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 .
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Specifically, Arveti et al. (US 20230222044 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
2. Claims 21-27, 29, and 31-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 21 recites “API.” However, the claim does not define what API stands for. The claim is therefore indefinite as this acronym is undefined.
Claims 21-27, 29, and 31-42 are rejected for the same reasons as Claim 21.
Claim 42 recites “wherein the API query includes an amount of time for a second meeting bot to join the video conference.” However, it is unclear whether the amount of time to join the video conference is referring to the time it takes in order for the joining to occur or if it is referring to how long the joining takes place. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
2. Claims 21-26 and 31-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pace et al. (US 20200351405 A1) in view of O’Connell et al. (US 20230344965 A1), Huffman et al. (US 20220272108 A1), and Arveti et al. (US 20230222044 A1).
Claim 21 Pace teaches a computer-implemented method for improving performance in a video conferencing system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, a request for a meeting bot (Pace, FIG. 3, chatbot 260, selecting a chatbot from a plurality of different chatbots in response to a particular chat request) to participate in a video conference being hosted by a video conferencing system, (Examiner notes that “to participate in a video conference being hosted by a video conference system” comprises an intend use statement, i.e. the meeting bot is for an intended purpose of participating in a video conference, and therefore does not have patentable weight) the meeting bot being configured to send audio or video data in the video conference; (Pace, ¶0086, wherein the automation is configured to send voice or video)
obtaining, from the meeting bot, metrics data of the meeting bot that is associated with performance of the video conference; (Pace, FIG. 10, step 515, ¶0134, collect performance data related to the first bot performing tasking of the first engagement scenario)
calculating a performance value based on the metrics data of the meeting bot; (Pace, FIG. 10, step 520, ¶0135, calculating “channel robotic intelligence quotient” (RIQ) scores for the first bot based on the performance data) and
performing, by the computing system, a task based on the performance value, (Pace, FIG. 10, step 535, ¶0136, modifying a deployment manner of the bot based on RIQ) wherein the task performed includes updating one or more parameters of the video conferencing system based on the performance value. (Pace, FIG. 10, step 535, ¶0136, modifying a deployment parameter of the bot based on RIQ)
However, Pace does not explicitly teach wherein the metrics data include API query data that describes an amount of time for an action that has been performed by the meeting bot in the video conference;
wherein the metrics data include media statistics data that describes a quality of audio data and a quality of video data received by the meeting bot;
receiving a request from an automated choreographer for a meeting bot; and
granting, by the computing system, access control of the meeting bot to the automated choreographer, wherein the automated choreographer is enabled to control the meeting bot in the video conference,
wherein the metrics data include media statistics data that describes a quality of audio data and a quality of video data received by the meeting bot.
From a related technology, O’Connell teaches metrics data include media statistics data that describes a quality of audio data and a quality of video data received by the client device participating in the meeting. (FIG. 5, step 503, ¶0090, receiving device data from client participant of video conference including audio and video quality)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Pace to incorporate the teachings of O’Connell to gather participate data from the meeting bot devices in order to more effective analysis conference performance and improve network resource utilization.
However, Pace in view of O’Connell does not explicitly teach wherein the metrics data include API query data that describes an amount of time for an action that has been performed by the meeting bot in the video conference;
receiving a request from an automated choreographer for a meeting bot; and
granting, by the computing system, access control of the meeting bot to the automated choreographer, wherein the automated choreographer is enabled to control the meeting bot in the video conference,
wherein the metrics data include media statistics data that describes a quality of audio data and a quality of video data received by the meeting bot.
From a related technology, Huffman teaches receiving a request from an automated choreographer for a meeting bot; (Huffman, ¶0043, receiving a command from command and control computer for a bot, wherein a command for a bot comprises a request received for the bot, and the command and control computer comprises an automated choreographer) and
granting, by the computing system, access control of the meeting bot to the automated choreographer, wherein the automated choreographer is enabled to control the meeting bot in the video conference. (Huffman, ¶0043, wherein the command and control computer has access control for the bots)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the chatbot system being implemented by Pace to incorporate the command and control computer element utilized in Huffman to have an controller that can choreograph and control the meeting bots within video conference while minimally taxing network resources.
However, Pace in view of O’Connell and Huffman and does not explicitly teach wherein the metrics data include API query data that describes an amount of time for an action that has been performed by the meeting bot in the video conference.
From a related technology, Arveti teaches wherein the metrics data that describes an amount of time for an action that has been performed by a bot. (Arveti, ¶0007, ¶0109, wherein metrics data include data that describes an amount of time for an action in the form of an average time for a bot to handle an instance, wherein handling an instance is an action)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the chatbot system being implemented by Pace to gathering metrics data related time performance time utilized in Arveti to have analyze performance related to efficiency such as performance times.
Claim 22 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the meeting bot is selected from a plurality of meeting bots. (Pace, FIG. 3, Chatbot 260 of a plurality of Chatbots 260)
Claim 23 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches sending a report to a developer of the video conferencing system based on the performance value and the metrics data. (Pace, ¶0067, invoking a human agent intervention, i.e. a report, based upon a threshold confidence level)
Claim 24 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches sending an alert to a developer of the video conferencing system when the performance value exceeds a threshold. (Pace, ¶0067, invoking a human agent intervention, i.e. a report, based upon a threshold confidence level)
Claim 25 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches updating one or more parameters of the video conferencing system based on the performance value and the metrics data. (Pace, FIG. 10, step 535, ¶0136, modifying a deployment parameter of the bot based on RIQ)
Claim 26 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches storing the metrics data in a metrics database; (Pace, ¶0038, storing data in databases 220) and
granting access to the metrics database to a developer of the video conferencing system. (Pace, ¶0038, granting access to the database via query to developers)
Claim 30 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the metrics data include API query data that describes an amount of time for the meeting bot to perform an action in the video conference. (Pace, ¶0047, wherein the metrics data include an average wait time in response to a request)
Claim 31 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 30, wherein the API query data includes an amount of time for the meeting bot to send a chat message in the video conference, (Pace, ¶0047, wherein the response comprises a chat message in the video conference) an amount of time for the meeting bot to send a notification in the video conference, or an amount of time for the meeting bot to join the video conference.
Claim 32 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the API user is an automated choreographer (Pace, FIG. 10, step 520, ¶0135, wherein the bot is an automated choreographer as its performance comprises tests of the video conferencing system that are being evaluated) that runs recurring tests of the video conferencing system. (Examiner notes that “that runs recurring tests…” comprises an intended use statement as the claim does not incorporates the limitation of “runs recurring tests of the video conference system” into the claim, but rather states that the automated choreographer is intended to run recurring tests, but not necessarily as part of the claim)
Claim 33 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the API user is a developer of the video conferencing system (Pace, FIG. 10, step 520, ¶0135, wherein the bot is developer of the video conferencing system that are being evaluated as it contributes to the development of features of the video conferencing system) that is testing a feature for the video conferencing system. (Examiner notes that “that is testing a feature…” comprises an intended use statement as the claim does not incorporates the limitation of “testing a feature for the video conference system” into the claim, but rather states that the developer is intended to test a feature, but that this is not necessarily part of the claim)
Claim 34 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the request includes a computer attribute of the meeting bot, and wherein the meeting bot is selected from the plurality of meeting bots based on the computer attribute. (Pace, ¶0061, wherein a computer attribute, such as a topic of conversation is part of the request and the bot is selected based on this attribute)
Claim 35 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the request includes a network attribute associated with a network connection of the meeting bot, and wherein the meeting bot is selected from the plurality of meeting bots based on the network attribute. (Pace, ¶0061, wherein a social media, i.e. network, attribute is part of the request and topic of conversation, i.e. compute attribute, and the bot is selected based on these attributes)
Claim 36 is taught by Pace in view O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti as described for Claim 21.
Claim 37 is taught by Pace in view O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti as described for Claim 24.
Claim 38 is taught by Pace in view O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti as described for Claim 31.
Claim 39 is taught by Pace in view O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti as described for Claim 29.
Claim 40 is taught by Pace in view O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti as described for Claim 21.
Claim 41 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the metrics data is a proxy of a human participant's experience of the video conference. (O’Connell, FIG. 5, step 503, ¶0090, receiving device data from client participant of video conference including audio and video quality, wherein participant metrics data is a proxy for a human participants experience of the meeting)
Claim 42 Pace in view of O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches wherein the API query includes an amount of time for a second meeting bot to join the video conference. (Arveti, ¶0007, ¶0109, wherein metrics data include data that describes an amount of time for an action in the form of an average time for a bot to handle an instance, wherein handling an instance joining a meeting)
3. Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pace et al. (US 20200351405 A1) in view of O’Connell et al. (US 20230344965 A1), Huffman et al. (US 20220272108 A1) and Arveti et al. (US 20230222044 A1) and in further view of Balaji et al. (US 20220385494 A1).
Claim 27 Pace in view of Huffman, O’Connell, Huffman, and Arveti teaches Claim 21, and further teaches selecting, in response to the second request, a second meeting bot from a plurality of meeting bots; (Pace, FIG. 2, chatbots 260, ¶0061, selecting a chatbot from a plurality of different chatbots in response to a particular chat request)
obtaining, from the second meeting bot, metrics data of the second meeting bot that is associated with performance of the video conference; and wherein the performance value is further calculated based on the metrics data of the second meeting bot. (Pace, FIG. 10, step 515, ¶0134, collect performance data related to a second bot performing tasking of the first engagement scenario)
However Pace in view of Huffman does not explicitly teach receiving, from the API user, a second request for a second meeting bot to participate in the video conference; and granting control access of the second meeting bot to the API user, wherein the API user is enabled to control the second meeting bot in the video conference.
From a related technology, Balaji teaches receiving, from the API user, a second request for a second meeting bot to participate in the video conference; (Balaji, FIG. 4, step 410, ¶0049 and ¶0054, a second API user joining a meeting hosted by the computing system and by joining the meeting the system instantiates a second virtual meeting participant, i.e. a bot program, wherein joining the meeting comprises requesting the meeting bot to participate in the video conference) and
granting control access of the second meeting bot to the API user, wherein the API user is enabled to control the second meeting bot in the video conference. (Balaji, FIG. 4, step 410, ¶0049 and ¶0054, wherein joining a meeting of the second meeting bot comprises gaining control access to the second meeting bot; Examiner notes that a user is innately enabled to control meeting bots)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Pace in view of Huffman to incorporate the teachings of Balaji in relation to API users and granting membership and access to them within video conferences in order to effectively utilize network resources as intended by users and avoid unnecessary usage of network resources.
4. Claim 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pace et al. (US 20200351405 A1) in view of O’Connell et al. (US 20230344965 A1) and Huffman et al. (US 20220272108 A1) and Arveti et al. (US 20230222044 A1) and in further view of Jiang et al. (US 11101906 B1).
Claim 29 Pace in view of Huffman, O’Connell, Huffman, Arveti and Jiang teaches Claim 28, and further teaches wherein the media statistics data include an audio bitrate of the video conference, a resolution setting of the video conference, a frames-per-second (FPS) rate of the video conference, or a video bitrate of the video conference. (Jiang, Col. 11, Lines 20-35, metrics including ingest data, such as bits per second)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER PALACA CADORNA whose telephone number is (571)270-0584. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00-7:00.
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/CHRISTOPHER P CADORNA/Examiner, Art Unit 2444
/JOHN A FOLLANSBEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2444