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
This responds to Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks filed 06/25/2026. Claims 1-3, 7-13, 18-19 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are now pending in this Application.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/25/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Allowable Subject Matter
There is no references to reject claims 3, 7-9.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 10-12, 14-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heck et al (U.S. Pub No. 2012/0254810 A1), and in view of Luff et al (U.S. Pub No. 2008/02701272 A1), and further in view of Plakhov et al (U.S. Pub No. 2015/0006505).
As per claim 1, Luff discloses a method performed by a device, the method comprising:
Receiving, detecting verbalization expressed by the person, the verbalization requesting information about an object that is in an external environment or about a location that is in the external environment; causing a search to be performed, by the search manager, the search being based on the verbalization, the search being refined by the search manager using the physiological information (par [0019-0020]).
passing, the physiological information and information associated with the verbalization (Par [0011, 0020] fig 2).
Heck discloses gesture but silence about receiving, by a radar-based recognition system of the device, reflection of a radar field that reflects off of a person; determining physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field.
However, Luff discloses receiving, by a radar-based recognition system of the device, reflection of a radar field that reflects off of a person; determining physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field (Par [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Luff into the teachings of Heck in order to improve the integrity and accuracy of the collected data (Par [0031]).
Heck disclose searching and update the retrieved context. Heck and Luff do not explicitly disclose providing results of the refined search responsive to the question.
However, Plakhov discloses providing results of the refined search responsive to the question (par [0031, 0042, 0072, 0090]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Plakhov into the teachings of Heck as modified by Luff in order to improve searching system (Par [0005]).
As per claim 2, Heck discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the verbalization request information about at least one of the following: a building, a store or business; or a street (Par [0020]).
As per claim 4, Heck discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the physiological information relates to at least one of the following: a biological characteristic or condition of the person; or a physical orientation of the person (Par [0014, 0019]).
As per claim 5, Luff discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the biological characteristic or condition comprises at least one of the following: a body temperature of the person; a skin temperature of the person; a heart rate of the person; an indication of perspiration on the person; a hunger level of the person; a stress level of the person; or a hydration level of the person (Par [0029, 0045]).
As per claim 6, Plakhov discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the refining of the search comprises refining the search sufficient to provide the results of the refined search that vary in at least one of relevancy, quality, verbosity, temporal proximity, or geographic proximity (par [0031, 0042, 0072, 0090]).
As per claim 10, Heck discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: recognizing an in-the-air gesture performed by the person using the radar-based recognition system of the device, wherein the causing the search to be performed comprises refining the search using the physiological information and a determined meaning of the in-the-air gesture that is relevant to the verbalization (par [0016-0019]).
As per claim 11, Heck discloses the method of claim 10, wherein: the in-the-air gesture has multiple potential meanings; and the method further comprises determining the meaning of the in-the-air gesture based on a comparison of the multiple potential meanings associated with the in-the-air gesture in combination with the verbalization (par [0016-0019]).
As per claim 12, Heck discloses a computing device comprising:
a search manager configured to (Par [0011-0012]):
cause the computing device to identify a verbalization expressed by a person, the verbalization request information about an object that is in an external environment or about a location that is in the external environment
perform a search based on the verbalization, the search being refined by the manager using the physiological information associated with the person (par [0019-0020]).
Heck discloses gesture but silence about a radar-based recognition system configured to: receive reflections of a radar field that reflects off of a person; and determine physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field.
However, Luff discloses a radar-based recognition system configured to: receive reflections of a radar field that reflects off of a person; and determine physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field (Par [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Luff into the teachings of Heck in order to improve the integrity and accuracy of the collected data (Par [0031]).
Heck discloses searching and update the retrieved context. Heck and Schroeter do not explicitly disclose providing results of the refined search responsive to the question.
However, Plakhov discloses providing results of the refined search responsive to the question (par [0031, 0042, 0072, 0090]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Plakhov into the teachings of Heck as modified by Luff in order to improve searching system (Par [0005]).
As per claim 14, Luff discloses the computing device of claim 12, wherein the physiological information comprises at least one of the following: an orientation of the person; a body temperature of the person; a skin temperature of the person; a heart rate of the person; an indication of perspiration on the person; a hunger level of the person; a stress level of the person; or a hydration level of the person (par [0029]).
As per claim 15. Plakhov discloses the computing device of claim 12, further comprising a display configured to present the results of the refined search (par [0031, 0042, 0072, 0090]).
As per claim 16, Luff discloses the computing device of claim 12, wherein the computing device comprises a portable wireless communication device being a smartphone or a wearable device (Par [0041, 0106]).
As per claim 17, Heck discloses the computing device of claim 12, wherein the person is a user of the computing device (Par [0013]).
As per claim 18, Heck discloses a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, responsive to execution by a processor, cause a device to:
detect a verbalization expressed by the person, the verbalization requesting information about an object that is in an external environment or about a location that is in the external environment; perform a search based on the verbalization search being refined (par [0019-0020]);
perform a search based on the verbalization, the search being refined by the device using the physiological information (par [0020-0021).
Heck discloses gesture but silence about receive reflections of a radar field that reflects off of a person; determine physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field.
However, Luff discloses receive reflections of a radar field that reflects off of a person; determine physiological information associated with the person by processing the reflections of the radar field (Par [0029]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Luff into the teachings of Heck in order to improve the integrity and accuracy of the collected data (Par [0031]).
Heck discloses searching and update the retrieved context. Heck and Schroeter do not explicitly disclose providing results of the refined search responsive to the verbalization.
However, Plakhov discloses providing results of the refined search responsive to the verbalization (par [0031, 0042, 0072, 0090]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Plakhov into the teachings of Heck as modified by Luff in order to improve searching system (Par [0005]).
As per claim 20, Schroeter discloses the computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the physiological information comprises at least one of the following: an orientation of the person; a body temperature of the person; a skin temperature of the person; a heart rate of the person; an indication of perspiration on the person; a hunger level of the person; a stress level of the person; or a hydration level of the person (Par [0003]).
Claim(s) 13, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heck et al, and Plakhov et al, and Luff et al, and further in view of Starner et al (U.S. Patent No. 8,963,806 A1).
As per claim 13, Luff discloses the computing device of claim 12, wherein: a radar based-recognition system (Par [0029]).
Heck, Plakhov and Luff do not explicitly disclose a recognition system is further configured to recognize an in-the-air gesture performed by the person by processing the reflection of the radar field; and the search manager is further configured to refine the search using the physiological information and determined meaning of the in-the-air gesture that is relevant to the verbalization
However, Starner discloses a -recognition system is further configured to recognize an in-the-air gesture performed by the person by processing the reflection of the radar field; and the search manager is further configured to refine the search using the physiological information and determined meaning of the in-the-air gesture that is relevant to the verbalization (Col 4 lines 33-54).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the features as disclosed in Starner into the teachings of Heck as modified by Luff and Plakhov in order to improve searching system
As per claim 19, Starner discloses the computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-readable storage medium causes the device to determine to:
Recognize an in-the -air gesture performed by the person by processing the reflections of the radar field; and refine the search using the physiological information and determined meaning of the in-the-air gesture that is relevant to the verbalization (Col 4 lines 33-54).
Conclusion
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August 6, 2026
/THU N NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2154
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