DETAILED ACTION
This is responsive to the application filed 17 July 2024.
Claims 1-11 are pending and considered below
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 § 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 2-3 and 6-7 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 2 recites the limitation "the number of sound types" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The limitation will be interpreted as ‘[[the]] a number of sound types’.
Claim 3 is rejected for depending upon claim 2 without providing a remedy.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the number of sound types included in the registered voice signal" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The limitation will be interpreted as ‘[[the]] a number of sound types included in the registered voice signal’. Further, claim 6 recites the limitation "the number of sound types of the registration target amount" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The limitation will be interpreted as ‘[[the]] a number of sound types of the registration target amount’
Claim 7 is rejected for depending upon claim 6 without providing a remedy.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Daon (“Passive Voice Authentication for the Contact Center”, 1 December 2020, retrieved from the Internet: URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBpUYuNUWs0) referred as Daon hereinafter.
Claim 1:
Daon discloses a voice registration device (0:18 showing a laptop) comprising:
an acquisition unit that acquires a voice signal of an utterance voice of a speaker and speaker information capable of identifying the speaker (0:25-1:07 showing a contact center assistant receiving a phone call from a customer, note the displayed customer’s phone number and the unique customer ID entered by the contact center assistant),
a registration unit that registers the acquired voice signal and speaker information in an associated manner in a database (1:07-1:48 showing the contact center assistant registering the customer, see also information showing the amount of speech collected from the customer),
a progress degree determination unit that repeatedly determines a registration progress degree of the voice signal registered in the database with respect to a registration target amount of the voice signal registered in the database (1:09-1:48 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount), and
a notification unit that notifies the determined registration progress degree (1:09-1:48 showing the progress of the speech collection as “Speech Collected”).
Claim 2:
Daon discloses the voice registration device according to claim 1, wherein the progress degree determination unit repeatedly determines the registration progress degree of the voice signal registered in the database and a number of sound types included in the registered voice signal, and the notification unit notifies the registration progress degree and the number of sound types (1:09-1:48 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount, note that the progress shows the collection progress in a number of seconds).
Claim 3:
Daon discloses the voice registration device according to claim 2, wherein the progress degree determination unit determines the number of sound types for each sound included in the voice signal registered in the database, and the notification unit notifies the number of sound types for each sound (1:09-1:48 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount, note that the progress shows the collection progress in a number of seconds as the speech is collected).
Claim 4:
Daon discloses the voice registration device according to claim 1, wherein the progress degree determination unit repeatedly determines the registration progress degree of the voice signal registered in the database and a signal length of the registered voice signal, and the notification unit notifies the registration progress degree and the signal length (1:09-1:48 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount, note that the progress shows the collection progress in seconds i.e. length).
Claim 9:
Daon discloses the voice registration device according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit generates and outputs a progress notification screen including the registration progress degree (1:09-1:48 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount, note that the progress is displayed to the contact center assistant).
Claim 10:
Daon discloses the voice registration device according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit generates and outputs a voice notification signal that notifies the registration progress degree by voice (1:48-1:50 determining the progress of the speech collection with respect to 25 seconds target amount, note that the ding sound made when enough speech has been collected).
Claim 11:
Daon discloses a voice registration method executed by one or more computers (0:18 showing a laptop), the voice registration method comprising the steps performed by the device of claim 1 as shown above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 6-7 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record, individually or in combination, does not disclose the voice registration device according to claim 1, further comprising: a selection unit that selects at least one question to the speaker based on the registration progress degree, wherein the notification unit generates and outputs a progress notification screen including the selected question and the registration progress degree.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gomar (US 2013/0225128) discloses a speaker recognition system for authenticating a mobile device user including an enrollment and learning software module, a voice biometric authentication software module, and a secure software application. Upon request by a user of the mobile device, the enrollment and learning software module displays text prompts to the user, receives speech utterances from the user, and produces a voice biometric print. The enrollment and training software module determines when a voice biometric print has met at least a quality threshold before storing it on the mobile device.
Sheets et al. (US 2014/0222678) discloses speaker verification on a communication device without requiring a user to go through a formal registration process with the issuer or network. Certain embodiments allow the use of a captured voice sample attempting to reproduce a word string having a random element to authenticate the user. Authentication of the user is based on both a match score indicating how closely the captured voice samples match to previously stored voice samples of the user and a pass or fail response indicating whether the voice sample is an accurate reproduction of the word string.
Lousky et al. (US 2016/0365095) discloses a computer-implemented method for enrolling in a database voice prints generated from audio streams may include receiving an audio stream of a communication session and creating a preliminary association between the audio stream and an identity of a customer that has engaged in the communication session based on identification information.
Krishnamoorthy discloses a system for establishing voice identity profiles for use with voice-controlled devices. The embodiments disclosed enhance user experience by customizing the enrollment process to utilize voice recognition for each user based on historical information which can be used in the selection process of phrases a user speaks during enrollment of a voice recognition function or skill. The selection process can utilize phrases that have already been spoken to the electronic device; it can utilize phrases, contacts, or other personalized information it can obtain from the user account of the person enrolling; it can use any of the information just described to select specific words to enhance the probably of achieving higher phonetic matches based on words the individual user is more likely to speak to the device.
Choi (US 2019/0362726) discloses an electronic apparatus which includes an inputter comprising input circuitry, a voice receiver comprising voice receiving circuitry, a storage, and a processor configured to: provide a guide prompting a user utterance based on user authentication being performed according to user information input through the inputter, generate a speaker recognition model corresponding to the user information based on a voice corresponding to the guide being received through the voice receiver, store the speaker recognition model in the storage, and identify a user corresponding to a voice received through the voice receiver based on the speaker recognition model updated by comparing a voice received through the voice receiver with the speaker recognition model.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL G NEWAY whose telephone number is (571)270-1058. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm EST.
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/SAMUEL G NEWAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2657