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 .
Response to Amendment
This office action is responsive to applicant’s remarks received on February 17, 2025. Claims 1-20 remain pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended claims filed on February 17, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
A: Applicant’s Remarks
For applicant’s remarks “See Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment” filed on February 17, 2025.
A: Examiner’s Response
Applicant argues that the cited references either alone or in combination do not teach, disclose or suggest determining that the communication has triggered a pre-configured rule; and generating, using the transcript and during the communication, a notification having text content instructing the first user to perform an action as part of the communication in accordance with the pre-configured rule.
Examiner understands Applicant’s arguments but respectfully disagree. Chang ‘296 at Paragraph 0375 discloses determining that the communication has triggered a pre-configured rule. Here, while displaying captions interface 920A (e.g., overlaid on podcast interface 940A), device 901 displays video notification 948Aa indicating that device 901 is currently receiving an invitation to join a live communication session (e.g., video call and/or conference call). NOTE: One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that because the device 901 displays video notification 948A indicating that device 901 is currently receiving an invitation to join a live communication session, a pre-configured rule was in place to execute the display to display the notification.
Moreover, Chang ‘296 at Paragraph 0375 also discloses generating, using the transcript and during the communication, a notification having text content instructing the first user to perform an action as part of the communication in accordance with the pre-configured rule. Here, while displaying video notification 948Aa, device 901 detects selection of acceptance affordance 948Aa of call notification 948A to accept the invitation to join the live communication session. The selection is a user input 905Ac (e.g., mouse click and/or touch gesture) on acceptance affordance 948Aa. As shown in Fig. 9AD, in response to detecting user input 905Ac, device 901 displays communication interface 954A of a video communication application and initiates a live communication session with contacts “Jane” and “Anne”. NOTE: One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that because there is a display of video notification 948Aa and because the device 901 detects selection of acceptance affordance 948Aa of call notification 948A to accept the invitation to join the live communication session, there is a notification (“the invitation”) having text content instructing the first user to perform an action (“selection of acceptance by the user”) as part of the communication in accordance with the pre-configured rule. Examiner interprets the display of video notification 948A as a notification having a text and the acceptance as an action performed by the user. Thus, there is a notification having text content instructing the first user to perform an action as part of the communication in accordance with the pre-configured rule.
Accordingly, it is submitted that the present application is not in condition for allowance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Claims 1, 4, 12, 15 & 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. (US 20230164296 A1 hereinafter, Chang ‘296) in view of Mielke et al (US 20230135179 hereinafter, Mielke ‘179).
Regarding claim 18; Chang ‘296 discloses a system (Fig. 5B, Device 500) comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 5B, Processor(s) 516);
and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (Fig. 5B, Memory 518) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (i.e. Memory 518 of personal electronic device 500 can include one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums, for storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by one or more computer processors 516, for example, can cause the computer processors to perform the techniques. Paragraph 0202),
cause the system to: receive, from a client device of a first user and during a communication between the first user and a second user (Fig. 7, Step 704 i.e. The live communication user interface includes (704) one or more representations (e.g., 621, 623, 625, 627, and/or 629) (e.g., avatar, still image and/or video (e.g., live video feed)) of one or more participants (e.g., 620, 622, 624, 626, and/or 628) (e.g., the first user and/or the second user) of the live communication session, wherein a first representation (e.g., 621, 623, 625, 627, and/or 629) of the one or more representations of the one or more participants is displayed at a location and at a size in the live communication user interface. Paragraph 0264) a communication stream containing contents of the communication (Fig. 6A, #604 i.e. The live communication user interface includes (706) a first caption (e.g., 604) (e.g., caption information for one or more utterances and/or transcription of one or more utterances) in a first area (e.g., 606 in FIGS. 6A and/or 606 in FIG. 6D) of the live communication user interface, the first caption corresponding to (e.g., transcribing and/or describing) a first portion of audio data of (e.g., received, processed, and/or transmitted as part of) the live communication session (e.g., one or more utterances and/or background sounds as described in reference to FIG. 6A). Paragraph 0264)
generate, from the communication stream and during the communication, a transcript (Fig. 6A, #604) having a textual representation of the contents of the communication (Fig. 6A, #606 i.e. At Fig. 6A, interface 614 further includes captions 604. Captions 604 are displayed in caption area 606. Captions 604 include a transcription of utterances made by remote user 622. Paragraphs 0222 & 0264);
determine that the communication has triggered a pre-configured rule (i.e. While displaying captions interface 920A (e.g., overlaid on podcast interface 940A), device 901 displays video notification 948Aa indicating that device 901 is currently receiving an invitation to join a live communication session (e.g., video call and/or conference call). NOTE: One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that because the device 901 displays video notification 948A indicating that device 901 is currently receiving an invitation to join a live communication session, a pre-configured rule was in place to execute the display to display the notification. Paragraph 0375);
generate, using the transcript and during the communication, a notification having text content instructing the first user to perform an action as part of the communication in accordance with the pre-configured rule (i.e. While displaying video notification 948Aa, device 901 detects selection of acceptance affordance 948Aa of call notification 948A to accept the invitation to join the live communication session. The selection is a user input 905Ac (e.g., mouse click and/or touch gesture) on acceptance affordance 948Aa. As shown in FIG. 9AD, in response to detecting user input 905Ac, device 901 displays communication interface 954A of a video communication application and initiates a live communication session with contacts “Jane” and “Anne”. Paragraph 0375)
and provide the notification for display within a graphical user interface of the client device of the first user during the communication (i.e. At Fig. 6A, device 600 displays one or more indications (e.g., 610) to indicate that a caption corresponds to a respective participant. As illustrated, indication 610 (e.g., a name and/or image of remote user 622) indicates that captions 604 correspond to remote user 622. Indication 610 can be any representation of the respective participant (e.g., name, initials, avatar, and/or image). Additionally, as depicted, device 600 displays indication 612 (e.g., in captions area 606) that captions 604 are machine generated. Indication 612 can distinguish captions 604 from other text, such as text composed by a participant (e.g., text message and/or chat messages as part of the live communication session). Paragraph 0224)
Examiner reasonably believes that Chang ‘296 discloses the notifications as expressed above. However, Examiner cites Mielke ‘179 to cure any deficiencies of Chang ‘296.
Mielke ‘179 discloses a notification for the first user with respect to the contents of the communication (i.e. A notification controller may provide information regarding content objects to a client system 130. Information may be pushed to a client system 130 as notifications, or information may be pulled from a client system 130 responsive to a user input comprising a user request received from a client system 130. Paragraph 0054).
Chang ‘296 and Mielke ‘179 are combinable because they are from same field of endeavor of speech systems (Mielke ‘179 at “Technical Field”).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the speech system as taught by Chang ‘296 by adding the notifications taught by Mielke ‘179. The motivation for doing so would have been advantageous to provide an assistant system that may better assist a user when obtaining information or services and/or provide information or services on behalf of a user. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chang ‘296 with Mielke ‘179 to obtain the invention as specified.
Regarding claim 1; Claim 1 contains substantially the same subject matter as claim 18. Therefore, claim 1 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 18.
Regarding claim 4; Chang ‘296 discloses wherein generating the transcript from the communication stream comprises generating, from the communication stream, a transcript snippet that corresponds to a segment of the communication that begins and ends with speech from the first user or the second user (i.e. The live communication user interface includes (706) a first caption (e.g., 604) (e.g., caption information for one or more utterances and/or transcription of one or more utterances) in a first area (e.g., 606 in FIGS. 6A and/or 606 in FIG. 6D) of the live communication user interface, the first caption corresponding to (e.g., transcribing and/or describing) a first portion of audio data of (e.g., received, processed, and/or transmitted as part of) the live communication session (e.g., one or more utterances and/or background sounds as described in reference to FIG. 6A). In some embodiments, the first caption is a transcript of words (or sounds) spoken or uttered by the one or more participants that are displayed in the live communication session. Paragraph 0264).
Regarding claim 12; Claim 12 contains substantially the same subject matter as claim 18. Therefore, claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 18. However, claim 12 further discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer device to perform the method. Paragraph 0008 of Chang ‘296 discloses wherein non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more processors of a computer system to perform a method.
Regarding claim 15; Claim 15 contains substantially the same subject matter as claim 4. Therefore, claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claims 2, 3, 5-11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 & 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
2. Claim 3 depend on indicated objected claim 2. Therefore, by virtue of it’s dependency, claims 3 is also indicated as objected subject matter.
3. Claims 8-10 depend on indicated objected claim 7. Therefore, by virtue of their dependency, claims 8-10 are also indicated as objected subject matter.
4. Claim 14 depend on indicated objected claim 13. Therefore, by virtue of it’s dependency, claims 14 is also indicated as objected subject matter.
3. Claim 20 depend on indicated objected claim 19. Therefore, by virtue of it’s dependency, claims 19 is also indicated as objected subject matter.
Examiners Statement of Reasons for Allowance
The cited reference (Chang) teaches wherein a system generally relates to embodiments for a live communication interface for managing captions.
The cited reference (Mielke ‘179) teaches wherein in one embodiment, a system includes an automatic speech recognition (ASR) module, a natural-language understanding (NLU) module, a dialog manager, one or more agents, an arbitrator, a delivery system, one or more processors, and a non-transitory memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to receive a user input, process the user input using the ASR module, the NLU module, the dialog manager, one or more of the agents, the arbitrator, and the delivery system, and provide a response to the user input.
The cited references fail to disclose generating, during the communication, contextual information corresponding to the contents of the communication using a natural language processing model; and generating, during the communication, an enriched transcript that includes the textual representation of the contents of the communication and the contextual information, wherein generating the notification for the first user using the transcript comprises generating the notification for the first user using the enriched transcript; wherein generating the notification for the first user using the transcript comprises: determining a presence of one or more triggering utterances within the transcript; identifying a pre-configured rule associated with the one or more triggering utterances; and generating the notification to prompt one or more utterances from the first user to the second user in accordance with the pre-configured rule; determining that the communication has reached a threshold time established by a pre-configured rule; and generating the notification to prompt one or more utterances from the first user to the second user in accordance with the pre-configured rule; providing, for display within a graphical user interface of an additional client device, one or more interactive options for establishing or modifying a pre-configured rule related to generating notifications based on communications; and establishing or modifying the pre-configured rule in response to one or more user interactions with the one or more interactive options, wherein generating the notification for the first user with respect to the contents of the communication comprises generating the notification in accordance with the pre-configured rule wherein instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: determine a presence of one or more triggering utterances within the transcript; locate a digital content item related to the one or more triggering utterances; and generate the notification to include a link to the digital content item. As a result, and for these reasons, Examiner indicates Claims 2, 3, 5-11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 & 20 as allowable subject matter.
Relevant Prior Art References Not Relied Upon
1. Fritz et al. (US 20180182380 A1) - Audio data, corresponding to an utterance spoken by a person within a detection range of a voice communications device, can include an audio message portion. The audio data can be captured and analyzed to determine the intent to send a message. Based at least in part upon that intent, a remaining portion of the audio data can be analyzed to determine the intended message target or recipient, as well as the portion corresponding to the actual message payload. Once determined, the audio file can be trimmed to the message payload, and the message payload of the audio data can be delivered as an audio message to the target recipient.
2. Leaman et al. (US 20220293107 A1) - The disclosure is directed to various ways of improving the functioning of computer systems, information networks, data stores, search engine systems and methods, and other advantages. Among other things, provided herein are methods, systems, components, processes, modules, blocks, circuits, sub-systems, articles, and other elements (collectively referred to in some cases as the “platform” or the “system”) that collectively enable, in one or more datastores (e.g., where each datastore may include one or more databases) and systems. A system and method for providing conversation intelligence services may include pre-processing, transcribing, and post-processing. A conversation recording may be pre-processed generating a conversation record (e.g., conversation object). The pre-processed conversation recording may be transcribed into a transcript. The transcript may be post-processed which may include keyword extraction, topic extraction, feature extraction, event generation, trigger action, and/or search indexing. Conversation information may be presented based on the pre-processing, the transcribing, and the post-processing.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS T. RILEY, ESQ. whose telephone number is (571)270-1581. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hai Phan can be reached at 571-272-6338. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MARCUS T. RILEY, ESQ.
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2654
/MARCUS T RILEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2654
Prosecution Insights