DETAILED ACTION
Introduction
1. This office action is in response to Applicant’s submission filed on 06/02/2023. Claims 31-50 are pending in the application and have been examined.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Drawings
3. The drawings filed on 06/02/2023 have been accepted and considered by the Examiner.
Nonstatutory Double Patenting
4. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 31-50 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over Claims 1-30 of U.S. Patent No. 11,817,078. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of patent ‘078 anticipate the instant claims as presented in the chart below. Independent claims 31, 40, and 47 in the current App. ‘219 are anticipated by independent claims 1, 10, 17, and 24 in the patent ‘078. Dependent claims 32-39; 41-46; and 48-50 follow likewise the similar mapping to the corresponding dependent claims 2-9; 11-16; 18-23; and 25-30 in the patent ‘078.
Present App. 18/483,219:
31. A communication system comprising: a speech recognition system configured to gather speech inputs from a user and convert the speech inputs into text; a text-to-speech engine configured to provide an audible output to the user; and processing circuitry configured to: access an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via the text-to-speech engine to the user; monitor an environmental condition; modify an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition is at least one of a working condition, a system event, and a user input; cause a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output; and receive a user input acknowledgement in response to the task.
32. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the task of the one or more tasks is an indication to pick a quantity of an item in warehouse, and wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
33. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate another task of the one or more tasks; and audibly output the task and the another task.
34. The communication system of claim 33, wherein the processing circuitry that is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement is further configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to at least one of the task and the another task.
35. The communication system of claim 33, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before a next task of the one or more tasks is audibly output.
36. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to restore the operational parameter of the text-to-speech engine to a previous setting after a predefined amount of time has elapsed.
37. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
38. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the user headset comprises a speaker and a microphone.
39. The communication system of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to log the user into the inventory management system based on a decoded indica scanned by an identification code reader.
40. A communication system comprising: a speech recognition system configured to gather speech inputs from a user and convert the speech inputs to text; a text-to-speech engine configured to provide an audible output to the user; and processing circuitry configured to: access an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via the text-to-speech engine to the user; monitor an environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition is at least one of a working condition, a system event, and a user input; modify an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition; and cause a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output; and receive a user input acknowledgement in response to the task.
41. The communication system of claim 40, wherein the task of the one or more tasks is an indication to pick a quantity of an item in warehouse, and wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
42. The communication system of claim 40, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate another task of the one or more tasks; and audibly output the task and the another task.
43. The communication system of claim 42, wherein the processing circuitry that is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement is further configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to at least one of the task and the another task.
44. The communication system of claim 42, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before a next task of the one or more tasks is audibly output.
45. The communication system of claim 40, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an experience level of the user with the text-to-speech engine; an experience level of the user with an area of a task application; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
46. The communication system of claim 40, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the user headset comprises a speaker and a microphone and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to log the user into the inventory management system based on a decoded indica scanned by an identification code reader.
47. A method comprising: accessing an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via a text-to-speech engine to a user, wherein the one or more tasks comprise at least one of a type of item, a number of items, and a location of items in a warehouse, and wherein the text-to-speech engine is configured to provide an audible output to the user; monitoring an environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition comprises at least one of a working condition, a system event, and a user input, wherein the speech recognition system is configured to gather speech inputs from the user and convert the speech inputs to text; modifying an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition; and causing a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output; and receiving a user input acknowledgement in response to the task.
48. The method of claim 47, further comprising generating another task of the one or more tasks; audibly outputting the task and the another task, and wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that a quantity of a item has been picked.
49. The method of claim 48, further comprising receiving the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task.
50. The method of claim 48, further comprising receiving user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before causing a next task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
U.S. Patent 11,817,078:
1. A communication system comprising: a speech recognition system configured to gather speech inputs from a user and convert the speech inputs into text; a text-to-speech engine configured to provide an audible output to the user; and processing circuitry configured to: access an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via the text-to-speech engine to the user; monitor an environmental condition; modify an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition is an experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and an area of a task application; and cause a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the task of the one or more tasks is an indication to pick a quantity of an item in warehouse, and wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
3. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate another task of the one or more tasks based on the experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and the area of the task application; and audibly output the task and the another task.
4. The communication system of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry that is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement is further configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to at least one of the task and the another task.
5. The communication system of claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before a next task of the one or more tasks is audibly output.
6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to restore the operational parameter of the text-to-speech engine to a previous setting after a predefined amount of time has elapsed.
7. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
8. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the headset comprises a speaker and a microphone.
9. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to log the user into the inventory management system based on a decoded indica scanned by an identification code reader.
10. A communication system comprising: a speech recognition system configured to gather speech inputs from a user and convert the speech inputs to text; a text-to-speech engine configured to provide an audible output to the user; and processing circuitry configured to: access an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via the text-to-speech engine to the user; monitor an environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition is an ambient noise level; modify an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition; and cause a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the task of the one or more tasks is an indication to pick a quantity of an item in warehouse, and wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
12. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate another task of the one or more tasks based on an experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and an area of a task application, the task; and audibly output the task and the another task.
13. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry that is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement is further configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to at least one of the task and the another task.
14. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before a next task of the one or more tasks is audibly output.
15. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an experience level of the user with the text-to-speech engine; an experience level of the user with an area of a task application; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
16. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the user headset comprises a speaker and a microphone and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to log the user into the inventory management system based on a decoded indica scanned by an identification code reader.
17. A communication system comprising: a speech recognition system configured to gather speech inputs from a user and convert the speech inputs to text; a text-to-speech engine configured to provide an audible output to the user; and processing circuitry configured to: access an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via the text-to-speech engine to the user, wherein the one or more tasks comprise at least one of a type of item, a number of items, and a location of items in a warehouse; monitor an environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition comprises an ambient noise level and an experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and an area of a task application; modify an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition; and cause a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
19. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate another task of the one or more tasks based on the experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and the area of the task application; and audibly output the task and the another task.
20. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the processing circuitry that is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement is further configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to at least one of the task and the another task.
21. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before a next task of the one or more tasks is audibly output.
22. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
23. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the user headset comprises a speaker and a microphone and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to log the user into the inventory management system based on a decoded indica scanned by an identification code reader.
24. A method comprising: accessing an inventory management system that is configured to provide one or more tasks, wherein the one or more tasks are audibly output via a text-to-speech engine to a user, wherein the one or more tasks comprise at least one of a type of item, a number of items, and a location of items in a warehouse, and wherein the text-to-speech engine is configured to provide an audible output to the user; monitoring an environmental condition, wherein the environmental condition comprises an ambient noise level and an experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, a speech recognition system, and an area of a task application, wherein the speech recognition system is configured to gather speech inputs from the user and convert the speech inputs to text; modifying an operational parameter of at least one of the text-to-speech engine and the speech recognition system based on the monitored environmental condition; and causing a task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the user input acknowledgement is an indication that the quantity of the item has been picked.
26. The method of claim 24, further comprising generating another task of the one or more tasks based on the experience level of the user with at least one of the text-to-speech engine, the speech recognition system, and the area of the task application; audibly outputting the task and the another task.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving the user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving user input acknowledgement in response to each of the task and the another task before causing a next task of the one or more tasks to be audibly output.
29. The method of claim 24, wherein the monitored environmental condition further comprises at least one of: a type of a message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a type of a command received from the user; an ambient temperature of the user's environment; an amount of time logged by the user with the task application; a language of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; a length of the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine; and a frequency that the message being converted by the text-to-speech engine is used by the task application.
30. The method of claim 24, wherein the user input acknowledgement is received via a user headset, wherein the user headset comprises a speaker and a microphone.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 31-50 are allowable over the prior art of record for at least the following reasons:
Notwithstanding how the teachings in Kirsch et al., (U.S. Patent Application Publication: 2010/0057465), in view of Veprek et al., (U.S. Patent Application Publication: 2002/0128838), hereinafter referred to as KIRSCH and VEPREK, both already of record, KIRSCH teaches, see e.g., how “such speech synthesis parameters are stored in a TTS parameter module 326 and can be updated or modified based on the one or more TTS tuning models 322, 324 that take into account the current state of the vehicle and its environment TTS control engine 202 then exports parameters from the TTS parameter module 326to the TTS speech synthesizer 310 to cause the TTS audio stream played to the driver to be modified according to the identified countermeasures” environmental condition, noise level or weather conditions,” “a speed of the automotive vehicle; an interior noise level of the automotive vehicle; a number of occupants of the automotive vehicle; a lighting condition of an environment in which the automotive vehicle is operating; a weather condition of an environment in which the automotive vehicle is operating; and a road roughness condition of a road over which the automotive vehicle is moving " wherein the at least one vehicle sensor adapted to measure the speed of the automotive vehicle comprises at least one of a speedometer, an odometer, an anti-lock brake sensor, and a global positioning sensor at least one vehicle sensor adapted to measure the interior noise level of the automotive vehicle comprises at least one of a microphone, a window up/down sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and a vehicle suspension sensor…,” “…at least one vehicle sensor adapted to measure the weather condition of an environment in which the automotive vehicle is operating comprises at least one of a windshield wiper on/off sensor, and a temperature sensor…,” “…piecewise-linear functions to relate voice speed and voice volume to vehicle speed. Rather than making discrete jumps at predetermined vehicle speed values, the voice speed trace 510 may decrease linearly with a first slope as the vehicle speed increases from zero to twenty miles per hour, and then decrease linearly with a second slope as the vehicle speed increases from twenty to forty miles per hour. Similarly, the voice volume trace 512 indicates that voice volume may increase linearly with vehicle speed with a series of discrete slopes…,” (See e.g., KIRSCH paras. 8, 19, 24, 25, 27, Figs. 2, 3, Claims 1, 17).
VEPREK further discloses see e.g., “…speaker characteristics 76, emotion characteristics 77, dialect characteristics 78, and content characteristics 79, voice characteristics 80, and speaking style characteristics 82…,” (See e.g., VEPREK paras. 24-26).
Said provided teachings in KIRSCH and VEPREK are found to fail to teach or fairly suggest either individually or in a reasonable combination the recited limitations comprising: “accessing…monitoring…modifying” in independent claims 31, 40, and 47 as specifically recited. Similarly, dependent claims 32-39; 41-46; and 48-50 further limit allowable independent claims 31, 40, and 47 correspondingly, and thus they are also found allowable over the prior art of record by virtue of their dependency.
Any comments considered necessary by Applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Roger G. Byford, “Voice System Technologies and Architecture”, A White Paper by Roger G. Byford CTO, Vocollect, published May 10, 2003. Retrieved from Internet archive: Wayback Machine. (n.d.). https://web.archive.org/web/20030510234253/http/www.vocollect.com/products/VoiceTechWP.pdf(Year:2003), already of record.
Please, see PTO-892 for more details.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Edgar Guerra-Erazo whose telephone number is (571) 270-3708. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:30a.m.-5:00p.m. EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Bhavesh Mehta can be reached on (571) 272-7453. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/EDGAR X GUERRA-ERAZO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2656
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