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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 November 21, 2025 has been entered.
Claims 1, 2, 4-5, 11, and 14-15 have been amended. Claims 3 and 13 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 2, 4-9, 11-12, and 14-19 remain pending.
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 1, 2, 4-9, 11-12, and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 1 and 11 are directed to a device and method performing steps to identify first information based on a first voice input received through the microphone, determine second information to be provided to a user in relation to the first information, based on configuration information corresponding to an attribute of the first information, wherein the configuration information includes a designated condition. a designated probability and a designated weight associated with the attribute; output, through the speaker, a first signal for confirming whether second information related to the first information is to be output, receive, through the microphone, a second voice input related to whether the second information is to be output, store, in the memory, an indication as to whether the second information is to be output, based on the second voice input to update preference information related to whether the second information is to be output, receive a third voice input through the microphone, when the first information is identified in the third voice input, determine whether to output the second information in response to the third voice input based on the updated preference information; in a case that it is determined not to output the second information, output a second signal corresponding to the first information through the speaker, without outputting the first signal; and in a case that it is determined to output the second information, output a third signal including the first information and the second information through the speaker, without outputting the first signal. The feature to “identify…” can be achieved by a person hearing a command and mentally understanding the voice input. The limitation to “determine second information…” can be achieved by the person, using mental processing, once the request is understood, determining what additional information that is related to or based on the user’s input, user preferences, conditions, and previous inputs. The step to “output…a first signal….” can be achieved by the person speaking to the user and asking for confirmation that the second information should be provided. The feature to “receive…a second voice input..” is a data gathering step that can be achieved by the person hearing the user’s responses. The step to “store…an indication..” can be achieved by the person, using pen and paper, writing down the user’s responses and preferences. The step to “receive a third input…” is a data gathering step that can be achieved by the person hearing the user’s input. The steps to “determine….” Whether or not to output second information can be achieved by the person referring the indication notes of the user’s responses and preferences, mentally deciding that the second information will be provided or not. The steps to “output” a second signal or a third signal can be achieved by the person speaking the appropriate or determined information or, presenting the responses using pen and paper. The recited limitations are directed a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of the generic computer, apparatus, computer program product, and generic computer components. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claims recite an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the recited generic electronic device, microphone, speaker, memory and processor amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Accordingly, the elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea. The claims are not patent eligible.
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because, as indicated with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements of the generic electronic device, microphone, speaker, memory and processor to perform the various steps amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components. Mere instructions to apply an exception using generic computer components cannot provide an inventive concept. The claims are not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2,4-9, 12, and 15-19 do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application and do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The limitations of the dependent claims are directed to steps of organizing or manipulating information for storing, selecting and determining conditions for outputting or not outputting information.
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, 2, 4-9, 11-12, and 14-19 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.
Claims 1 and 11 recite the newly added limitation determine second information to be provided to a user in relation to the first information, based on configuration information corresponding to an attribute of the first information, wherein the configuration information includes a designated condition. a designated probability and a designated weight associated with the attribute. However, the specification only provides support for a designated condition, or a designated probability or a designated weight as disclosed at page 13, lines 1-10 of the specification, but not all three of a designated condition. a designated probability and a designated weight.
Claims 2,4-9, 12, and 15-19 are similarly rejected as they depend from claims 1 and 11.
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, 2, 4-9, 11-12, and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doss et al (US Patent No. 10,241,754), hereinafter Doss, in view of Baker er al (US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0228006), hereinafter Baker, in view of Edwards (WO 2018/009397).
Doss teaches systems and methods for providing supplemental information with a response to a command. Regarding claim 1, Doss teaches an electronic device (10) comprising: a microphone [(208); col. 4, lines 7-26]; a speaker [(210); col. 6, lines 36-43]; a memory [(204); col. 7, lines 53-58]; and a processor [(202); col. 7, lines 53-58] configured to: identify first information based on a first voice input received through the microphone [col. 4, lined 7-26], determine second information to be provided to a user in relation to the first information, based on configuration information corresponding to an attribute of the first information, wherein the configuration information includes a designated condition. a designated probability and a designated weight associated with the attribute [col. 17, line 38 to col. 18, line 41 – supplemental information provided based on user profile and/or preferences; conditions and flags --- col. 25, line 2 to col. 26, line 3—where providing the supplemental information based user profile and preferences provide forms of conditions, probabilities and weighting and utilizing all three sets of designations is an obvious step requiring only routine skill in the art]; store, in the memory, an indication as to whether the second information is to be output [col. 17, line 38 to col. 18, line 41 – supplemental information provided based on user profile and/or preferences], receive a third voice input through the microphone [col. 3, lines 33-36 – next time the user speaks the request], when the first information is identified in the third voice input, determine whether to output the second information in response to the third voice input [col. 6, lines 36-43; col. 10, lines 15-64; col. 12, line 65 to col. 1, line 20; col. 23, lines 10-21]; in a case that it is determined not to output the second information, output a second signal corresponding to the first information through the speaker, without outputting the first signal [col. 6, lines 36-43; col. 10, lines 15-64; col. 12, line 65 to col. 1, line 20; col. 23, lines 10-21 –provides for multiple information options, where multiple or no information options are output]; and in a case that it is determined to output the second information, output a third signal including the first information and the second information through the speaker, without outputting the first signal. [col. 13, line 54 to col. 14, line 39]. Doss fails to teach output, through the speaker, a first signal for confirming whether second information related to the first information is to be output, receive, through the microphone, a second voice input related to whether the second information is to be output; or updating preference information related to whether the second information is to be output. In a similar field of endeavor, Baker teaches a home automation system that may receive voice command and may be configured to choose one of the control devices to transmit the voice command to for operation, and suggests the system can be enhanced by feedback from the user by providing prompted queries to the user for confirmation and/or identification of an event so as to provide additional information for the system [para 0070]. Therefore, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized the advantages of implementing the user feedback with prompting/confirmation processing suggested by Baker, in the Doss system, for the purpose of providing an enhanced system as suggested by Baker, and therefore improve and enhance the user’s experience and operations with the system. Edwards teaches user preferences may be updated through various interactions between the user and a speech control device to include establishing user’s customization instructions, so as to improve the user’s satisfaction of interacting with the device [para 0044]. Therefore, one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have recognized the advantages of implementing the user customized instructions suggested by Edwards, to update the user’s profile to store information of a user’s preference to output second information, and the results would have been predictable in providing customized system instructions, and thereby improve the user’s experience and satisfaction with the device, as suggested by Edwards.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches store, in the memory, a plurality of pieces of second information related to the first information [supplemental database--- col. 17, line 38 to col. 18, line 14], and select at least one of the plurality of pieces of second information based on configuration information [col. 25, line 2 to col. 26, line 3].
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to output the first signal, after receiving the third voice input, without storing another indication as to whether the second information is to be output in the memory, when the selection of the at least one of the plurality of pieces of second information is omitted based on the designated condition or the designated probability with respect to the at least of plurality of pieces of second information [conditions and flags --- col. 25, line 2 to col. 26, line 3 – where determining optimum operation settings based on user inputs or preferences is an obvious step requiring only routine skill in the art].
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker the processor is further configured to apply a designated weight for selecting the at least one of the plurality of pieces of second information based on the stored indication as to whether the second information is to be output [col. 24, line 49 to col, 25, line 2].
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches the processor is further configured to determine, when the second voice input related to whether the second information is to be output is not received for a designated period of time, after the output of the first signal, that the second voice input has been received [Doss col. 22, lines 31-62; col. 23, lines 35-40; col. 25, lines 26-52].
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches the processor is further configured to generate the second information based on at least a portion of text data extracted from the first information [Doss col. 6, lines 21-24; col. 12, lines 13-42].
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches the processor further is configured to generate, when the first voice input is for performing a designated operation, the second information based on the first voice input [Doss wishing individual happy birthday…turn off sprinklers – col. 3, lines 25-36; col. 25, lines 26-52].
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Doss, Edwards and Baker teaches the processor is further configured to: omit the output of the first signal through the speaker based on whether the third signal is output, and output the third signal through the speaker [prioritizing supplemental info, where omitting lower priority or irrelevant info is an obvious step requiring only routine skill in the art – col. 3, lines 61-64].
Claims 11, 12, and 14-19 are rejected under similar rationale as claims 1, 2, and 4-9.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA A ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)272-7598. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,TH,F 11:30-8:00.
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ANGELA A. ARMSTRONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2659
/ANGELA A ARMSTRONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2659