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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on January 29, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office Action has been issued in response to Applicant’s Communication of amended application S/N 18/589,386 filed on January 29, 2026. Claims 1 to 21 are currently pending with the application.
Double Patenting
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.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1 to 21 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17 of U.S. Patent 11,947,592, and claims 1, 9, 10, 12, and 17 of U.S. Patent 11,061,958. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims in the instant application are anticipated by the claims in the U.S. Patents.
Following mapping of claims 1 to 7 of Instant Application to claims 1, 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17 of U.S. Patent 11,947,592. Similar mapping applies to claims 8 to 21 of instant application, since they recite similar limitations.
Instant Application
U.S. Patent 11,947,592
1. A method comprising: storing, at a cloud storage location, a collection of audio files; storing, at the cloud storage location, a first type of destination information identifying one or more locations of venues where are announcements are rendered; storing, at the cloud storage location, a second type of destination information identifying location information corresponding to a plurality of different geographic locations where a plurality of edge devices are located, wherein the location information identifies areas within the one more locations of the venues; receiving, by at least one hardware processor at a cloud platform, a message from a first requesting device of a plurality of requesting devices, the message including a plurality of fields of information; retrieving information stored in the cloud storage location based on the information included in the plurality of fields, the retrieved information including second type of information corresponding to a first edge device; generating an action list based on the retrieved information; determining an available time slot at a first geographic location of the first edge device when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location stored in a cache, wherein the cache stores actions that have been sent to the first geographic location; updating an action list based on the determined available time slot; retrieving an audio file from the collection of audio files based on the second type of information; negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list, wherein the first edge device is to render an announcement at the determined available time slot based on the information in the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing, at a cloud storage location, grammar information including language- specific rules for sentence structure, wherein information is retrieved based on grammar information associated with the second type of destination information of the first edge device.
1. A system for generating and transmitting messages for rendering of announcements on a plurality of edge devices located at a plurality of geographic locations, comprising: storage within a cloud-platform storing a collection of audio files; a memory including a database storing information including: first type of destination information identifying one or more locations of venues where announcements are rendered; second type of destination information identifying location information corresponding to the plurality of geographic locations where the plurality of edge devices are located, the plurality of edge devices including a first edge device located at a first geographic location; and grammar information including language-specific rules for sentence structure; a network interface for receiving messages from one or more of a plurality of requesting devices, the messages including a first type of message and a second type of message; a rules parser implemented by a processor to: receive a message from a first requesting device via the network interface if the message received from the first requesting device corresponds to the first type of message, the first type of message including a plurality of fields of information; retrieve information based on information included in the plurality of fields of the first type of message, the retrieved information including second type of destination information corresponding to the first edge device and grammar information associated with the second type of destination information of the first edge device; and generate an action list based on the retrieved information; a scheduler determining an available time slot at the first geographic location when the first edge device is available to render an announcement and updating the action list to indicate the determined available time slot based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location stored in a cache; an Internet of Things (IoT) Hub retrieving an audio file from the collection of audio files stored in the storage and transmitting the audio file and the updated action list to the first edge device, wherein the updated action list and the audio file are used by the first edge device to render the announcement at the determined available time slot based on information included in the updated action list; and a real-time audio controller that receives a message from one or more of the plurality of requesting devices via the network interface if the message received from one or more of the plurality of requesting devices corresponds to the second type of message, wherein when the real-time audio controller receives the second type of message, the real-time audio controller generates a real-time announcement action list and provides the real-time announcement action list to the IoT Hub, wherein the IoT Hub: negotiates a channel with the real-time audio controller and one of the plurality of edge devices; generates a channel identifier; provides the channel identifier to the first requesting device or a second requesting device; and notifies the real-time audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel, wherein the real-time audio controller receives an array of audio data from the first requesting device or the second requesting device and the IoT Hub transmits the array to the one of the plurality of edge devices with which the channel had been negotiated, wherein the one of the plurality of edge devices renders the announcement using the audio data included in the array, and wherein when the array is transmitted to the one of the plurality of edge devices, the first requesting device or the second requesting device sends a message to terminate the channel and the channel is terminated by the IoT Hub.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of destination information corresponds to an airport, train station, or concert venue and the second type of destination information corresponds to a gate within the airport, train station, or concert venue.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first type of destination information corresponds to an airport, train station, or concert venue and the second type of destination information corresponds to a gate within the airport, train station, or concert venue.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the announcement by the first edge device includes playing a corresponding audio file on a speaker and displaying a visual message corresponding to the audio file on a screen.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein rendering the announcement by the first edge device includes playing a corresponding audio file on a speaker and displaying a visual message corresponding to the audio file on a screen.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an error message from the first edge device indicating that the first edge device is unable to render the announcement; and generating a log in a tracker log file to record error information corresponding to the error message, the error information including a type of error and a time when the error message was received.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the IoT Hub receives an error from the first edge device when the first edge device is unable to render the announcement; and wherein the memory includes a tracker log file to record error information corresponding to the error, and the error information includes a type of error and a time when the error occurred.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed array is a dual-compressed byte array and the first edge device is configured to decompresses the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the array of audio data is a dual-compressed byte array and the plurality of edge devices decompresses the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the dual-compressed byte array is compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the dual-compressed byte array is compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression.
Following mapping of claims 1 to 7 of Instant Application to claims 1, 9, 10, 12, and 17 of U.S. Patent 11,061,958. Similar mapping applies to claims 8 to 21 of instant application, since they recite similar limitations
Instant Application
U.S. Patent 11,061,958
1. A method comprising: storing, at a cloud storage location, a collection of audio files; storing, at the cloud storage location, a first type of destination information identifying one or more locations of venues where are announcements are rendered; storing, at the cloud storage location, a second type of destination information identifying location information corresponding to a plurality of different geographic locations where a plurality of edge devices are located, wherein the location information identifies areas within the one more locations of the venues; receiving, by at least one hardware processor at a cloud platform, a message from a first requesting device of a plurality of requesting devices, the message including a plurality of fields of information; retrieving information stored in the cloud storage location based on the information included in the plurality of fields, the retrieved information including second type of information corresponding to a first edge device; generating an action list based on the retrieved information; determining an available time slot at a first geographic location of the first edge device when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location stored in a cache, wherein the cache stores actions that have been sent to the first geographic location; updating an action list based on the determined available time slot; retrieving an audio file from the collection of audio files based on the second type of information; negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list, wherein the first edge device is to render an announcement at the determined available time slot based on the information in the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing, at a cloud storage location, grammar information including language- specific rules for sentence structure, wherein information is retrieved based on grammar information associated with the second type of destination information of the first edge device.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed array is a dual-compressed byte array and the first edge device is configured to decompresses the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement.
1. A system for generating and transmitting messages for rendering of announcements on a plurality of edge devices located at a plurality of geographic locations, comprising: storage within a cloud-platform storing a collection of audio files; a memory including a database storing information including: first type of destination information identifying one or more locations of venues where announcements are rendered; second type of destination information identifying location information corresponding to the plurality of different geographic locations where the plurality of edge devices are located, wherein the location information identifies locations within the one or more locations of the venues; and grammar information including language-specific rules; a network interface for receiving messages from one or more of a plurality of requesting devices, the messages including a first type of message and a second type of message; a rules parser implemented by a processor and located at a geographic location different from a first geographic location where a first edge device is located, the first edge device corresponding to one of the plurality of edge devices, wherein the rules parser: receives a message from a first requesting device via the network interface if the message corresponds to the first type of message, the first type of message including a plurality of fields of information; retrieves information stored in the database based on information included in the plurality of fields of the first type of message, the retrieved information including second type of destination information corresponding to the first edge device and grammar information associated with the second type of destination information of the first edge device; and generates an action list based on the retrieved information; a scheduler determining an available time slot at the first geographic location when the first edge device is available to render an announcement and updating the action list to indicate the determined available time slot; an IoT Hub using the grammar information associated with the second type of destination information included in the updated action list to retrieve a corresponding audio file from the collection of audio files stored in the storage and for transmitting the audio file and the updated action list to the first edge device, wherein the updated action list and audio file is used by the first edge device to render an announcement at the determined available time slot based on information included in the updated action list; and a real-time audio controller that receives a message from one or more of the plurality of requesting devices via the network interface if the message corresponds to the second type of message, wherein when the real-time audio controller receives the second type of message, the real-time audio controller generates a real-time announcement action list and provides the real-time announcement action list to the IoT Hub, wherein the IoT Hub: negotiates a channel with the real-time audio controller and one of the plurality of edge devices; generates a channel identifier; provides the channel identifier to the first requesting device or the second requesting device; and notifies the real-time audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel, wherein the real-time audio controller receives a dual-compressed byte array from the first requesting device or the second requesting device, the dual-compressed byte array including audio data and the IoT Hub transmits the dual-compressed byte array to one of the plurality of edge devices with which the channel had been negotiated, wherein the one of the plurality of edge devices decompresses the byte array and renders an announcement using the audio data included in the dual-compressed byte array, and wherein when the dual-compressed byte array is transmitted to one of the plurality of edge devices, the first requesting device or the second requesting device sends a message to terminate the channel and the channel is terminated by the IoT Hub.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of destination information corresponds to an airport, train station, or concert venue and the second type of destination information corresponds to a gate within the airport, train station, or concert venue.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first type of destination information corresponds to an airport, train station, or concert venue and the second type of destination information corresponds to a gate within the airport, train station, or concert venue.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the announcement by the first edge device includes playing a corresponding audio file on a speaker and displaying a visual message corresponding to the audio file on a screen.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein rendering the announcement at the first edge device includes playing the corresponding audio file on a speaker and displaying a visual message corresponding to the audio file on a screen.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an error message from the first edge device indicating that the first edge device is unable to render the announcement; and generating a log in a tracker log file to record error information corresponding to the error message, the error information including a type of error and a time when the error message was received.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein when the IoT Hub receives an error from the first edge device when the first edge device is unable to render the announcement and the memory includes a tracker log file to record error information corresponding to the error, the error information included a type of error and a time when the error occurred.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the dual-compressed byte array is compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression.
17. The system of claim 1 wherein the dual-compressed byte array is compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 to 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitations “the first geographic location stored in a cache” in line 19, and “the information in the updated action list” in line 3 at page 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Same rationale applies to claims 8 and 15, since they recite similar limitations, and to claims 2 to 7, 9 to 14, and 16 to 21, since they inherit the same deficiencies, by virtue of their dependency.
Claim 1 recites the limitations “an action list” in lines 15 and 21. It is not clear whether the “an action list” element recited in line 21 refers to a different and distinct element of the “an action list” element recited in line 15, or if it refers to the same element, therefore rendering the claim indefinite. Same rationale applies to claims 8 and 15, since they recite similar limitations, and to claims 2 to 7, 9 to 14, and 16 to 21, since they inherit the same deficiencies, by virtue of their dependency.
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, 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 to 4, 8 to 11, and 15 to 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poornachandran et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2017/0180067) hereinafter Poornachandran, in view of Frenkel et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2013/0346575) hereinafter Frenkel, in view of Higgs et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2016/0182923) hereinafter Higgs, and further in view of Nguyen et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0077648) hereinafter Nguyen.
As to claim 1:
Poornachandran discloses:
A method comprising:
storing, at a cloud storage location, a collection of audio files [Paragraph 0050
teaches selecting an audio file from a set of audio transmissions, therefore, the audio files are stored; Paragraph 0108 teaches distributed computing environment where tasks are performed by a remote processing device linked through a communications network];
storing, at the cloud storage location, a first type of destination information identifying one or more locations of venues where are announcements are rendered [Paragraph 0054 teaches public announcement system is mounted in a transportation terminal; Paragraph 0055 teaches public announcement system is mounted in a store, an airport, train station, bus station, convert venue, or theater; Paragraph 0017 teaches determining announcements to make at Frankfurt Airport, therefore, first type of information identifying locations of venues where announcements are rendered];
storing, at the cloud storage location, a second type of destination information identifying location information corresponding to a plurality of different geographic locations where a plurality of edge devices are located, wherein the location information identifies areas within the one more locations of the venues [Paragraph 0041 teaches aggregating, inferring, and characterizing user demographic information relating to the identified geographic area, therefore, second type of information where the devices are located in a geographic location; Paragraph 0017 teaches determining to make announcements at Frankfurt Airport, in the near vicinity of the exit gate for a flight from China using a Chinese language (such as Mandarin), to provide a better user experience, therefore identifying second location information, within the location of the venue, i.e., a gate in an airport; Paragraph 0040 teaches operations can be provided by a network service, which can be operated separately from the announcement system, and can service multiple public announcement systems, therefore, located at different geographic locations, and multiple devices at different locations including a first device];
receiving, by at least one hardware processor at a cloud platform, a message from a first requesting device of a plurality of requesting devices, the message including a plurality of fields of information [Paragraph 0025 teaches data aggregation engine aggregates data from a variety of input sources, and includes data aggregation policies that are configurable with respect to a given location, where the data aggregation engine receives data and organizes the data into data structures, therefore, parsing the received data; Paragraph 0022 teaches receiving messages or information from devices, including population data, airline flight and passenger information, and individual preferences, therefore, first type of message including multiple fields];
retrieving information stored in the cloud storage location based on the information included in the plurality of fields, the retrieved information including second type of information corresponding to a first edge device [Paragraph 0013 teaches using data from multiple users and aggregating a decision vector, which can be a set of languages to be used and their priority orders, where multiple vectors can be created for use in different parts of the public space; Paragraph 0041 teaches receiving information (messages) from devices, aggregating the received messages, and characterizing user demographic information relating to the identified geographic area, including language translation and cultural checker to avoid incorrect verbiage, therefore, obtaining second type of destination information based on the fields or attributes included in the received information, corresponding to the identified geographic area, which is associated with the announcement system, and includes associated grammar information as represented by the language and cultural rule checker; Paragraph 0043 teaches using prior aggregated data to determine characteristics of the groups; Paragraph 0044 teaches aggregating data describing estimated demographic information for a geographic area covered by a public announcement system, determining delivery preferences based on the aggregated data, and characteristics based on the preferences; Paragraph 0034 teaches linguistic profiling can be used for the identification of characteristics form the received data, including dialect and accent, which can be used to determine language of choice];
generating an action list based on the retrieved information [Paragraph 0044 teaches sorting retrieved content delivery characteristics to generate a set of public announcement recommendations; Paragraph 0042 teaches recommendation list including actions of making announcements in the top three determined languages, and proceed further down the recommendation list to the next few languages; Paragraph 0011 teaches generating content delivery preferences, such as a sequence of languages and delivery characteristics];
retrieving an audio file from the collection of audio files based on the second type of information [Paragraph 0010 teaches input sources can include IoT sensing devices deployed throughout an airport; Paragraph 0022 teaches sensor input interface receive data from IoT devices; Paragraph 0043 teaches using the recommendations, a public announcement is formed and provided to a content delivery system; Paragraph 0049 teaches receiving the recommendations and preparing a content transmission based on the set of announcement characteristics, and transmits the content transmission for presentation by the content delivery system; Paragraph 0050 teaches selecting an audio transmission from a set of audio transmissions that most closely matches the announcement characteristics; Paragraph 0076 teaches transmitting recommendation list and announcement data to public announcement system, where the recommendation list is the action list, and the announcement data is the audio transmission file];
wherein the first edge device is to render an announcement at the determined available time slot based on the information in the updated action list [Paragraph 0022 teaches receiving messages or information from devices, including population data, airline flight and passenger information, and individual preferences, therefore, first type of message including multiple fields; Paragraph 0050 teaches selecting an audio transmission from a set of audio transmissions that most closely matches the announcement characteristics; Paragraph 0076 teaches transmitting recommendation list and announcement data, including audio transmission data; Paragraph 0043 teaches public announcement is provided over a public address system as sound via speakers].
Poornachandran does not appear to expressly disclose determining an available time slot at a first geographic location of the first edge device when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location stored in a cache, wherein the cache stores actions that have been sent to the first geographic location; updating an action list based on the determined available time slot; negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted.
Frenkel discloses:
determining an available time slot at a first geographic location of the first edge device when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location, wherein the cache stores actions that have been sent to the first geographic location [Paragraph 0024 teaches "publishing slot" may refer to a time slot when content is published to the channel and/or when content is scheduled to be published to the channel, where a time slot that does not have a corresponding publishing slot may be referred to as an unused time slot, currently unused time slot, or an available time slot; Paragraph 0046 teaches CMSD manages and stores which channels the content has been provided, published, and manages and stores publishing slot of when the content was published to the channel; Paragraph 0090 teaches TSMS manages time slots and publishing slots; Paragraph 0104 teaches a plurality of publishing slots may be determined from the plurality of time slots (i.e., those time slots that do not have a corresponding publishing slot or those time slots that are currently unused as publishing slots); Paragraph 0134 teaches determining available time slots that are unused as publishing slots, which are blank or empty publishing slots, therefore, an available time slot when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by determining an available time slot at a first geographic location of the first edge device when the first edge device is available to render an announcement without interrupting other announcements based on an announcement schedule for the first edge device at the first geographic location, wherein the storage stores actions that have been sent to the first geographic location, as taught by Frenkel [Paragraph 0024, 0046, 0090, 0098, 0104, 0110, 0134], because both applications are directed to generation of notification and messages for broadcast and transmission; determining next available time slots for rendering and maintaining schedule information, enables synchronization of messages for rendering at desired times.
Neither Poornachandran nor Frenkel appear to expressly disclose a cache; updating an action list based on the determined available time slot; negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted.
Higgs discloses:
a cache [Paragraph 0097 teaches ads may be cached in the hybrid terminal];
updating an action list based on the determined available time slot [Paragraph 0097 teaches identifying ads insertion slots, and placing the ads in the available ad slots, which is an updated ad list; Paragraph 0135 teaches a manifest may identify available time slots in the transport stream into which the fetched ads may be inserted].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by incorporating a cache, and updating an action list based on the determined available time slot, as taught by Higgs [Paragraph 0097, 0135], because the applications are directed to generation of notification and messages for broadcast and transmission; updating an ad list based on the available slots and incorporating a cache enables personalized ads to remain timely with respect to any ongoing ad campaigns and may also benefit from additional analytics data (See Higgs Para [0097]).
Neither Poornachandran nor Frenkel nor Higgs appear to expressly disclose negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted.
Nguyen discloses:
negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device [Paragraph 0033 teaches creation of virtual service channels; Paragraph 0046 teaches creation of a virtual service channel; Paragraph 0035 teaches creating a temporary virtual service channel];
generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel [Paragraph 0029 teaches each virtual service channel is identified by a service based universally identification string; Paragraph 0030 teaches identifying each virtual service channel; Paragraph 0035 teaches generating a channel identification string];
providing channel identifier to the first requesting device [Paragraph 0035 teaches associating the identifier with a brand-new ad hoc virtual service channel; Paragraph 0033 teaches activating a virtual channel on a device, therefore, providing the channel identifier to the device]; and
transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel [Paragraph 0044 teaches devices must subscribe to a predefined virtual channel, where successful subscriptions are stored in relation to the channels, and this information can also be sent to a dedicated anchor device of the system];
transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list [Paragraph 0029 teaches using the channel identification string to broadcast the virtual channel; Paragraph 0033 teaches each message sent is bound to the specific virtual service channel]; and
terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted [Paragraph 0033 teaches method allows the user to deactivate one or all virtual channels on a device; Paragraph 0039 teaches deleting or deactivating the virtual channel].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by negotiating a channel with an audio controller and the first device; generating a channel identifier corresponding to the channel; providing channel identifier to the first requesting device; transmitting notification to the audio controller that a subscription has been established to the channel; transmitting a compressed bit array to first edge device using the channel, a compressed array including the audio file and the updated action list; and terminating the channel after the compressed bit array is transmitted, as taught by Nguyen [Paragraphs 0029, 0030, 0033, 0035, 0044, 0046], because the applications are directed to generation of notification and messages for broadcast and transmission to users; incorporating the creation of ad-hoc virtual channels that are based on service purposes enables real-time communication of messages while keeping the power consumption on the devices as little as possible, and enables to provide location oriented services and information to users, as well as alerting them about emergency situations and events (See Nguyen Para [0012]-[0015]).
As to claim 2:
Poornachandran discloses:
storing, at a cloud storage location, grammar information including language- specific rules for sentence structure, wherein information is retrieved based on grammar information associated with the second type of destination information of the first edge device [Paragraph 0014 teaches cultural checker can be used to help public announcements to avoid inappropriate words or phrases while performing dynamic language selection; Paragraph 0031 teaches cultural rule checker performs checks on a choice of words when dynamic translation is involved to avoid improper cultural language use, e.g. context sensitive references, innuendo, etc., therefore language specific rules; Paragraph 0034 teaches linguistic profiling is used to determine language preference, and identify auditory cues like dialect, and accent, therefore, profiles specific for a language; Paragraph 0039 teaches processing identified data such as language, dialect, etc., to generate a public announcement, where a cultural rule checker is used to avoid recommendations that would be culturally insensitive].
As to claim 3:
Poornachandran discloses:
the first type of destination information corresponds to an airport, train station, or concert venue and the second type of destination information corresponds to a gate within the airport, train station, or concert venue [Paragraph 0054 teaches public announcement system is mounted in a transportation terminal; Paragraph 0055 teaches public announcement system is mounted in a store, an airport, train station, bus station, convert venue, or theater; Paragraph 0017 teaches determining to make announcements at Frankfurt Airport, in the near vicinity of the exit gate for a flight from China using a Chinese language (such as Mandarin), to provide a better user experience, therefore identifying second location information, within the location of the venue, i.e., a gate in an airport where announcements are rendered].
As to claim 4:
Poornachandran discloses:
rendering the announcement by the first edge device includes playing a
corresponding audio file on a speaker and displaying a visual message corresponding to the audio file on a screen [Paragraph 0043 teaches the public announcement is provided over a public address system as sound via speakers; Paragraph 0049 teaches transmitting the content transmission for presentation on one or more content delivery systems or personal devices; Paragraph 0046 teaches results include announcement text, audio for broadcasting, etc.].
Same rationale applies to claims 8 to 11, and 15 to 18, since they recite similar limitations, and are therefore, similarly rejected.
Claims 5 to 7, 12 to 14, and 19 to 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Poornachandran et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2017/0180067) hereinafter Poornachandran, in view of Frenkel et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2013/0346575) hereinafter Frenkel, in view of Higgs et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2016/0182923) hereinafter Higgs, in view of Nguyen et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0077648) hereinafter Nguyen, and further in view of Emadzadeh et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2015/0149659) hereinafter Emadzadeh.
As to claim 5:
Poornachandran discloses:
receiving an error message from the first edge device indicating that the first edge device is unable to render the announcement; and generating a log in a tracker log file to record error information corresponding to the error message [Paragraph 0046 teaches the service can include logging server that can track usage and operations performed by the service and on behalf of the service, therefore, including error information].
Poornachandran does not appear to expressly disclose the error information includes a type of error and a time when the error occurred.
Emadzadeh discloses:
the error information includes a type of error and a time when the error occurred [Paragraph 0041 teaches transfer log reflecting the status or other analytics associated with data transfer requests, where the log may record the date, time, and other analytics about the transferred data].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by incorporating error information including a type of error and a time when the error occurred, as taught by Emadzadeh [Paragraphs 0041], because the applications are directed to management of data; incorporating additional types of information in a log is a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
As to claim 6:
Poornachandran discloses all the limitations as set forth in the rejections of claim 1 above, but does not appear to expressly disclose the compressed array is a dual-compressed byte array and the first edge device is configured to decompress the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement.
Emadzadeh discloses:
the array of audio data is a dual-compressed byte array and the plurality of edge devices decompresses the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement [Paragraph 0108 teaches achieving further compression through traditional compression and using techniques such as protocol buffer encapsulation before transmission to the target; Paragraph 0109 teaches compressing the packets using zip or other compression technique, and further encapsulating the zipped batch in a protocol buffer, to further transmit the messages, hence, the data is dual-compressed; Paragraph 0045 teaches contents received are decompressed by reversing the steps that were used to compress the contents of those messages, where all the compression techniques are reversed and the full content of the artifacts is available for further processing; Paragraph 0110 teaches decompressing the received messages; Examiner notes that decompressing messages prior to rendering or using the contents is a conventional and required process in computer systems when the data is compressed].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by incorporating an array of audio data as a dual-compressed byte array and the plurality of edge devices decompresses the dual-compressed byte array prior to rendering the announcement, as taught by Emadzadeh [Paragraphs 0045, 0108-0110], because the applications are directed to management of data; incorporating multi-compression of messages prior to transmission further reduce the content size during transfer, which improves the efficiency of transmission and communications (See Emadzadeh Para [0008], [0018]).
As to claim 7:
Poornachandran as modified by Emadzadeh discloses:
the dual-compressed byte array is compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression [Paragraph 0108 teaches achieving further compression through traditional compression and using techniques such as protocol buffer encapsulation before transmission to the target; Paragraph 0109 teaches compressing the packets using zip or other compression technique, and further encapsulating the zipped batch in a protocol buffer, to further transmit the messages].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Poornachandran, by incorporating a dual-compressed byte array compressed by two compression schemes including gzip compression followed by a protocol buffer compression, as taught by Emadzadeh [Paragraphs 0108, 0109], because the applications are directed to management of data; incorporating multi-compression of messages prior to transmission further reduce the content size during transfer, which improves the efficiency of data transmission (See Emadzadeh Para [0008], [0018]).
Same rationale applies to claims 12 to 14, and 19 to 21, since they recite similar limitations, and are therefore, similarly rejected.
Response to Arguments
The following is in response to arguments filed on January 29, 2026. Arguments have been carefully and respectfully considered, but are moot in view of new grounds of rejections, as necessitated by the amendments.
Conclusion
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/RAQUEL PEREZ-ARROYO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2169