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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
By reviewing prior-filed applications, the examiner could NOT find adequate support for certain limitations recited in independent claims from a provisional application (63/378,678, filed on 10/06/2022). For example, the ‘678 provisional application does not provide adequate support for a limitation: “wherein the gain transition function is based at least on a gain transition step size”.
The effective filing date of the instant application is a filing date of provisional application (63/503,533, filed on 05/22/2023).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/09/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated.
In the specification ([0036], [0048]) states that Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional system. The
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The examiner notices that Fig. 1 of the instant application is the same drawing of Fig. 1 in a submitted prior art reference (WO_2022192217, submitted in an IDS by the applicant, and cited in a section below under 35 U.S.C. §102).
See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 5 recites “The method of any previous claim 1,”. The term “any previous” should be deleted in a way just like in other dependent claims.
In a preliminary amendment filed on 04/03/2025, applicant added certain limitations using a term “Optionally”. Please note, a cited prior art reference does not need to disclose limitations indicated as “optionally” (i.e., “not required”). If applicant intends to limit claims by these limitations, the term “Optionally” must be removed.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 35-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §101 as not falling within one of the four statutory categories of invention.
Claim 35 recites “An apparatus configured for implementing the method of claim 1.”
The claimed “An apparatus” in claim 35 does not have any structure elements. The claimed “apparatus” is not belong to “a machine”, which is limited by structure elements. The claimed “an apparatus” does not belong to any of patentable category of “process”, “machine”, “manufacture”, or “composition of matter”.
Claim 36 recites “program comprising instructions that when executed by a processing device cause the processing device to carry out the method according to claim 1.
The claimed “program” is a listing of computer instructions without storing on any computer readable medium. The program does not belong to any statutory categories of invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
Claims 1-6, 8-9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21-22, 26 and 35-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Setiawan et al. (WO2022192217, submitted by applicant in an IDS, published on 09/15/2022, referred to as Setiawan).
Setiawan was co-authored by two of instant inventors. Since Stefan Bruhn was not an inventor of the instant application, Setiawan is qualify as a prior art reference as “by another” according to the AIA statutory framework.
Setiawan discloses controlling audio levels in a codec so that an encoded sound does not overload the codec. The system starts by downmixing an audio frame into one or more channels, such as in immersive or spatial audio. It checks whether any downmix channel is too strong for the encoder’s expected input range. If so, it calculates a gain value for the affected channel(s) and applies a gain transition over part of the frame instead of a sudden jump. The gain transition has a short-changing portion and a steady portion, and it is designed to match the codec’s internal delay. The encoder then sends the downmixed audio together with information about the gain control that was applied. Please note, Fig. 1 in the cited Setiawan reference is the same drawing of Fig. 1 in the instant application. Fig. 2 in the cited Setiawan reference is a similar drawing of Fig. 2 of the instant application. The Fig. 2 in the cited Setiawan is duplicated below for quick reference:
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Regarding claim 1, Setiawan discloses a method of performing gain control on audio signals (Setiawan, [0150-0152], a computer implemented method, system, device for encoding audio with an adaptive gain control using a gain transition function), the method comprising:
obtaining a downmixed audio signal of an audio signal to be encoded (Setiawan, [0012-0014], [0066-0069], Fig. 2);
determining that an overload condition has occurred for a frame of the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0008-0012], [0088-0089]);
responsive to determining that the overload condition has occurred, determining a gain transition function for the frame, wherein the gain transition fm1ction is based at least on a gain transition step size (Setiawan, [0008-0012], [0054-0055], [0075-0076], step function of quantized gain);
applying the gain transition function to the frame to generate a gain adjusted frame of the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0008-0011], [0054-0055], [0082-0084]); and
providing the gain adjusted frame and information indicative of the gain transition
function for encoding by an encoder (Setiawan, [0037-0038], [0046-0047], [0085], Fig. 2, #210).
Regarding claims 35-38, claim 35 is directed to an apparatus to perform a method of claim 1. Claim 36 is directed to program to perform a method of claim 1. Claim 37 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium to perform a method of claim 1. Claim 38 is directed to a system with processor to perform a method of claim 1. Setiawan discloses a computer implemented system / device to perform claim 1 (Setiawan, [0007], [0020], [0150]). Claims 35-38 are rejected for the same rationales explained above for claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Setiawan further discloses:
encoding the gain adjusted frame together with the information indicative of the gain transition function (Setiawan, [0045], Fig. 2, #210).
Regarding claim 3, Setiawan further discloses:
receiving the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0045-0046]); OR
determining the downmixed audio signal from the audio signal to be encoded (Setiawan, [0045-0046], Fig. 2, #204, M downmixed HOA).
Regarding claim 4, Setiawan further discloses: the audio signal is a higher order ambisonics, HOA, audio signal (Setiawan, [0038], Fig. 2, HOA input).
Regarding claim 5, Setiawan further discloses: the downmixed audio signal is a spatially encoded downmixed signal (Setiawan, [0045], Fig. 2, #204).
Regarding claim 6, Setiawan further discloses:
the overload condition is a condition in which the frame of the downmixed audio signal exceeds a predefined signal range (Setiawan, [0037], [0044]), and optionally wherein the predefined signal range is a signal range expected by the encoder (Setiawan, [0044], [0046], [0048]).
Regarding claim 8, Setiawan further discloses:
the frame of the downmixed audio signal is a current frame and the gain transition function is further based on a previous gain transition function applied to a preceding frame of the current frame (Setiawan, [0049-0050], [0061]).
Regarding claim 9, Setiawan further discloses:
the gain transition function further depends on a smoothing function based on the gain transition step size (Setiawan, [0049], [0064], [0081], a step function transition with smooth transition).
wherein the gain transition function optionally comprises a transitory portion and a steady-state portion, wherein the transitory portion corresponds to a transition from a gain associated with the preceding frame to the gain associated with the preceding frame adjusted by the gain transition step size (Setiawan, [0010], [0016], [0049], [0083], Fig. 3, Gain function with steady portion and transition portion; Note, this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation); and
wherein the gain associated with the preceding frame is optionally adjusted by the gain transition step size as an attenuation by the gain transition step size or an amplification by the gain transition step size of the gain associated with the preceding frame depending on a gain adjustment target of the current frame (Setiawan, [0075], gain quantization steps using 0, 1, 2 and 3. this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation).
Regarding claim 12, Setiawan further discloses:
a length of the transitory portion is limited by a delay introduced by a codec utilized by the encoder (Setiawan, [0054], [0083]), and wherein the length of the transitory portion is optionally equal to or less than the number of samples used for an encoding operation by the encoder (this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation).
Regarding claim 14, Setiawan further discloses: a length of the transitory portion is greater than 1 sample (Setiawan, Fig. 3, transition portion have many samples).
Regarding claim 16, Setiawan further discloses: the gain transition step
size is a predefined value (Setiawan, [0075]);
wherein the gain transition step size is optionally determined from a set of predefined values of increasing size, based on a perceptive quality listening test or an objective quality measurement, wherein the perceptive quality listening tests is a Multi-Stimulus Test with Hidden Reference and Anchor, MUSHRA (this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation).
Regarding claim 18, Setiawan further discloses:
determining an overload amount caused by the frame of the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0037], [0048], [0123]);
determining the gain transition step size from the set of predefined values of increasing size depending on the overload amount (Setiawan, [0075-0076], [0081]).
Regarding claim 21, Setiawan further discloses: applying the gain transition function to samples of the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0008], [0121], Fig. 2), wherein a total number of the samples corresponds to the frame of the downmixed audio signal (Setiawan, [0008-0010], [0039]).
Regarding claim 22, Setiawan further discloses: determining an encoding scheme based on the gain transition function (Setiawan, [0008], Fig. 5, #508);
wherein determining an encoding scheme based on the gain transition function optionally comprising:
determining the encoding scheme based on the gain transition step size (this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation); OR
determining the encoding scheme based on whether the gain transition function was able to remove the overload condition; and wherein the encoding scheme optionally is one of Modified Discrete Cosine Transformation, MDCT, or Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction, ACELP (this limitation is OPTIONAL, the reference does not need to teach the optional limitation).
Regarding claim 26, Setiawan further discloses: the gain adjusted frame is an attenuated frame OR an amplified frame (Setiawan, [0083]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The examiner discovered several relevant prior art references that are related to one or more concepts disclosed by the instant application. These references are included in the attached PTO-892 form for completeness of the record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jialong He, whose telephone number is (571) 270-5359. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, 8:00AM – 4:30PM, EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Pierre Desir can be reached on (571) 272-7799. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JIALONG HE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2659
