a combined use of the loudspeakers of a television connected to such a home-use game machine and the Internal loudspeakers of the controller.”).
Regarding Claim 20, Wardle et al, in view of Abe et al teaches all the limitations of claim 19, and Wardle et al further teaches, in which: at least the first videogame controller comprises a motion tracker (Paragraph 23, “The user location can be detected or tracked using one or more inertial sensors mounted upon the user or upon an object (such as a game controller or remote controller) attached to the user. In one embodiment, a game controller held by the user includes one or more inertial sensors which may provide position and/or orientation information via an inertial signal.”); the spatial sound apparatus comprises a tracking processor configured to track a position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker (Paragraph 30, “The communications interface may include a universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (“UART”). The UART may be operable to receive a control signal for controlling an operation of a tracking device, or for transmitting a signal from the tracking device for communication with another device. Alternatively, the communications interface includes a universal serial bus (“USB”) controller. The USB controller may be operable to receive a control signal for controlling an operation of the tracking device, or for transmitting a signal from the tracking device for communication with another device.”); and the audio processor is configured to adjust respective times outputting corresponding audio signals responsive to the tracked position of at least the first hand-held loudspeaker to maintain an absolute position of the predetermined spatial position between the loudspeakers (Paragraph 24, “After determining the speaker locations and the user location, the audio signals to be transmitted to each of the plurality of speakers for playout can be modified accordingly at step 330. Based upon the determined user location (i.e., the location of user's head and/or the orientation of user's head) relative to a particular speaker location, a corresponding signal to be transmitted to that speaker can be modified by delaying it to change its signal delay time or by adjusting its signal amplitude to equalize the sound channels.”, continually determines location information and adjusts the audio processing to account for the tracking.).
Examiner’s Note
While not utilized to reject any currently pending claims, Examiner further notes Vines et al, US Patent No. 10861465 B1, as being relevant prior art.
Conclusion
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/DYLAN MAGUIRE NEECE/Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692
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