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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1, 4, 7-11, 14-16, and 19-20 are pending. Claims 1, 11, and 16 are independent.
This Application was published as US 20250313434.
Apparent priority is 6 April 2024.
The instant Application is directed to a voice command system for an overhead hoist transport which verified the user unless the command is to stop.
Response to Arguments
35 USC 103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to 35 USC 103 have been considered but are not persuasive. Applicant argues (bottom of pg. 18) that Liu fails to disclose performing audio filtering before voice trigger is determined, and after active noise-reduction. In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., performing filtering before determining the trigger voice signal) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). The claims only specify that the active noise reduction is performed after the filtering.
Liu explicitly discloses that the noise purification can include a Weiner filter followed by noise reduction: “[0062] Specifically, according to the noise information and the human voice frequency band, the voice purify circuit 122 may reduce the sound intensity of the noise in the bunched sound signal through a Wiener filter by adopting the two-step noise reduction (TSNR) method and the harmonic regeneration noise reduction method, so as to obtain a purified sound signal. The TSNR method prevents a frame delay from occurring due to computation, and the harmonic regeneration noise reduction method prevents the sound signal from being distorted due to excessive noise suppression. In the embodiment, the Wiener filter may serve to suppress background noise in a steady state. In addition, in this embodiment, the voice purify circuit 122 may further use the noise information to supplement the insufficiency of the Wiener filter…”
Regarding argument (last para of pg. 18 through first para of pg. 19) that Liu discloses using the voice trigger circuit to determine a voice signal rather than matching a voiceprint, Liu is not relied upon to teach this limitation. Liu discloses (see fig. 3A) that after a trigger is detected, the purified sound signal is used to map a target command to a target voice signal. Xia discloses (see [00043] as mapped in claim 1) matching a voiceprint pattern. Liu is only relied upon in combination with Xia to teach noise removal that can be performed prior to analyzing the voice signal as taught by Xia.
Regarding argument that there would have been no motivation to combine the teachings of Zhang 1 and Xia, applicant does not provide explanation as to why there would have been no motivation. As presented previously with regards to claim 1, the combination would have been beneficial so that anyone on the scene can stop the system in an emergency (Zhang1, [00087]). Further, though not specifically challenged, combining Liu with Xia and Zhang 1 would have been beneficial in order to reduce computational load (Liu [0037]) as previously cited with regards to claim 5.
Therefore, the rejection is maintained.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: : a sound receiving unit, a database unit, a voiceprint extracting unit, and a processing unit in claims 11-20.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 7-8, 10-11, 14, 16, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia (CN 112520583 A) in view of Zhang et al (CN 117392976 A), hereinafter as Zhang1, and Liu et al. (US 20200227039 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Xia discloses: 1. A voice control method of an overhead hoist transport (OHT), comprising: ("[00024] In the hoisting machinery provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the voiceprint information of the operator is pre-recorded in the signal transmitter. During lifting operations, the signal transmitter will communicate with the recorded voiceprint information after receiving the voice signal. By comparison, when it is determined as the operator's command and instruction, the control signal is sent to the signal receiver, and the corresponding operation can be completed without the cooperation of multiple operators at the same time, which can not only improve the efficiency of lifting operations, but also effectively improve the lifting The accuracy of the assignment." )
(a) receiving an ambient sound; ("[00039] Specifically, the voice receiving unit is a microphone or a pickup, which are two preferred modes listed in the embodiment of the present invention, and should not be understood as a limitation of the present invention." )
performing an audio filtering process to the ambient sound,
("[00049] … In order to improve the signal quality, the control signal can also be processed. Filtering and noise reduction processing..." )
determining whether an intensity of the ambient sound is greater than a preset threshold; when a determination is made that the intensity of the ambient sound is greater than the preset threshold, (not explicitly disclosed)
performing an active noise-reduction process to the ambient sound after performing the audio filtering process to the ambient sound; ("[00049] … In order to improve the signal quality, the control signal can also be processed. Filtering and noise reduction processing..." )
(b) after performing the active noise-reduction process to the ambient sound, determining whether the ambient sound is corresponded to one of control commands for controlling the OHT; ("[00036] The signal transmitter 50 is used to recognize the received voice information, and when the voice information is recognized as a command instruction, send a control signal corresponding to the voice information to the signal receiver 40." )
(c) determining whether the one of the control commands is for immediately stopping the OHT when a determination is made that the ambient sound is corresponded to the one of the control commands for controlling the OHT; ("[00053] ... The heavy mechanism stops descending; when the operator sends out the voice signal of "descent, descend, descend", the execution time of the lowering operation of the crane mechanism can be set as continuous execution, that is, until the operator sends the "stop" voice signal Then exit the descending operation." )
(d) immediately stopping the OHT when a determination is made that the one of the control commands is for immediately stopping the OHT; ("[00053] ... until the operator sends the "stop" voice signal Then exit the descending operation." Xia does not explicitly disclose that the OHT stops without determining a voiceprint match as is understood by “immediately”. )
(e) determining whether a voiceprint pattern of the ambient sound matches a preset voiceprint pattern of an authorized user when a determination is made that the one of the control commands is not for immediately stopping the OHT; and ("[00043] After the voice receiving unit 52 receives the voice signal, the voice recognition unit 53 performs voiceprint recognition on the voice signal, and the signal judging unit 54 performs operations recorded in advance in the voiceprint storage unit 51 The operator’s voiceprint information is used to determine whether the voice signal is a command instruction of the operator..." )
(f) instructing the OHT to perform a move corresponding to the one of the control commands when a determination is made that the voiceprint pattern matches the preset voiceprint pattern. ("[00043]... The operator’s voiceprint information is used to determine whether the voice signal is a command instruction of the operator, and when the voice signal is determined to be a command instruction, the signal sending unit 55 sends a corresponding control signal to the signal receiver 40." )
Xia does not disclose that the OHT is immediately stopped without matching the voiceprint, as is understood to be the meaning of “immediately stopping”. Xia also does not disclose determining whether an intensity of the ambient sound is greater than a preset threshold before performing noise reduction, or that noise reduction is performed after filtering.
Zhang1 discloses: (d) immediately stopping the OHT when a determination is made that the one of the control commands is for immediately stopping the OHT; ("[00087] In one embodiment of the present invention, a solution is proposed in response to the need for emergency stop during puncture: after each voice signal is collected, it is determined whether the corresponding converted text information belongs to the preset stop instruction set (such as Stop, terminate), if so, the processing module skips the step of extracting voiceprint features (that is, it will not perform the operations of generating potential instruction text information, feedback, and re-confirmation), and directly sends a stop message to the motion control module. Movement instructions. It can be seen from the above that the emergency stop command is not limited to the voice with the target voiceprint. Therefore, when anyone on the scene (including the patient) expresses the voice of the stop command, the system can respond in time, thereby reducing the patient's surgical costs. Medium risk" )
Xia and Zhang1 are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because they disclose voice control systems for machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system of Xia with an immediate stop option as disclosed by Zhang1. Doing so would have been beneficial so that anyone on the scene can stop the system in an emergency. (Zhang1, [00087])
Zhang1 does not disclose determining whether an intensity of the ambient sound is greater than a preset threshold before performing noise reduction, or that noise reduction is performed after filtering.
Liu discloses: determining whether an intensity of the ambient sound is greater than a preset threshold; (“[0037] In step S321, according to the sound intensity of the first sound signal, a portion of the first sound signal whose sound intensity is greater than a trigger sound intensity threshold in the first sound signal is identified. In an embodiment, the voice trigger circuit 121 only keeps a sound signal within a human voice frequency band (e.g., 300 Hertz to 3400 Hertz), so that the first sound signal is a sound signal corresponding to the human voice frequency band. In this way, the computational load can be reduced, and the influences of other types of noise can be avoided by focusing on the human voice frequency band only. In addition, clear/dull sounds uttered at a faster rate or lacking intensity may also be sensed.” – the voice trigger circuit only activates if the received ambient noise exceeds a threshold. This means any processing including noise reduction occurs only if the threshold is met, as further shown in the figures 3B and 3C below.)
when a determination is made that the intensity of the ambient sound is greater than the preset threshold, performing an active noise-reduction process to the ambient sound after performing the audio filtering process to the ambient sound. (“[0062] Specifically, according to the noise information and the human voice frequency band, the voice purify circuit 122 may reduce the sound intensity of the noise in the bunched sound signal through a Wiener filter by adopting the two-step noise reduction (TSNR) method and the harmonic regeneration noise reduction method, so as to obtain a purified sound signal. The TSNR method prevents a frame delay from occurring due to computation, and the harmonic regeneration noise reduction method prevents the sound signal from being distorted due to excessive noise suppression. In the embodiment, the Wiener filter may serve to suppress background noise in a steady state. In addition, in this embodiment, the voice purify circuit 122 may further use the noise information to supplement the insufficiency of the Wiener filter…”
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As shown in Figs. 3B and 3C, voice purify operation is performed only if the trigger is detected. Annotation added for clarity.)
Xia, Zhang1, and Liu are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because they disclose voice control systems for machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with a voice trigger as disclosed by Liu to clean the audio before further processing. This would have been beneficial in order to reduce computational load. (Liu [0037])
Regarding claim 4, Xia and Zhang1 do not disclose the additional limitations.
Liu discloses: 4. The voice control method of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the audio filtering process to the ambient sound comprises: blocking an environmental noise part and a non-human vocal part in a frequency range of the ambient sound, and enabling a main part in the frequency range of the ambient sound to be passed through only. ("[0062] …It should be noted that, in the noise suppressing operation, the voice purify circuit 122 may refer to the human voice frequency band (300 Hz to 3400 Hz), keep only sound signals within such range of the frequency band in the bunched sound signal, and remove sound signals exceeding such range of the frequency band." )
Xia, Zhang1, and Liu are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because they disclose voice control systems for machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with noise filtering as disclosed by Liu. This would have been beneficial in order to enhance the sound intensity of the user's voice while reducing the sound intensity of sounds in other orientations. (Liu [0031])
Regarding claim 7, Xia does not disclose the additional limitations.
Zhang1 discloses: 7. The voice control method of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises: converting the ambient sound into a text message; and ("[00013] A speech recognition module configured to use NLP technology to convert the speech signals collected by the speech collection module into text information;”)
identifying the text message of the ambient sound and determining whether the text message matches one of the control commands stored in a database unit. (“[00014] A processing module configured to extract the voiceprint characteristics of the voice signal collected by the voice collection module, match the voice signal that conforms to the preset target voiceprint, and convert the text information from the voice recognition module Match the text information corresponding to the speech signal that matches the preset target voiceprint, and extract keywords from it to generate potential instruction text information;" )
Xia and Zhang1 are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because they disclose voice control systems for machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system of Xia with the text processing disclosed by Zhang1. This combination falls under combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results or simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results. See MPEP 2141, KSR, 550 U.S. at 418, 82 USPQ2d at 1396.
Regarding claim 8, Xia discloses: 8. The voice control method of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the one of the control commands is designated for the OHT after step (e); and when a determination is made that the one of the control commands is designated for the OHT, instructing the OHT designated by the one of the control commands to perform the move corresponding to the one of the control commands. ("[00052] The following will describe with a specific example. For example, if an operator needs to perform a lowering operation on a crane structure, first, the voiceprint information of the operator has been pre-stored in the voiceprint storage unit in the signal transmitter. When the operator sends out a "down" voice signal, the voice signal is converted into an electrical signal by a voice receiving unit such as a microphone or a pickup, and the electrical signal is matched with the voiceprint signal of the operator through the voice recognition unit. Determine that the voice signal is a command instruction, and then the signal sending unit sends the control signal to the signal receiving unit in the signal receiver, and the signal processing unit processes the signal to obtain the corresponding control instruction, that is, the down instruction, thereby controlling The crane structure realizes the lowering operation." )
Regarding claim 10, Xia discloses: 10. The voice control method of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 1, wherein step (e) further comprises: extracting the voiceprint pattern from the ambient sound; and identifying the voiceprint pattern of the ambient sound and determining whether the voiceprint pattern of the ambient sound matches the preset voiceprint pattern registered in a database unit. ("[00052] The following will describe with a specific example. For example, if an operator needs to perform a lowering operation on a crane structure, first, the voiceprint information of the operator has been pre-stored in the voiceprint storage unit in the signal transmitter. When the operator sends out a "down" voice signal, the voice signal is converted into an electrical signal by a voice receiving unit such as a microphone or a pickup, and the electrical signal is matched with the voiceprint signal of the operator through the voice recognition unit..." )
Claim 11 is a system claim with limitations corresponding to the limitations of Claim 1 and is rejected under similar rationale. Additionally, Xia teaches: a housing (“[00047] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, it is a structural diagram of a signal receiver”)
a sound receiving unit, (“[00017] Preferably, the voice receiving unit is a microphone or a pickup.)
a database unit, (“[00016] Preferably, the storage unit in the signal transmitter pre-stores at least one operator's voiceprint information.”)
a voiceprint extracting unit, (“[00043] After the voice receiving unit 52 receives the voice signal, the voice recognition unit 53 performs voiceprint recognition on the voice signal…” )
a wave filter, an active noise cancellation circuit, ("[00049] … In order to improve the signal quality, the control signal can also be processed. Filtering and noise reduction processing..." )
and a processing unit (“[00047] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, it is a structural diagram of a signal receiver provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The signal receiver 40 includes a signal receiving unit 41, a signal processing unit 42, and an instruction sending unit. 43;”)
Regarding claim 14, Xia discloses: 14. The voice control system of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 11, wherein the active noise cancellation circuit is inbuilt in the processing unit. (“[00082] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing module 540 may also be used to cause each logistics robot to perform noise reduction processing on the control voice command.” – the processing module 540 is the same processing unit used to perform the other task; see e.g. [00079]-[00080].)
Claim 16 is a device claim with limitations corresponding to the limitations of Claim 1 and is rejected under similar rationale. Additionally, Xia teaches: a housing; a pick-up system disposed on the housing for picking up an object; a transmission system disposed on the housing for moving along a rail; a control circuit portion disposed in the housing, and electrically connected to the pick-up system and the transmission system for controlling the pick-up system and the transmission system. (“[0006] According to the "Special Equipment Catalogue" promulgated by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, cranes are divided into: bridge cranes, gantry cranes, tower cranes, mobile cranes, portal cranes, lifts, cable cranes, mast cranes, Mechanical parking equipment.” – at least bridge cranes and gantry cranes include a housing, a pickup system, a transmission system, and a control circuit.)
Claim 19 is a device claim with limitations corresponding to the limitations of Claim 14 and is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim(s) 9, 15, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia in view of Zhang1 and Liu as applied in claim 8 above, further in view of Zhang et al (CN 113409786 B), hereinafter as Zhang2.
Regarding claim 9, Xia does not disclose the additional limitations.
Zhang1 discloses: 9. The voice control method of the overhead hoist transport (OHT) of claim 8, wherein the step of determining whether the ambient sound is designated for the OHT comprises: converting the ambient sound into a text message; ("[00013] A speech recognition module configured to use NLP technology to convert the speech signals collected by the speech collection module into text information;”)
and identifying the text message and determining whether at least one part of the text message matches a serial number of the OHT, wherein when a determination is made that the at least one part of the text message matches the serial number, only instructing the OHT designated by the one of the control commands to perform the move corresponding to the one of the control commands. (not explicitly disclosed.)
See motivation statement for claim 7.
Zhang1 does not disclose determining which unit to control based on serial number in the command. Neither does Liu.
Zhang2 discloses: identifying the text message and determining whether at least one part of the text message matches a serial number of the OHT, wherein when a determination is made that the at least one part of the text message matches the serial number, only instructing the OHT designated by the one of the control commands to perform the move corresponding to the one of the control commands. ("[00059] In this example embodiment, in the activated state, the user can issue control voice commands to each logistics robot, and the control voice commands can include specific identity information and action commands of the specific logistics robot designated by the user. For example, identity information can be preset for all logistics robots in the current work area. For example, a total of 50 logistics robots can be preset with numbers 1 to 50, so that when the logistics robot detects a voice command that matches its own number, At this time, it can be known that the voice command is issued for itself. For example, if the user wants to designate the logistics robot numbered 3 to perform the cargo lifting task, the user can issue the control voice command "Car No. 3, lift". In this case, the logistics robot No. 3 is the specific logistics robot, and The identity information "No. 3" is the specific identity information, and the "lift" in it is the specific action command." )
Xia, Zhang1, Liu, and Zhang2 are considered analogous art to the claimed invention because they disclose voice control systems for machines. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination with control by serial number as disclosed by Zhang2. This would have been beneficial so that multiple machines could be controlled individually.
Claim 15 is a system claim with limitations corresponding to the limitations of Claim 9 and is rejected under similar rationale.
Claim 20 is a device claim with limitations corresponding to the limitations of Claim 9 and is rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
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/JON CHRISTOPHER MEIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2654
/HAI PHAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2654
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