Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/790,711

CAPTIONING COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Non-Final OA §DP
Filed
Jul 31, 2024
Priority
Nov 12, 2015 — CIP of 9374536 +5 more
Examiner
EL-ZOOBI, MARIA
Art Unit
2692
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Sorenson IP Holdings LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
93%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allowance Rate
866 granted / 1100 resolved
+16.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
1123
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
82.3%
+42.3% vs TC avg
§102
7.4%
-32.6% vs TC avg
§112
2.0%
-38.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1100 resolved cases

Office Action

§DP
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 . 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 1-20 rejected on the ground of non-statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. [12088953 ]Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because: Both claims 1 in the instant application and patent teaches (a method to transcribe videos, the method comprising: participating, by a transcription system, in a communication session with a media system separate from the transcription system; obtaining, at the transcription system from the media system as part of the communication session, video that includes video data and audio data, the video provided to the transcription system from the media system and to a plurality of communication devices separate from the media system and the transcriptions system, the video obtained by the plurality of communication devices not passing through the transcription system; generating, by the transcription system, text data based on the audio data; and after generating the text data, directing, from the transcription system, the text data to the plurality of communication devices for presentation of the text data by the plurality of communication devices concurrently with presentation of the video by the plurality of communication devices in real-time), the instant application is broader than the patent, the patent teaches first and second communication sessions (participating, by the transcription system, in a plurality of second communication sessions between the transcription system and the plurality of communication devices, the first communication session being separate from the plurality of second communication sessions); however, claims 5 and 6 of the instant application teaches this limitation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to combine claims 5 and 6 with claim 1 and re-wording the claims to obtain the patent. During search, examiner found the following related arts: Agarwal (US 9,462230) teaches video transcription system, obtain communication between first and second communication devices, obtain text from the transcription system and display it on a presentation device (Fig. 1, el. 12, 13, 110 and Fig. 5 and 7). Pan (US 9,843676) teaches video transcription system, obtain communication between first and second communication devices, obtain text from the transcription system and display it on a presentation device (abstract, Fig. 3-4). Nola (US 9,374536) teaches video transcription system, obtain communication between first and second communication devices, obtain text from the transcription system and display it on a presentation device (abstract, Fig. 2). Gauci (US 9,443518) teaches video transcription system, obtain communication between first and second communication devices, obtain text from the transcription system and display it on a presentation device (Fig. 1, 3). Engelke (US 20220103683) teach a transcription system, obtain communication between first and second communication devices, obtain text from the transcription system and display it on a presentation device (Fig. 15-17, 3). Thelin (US 20150130887) teaches (abstract: A video endpoint includes a control circuit configured to provide a user interface configured to enable a user to communicate with another user of another video endpoint with text during video communications with the other user. The user interface is also configured to enable the user to select from text strings stored in a database. A method of operating the video endpoint includes transmitting data corresponding to a selected one of the text strings stored in the database to the other video endpoint during the video communications responsive to the user selecting the selected one of the text strings. A method of transforming a computing device into a video endpoint includes storing computer-readable instructions directed to performing the functions of the control circuit on one or more servers, and transmitting the computer-readable instructions to the computing device). Thelin (US 20170034479) teaches (claim 8: video communication system configured to facilitate communication between a first user and a second user through assistance of a call assistant, the communication system comprising: a first video communication device associated with the first user; and a video relay service associated with the call assistant and configured to facilitate a communication session between the first video communication device and a second communication device associated with the second user, the communication session including: a first communication link for transmitting at least video data between the first video communication device and the video relay service; and a second communication link for transmitting at least audio data between the video relay service and the second communication device, wherein the first video communication device is configured to: retrieve text strings during the communication session from a database of pre-stored text strings; display the retrieved text strings during the communication session to an electronic display of the first video communication device; receive an input from the user selecting one of the displayed text strings during the communication session; and transmit the selected text string to the video relay service during the communication session for display by an electronic display of the video relay service) Engelke (US 20180034961) teaches (abstract: system and method for presenting substantially simultaneous voice and text to an assisted user (AU) during a voice conversation between the AU and a hearing user (HU), the hearing user using an HU device to talk to the assisted user, the system comprising an AU captioned device including a device processor, a relay that includes a relay display, a relay speaker and a relay processor, wherein, at least one of the device processor and the relay processor is programmed to perform the steps of receiving an HU voice signal comprising a sequence of HU voice segments and assigning time stamps to each of the HU voice segments, wherein, the relay processor is programmed to perform the steps of generating text segments corresponding to each HU voice segment, storing each HU voice segment along with a corresponding text segment and a corresponding time stamp in a memory device, broadcasting the HU voice segments to a call assistant (CA) via the relay speaker and presenting each text segment via the relay display substantially contemporaneously with broadcast of the corresponding HU voice segment). Bettis (US 20070058681) teaches (Paragraph 21: allow a to receive video messaging without the rendering audio by enabling closed captioning using an audio to text conversion during playback. Another aspect of the present invention is to allow a user to optionally switch between modes of operation (i.e., video only, audio only, video with closed captioning, closed captioning only, etc.). Another aspect of the present invention is to enable synchronization of the audio and video content available on the telecommunications platform). None of the cited arts alone or in reasonable combination teaches (the video provided to the transcription system from the media system and to a plurality of communication devices separate from the media system and the transcriptions system, the video obtained by the plurality of communication devices not passing through the transcription system; the text data to the plurality of communication devices for presentation of the text data by the plurality of communication devices concurrently with presentation of the video by the plurality of communication devices in real-time). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIA EL-ZOOBI whose telephone number is (571)270-3434. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7-4. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Carolyn Edward can be reached at (571)270-7136. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MARIA EL-ZOOBI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2692
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 31, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §DP (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
93%
With Interview (+14.2%)
2y 6m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1100 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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