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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bjorkengren (US 2016/0179462) in view of Yang (US 2017/0345422).
Regarding claim 1, Bjorkengren discloses a controlling device (a device 105,
para. 0012, fig. 1), comprising:
a memory (not shown in the device 105 (e.g., a user device, mobile device,
tablet, computer, etc., para. 0012) having processor-readable code embodied therein;
a first communication interface (125, para. 0013);
a microphone (110, para. 0013); and
a processor (not shown in the device 105, paras. 0013-0014), coupled to the
memory, the first communication interface, and the microphone for executing the
processor-readable code that causes the controlling device to perform steps
comprising:
receiving from a user, via the microphone, a voice data preceded by a voice data
(the microphone 110 may be arranged (e.g., configured, constructed, etc.) to receive a
voice command from the user, para. 0013);
using the voice data (the voice command) as received via the microphone (110)
to identify from amongst a plurality of smart appliances (135, 140 and 145A-145C) a
smart appliance (a voice command may be received from a user. In an example the
voice command may include a connected device characterization. In an example, the
characterization may be a connected device type. In an example, characterization may
be a connected device function, paras. 0023, 0018).
Bjorkengren does not specifically disclose using the voice data is a wake-word data; and
transmitting, via the first communication interface, at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone to the identified smart appliance.
In a similar field of endeavor of an electronic device, Yang discloses voice data is a wake-word data (such as trigger word) (para. 0035); and
transmitting, via the first communication interface, at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone to the identified smart appliance (11, 12 or 13) (para. 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to incorporate the voice data transmitting as taught by Yang in the system of Bjorkengren in order to easily judge at the identified device and incorrect operation may be prevented.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses a second
communication interface (integrated in transceiver 125) coupled to the processing
device and wherein the processor-readable code causes the controlling device to
transmit the wake-word data as received via the microphone (110) to a remote server
via the second communication interface and to receive from the remote server via the
second communication interface an identity usable to identify from amongst the plurality
of smart appliances the smart appliance ("external device" or "server" 400, fig. 4) via the
second communication interface and receiving from the remote server via the second
communication interface an identity of the smart appliance to which the voice data
received via the microphone is to be transmitted (paras. 0020, 0040, 0046-0047, and
0057-0058 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claims 3, 8 and 14, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang
discloses at least a portion of the voice data as received via the microphone (110) is
streamed to the identified smart appliance via use of the first communication interface
(125, para. 0013 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claims 4, 9 and 15, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang
discloses the at least a portion of the voice data as received via the microphone is
recorded in the memory prior to being transmitted to the identified smart appliance (the
user device may record the audio command, para. 0030 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claim 5, Bjorkengren discloses a method, comprising:
receiving from a user, via a microphone (110) of a controlling device (105), a voice data
preceded by a voice data (a voice command) (para. 0013);
using the voice data as received via the microphone (110) to identify from
amongst a plurality of smart appliances (135, 140 and 145A-145C) to a smart
appliance;
transmitting, via a first communication interface (125) of the controlling device, at
least a portion of the voice data as received via the microphone to the identified smart
appliance (the voice recognition service may interpret the command and reformat the
command into a machine format (e.g., a binary code, conforming character string, etc.)
used or understandable to a connected device, paras. 0019 and 0031);
receiving, via a second communication interface of the identified smart appliance,
the at least a portion of the voice data as received via the microphone as transmitted by
the controlling device (the command may be preceded by a name for the connected
device that the user wants to address, para. 0030).
Bjorkengren does not specifically disclose using the voice data is a wake-word data; and
transmitting, via a third communication interface of the identified smart appliance,
to a speech processing device the at least a portion of voice data as received via the
microphone as transmitted by the controlling.
In a similar field of endeavor of an electronic device, Yang discloses voice data is a wake-word data (such as trigger word) (para. 0035); and
transmitting, via a third communication interface of the identified smart appliance (11, 12 or 13), to a speech processing device (SRM1, SRM2 or SRM3) the at least a portion of voice data as received via the microphone as transmitted by the controlling (para. 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to incorporate the voice data transmitting as taught by Yang in the system of Bjorkengren in order to easily judge at the identified device and incorrect operation may be prevented.
Regarding claims 6 and 12, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses
receiving, via the third communication interface of the identified smart appliance, a
command provided from the speech processing service in response to the speech
processing service being provided the at least a portion of the voice data as received
via the microphone as transmitted by the controlling device and executing by the
identified smart appliance the command as received via the third communication
interface of the identified smart appliance from the speech processing service (para.
0031 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claims 7 and 13, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses
causing the controlling device to transmit the wake-word data as received via the microphone to a remote server via a fourth communication interface of the controlling
device and receive from the remote server via the fourth communication interface an
identity usable to identify from amongst the plurality of smart appliances the smart
appliance (the machine 400 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client
machine, or both in server-client network environments, para. 0040. The instructions
424 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 426 using a
transmission medium via the network interface device 420 utilizing any one of a number
of transfer protocols, para. 0046. Transmit the voice command to an external device;
and receive the command from the external device, para. 0058 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses the at
least a portion of voice data as received via the microphone comprises a voice
command (para. 0013 of Bjorkengren).
Regarding claim 11, Bjorkengren discloses system (a system 100 for connected
device voice command support, fig. 1), comprising:
a controlling device (a device 105, para. 0012), comprising:
a first memory (not shown in the device 105 (e.g., a user device, mobile device,
tablet, computer, etc., para. 0012) having first processor-readable code embodied
therein;
a first communication interface (125, para. 0013);
a microphone (110, para. 0013) for receiving a voice input; and
a first processor (not shown in the device 105, paras. 0013-0014), coupled to the
first memory, the first communication interface, and the microphone for executing the first processor-readable code that causes the controlling device to perform steps
comprising:
receiving from a user, via the microphone, a voice data (the microphone 110 may
be arranged (e.g., configured, constructed, etc.) to receive a voice command from the
user, para. 0013);
using the voice data as received via the microphone to identify from amongst a
plurality of smart appliances (135, 140 and 145A-145C) a smart appliance; and
wherein the identified smart device (e.g., 400, para. 0040) comprises:
a second memory (416)having second processor-readable code embodied
therein;
a second communication interface (420);
a third communication interface (420); and
a second processor (402), coupled to the second memory, the second
communication interface, and the third communication interface for executing the
second processor-readable code that causes the identified smart appliance to perform
steps comprising:
receiving, via the second communication interface, the at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone transmitted from controlling device (paras. 0019 and 0031).
Bjorkengren does not specifically disclose using the voice data is a wake-word data;
transmitting, via the first communication interface, at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone to the identified smart appliance for
subsequent interpretation by a speech processing service associated with the identified smart appliance; and
transmitting, via the third communication interface, the at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone received from the controlling device to the speech processing service.
In a similar field of endeavor of an electronic device, Yang discloses voice data is a wake-word data (such as trigger word) (para. 0035); and
transmitting, via the first communication interface, at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone to the identified smart appliance (11, 12 or 13) for subsequent interpretation by a speech processing service (SRM1, SRM2 or SRM3) associated with the identified smart appliance (para. 0035); and
transmitting, via the third communication interface, the at least a portion of the
voice data as received via the microphone received from the controlling device (such as 31, fig. 15) to the speech processing service (SRM2 or SRM3) (para. 0126).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to incorporate the voice data transmitting as taught by Yang in the system of Bjorkengren in order to easily judge at the identified device and incorrect operation may be prevented.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses the first
communication interface comprises a radio frequency transmitter (para. 0057 of Yang).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Bjorkengren and Yang discloses the first
communication interface comprises an infrared transmitter (para. 0057 of Yang).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on at least one reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNIFER T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7696. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin C Lee can be reached at 5712722963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JENNIFER T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629
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