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 .
Examiner’s Comments
‘such as teeth, an alveolar ridge, or a back of the alveolar ridge’ as recited in the claims, is read as (a user with a mouth that is speaking as to be picked up by a microphone).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9,12-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Schimmoller (US 20220165433 A1).
As per claim 1, Schimmoller discloses an aerosol reachable area estimation system comprising:
a detector that detects a voice (para 53, the stereographic microphone capturing voices in the area, noting the speaking cited in para 74 , and in table 2); and
a controller that estimates an area reachable by aerosol released to a space (the room/buildup of concentration per para 73) where an utterer who has emitted the voice detected by the detector exists from a speech sound included in the voice (the means of implementing the exposure model per para 74 is based on the detection of the speaking via the above cited microphone to adapt the exposure model)
on a basis of a correlation (since the speech between the speech sound (as picked up by the microphone) and
a velocity vector of aerosol released from the utterer when the utterer utters the speech sound (the velocity per para 91,93, and/or the velocity in para 57 as read and implemented by the processor as part of the model, noting that the velocity, and the other parameters for the above cited model at a given point in time define a vector ) and
a position and a direction of the utterer's mouth (the position of the mouth is in the room cited above and/or the indoor or outdoor space per para 57), and the velocity and direction (cited in para 57).
As per claim 2, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the correlation is a correlation between way the speech sound is uttered and the velocity vector (since the speech sound is recorded from the user, it is analog, and the way the speech is uttered is by nature correlated to the velocity vector/parameters of the model, for speech as detected by the microphone), and
wherein the controller (i) identifies the way the speech sound included in the voice is uttered (the processor detecting the digital values of the voice as recorded by the microphone) and (ii) estimates the area (the identified room per claim 1 rejection) on a basis of the velocity vector associated in the correlation with the identified way the speech sound is uttered and the position and the direction of the utterer's mouth (the room and the other identified information as cited in para 49-51).
As per claim 3, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 2, wherein the way the speech sound is uttered differs depending on a place of articulation used to utter the speech sound (the place/location and orientation of the user will affect how the microphone picks up their voice in the room).
As per claim 4, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 2, wherein the way the speech sound is uttered differs depending on a manner of articulation used to utter the speech sound (the articulation of the user speaking changes the way it is uttered and picked up by the microphone because of the physical relationship between the users and the microphone.
As per claim 5, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the correlation indicates that magnitude of the velocity vector becomes greater as the utterer's mouth opens smaller when the utterer utters the speech sound (the speaking that is picked up by the microphone and correlated as described above is based on a user speaking, where the cited correlation is an indication of the user’s mouth being open and the user uttering sound because it is picked up and identified by the system via the microphone).
As per claim 6, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein, in the correlation, a direction of a velocity vector associated with a speech sound uttered with a place of articulation such as teeth, an alveolar ridge, or a back of the alveolar ridge is more downward than a direction of a velocity vector associated with a speech sound uttered with another place of articulation (each voice from each distinct position and orientation produces a different direction of a velocity vector because each orientation will be at a different location relative to the microphone, including orientation and words that produce more downwards or more upwards direction.)
As per claim 7, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, further comprising: a mouth detector that detects the position and the direction of the utterer's mouth, wherein the controller obtains the position and the direction on a basis of a result of the detection performed by the mouth detector (the mouth detector is the microphone which is detecting the position and direction of the speech spoken with a mouth).
As per claim 8, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 7, wherein the mouth detector is a camera that captures an image of the utterer's mouth, and wherein the controller analyzes the image captured by the camera and identifies the position and the direction (the system uses camera per para 48, and per para 50: include object recognition techniques. Hence, the risk assessment subsystem 250 can detect one or multiple objects from a stream of images defined by the imaging data. To that end, in some embodiments, as is shown in FIG. 2A, the risk assessment subsystem 250 can be configured with an analysis module 266 that can analyze the stream of images and extract data, features, and/or the like from the stream of images. In some cases, the analysis module can extract features comprising persons (e.g., a number of persons and positions of the persons in an area at specific times); ).
As per claim 9,the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, further comprising: an obtainer that obtains object information indicating arrangement of an object in the space where the utterer exists, wherein the controller identifies the position and the direction on a basis of the object information (the speech is detected via microphones and also via sensors to measure airflow per para 57 including the direction, where the direction of airflow is an indication of direction of the speech in the room since the speech creates air).
As per claim 12, he aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the controller notifies of the estimated area (para 4, the volume as used in the model).
As per claim 13, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 12, wherein the controller notifies of the estimated area (the volume as used by the model) using an apparatus outside the aerosol reachable area estimation system (the cameras and processor require power which comes from a power plant which comprises apparatus outside the room) (also the external devices per para 165: accordingly, in some embodiments at least one of the remote computing devices 1414a,b,c may be embodied in a personal computer, computing station (e.g., workstation), portable computer (e.g., laptop, mobile phone, tablet device), smart device (e.g., smartphone, smartwatch, activity tracker, smart apparel, smart accessory), security and/or monitoring device, a server device, a router device,).
As per claim 14, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 13, wherein the apparatus outside the aerosol reachable area estimation system is a display apparatus provided in the space or a mobile terminal owned by the utterer (para 165: accordingly, in some embodiments at least one of the remote computing devices 1414a,b,c may be embodied in a personal computer, computing station (e.g., workstation), portable computer (e.g., laptop, mobile phone, tablet device), smart device (e.g., smartphone, smartwatch, activity tracker, smart apparel, smart accessory), security and/or monitoring device, a server device, a router device,).
As per claim 15, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the controller sprays a disinfectant solution or radiates ultraviolet light onto the estimated area using the apparatus outside the aerosol reachable area estimation system (the means of performing the UV per para 56, which is outside of the system).
As per claim 16, the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the controller ventilates the space including the estimated area, the estimated area is used to determine ventilation (the system comprises a ventilation per para. 4, of the indoor room which has an estimated area as cited above, where said area is used in the model cited above, where the model further determines ventilation (per para 7, as used in the model).
As per claim 17, the claim 1 rejection discloses an aerosol reachable area estimation method comprising: detecting a voice; and estimating an area reachable by aerosol released to a space where an utterer who has emitted the voice detected in the detecting exists from a speech sound included in the voice on a basis of a correlation between the speech sound and a velocity vector of aerosol released from the utterer when the utterer utters the speech sound and a position and a direction of the utterer's mouth.(per claim 1 rejection).
As per claim 18, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program causing a computer to execute the aerosol reachable area estimation method according to claim 17 (the system requires a processor memory and software to be implemented).
As per claim 19, an aerosol reachable area estimation system comprising:
a detector that detects a voice including a speech sound uttered by an utterer, the utter uttering the speech sound with releasing aerosol (per claim 1 rejection); and
a controller that estimates an area reachable by the aerosol on a basis of first information (the room and concentration and the first info/speech detected),
a position and a direction of the utterer's mouth, and the speech sound, wherein the first information indicates that an i-th speech sound corresponds to an i-th velocity vector (i = 1 to n, where n is an integer larger than or equal to 1), the i-th velocity vector being a velocity vector of an i-th aerosol released from a person uttering the i-th speech sound (the system operates on a frame by frame basis where every parameter, including the velocity vector and the model and the speech must be synchronized where the i-th frame of each signal lines up to the i-th frame of each other signal) (the speech and velocity vector per the claim 1 rejection).
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.
Claim(s) 10,11, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schimmoller (US 20220165433 A1) as applied to claim 1,9 above.
As per claim 10, Schwimmoller discloses the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 9, but does not specify: further comprising: an infrared sensor that detects presence or absence of a person, wherein the controller identifies the position and the direction on a basis of the object information and a result of the detection performed by the infrared sensor.
The examiner takes official notice it would have been well known in the art at the time of filing to use cameras and IR systems to detect user location and orientation for the purpose of conforming to well known standards and detection mechanisms.
As per claim 11, Schwimmoller discloses the aerosol reachable area estimation system according to claim 9, but does not specify: further comprising: an ultrasonic sensor that detects the space, wherein the controller (i) identifies a position of an object in the space on a basis of a result of the detection performed by the ultrasonic sensor and (ii) identifies the position and the direction on a basis of the identified position of the object.
The examiner takes official notice it would have been well known in the art at the time of filing to use ultrasound sensors to detect user location and orientation for the purpose of conforming to well known standards and detection mechanisms.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER KRZYSTAN whose telephone number is 571-272-7498, and whose email address is alexander.krzystan@uspto.gov
The examiner can usually be reached on m-f 7:30-4:00 est.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone or email are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fan Tsang can be reached on (571) 272-7547.
The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications and 571-273-8300 for After Final communications.
/ALEXANDER KRZYSTAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2653
Examiner Alexander Krzystan
July 1, 2026
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