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 .
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fotopoulou et al., PgPub 20230169985 (continuation of US Patent No.:11594231, filed Sep 29, 2020), Hereinafter Fotopoulou.
As per claim 1, Fotopoulou discloses a signal processing apparatus (Fig 10a and col. 35, lines 43-52, an apparatus for estimating an inter-channel time difference between a first channel signal and a second channel signal), comprising:
Control circuitry which, in operation, alters a weighting coefficient in accordance with a parameter related to a stereo signal, the weighting coefficient being based on an amplitude of a cross spectrum of the stereo signal [see (0014), (0019)–(0023), (0081)–(0085) “the time-domain representations of the left and the right channel signals are input into a calculator 1020 for calculating a cross-correlation spectrum for a time block from the first channel signal in the time block and the second channel signal in the time block. Furthermore, the apparatus comprises a spectral characteristic estimator 1010 for estimating a characteristic of a spectrum of the first channel signal or the second channel signal for the time block. The apparatus further comprises a smoothing filter 1030 for smoothing the cross-correlation spectrum over time using the spectral characteristic to obtain a smoothed cross-correlation spectrum. The apparatus further comprises a processor 1040 for processing the smoothed correlation spectrum to obtain the inter-channel time difference”, (0099)– (0106), (0120)– (0125), (0130)– (0132), (0227)– (0238)]; and
detection circuitry, which, in operation, detects an inter-channel time difference of the stereo signal based on the cross spectrum weighted with the weighting coefficient (see (0014), (0022), (0081)–(0083) “,This device comprises the signal analyzer 1037 of FIG. 10a, a cross-correlation spectrum calculator 1020 of FIG. 10a, a weighter 1036 for weighting a smoothed or a non-smoothed cross-correlation spectrum of FIG. 10a and a subsequently connected processor 1040 for processing the weighted cross-correlation spectrum.” (0092)– (0093), (0105)– (0106), (0133)– (0141), (0148)– (0161), (0228)– (0238)).
As per claim 2, Fotopoulou discloses all the limitations of claim 1 upon which claim 2 depends. Fotopoulou further discloses the “the parameter includes a maximum value of the amplitude of the cross spectrum and the control circuitry sets the weighting coefficient based on the maximum value [see (0014), (0022), (0084) “The elements time-spectrum converter 150, spectral characteristic estimator 1010, smoothing filter 1030 are not necessary for a basic implementation of the preset invention, but are advantageous for embodiments of the present invention. The signal analyzer 1037 is configured for estimating a signal characteristic such as a noise level 1038 of the first channel signal or the second channel signal or both signals or a signal derived from the first channel signal or the second channel signal. Thus, a signal characteristic or signal characteristic estimate such as a noise estimate to be used later on by the weighter 1036 and, advantageously, also used by the processor 1040 can be derived only from the left or first channel signal, only from the second or right channel signal, or can be derived from both signals. The derivation of the signal characteristic from both signals could, for example, be a derivation of an individual signal characteristic of the first channel signal, an additional individual signal characteristic from the second or right channel signal and, then, the final signal characteristic 1038 would be, for example, an average or a weighted average between both channels. Here, for example the weighting can be done in accordance with the amplitude so that different amplitudes in, for example, frames of the channels result in different influences of the corresponding individual noise estimate into the final noise level 1038 “, (0104)–(0106), (0120)–(0125), (0135)–(0141), (0153)–(0161), (0227)–(0238)].
As per claim 3, Fotopoulou discloses all the limitations of claim 2 upon which claim 3 depends. Fotopoulou further discloses a signal processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:
the parameter includes a spectral flatness measurement of the stereo and the control circuitry sets the weighting coefficient smaller as the spectral flatness measurement is lower [see (0019)–(0021) “a spectral flatness measure is used and, in case of tone-like signals, the spectral flatness measure will be low and the smoothing will become stronger, and in case of noise-like signals, the spectral flatness measure will be high such as about 1 or close to 1 and the smoothing will be weak”, (0103), (0126)–(0132), (0227)–(0238)].
As per claim 4, Fotopoulou discloses all the limitations of claim 2 upon which claim 4 depends. Fotopoulou further discloses a signal processing apparatus wherein the parameter includes a spectral flatness measurement of the stereo signal, and the control circuitry sets a first weighting coefficient in a case where the spectral flatness measurement is equal to or larger than a threshold, and sets a second weighting coefficient in a case where the spectral flatness measurement is smaller than the threshold, the second weighting coefficient being smaller than the first weighting coefficient [see (0019)–(0021), (0103), (0120)–(0125), (0130)–(0132), (0227)–(0238)].
As per claim 7, Fotopoulou discloses all the limitations of claim 1 upon which claim 7 depends. Fotopoulou further discloses a signal processing apparatus wherein the control circuitry detects a peak position of the cross spectrum, sets a first weighting coefficient for the peak position, and sets a second weighting coefficient smaller than the first weighting coefficient for a position different from the peak position [ see Fig. 10c and (0092)–(0093), (0134)–(0141), (0143)–(0161), (0163), (0227)–(0238)].
As per claim 8, Fotopoulou discloses all the limitations of claim 7 upon which claim 8 depends. Fotopoulou further discloses a signal processing apparatus wherein the parameter includes a spectral flatness measurement of the stereo signal, and the control circuitry sets the second weighting coefficient based on the spectral flatness measurement [ see Fig. 10c and (0019)–(0021), (0103), (0126)–(0132), (0134)–(0141), (0227)–(0238)].
As per claim 9, Fotopoulou discloses a signal processing apparatus/method (Fig 10a and col. 35, lines 43-52, an apparatus for estimating an inter-channel time difference between a first channel signal and a second channel signal), comprising:
altering a weighting coefficient in accordance with a parameter related to a stereo signal, the weighting coefficient being based on an amplitude of a cross spectrum of the stereo signal [ (0014), (0019)–(0023), (0081)–(0085), (0099)–(0106), (0120)–(0125), (0130)–(0132), (0227)–(0238)]
and detecting an inter-channel time difference of the stereo signal based on the cross spectrum weighted with the weighting coefficient [ (0014), (0022), (0081)– (0083), (0092)– (0093), (0105)– (0106), (0133)– (0141), (0148)– (0161), (0228)– (0238)].
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fotopoulou in view of Briand et al., US Patent No. 10573328, hereinafter Briand.
As per claim 5, Fotopoulo discloses all the limitations of claim 1 upon which claim 5 depends. Fotopoulo fails to explicitly teach wherein the control circuitry sets the weighting coefficient for each component of the cross spectrum according to a value representing a difference between an amplitude value of the component and a maximum value of the amplitude of the cross spectrum.
However, this feature is well known in the art as evidenced by Briand which teaches determining inter-channel correlation based on a cross-correlation function involving at least two different channels of a multi-channel audio signal, adaptively determining an inter-channel correlation threshold based on adaptive smoothing of the inter-channel correlation in time, and evaluating a current value of inter-channel correlation in relation to the adaptive inter-channel correlation threshold to determine whether the corresponding current value of the inter-channel time difference is relevant. See Briand col 3 line 59 to col 4, line 9; col 7, line 61 and col 8 line 54; col 8, lines 16 - 25 “ the current value ICTD[i] of the inter-channel time difference is selected if the current value ICC[i] of the inter-channel correlation is (equal to or) larger than the current value AICCL[i] of the adaptive inter-channel correlation limitation/threshold, and a previous value ICTD[i−1] of the inter-channel time difference is selected if the current value ICC[i] of the inter-channel correlation is smaller than the current value AICCL[i] of the adaptive inter-channel correlation limitation/threshold …”
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the weighting of Fotopoulo in view of Briand so that weighting is adjusted according to the relative significance of the component value compared to the maximum amplitude value of the cross spectrum, in order to improve robustness of inter-channel time difference estimation and to reduce the influence of less relevant components in the presence of noise, reverberation, or other interfering signal conditions [see col 12, lines 54 -58].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art taken alone or in combination fail to teach the signal processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: the value representing the difference is a difference in a number of digits between the amplitude value of the component and the maximum value, and the control circuitry sets the weighting coefficient for the component smaller as the difference in the number of digits is larger.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (see PTO-892)
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/RICHEMOND DORVIL/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2658
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