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 .
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The information disclosure statement filed February 21, 2025 states,
“the application(s) to which priority is claimed by this application as stated in MPEP § 609.02. In light of this requirement and the understanding that the examiner will comply with it, applicant will not list those references in an Information Disclosure Statement in the above-referenced application.”
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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).
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,238,049. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
Instant Application
U.S. Patent No. 12,238,049
1. A method of establishing an interactive communication session between a remote client device and a back-end computing system, comprising:
embedding, by the back-end computing system, one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request;
transmitting the electronic message to the remote client device associated with a user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the back-end computing system, a discussion prompt based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device of the back-end computing system, the discussion prompt to determine a topic corresponding to the discussion prompt;
responsive to the discussion prompt, generating, by the back-end computing system, a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt, the textual response being based on the topic of the discussion prompt;
transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user;
receiving, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response; identifying, by the NLP device of the back-end computing system, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply;
generating, by the back-end computing system, a second textual response comprising an additional textual response to the additional discussion prompt; and
transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the discussion prompt comprises an identifier corresponding to the user of the remote client device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the discussion prompt.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the discussion prompt.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: continuing an interactive chat between the intelligent automated assistant and the remote client device based on further discussion prompts transmitted by the remote client device.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein parsing, by the NLP device of the back-end computing system, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises: analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
8. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory having programming instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, performs operations comprising: embedding one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request;
transmitting the electronic message to a remote client device associated with a user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the system, a discussion prompt based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device, the discussion prompt to determine a topic corresponding to the discussion prompt;
responsive to the discussion prompt, generating a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt, the textual response being based on the topic of the discussion prompt; and
transmitting, by the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response;
identifying, by the NLP device, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply; generating a second textual response comprising an additional textual response to the additional discussion prompt; and
transmitting, via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the discussion prompt.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the discussion prompt.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
13. The system of claim 8 wherein the discussion prompt comprises an identifier corresponding to the user of the remote client device.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: continuing an interactive chat between the intelligent automated assistant and the remote client device based on further discussion prompts transmitted by the remote client device.
15. The system of claim 8, wherein parsing, by the NLP device, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises: analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes a computing system to perform operations, comprising:
embedding, by the computing system, one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request;
transmitting the electronic message to a remote client device associated with a user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the computing system,
a first response based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device of the computing system, the first response to determine a topic corresponding to the first response; responsive to the first response,
generating, by the computing system, a first reply to the first response,
the first reply being based on the topic of the first response;
transmitting, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the first reply to the remote client device of the user; receiving, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, a second response from the remote client device in response to the first reply; identifying, by the NLP device of the computing system, an additional discussion prompt contained in the second response; generating, by the computing system, a second reply based on the additional discussion prompt; and
transmitting, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the second reply to the remote client device.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the first response.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the first response.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein parsing, by the NLP device of the computing system, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises:
analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
1. A method of establishing an interactive communication session between a remote client device and a back-end computing system, comprising: embedding, by the back-end computing system, one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request based on historical interactions with a user and a plurality of other users;
transmitting the electronic message to the remote client device associated with the user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the back-end computing system, a discussion prompt based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device of the back-end computing system, the discussion prompt to determine a topic corresponding to the discussion prompt;
responsive to the discussion prompt, generating, by the back-end computing system, a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt, the textual response being based on the topic of the discussion prompt;
transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user; receiving, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response; identifying, by the NLP device of the back-end computing system, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply;
generating, by the back-end computing system, a second textual response comprising an additional textual response to the additional discussion prompt; and transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the discussion prompt comprises an identifier corresponding to the user of the remote client device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the discussion prompt.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the discussion prompt.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: continuing an interactive chat between the intelligent automated assistant and the remote client device based on further discussion prompts transmitted by the remote client device.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein parsing, by the NLP device of the back-end computing system, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises: analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
8. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory having programming instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, performs operations comprising: embedding one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request based on historical interactions with a user and a plurality of other users;
transmitting the electronic message to a remote client device associated with the user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the system, a discussion prompt based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device, the discussion prompt to determine a topic corresponding to the discussion prompt;
responsive to the discussion prompt, generating a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt, the textual response being based on the topic of the discussion prompt; and transmitting, by the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response; identifying, by the NLP device, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply; generating a second textual response comprising an additional textual response to the additional discussion prompt; and
transmitting, via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the discussion prompt.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the discussion prompt.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the discussion prompt comprises an identifier corresponding to the user of the remote client device.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: continuing an interactive chat between the intelligent automated assistant and the remote client device based on further discussion prompts transmitted by the remote client device.
15. The system of claim 8, wherein parsing, by the NLP device, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises: analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
16. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes a computing system to perform operations, comprising: embedding, by the computing system, one or more pre-generated message prompts in an electronic message, each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts anticipating a user request based on historical interactions with a user and a plurality of other users; transmitting the electronic message to a remote client device associated with the user; receiving, by an intelligent automated assistant executing on the computing system,
a discussion prompt based on one of the one or more pre-generated message prompts from the remote client device;
parsing, by a natural language processing (NLP) device of the computing system, the discussion prompt to determine a topic corresponding to the discussion prompt
and an identifier contained in the discussion prompt, the identifier indicative of the user; responsive to the discussion prompt,
generating, by the computing system, a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt,
the textual response being based on the topic of the discussion prompt and the identifier indicative of the user; transmitting, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user; receiving, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response; identifying, by the NLP device of the computing system, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply; generating, by the computing system, a second textual response comprising an additional textual response based on the additional discussion prompt and the identifier of the user; and transmitting, by the computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein each of the one or more pre-generated message prompts are hyperlinks.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the additional discussion prompt is related to the discussion prompt.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the additional discussion prompt is unrelated to the discussion prompt.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein parsing, by the NLP device of the computing system, the discussion prompt to determine the topic corresponding to the discussion prompt, comprises:
analyzing the discussion prompt using natural language processing to determine the topic of the discussion prompt.
In the instant application, “the first reply” and the “first response” is broader and is anticipated by “textual response” and “discussion prompt”. The “second reply” and the “second response” in the instant application are broader and anticipated by the “textual” reply” and “the textual response” in the patent.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art, Nishant (US 2019/0012390 - provisional 62/529925) teaches a chat bot which generates interface window; and generates an automate conversational dialog with the user ; and queries content sources to generate query result and forwards it to the user. The natural language processor receive speech and identifies and intent , and the back-end computing system generates a textual response in reply to the discussion prompt. Dharne (US 2019/0251966 - provisional 62/630979) teaches
teaches determining if a predictive path to the speech utterance exists, and generates the response.
A thorough review of the prior art fails to disclose or render obvious,
“ transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the textual response to the remote client device of the user; receiving, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, a textual reply from the remote client device in response to the textual response; identifying, by the NLP device of the back-end computing system, an additional discussion prompt contained in the textual reply; generating, by the back-end computing system, a second textual response comprising an additional textual response to the additional discussion prompt; and transmitting, by the back-end computing system via the intelligent automated assistant, the second textual response to the remote client device.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent toapplicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 form.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from theexaminer should be directed to Chirag R Patel whose telephone number is (571)272-7966. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:00AM to 6:00PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, theexaminer's supervisor, Glenton Burgess, can be reached on 571-272-3949. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceedingis assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Chirag R Patel/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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