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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4-17-2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is acknowledged by the examiner.
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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over: claims 1 and 6 of US Patent No. 11,991,309 and claims 1, 5, 11, 14, and 16 of U.S. Patent No. 11,627,223.
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the cited patent(s) mentioned above disclose: ‘… determining, during a call associated with an interactive voice response service, a first menu option of a current menu of the interactive voice response service; outputting, for display at a device during the call, a first visualization generated to represent the first menu option; determining, during the call and based on the current menu including one or more other menu options, a second menu option of the current menu; and outputting, for display at the device during the call, a second visualization generated to represent the second menu option...’ along with the other limitations of claims 1, 10, and 15 in the instant application.
Allowed claims 1 and 6 cited below in US Pat 11,991,309 disclose the claimed invention in the pending independent claims:
Claim 1: A method, comprising: transcribing, by a telephony system during a call from a calling device to a destination device associated with an interactive voice response service, audio of the call to identify menu options of a current menu of the interactive voice response service; generating, by the telephony system during the call, visualizations representing the menu options; and outputting, by the telephony system for selection during the call, the visualizations to a display associated with the calling device.
Claim 6: The method of claim 1, wherein a first visualization of the visualizations is generated and output to the display before a second visualization of the visualizations is generated.
Allowed claims 1, 5, 11, 14, 16, and 18 cited below in US Pat 11,627,223 disclose the claimed invention in the pending independent claims:
Claim 1: A method, comprising: connecting, by a telephony system intermediate to a client device and a destination device associated with an interactive voice response service, a call from the client device to the destination device; transcribing, by the telephony system, audio from the destination device during the call to identify menu options of a current menu of the interactive voice response service; generating, by the telephony system, visualizations representative of and limited to the menu options during the call; and outputting, by the telephony system, the visualizations to a display associated with the client device during the call.
Claim 5: The method of claim 1, wherein a first visualization of the visualizations is generated based on a first menu option of the menu options and is output to the display before a second menu option of the menu options is identified.
Claim 11: A system, comprising: a telephony system configured to connect a call from a client device to a destination device associated with an interactive voice response service and to output visualizations representing menu options of the interactive voice response service to a display associated with the client device, wherein the telephony system is intermediate to the client device and the destination device; an automatic speech recognition processing tool configured to transcribe audio from the destination device during the call to identify the menu options; and a visualization output generation tool configured to generate the visualizations representing the menu options during the call.
Claim 14: The system of claim 11, wherein the telephony system is configured to: receive a first visualization of the visualizations based on a first menu option of the menu options from the visualization output generation tool; and output the first visualization to the display before a second visualization of the visualizations is generated by the visualization output generation tool.
Claim 16: An apparatus, comprising: a memory; and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to: connect a call from a remote client device to a remote destination device associated with an interactive voice response service; route audio associated with menu options of a current menu of the interactive voice response service from the remote destination device during the call to a first tool configured to transcribe audio from the remote destination device; receive visualizations representing and limited to the menu options of the current menu from a second tool configured to generate the visualizations; and output the visualizations to a display associated with the remote client device.
Claim 18: The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to: receive a first visualization of the visualizations based on a first menu option of the menu options from the second tool; and output the first visualization to the display before a second visualization of the visualizations is received from the second tool.
For these reasons, claims 1-20 are rejected. Claims 2-9 depend on claim 1. Claims 11-14 depend on claim 10. Claims 16-20 depend on claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Form.
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/LISA HASHEM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
/CAROLYN R EDWARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2692