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 Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
a receiving unit; Figs. 6A-7C; ¶0568-¶0574
a processing unit; Figs. 6A-7C; ¶0572-¶0574
an obtaining unit; Figs. 6A-7C; ¶0190, ¶0229, ¶0235, ¶0255
a playing unit; Figs. 6A-7C; ¶0191 ¶0575, ¶0588
a sending unit; Figs. 6C-7C; ¶0191, ¶0197, ¶0231, ¶0576
Claim 17
Claims 17, 18
Claim 18
Claim 19
Claim 19
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US #2023/0058270) in view of Abhishek et al. (US #2022/0109758).
Regarding Claim 1, Liu discloses an audio mixing method, wherein the method is applied to a device (title, abstract, figs. 1-10), and the method comprises:
receiving at least one piece of indication information from at least one audio source device, wherein the at least one piece of indication information corresponds to at least one audio stream generated by the at least one audio source device (Liu ¶0096 discloses the mobile terminal 20 can transmit audio information to the two-wheeled vehicle 10, and the audio information include audio information such as voice messages, telephone calls, music, etc.; fig. 1, and ¶0103 discloses the audio switching apparatus 111 is connected to a mobile terminal 20 and a smart helmet 50, to receive first audio information transmitted by the mobile terminal 20 and transmit the first audio information to the media control apparatus 112. The audio switching apparatus 111 is provided with a Bluetooth module that can exchange data with the mobile terminal 20 and the smart helmet 50 wirelessly. The first audio information can be voice messages, telephone calls, music and other audio information; fig. 3); and
determining an audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream based on the at least one piece of indication information (Liu ¶0096 discloses after receiving the audio information transmitted by the mobile terminal 20, the two-wheeled vehicle 10 first identify a type of the audio information. If the audio information is an instant voice such as telephone call, the audio information is forwarded to the smart helmet 50, and the user answers the telephone call from the mobile terminal 20 via the smart helmet 50. If the audio information is a non-instant voice such as a voice message or music, the audio information is mixed with audio information such as navigation voice and alarm transmitted by an application in the two-wheeled vehicle, and then the mixed audio information is transmitted to the smart helmet 50; fig. 1, and ¶0103 discloses the media control apparatus 112 is configured to receive second audio information generated by the two-wheeled vehicle 10 and the first audio information, and to mix the first audio information with the second audio information to generate mixed audio information. The second audio information can be information such as navigation voices, alarms, etc., and can also be audio information downloaded from a cloud server 80 into the two-wheeled vehicle 10. The media control apparatus 112 transmits the mixed audio information to the smart helmet 50 via the audio switching apparatus 111 for playback to the user; fig. 3).
Liu may not explicitly disclose determining an audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream based on the at least one piece of indication information.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches determining an audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream based on the at least one piece of indication information (Abhishek figs. 4: steps S410, S420, and S430; ¶0089 discloses the customization parameters can indicate, for example, a specific media stream that carries an audio to which the user B would like to focus. Then, the sub system [210A] can determine a higher overlay priority for the specific media stream, and can determine a higher mixing weight for the audio carried by the specific media stream. ¶0091 discloses the audio mixing weights maybe customized by an end user. In a scenario, an end user may want to listen or focus on one particular audio carried by a media stream. In another scenario, the quality of the downmixed audio by the default audio mixing weight is not tolerable for reasons such as variation in audio level, audio quality or poor signal to noise ratio [SNR] channels, then the audio mixing weights can be customized).
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 2, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one piece of indication information indicates at least one of the following information:
a type of the at least one audio stream; a coding format of the at least one audio stream; a type of the at least one audio source device; the audio mixing weight; a type of a user to which the at least one audio source device belongs; or a type of an application that generates the at least one audio stream (Liu ¶0108 discloses different audio identification types, such as … carries out different audio mixing processing depending on different audio identification types).
Regarding Claim 3, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 1,
wherein the at least one piece of indication information comprises first indication information (Liu ¶0109 discloses the non-call voice information is identified as a music or song) and second indication information (Liu ¶0109 discloses if the audio mixing module 1121 receives voice navigation information transmitted by a map navigation application in the other sounding devices 113 in the two-wheeled vehicle 10), the first indication information corresponds to a first audio stream, the second indication information corresponds to a second audio stream, and the first audio stream and the second audio stream are at least one of 1) audio streams of a same type (Liu ¶0109 discloses the non-call voice information is identified as a music or song, it indicates that the user is listening to music with the mobile terminal at this time, then the audio identification module 1112 transmits the music over the first communication module 1111 to the audio mixing module 1121 of the media control apparatus 112) or 2) audio streams generated by at least one of a same audio source device or a same application (Liu ¶0109 discloses if the audio mixing module 1121 receives voice navigation information transmitted by a map navigation application in the other sounding devices 113 in the two-wheeled vehicle 10 at this time, it indicates that the user is about to or is driving the two-wheeled vehicle, the media control module 1122 transmits control instructions to the audio mixing module 1121. The audio mixing module 1121 mixes the voice navigation information with music after receiving the control instructions).
Regarding Claim 4, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:
obtaining a plurality of audio streams, wherein the plurality of audio streams come from a plurality of audio source devices (Liu ¶0096 [at least implicitly] discloses the mobile terminal 20 can transmit audio information to the two-wheeled vehicle 10, and the audio information include audio information such as voice messages, telephone calls, music, etc.; fig. 1), and
the plurality of audio streams comprise the at least one audio stream (Liu ¶0096 [at least implicitly] discloses after receiving the audio information transmitted by the mobile terminal 20, the two-wheeled vehicle 10 first identify a type of the audio information. If the audio information is an instant voice such as telephone call, the audio information is forwarded to the smart helmet 50; fig. 1); and
determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams (Liu ¶0096 [at least implicitly] discloses the user answers the telephone call from the mobile terminal 20 via the smart helmet 50. If the audio information is a non-instant voice such as a voice message or music, the audio information is mixed with audio information such as navigation voice and alarm transmitted by an application in the two-wheeled vehicle, and then the mixed audio information is transmitted to the smart helmet 50; fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 5, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:
playing the to-be-played target audio stream, or sending the to-be-played target audio stream to a target device (Liu ¶0103 discloses the audio switching apparatus 111 is connected to a mobile terminal 20 and a smart helmet 50, to receive first audio information transmitted by the mobile terminal 20 and transmit the first audio information to the media control apparatus 112. The audio switching apparatus 111 is provided with a Bluetooth module that can exchange data with the mobile terminal 20 and the smart helmet 50 wirelessly. The first audio information can be voice messages, telephone calls, music and other audio information; fig. 3).
Regarding Claim 6, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 4. But Liu may not explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream; and the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams comprises: when a first preset condition is met, determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the first audio stream, wherein the first preset condition comprises one of the following conditions: an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is less than or equal to a first value, and an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than the first value; or the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than or equal to a second value, and the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than or equal to the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream, wherein the second value is greater than the first value.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream (Abhishek figs. 4: S410); and
the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams (Abhishek figs. 4: steps S420, S430) comprises:
when a first preset condition is met, determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the first audio stream (Abhishek ¶0089 discloses the customization parameters can indicate, for example, a specific media stream that carries an audio to which the user B would like to focus), wherein the first preset condition comprises one of the following conditions:
an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is less than or equal to a first value (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses the audio mixing weights maybe customized by an end user. In a scenario, an end user may want to listen or focus on one particular audio carried by a media stream. In another scenario, the quality of the downmixed audio by the default audio mixing weight is not tolerable for reasons such as variation in audio level, audio quality or poor signal to noise ratio [SNR] channels, then the audio mixing weights can be customized), and an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than the first value (Abhishek ¶0089 discloses then, the sub system [210A] can determine a higher overlay priority for the specific media stream, and can determine a higher mixing weight for the audio carried by the specific media stream); or the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than or equal to a second value, and the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than or equal to the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream, wherein the second value is greater than the first value.
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 7, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 4. But Liu may not explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream; and the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams comprises: when a second preset condition is met, determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the second audio stream, wherein the second preset condition comprises one of the following conditions: an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is less than or equal to a first value, and an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than the first value; or the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than or equal to a second value, and the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream, wherein the second value is greater than the first value.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream (Abhishek figs. 4: S410); and
the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams (Abhishek figs. 4: steps S420, S430) comprises:
when a second preset condition is met, determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the second audio stream (Abhishek ¶0089 discloses the customization parameters can indicate, for example, a specific media stream that carries an audio to which the user B would like to focus), wherein the second preset condition comprises one of the following conditions:
an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is less than or equal to a first value (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses the audio mixing weights maybe customized by an end user. In a scenario, an end user may want to listen or focus on one particular audio carried by a media stream. In another scenario, the quality of the downmixed audio by the default audio mixing weight is not tolerable for reasons such as variation in audio level, audio quality or poor signal to noise ratio [SNR] channels, then the audio mixing weights can be customized), and an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than the first value (Abhishek ¶0089 discloses then, the sub system [210A] can determine a higher overlay priority for the specific media stream, and can determine a higher mixing weight for the audio carried by the specific media stream); or the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than or equal to a second value, and the audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than the audio mixing weight of the first audio stream, wherein the second value is greater than the first value.
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 8, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 4. But Liu may not explicitly disclose wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream; and the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams comprises: when an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than a first value and less than a second value, an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than the first value and less than the second value, and the second value is greater than the first value, performing audio mixing on the first audio stream and the second audio stream to generate a third audio stream; and determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the third audio stream.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream (Abhishek figs. 4: S410); and
the determining a to-be-played target audio stream based on the plurality of audio streams and audio mixing weights of the plurality of audio streams (Abhishek figs. 4: steps S420, S430) comprises:
when an audio mixing weight of the second audio stream is greater than a first value and less than a second value, an audio mixing weight of the first audio stream is greater than the first value and less than the second value, and the second value is greater than the first value (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses the user B wants to focus on an audio from a specific media stream, then the user B may indicate using the user device [220], customization parameters for adjusting the audio mixing weights. For example, the customization parameters indicate an increase of audio mixing weight for the audio in the specific media stream. The user device [220] can send the customization parameters to the sender of the media streams, such as the sub system [210A] during the teleconference session based on SDP),
performing audio mixing on the first audio stream and the second audio stream to generate a third audio stream (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses based on the customization parameters, the controller of the sub system [210A] can adjust the audio mixing weights to increase the audio mixing weight for the audio in the specific media stream, and the sub system [210A] can send the adjusted audio mixing weights to the user device [220]); and
determining that the to-be-played target audio stream is the third audio stream (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses thus, the user device [220] can mix audios based on the adjusted audio mixing weights).
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 9, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 4. But Liu may not explicitly disclose wherein; the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream; and the first audio stream is generated by the device, and the second audio stream comes from a first audio source device; or the first audio stream comes from the first audio source device, and the second audio stream comes from a second audio source device.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein; the plurality of audio streams comprise a first audio stream and a second audio stream (Abhishek figs. 4: S410); and
the first audio stream is generated by the device, and the second audio stream comes from a first audio source device; or the first audio stream comes from the first audio source device, and the second audio stream comes from a second audio source device (Abhishek claim 1: receiving, by processing circuitry of a first device and from a second device, a first media stream that carries a first audio, and a second media stream that carries a second audio).
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Regarding Claim 10, Liu in view of Abhishek discloses the method according to claim 1. But Liu may not explicitly disclose wherein; when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is less than or equal to a first value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that an audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is rejected to be used as a source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing; or when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is greater than the first value and less than a second value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that the audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight is allowed to be used as a non-unique source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing, wherein the second value is greater than the first value; or when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is greater than or equal to the second value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that the audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight is allowed to be used as a unique source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing.
However, Abhishek (abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches wherein; when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is less than or equal to a first value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that an audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is rejected to be used as a source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing; or
when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is greater than the first value and less than a second value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that the audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight is allowed to be used as a non-unique source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing, wherein the second value is greater than the first value; or
when the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream is greater than or equal to the second value, the audio mixing weight of the at least one audio stream indicates that the audio stream corresponding to the audio mixing weight is allowed to be used as a unique source of the audio stream obtained through audio mixing (Abhishek ¶0091 discloses the audio mixing weights maybe customized by an end user. In a scenario, an end user may want to listen or focus on one particular audio carried by a media stream. In another scenario, the quality of the downmixed audio by the default audio mixing weight is not tolerable for reasons such as variation in audio level, audio quality or poor signal to noise ratio [SNR] channels, then the audio mixing weights can be customized. I an example, the user B wants to focus on an audio from a specific media stream, then the user B may indicate using the user device [220], customization parameters for adjusting the audio mixing weights. For example, the customization parameters indicate an increase of audio mixing weight for the audio in the specific media stream. The user device [220] can send the customization parameters to the sender of the media streams, such as the sub system [210A] during the teleconference session based on SDP).
Liu and Abhishek are analogous art as they pertain to audio mixing. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify audio information transmission system (as taught by Liu) to customize audio mixing weights to focus on one particular audio (as taught by Abhishek, ¶00091) to communicate interactively with each other via media streams, such as video streams, audio streams, or both (Abhishek, ¶0004).
Claims 11-20 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claims 1-10.
Conclusion
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/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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