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 .
Claims 1-5, 12-15 and 17 have been presented for examination and are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 09/27/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11 and 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but may be allowable if only the claim languages overcome all rejections and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 of this title, 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, 3-4, 12, 14 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wolter et al. (US 20200344293 hereinafter Wolter) in view Thymegobbel et al. (WO 2019194965 hereinafter Thymegobble).
With respect to claims 1 and 17, Wolter teaches a method for associating intent knowledge between intent systems (Wolter, see FIG. 1 and paragraph [0065] intents and statuses of the high-level controller 110 as well as the intents and statuses of the mid-level controller 120 may be stored and updated in the database 314 by the database server 312), the method comprising:
when intent knowledge of a first intent in a first intent system is updated, receiving, by a second intent system, an intent knowledge update notification sent by the first intent system (Wolter, see paragraph [0007] receiving, by the one or more processors, a first message from the first controller, the first message includes an intent for the second controller; updating, by the one or more processors, the cloud database with the intent for the second controller; synchronizing, by the one or more processors, the robot database with the updated cloud database, the synchronized robot database includes the intent for the second controller… Paragraphs [0064, 0091] further discloses, intents and statuses of the high-level controller 110 as well as the intents and statuses of the mid-level controller 120 may be stored and updated in the database 314 by the database server 312. … the mid-level controller 120 may interact with a master node in a second cluster, such as sending intents to the database server of a master node in the second cluster. The database server of the second cluster may store and/or update the intents in the database of the second cluster. [0091] The server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 557 of the updated intent. …the server adaptor 522 may translate 559 the updated intent, and/or convert from a poll based communication interface to a request based communication interface…),
wherein the intent knowledge update notification comprises an update type and an intent keyword of the first intent (Wolter, see FIG. 5B and paragraphs [0085, 0086] while watching for updates, the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 545 of the updated intent. The server adaptor 522 may translate 546 the updated intent. Parag. [0086] FIG. 4A, the status include current state, such as current position, target position, and intent. For instance, the status may indicate a status of the task to be completed based on the intent written by the client controller 510. For example, the status may indicate that wheels had been turned (i.e., equivalent to keyword ). Paragraph [0089-0091] FIG. 5B, the client controller 510 may change the intent (i.e., the change the intent is equivalent to updated type) for the server controller 520 (i.e., note: in response to changing an intent by client controller 510, server adaptor 522 receives a notification of the changed intent and the changed intent is update type)); and
associating, by the second intent system based on the intent knowledge update notification, the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent with intent knowledge of a second intent in the second intent system (Wolter, see paragraphs [0087-0088] controllers 510, 520 are running on the robot, the database server on the robot may update the robot database with the received status (i.e., update notification). In instances where more than one database needs to be updated, a replication component may synchronize the databases. Any of a number of replication patterns may be used. For instance, a replication component may synchronize the stored intent (i.e., first intent) from the cloud database to the robot database(i.e., equivalent to associating second intent into stored first intent by synchronizing the first and second intents). A replication component may synchronize (i.e., equivalent to associate) the stored status from the robot database to the cloud database (.i.e., note: synchronizing the first intent with the second intent)),
Wolter yet fails to explicitly disclose wherein the first intent is a subintent of the second intent.
However, Thymegobble discloses wherein the first intent is a subintent of the second intent (Thymegobble, see page 2, lines 6-11, A shared context manager is configured to receive from the first agent a first intent having a first data field (i.e., first data field is equivalent to subintent), and to receive from the second agent a second intent having a second data field. The shared context manager forms a modified second intent based upon the first data field, and provides the modified second intent to the second agent. An intent stack is configured to receive the first intent and the modified second intent from the shared context manager and to store the first intent and the modified second intent).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Wolter with the teaching of Thymegobble to provide the method for associating the intent knowledge of a first intent with the second intent. When a first intent is a sub-intent of a second (parent) intent, a structure known as hierarchical intent management, sub-intents allow teams to train models on more specialized datasets. High-level intents can use broader training examples, while lower-level sub-intents are trained on more specific utterances, increasing precision. It offers several advantages in chatbot design and conversational AI, primarily focusing on better organization, increased accuracy, and a more natural user experience. It improve accuracy and reduced ambiguity by structuring intents hierarchically.
With respect to claim 3, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches the method, wherein the intent knowledge update notification further comprises an identifier of the first intent system, and after the receiving, by a second intent system, an intent knowledge update notification sent by the first intent system, the method further comprises:
sending, by the second intent system, an intent knowledge update response to the first intent system (Wolter, see paragraph [0064] intents and statuses of the high-level controller 110 as well as the intents and statuses of the mid-level controller 120 may be stored and updated in the database 314 by the database server 312. … the mid-level controller 120 may interact with a master node in a second cluster, such as sending intents to the database server of a master node in the second cluster. The database server of the second cluster may store and/or update the intents in the database of the second cluster. FIG. 5B and paragraph [0085] further discloses while watching for updates, the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 545 of the updated intent. The server adaptor 522 may translate 546 the updated intent).
With respect to claim 4, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches the method, wherein the update type is adding the intent knowledge of the first intent, and the intent knowledge update notification further comprises an intent driven object and intent driven action of the first intent(Wolter, see FIG. 5B and paragraph [0085] while watching for updates, the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 545 of the updated intent. The server adaptor 522 may translate 546 the updated intent (i.e., in response to changing an intent in data base server 530 triggered by client controller 510, server adaptor 522 receives a notification of updated intent indicates the changed intent comprising a state and status of an object associated with the intent); and
the associating, by the second intent system based on the intent knowledge update notification, the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent with intent knowledge of a second intent in the second intent system (Wolter, see paragraphs [0087-0088] controllers 510, 520 are running on the robot, the database server on the robot may update the robot database with the received status (i.e., notification). In instances where more than one database needs to be updated, a replication component may synchronize the databases. Any of a number of replication patterns may be used. For instance, a replication component may synchronize the stored intent (first intent) from the cloud database to the robot database) comprises:
finding, by the second intent system based on the intent driven object and intent driven action of the first intent, the intent knowledge of the second intent in the second intent system, wherein the intent driven object of the first intent is comprised in an intent driven object of the second intent, and/or the intent driven action of the first intent is comprised in an intent driven action of the second intent (Wolter, see paragraph [0064] intents and statuses of the high-level controller 110 as well as the intents and statuses of the mid-level controller 120 may be stored and updated in the database 314 by the database server 312. … the mid-level controller 120 may interact with a master node in a second cluster, such as sending intents to the database server of a master node in the second cluster. The database server of the second cluster may store and/or update the intents in the database of the second cluster. FIG. 5B and paragraph [0085] further discloses while watching for updates, the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 545 of the updated intent. The server adaptor 522 may translate 546 the updated intent); and
associating, by the second intent system, the intent keyword, intent driven object, and intent driven action of the first intent with the intent knowledge of the second intent (Wolter, see paragraphs [0087-0088] controllers 510, 520 are running on the robot, the database server on the robot may update the robot database with the received status (i.e., notification). In instances where more than one database needs to be updated, a replication component may synchronize the databases. Any of a number of replication patterns may be used. For instance, a replication component may synchronize the stored intent (first intent) from the cloud database to the robot database).
With respect to claim 12, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches a method for associating intent knowledge between intent systems, the method comprising:
determining that intent knowledge of a first intent in a first intent system is updated (Wolter, see FIG. 5B and paragraph [0089] the client controller 510 may write a new intent based on the updated status. For example, the client controller 510 may determine that no box exists on shelf A, thus may change the intent to “pick up a box from shelf B.” For another instance, the client controller 510 may change the intent based on other factors, such as based on a new intent from a controller with a higher hierarchy than client controller 510, based on a user input, or based on detecting an emergency. The client adaptor 512 may translate 553 the received intent, and change 554 the intent of the database server(s) 530); and
sending, by the first intent system, an intent knowledge update notification to a second intent system (Wolter, see paragraph [0091] the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 557 of the updated intent. … the server adaptor 522 may translate 559 the updated intent, and/or convert from a poll based communication interface to a request based communication interface. The server adaptor 522 may then actuate 560 the new intent on the server controller 520. Based on the new intent, the server controller 520 may actuate one or more mechanical and/or electrical components, or may send commands to another controller),
to enable the second intent system to associate, based on the intent knowledge update notification, the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to an intent keyword of the first intent with intent knowledge of a second intent in the second intent system, and the intent knowledge update notification comprises an update type and the intent keyword of the first intent (Wolter, see paragraphs [0087-0088] controllers 510, 520 are running on the robot, the database server on the robot may update the robot database with the received status (i.e., notification). In instances where more than one database needs to be updated, a replication component may synchronize the databases. Any of a number of replication patterns may be used. For instance, a replication component may synchronize the stored intent (first intent) from the cloud database to the robot database. A replication component may synchronize (i.e., equivalent to associate) the stored status from the robot database to the cloud database (.i.e., note: synchronize replication of the first intent with the second intent). FIG. 5B and paragraph [0089-0091] further discloses FIG. 5B, the client controller 510 may change the intent (i.e., equivalent to updated type) for the server controller 520. …the client controller 510 may write a new intent based on the updated status),
Wolter yet fails to explicitly disclose wherein the first intent is a subintent of the second intent,
However, Thymegobble discloses wherein the first intent is a subintent of the second intent, and the intent knowledge update notification comprises an update type and the intent keyword of the first intent (Thymegobble, see page 2, lines 6-11, a shared context manager is configured to receive from the first agent a first intent having a first data field (i.e., first data field is equivalent to subintent), and to receive from the second agent a second intent having a second data field. The shared context manager forms a modified second intent based upon the first data field, and provides the modified second intent to the second agent. An intent stack is configured to receive the first intent and the modified second intent from the shared context manager and to store the first intent and the modified second intent).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Wolter with the teaching of Thymegobble to provide the method for associating the intent knowledge of a first intent with the second intent. When a first intent is a sub-intent of a second (parent) intent, a structure known as hierarchical intent management, sub-intents allow teams to train models on more specialized datasets. High-level intents can use broader training examples, while lower-level sub-intents are trained on more specific utterances, increasing precision. It offers several advantages in chatbot design and conversational AI, primarily focusing on better organization, increased accuracy, and a more natural user experience. It improve accuracy and reduced ambiguity by structuring intents hierarchically.
With respect to claim 14, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches the method, wherein after the sending, by the first intent system, the intent knowledge update notification to the second intent system (Wolter, see FIG. 5B and paragraphs [0085, 0086] while watching for updates, the server adaptor 522 may receive a notification 545 of the updated intent. The server adaptor 522 may translate 546 the updated intent), the method further comprises:
receiving, by the first intent system, an intent knowledge update response sent by the second intent system (Wolter, see paragraph [0007] receiving, by the one or more processors, a first message from the first controller, the first message includes an intent for the second controller; updating, by the one or more processors, the cloud database with the intent for the second controller; synchronizing, by the one or more processors, the robot database with the updated cloud database, the synchronized robot database includes the intent for the second controller).
Claims 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wolter et al. (US 20200344293 hereinafter Wolter) in view Thymegobbel et al. (WO 2019194965 hereinafter Thymegobble) further in view of Mladin et al (US 20220014594 hereinafter Mladin).
With respect to claims 2 and 13, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches the method, yet fails to explicitly disclose , wherein before the receiving, by the second intent system, the intent knowledge update notification sent by the first intent system, the method further comprises:
sending, by the second intent system, an intent knowledge update subscription request to the first intent system, wherein the intent knowledge update subscription request comprises an identifier of the second intent system and the update type; and
receiving, by the second intent system, an intent knowledge update subscription response sent by the first intent system, wherein the intent knowledge update subscription response comprises at least one of a subscription identifier or a subscription status, wherein the intent knowledge update notification further comprises the subscription identifier.
However, Mladin discloses wherein before the receiving, by the second intent system, the intent knowledge update notification sent by the first intent system, the method further comprises:
sending, by the second intent system, an intent knowledge update subscription request to the first intent system, wherein the intent knowledge update subscription request comprises an identifier of the second intent system and the update type (Mladin, see paragraph [0101-0102] the methods comprise the automatic creation of topic instances by the service layer based on service layer events and triggers including: updates of announced resources and the related synchronization events; long-standing query/disco very settings or repetition of queries/discoveries; and related subscription events. The methods comprise maintaining dynamically the set of Publishers by using publishing intent based on RESTful messages or indicators included in resource announcement messages. The methods comprise maintaining dynamically the set of subscribers by using subscription intent based on indicators included in long-term discovery messages); and
receiving, by the second intent system, an intent knowledge update subscription response sent by the first intent system, wherein the intent knowledge update subscription response comprises at least one of a subscription identifier or a subscription status, wherein the intent knowledge update notification further comprises the subscription identifier (Mladin, see paragraph [0005] a first apparatus may receive, from a second apparatus, a first signal comprising first information indicating a publishing intent associated with a topic indicator. The first apparatus may receive, from a third apparatus, a second signal comprising second information indicating a subscription intent associated with the topic indicator. The first apparatus may generate, based on the publishing intent and the subscription request, a topic instance. The first apparatus may send a third signal comprising an announcement message indicating the generated topic instance. The first apparatus may receive, from the third apparatus, a fourth signal comprising a subscription request for the generated topic instance. The first apparatus may send, to the third apparatus, at least one fifth signal comprising notifications and publish instances associated with the generated topic instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Wolter-Thymegobble with the teaching of Mladin to provide the method for an intent knowledge update subscription response containing a subscription identifier or subscription status from a first intent system allows a second intent system to establish reliable, state-aware communication for synchronizing and real-time data updates. The subscription response ensures that the second system is immediately notified of changes in intent knowledge.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wolter et al. (US 20200344293 hereinafter Wolter) in view Thymegobbel et al. (WO 2019194965 hereinafter Thymegobble) in view of A et al. (US 20200313980 hereinafter A) further in view of Bobbarjung et al. (US 11394667 hereinafter Bobbarjung).
With respect to claims 5 and 15, Wolter-Thymegobble teaches the method, yet fails to explicitly disclose wherein the update type is deleting the intent knowledge of the first intent, and the associating, by the second intent system based on the intent knowledge update notification, the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent with intent knowledge of a second intent in the second intent system comprises:
However, A discloses wherein the update type is deleting the intent knowledge of the first intent, and the associating, by the second intent system based on the intent knowledge update notification, the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent with intent knowledge of a second intent in the second intent system (A, see paragraph [0053] reactive mappers 30 that perform update translations (that is, translating changes in the unified intent data model that results in updates to values of low-level configuration information, without creation or deletion of elements in the low-level configuration data) may operate as follows. The reactive mappers 30 that perform updates may override single elements. That is, performance of these reactive mappers may result in deletion of an element value, e.g., by replacing an old element value with a new value) comprises:
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Wolter-Thymegobble with the teaching of A to provide the method for migrating and updating semantic knowledge within natural language understanding (NLU) systems. The primary advantage is the seamless, automated re-contextualization of knowledge, ensuring accuracy in goal-oriented dialogue systems while maintaining data integrity.
Wolter-Thymegobble-A yet fails to explicitly disclose searching, by the second intent system based on the intent keyword of the first intent, the second intent system for the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent; and deleting, by the second intent system, the found intent knowledge of the first intent.
However, discloses Bobbarjung searching, by the second intent system based on the intent keyword of the first intent, the second intent system for the intent knowledge that is of the first intent and that corresponds to the intent keyword of the first intent; and deleting, by the second intent system, the found intent knowledge of the first intent (Bobbarjung, see page 15, lines 1-10, 28-33, Remove matched intent key-phrases from the message. If the chatbot determines that the user's intent is to search a knowledge base or FAQ, it will first create a search query as described above. Then, the system sends the query to an Elastic Search-based search engine to fetch relevant documents to answer the query. Since searching the knowledge base for every message would be expensive, a better solution is to run an offline conflict identification process at regular intervals. By using the intent keywords (and eventually user messages matching that intent) to search the knowledge base for matches, the system can identify potential conflicts).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Wolter-Thymegobble-A with the teaching of Bobbarjung to provide the method for searching for and deleting specific intent knowledge that corresponds to a primary intent ensures that the system's internal understanding remains consistent. By removing mismatched or redundant data associated with a specific keyword, the system reduces bidirectional ambiguity, leading to more accurate task execution.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
PG. Pub. US 20190317837 Computing device for quantifying compute performance across multiple independently executed services, has processing units for causing addressable execution unit to update state machine in accordance with schematized notification.
PG. Pub. US 20200118357 Method of providing output from interface according to different action intent requests from different instances of automated assistant involves providing notification for each action intent request of action intent requests.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-0567. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9 AM -6 PM.
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04/30/2026
/ELIZABETH KASSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2457
/ARIO ETIENNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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