DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/06/2026 has been entered.
This communication is in response to the Amendments and Arguments filed on 05/06/2026.
Claims 1-21 are pending and have been examined.
All previous objections/rejections not mentioned in this Office Action have been withdrawn by the examiner.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/06/2026 have been fully considered but they raise new issues that necessitate a 35 USC 112(a) with respect to new matter. Please see below for the specific reasoning.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. With respect to the independent claims 1, 20, and 21, as well as dependent claim 3, the claims have amended the limitations to add features related to the subsequent contextual information, and now recite “wherein (i) the subsequent contextual information associated with the subsequent speech inputs includes one or more of a tone of the subsequent speech inputs and a volume of the subsequent speech inputs”. While the specification supports the use of specific information to determine that a user has completed speaking to the assistant system, and that contextual information associated specifically with the first speech input includes a tone and volume of the first speech input, the specification does not support that “subsequent contextual information” used to determine that a user has completed speaking to the assistant system, or that it includes a tone and volume of the subsequent speech inputs.
Regarding the determination that a user has completed speaking to the assistant system without speaking to the one or more second users, Paragraph [00153] of the specification recites:
“[0153] In particular embodiments, the assistant system 140 may determine that the first user has completed speaking to the assistant system 140 privately. Determining that the first user has completed speaking to the assistant system 140 privately may be based on one or more of a detected endpoint to the speech input, or a change of a pose, a gaze, a touch input, or a gesture by the first user. As an example and not by way of limitation, the assistant system 140 may detect the endpoint after a threshold time of silence (e.g., 1000 milliseconds of silence), indicating the user has completed speaking to the assistant system 140. As another example and not by way of limitation, the user may lean backwards, look away from the assistant avatar in a VR setting, touch a deactivating button, or swipe a hand to indicate that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system 140. In particular embodiments, the assistant system 140 may then send, to the first client system 130, instructions for unmuting audio transmission of subsequent speech input from the first user to one or more of the second users in the multi-channel audio communication. The assistant system 140 may further send, to the first client system 130, instructions for presenting an indication to the first user that the audio transmission of the subsequent speech input from the first user to one or more of the second users in the multi-channel audio communication is unmuted. In particular embodiments, the assistant system 140 may also send, to one or more second client systems 130 associated with the one or more of the second users, respectively, instructions for presenting an indication to the corresponding second user that the audio transmission from the first user is unmuted.”
In the specification, the description of what is contextual information is found in Paragraph [0147]:
“[0147] In particular embodiments, the contextual information may comprise one or more of a virtual location associated with the first user, a real-world location associated with the first user, a volume associated with the first portion of the speech input, a tone associated with the first portion of the speech input, an attention state of the first user associated with the first portion of the speech input, an eye gaze of the first user associated with the first portion of the speech input, a pose of the first user associated with the first portion of the speech input, or a degree of separation between the first user and each of the one or more second users on an online social network. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user's virtual location as contextual information may be used as follows. If the user is in a workroom environment, the assistant system 140 may assume the user has a heightened expectation of privacy here and mute their speech by default. But if the user is in a social game, the assistant system 140 may assume the user does not expect there to be privacy and may default the user's speech to public audio (i.e., not muting the user when the user invokes the assistant system 140).”
The specification further describes the use of different types of contextual information to identify when to mute the user’s speech to interact privately with the assistant above in Paragraph [0147], but also in Paragraphs [0148-151]:
“[0148] In particular embodiments, the user's real-world location (e.g., determined via location services) as contextual information may be used as follows. If the assistant system 140 determines that a primary user is in the same real-world location as other users, the assistant system 140 may determine that there is no need to mute interactions with those users, since they can hear the primary user anyway. However, if the assistant system 140 determines that some of the other users are at the same real-world location as the primary user while some of them are not, the assistant system 140 may mute the primary user's speech only to users not at that real-world location.
[0149] In particular embodiments, contextual information may comprise volume/tone of the wake-word the user used to activate the assistant system 140. As an example and not by way of limitation, if the user whispers to the assistant system 140, the assistant system 140 may determine that the user may not want to be heard by others and mute the user's speech accordingly. But if the user talks in a normal voice, the assistant system 140 may default the user's speech to public audio.
[0150] In particular embodiments, attention, gaze, or pose may also be useful contextual information. As an example and not by way of limitation, if the user leans their head over to their shoulder and starts talking to the assistant system 140, that may be a signal that they want to have a private conversation with the assistant system 140. As another example and not by way of limitation, if the user is looking directly at an assistant avatar associated with the assistant system 140 in the VR environment, the user may enter into a private conversation with the assistant avatar. But if the user invokes the assistant system 140 while looking elsewhere, the assistant system 140
may default the user's speech to public audio. However, when the assistant avatar is in a shared VR experience (i.e., other people are in the same VR environment as the user), if the user starts talking to the assistant avatar, other people may be able to see and hear the user talking to the assistant avatar and see/hear the assistant avatar responding.
[0151] In particular embodiments, contextual information may also comprise the degrees of separation of a user to other people. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user's first degree friends may be able to hear the user's communications with the assistant system 140, but more distant connections may not. In particular embodiments, user actions by other people may be used as contextual information as well. As an example and not by way of limitation, if another user starts harassing a primary user and the assistant system 140 can determine that, the assistant system 140 may mute the primary user's voice commands with respect to that harassing user. Using various contextual information to determine the user's intent to speak to the assistant system 140 privately may be an effective solution for addressing the technical challenge of accurately determining such intent as the contextual information may provide comprehensive cues about the user's intent to speak to the assistant system 140 privately.”
As can be seen in the paragraphs cited above (noting underlined portions as particularly relevant), the use of different types of contextual information, including tone, volume, attention, gaze, or pose, are all explicitly described as being utilized for determining at the beginning of the speech input whether or not a user intends to speak to the assistant system privately. However, the determination that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system privately is described as being based only on one or more of a detected endpoint of the speech input, a change in pose, a gaze, a touch input, or a gesture. An endpoint of the speech input is not explicitly supported as being contextual information, and neither is contextual information in general explicitly described as being used to determine end of a private communication between the user and the assistant system. Therefore, there is no support in the specification for the use of subsequent contextual information that includes a tone of the subsequent speech inputs and a volume of the speech inputs as being used in the determination that the user has completed speaking privately to the assistant system.
These issues also directly affects dependent claim 3 as amended.
The issue with the current claim scope which is not supported by the specification is the following: Based on the changes made to the claims, there is no written description to support the use of subsequent contextual information that includes a tone of the subsequent speech inputs and a volume of the subsequent speech inputs being used in the determination that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system without speaking to the one or more second users.
Hence, the Applicant is suggested to amend the limitations to remove functionality that is not specifically described in the as-filed specification.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-21 may be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action, pending further search and consideration.
The Examiner notes that the claim language indicated as new matter is a key component of the claim interpretation that makes the amended claims, filed 05/06/2026, ASM. Therefore, should the language identified as new matter be removed from the claims, the indication of allowable subject matter may also no longer apply and may be withdrawn as a result.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art of Liu (US 2021/0120206) teaches multiple users in a video call, where an assistant system receives spoken input from the user including a wake-word, and the assistant system sends instructions to the first client system to mute the video call at the first client system so that other users participating in the video call on their respective client systems cannot hear the first user's request. However, Liu does not teach the use of contextual information associated with the first speech including tone and volume, that the first speech does not include a wake word, determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume, sending instructions for audio transmission of subsequent speech inputs to the second users after completing speaking with the assistant system, or determining that the user wishes to speak to the assistant while continuing to speak to the other users.
Kumar (U.S. 2022/0383871), teaches the user provides a revocation input to indicate the user no longer wishes to use the virtual assistant. However, Kumar does not teach the use of contextual information associated with the first speech including tone and volume, that the first speech does not include a wake word, determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume, sending instructions for audio transmission of subsequent speech inputs to the second users after completing speaking with the assistant system, or determining that the user wishes to speak to the assistant while continuing to speak to the other users.
Voight (U.S. 10,250,973) teaches that the outbound call audio of a user is muted for an active call and the microphone output routed to the VPA when the user is facing the direction of the VPA, and that when the user is looking in the direction of an active call and not the VPA, the mic output audio is not muted and is routed to the call associated with that direction. However, Voight does not teach the use of contextual information associated with the first speech including tone and volume, determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume, or determining that the user wishes to speak to the assistant while continuing to speak to the other users.
Lovitt (U.S. 2018/0366118) teaches using rendering policies to determine where to direct certain types of information from a virtual assistant, including only to the requester, or to present the response to other participants. However, Lovitt does not teach the use of contextual information associated with the first speech including tone and volume, or determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume.
Cronin (US 2020/0066277) teaches a wake-up module continuously polling the audio data from the microphone for a change in user’s tone or volume or other based audio trigger to trigger a virtual assistant. However, Cronin does not teach determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume.
None of Liu, Kumar, Voight, Lovitt, and Cronin, either alone or in combination, teaches or makes obvious the enabling a user to interact with a virtual assistant with differing levels of privacy by using contextual information associated with the first speech including tone and volume, determining that the user has completed speaking to the assistant system based on the subsequent contextual information associated with subsequent speech inputs including tone and volume, sending instructions for audio transmission of subsequent speech inputs to the second users after completing speaking with the assistant system, or determining that the user wishes to speak to the assistant while continuing to speak to the other users. Therefore, none of the cited prior art either alone or in combination, teaches or makes obvious the combination of limitations as recited in the independent claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE A K SCHMIEDER whose telephone number is (571)270-1474. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00 M-F.
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/NICOLE A K SCHMIEDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2659
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