DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 5-8, 11, 12 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Min (US PG Pub 20220148034; as claiming priority to foreign applications KR 10-2021-0019126 effectively filed 02/10/2021 and KR 10-2020-0150834 effectively filed 11/12/2020).
As per claims 1 and 11, Min discloses: A computer-implemented method and system comprising: memory (Min; Fig. 2, item 120; p. 0051-0053); and control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured (Min; Fig. 2, item 120; p. 0051-0053 & p. 0076 - The above modules are software stored in the memory 120 and may be controlled by the processor 140) to: receive an indication of an audio output to be provided to a user associated with a device, wherein the audio output relates to a product (Min; Fig. 1, item 12 – This item corresponds to the audio output related to a product “car x”; p. 0276 - When the user's voice corresponds to the question (operation S1410-Y), a response text (indication of an audio output to be provided) to the question may be obtained (operation S1420) (wherein the response text is converted to audio for output according to p. 0093-0094 with TTS Module 149); see also p. 0187-0188); determine whether an availability level of the user exceeds a threshold (Min; Fig. 13, item S1330 & S1350; p. 0270-0273 - The advertisement concentration level (=interest level−advertisement fatigue level) (availability level) may be identified for each product category identified in S1310 operation (S1330)… When the advertisement concentration level of the high-interest product category is equal to or higher than a threshold value (operation S1350-Y), the advertisement for the high-interest product category may be provided as a voice through the audio outputter (operation S1360)); based at least in part on determining that the availability level of the user exceeds the threshold (Min; Fig. 13, item S1330 & S1350; p. 0270-0273): identify an audio content associated with a product identifier of the product (Min; Fig. 13, item S1340; p. 0270-0273 - A high-interest product category having a highest advertisement concentration level may be identified (operation S1340); see also p. 0255 - the advertisement information may be obtained based on the identified high-interest product category, and the advertisement voice may be output through the audio outputter based on the advertisement information; see also p. 0212 - the electronic apparatus 100 may identify at least one product category according to a keyword included in a user's voice command (product identifier), and provide an advertisement voice related to the determined product category); and generate a combined audio output comprising at least a portion of the audio output and at least a portion of the audio content (Min; p. 0182-0186 - The dialogue combination module 148 may obtain a combined text by combining the response text obtained through the question-response module 143 with the advertisement text generated through the advertisement generation module 147; see also p. 0282 - a combined text obtained by combining the response text and the advertisement text may be obtained (operation S1470), and a voice (response +advertisement) corresponding to the combined text may be output (operation S1480)); and cause the device to output the combined audio output (Min; Fig. 1, items 12 & 13 – The items correspond to the output of the combined audio output; p. 0189-0190 - …after outputting the response voice to the user's question (The price of the car X is sixty million won.) through the audio outputter 130, the advertisement voice (By the way, the price of 2020 new car Z is fifty million won. Do you want more information about the car Z?) may be output through the audio outputter 130; see also p. 0282 - a combined text obtained by combining the response text and the advertisement text may be obtained (operation S1470), and a voice (response +advertisement) corresponding to the combined text may be output (operation S1480)). As per claims 2 and 12, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, wherein, when identifying the audio content associated with the product identifier, the control circuitry is further configured to determine that the audio content is present in an advertisement for the product (Min; p. 0212 - When it is determined to provide the advertisement, in the same manner as in the embodiments described above, the electronic apparatus 100 may identify at least one product category according to a keyword included in a user's voice command, and provide an advertisement voice related to the determined product category).
As per claims 5 and 15, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, wherein, when determining that the availability level of the user exceeds the threshold, the control circuitry is configured to: retrieve contextual data of the user; and based on the contextual data, determine that the user has at least one of sufficient time or sufficient interest to fully consume the combined audio output (Min; p. 0249-0251 - The control method may include determining whether to provide an advertisement related to the user's voice based on an interest level of the user in the identified product category and an advertisement fatigue level of the user obtained according to advertisement history information (operation S1230) (contextual data). A number of times that the user utters the identified product category during a predetermined period of time may be identified based on the utterance history information (contextual data), and the interest level of the user in each identified product category may be identified based on the identified number of times. A number of times that the advertisement is provided through the audio outputter during the predetermined period of time may be identified based on the advertisement history information, and the advertisement fatigue level of the user may be identified based on the identified number of times (contextual data)).
As per claims 6 and 16, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 5 and 15, wherein the contextual data comprises at least one of biometric data of the user, current device activity, current user activity, user profile data, user preference data, current content consumption activity, or content consumption history (Min; p. 0249-0251 – … A number of times that the advertisement is provided through the audio outputter during the predetermined period of time may be identified based on the advertisement history information, and the advertisement fatigue level of the user may be identified based on the identified number of times (content consumption history)).
As per claims 7 and 17, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 5 and 15, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: collect the contextual data with a sensor, wherein the sensor comprises at least one of a microphone, an altimeter, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a pedometer, a gyroscope, a global positioning locator, a heart rate sensor, an air humidity sensor, a barometer, or an ambient sensor (Min; p. 0065 - The memory 120 may include utterance history information 122 obtained based on a user's voice received through the microphone 110).
As per claims 8 and 18, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: generate the indication to provide the audio output based at least in part on receiving a search query related to the product (Min; p. 0043 - Referring to FIG. 1, when the user 1 inputs a question voice 11 of “Tell me the price of car X” (search query), the electronic apparatus 100 may provide a response voice 12 “The price of the car X is sixty million won” (indication to provide the audio output)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min in view of Naik (US PG Pub 20170346872).
As per claims 3 and 13, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 2 and 12, upon which claims 3 and 13 depend. Min, however, fails to disclose wherein, when identifying the audio content associated with the product identifier, the control circuitry is further configured to determine that the audio content is present in a theme song in the advertisement. Naik does teach wherein, when identifying the audio content associated with the product identifier, the control circuitry is further configured to determine that the audio content is present in a theme song in the advertisement (Naik; p. 0051 - when the user is listening to a “Popular Music” music stream, notification application 106 can receive information describing new song releases by popular artists from media sever 140, generate an audio notification identifying a new song release and/or artist, and present the audio notification to the user while the user is listening to the media stream). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and system of Min to include wherein, when identifying the audio content associated with the product identifier, the control circuitry is further configured to determine that the audio content is present in a theme song in the advertisement, as taught by Naik, in order to personalize a media stream by converting notifications into audio notifications and presenting the audio notifications at locations within the media stream that do not interrupt the enjoyment of the media stream by the user (Naik; p. 0003).
As per claims 4 and 14, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, upon which claims 4 and 14 depend. Min, however, fails to disclose wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine a noise level based on an environment of the user; and determine whether the availability level of the user exceeds the threshold based at least in part on the noise level. Naik does teach wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine a noise level based on an environment of the user; and determine whether the availability level of the user exceeds the threshold based at least in part on the noise level (Naik; p. 0058 - When the user is listening to music, for example, notification application 106 can use a microphone on user device 102 to monitor ambient noise or sounds and detect when someone speaks the user's name. When somebody speaks the user's name (e.g., “Hey, Bob.”), notification application 106 can generate an audio notification that tells the user that somebody is trying to get the user's attention. For example, the audio notification can be presented immediately so that the user can respond to the person who spoke the user's nameWhen the user is listening to music, for example, notification application 106 can use a microphone on user device 102 to monitor ambient noise or sounds and detect when someone speaks the user's name. When somebody speaks the user's name (e.g., “Hey, Bob.”), notification application 106 can generate an audio notification that tells the user that somebody is trying to get the user's attention. For example, the audio notification can be presented immediately so that the user can respond to the person who spoke the user's name).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and system of Min to include wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine a noise level based on an environment of the user; and determine whether the availability level of the user exceeds the threshold based at least in part on the noise level, as taught by Naik, in order to personalize a media stream by converting notifications into audio notifications and presenting the audio notifications at locations within the media stream that do not interrupt the enjoyment of the media stream by the user (Naik; p. 0003).
As per claims 9 and 19, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, upon which claims 9 and 19 depend. Min, however, fails to disclose wherein, when receiving the indication to provide the audio output to the user, the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that current biometric data of the user is indicative of a current interest of the user in the product. Naik does teach wherein, when receiving the indication to provide the audio output to the user, the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that current biometric data of the user is indicative of a current interest of the user in the product (Naik; p. 0056 - notification application 106 can generate notifications based on the current activity and/or location of the user. For example, motion sensor data can be used by user device 102 to determine that the user is walking, running, biking, etc. Notification application 106 can receive information from data collection daemon 114 that indicates that the user is walking or running, for example).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and system of Min to include wherein, when receiving the indication to provide the audio output to the user, the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that current biometric data of the user is indicative of a current interest of the user in the product, as taught by Naik, in order to personalize a media stream by converting notifications into audio notifications and presenting the audio notifications at locations within the media stream that do not interrupt the enjoyment of the media stream by the user (Naik; p. 0003).
As per claims 10 and 20, Min discloses:
The method and system of claims 1 and 11, upon which claims 10 and 20 depend. Min, however, fails to disclose wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that music is being played; and modify at least one characteristic of the combined audio output to ensure that the combined audio output is perceivable while overlapping with the music. Naik does teach wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that music is being played; and modify at least one characteristic of the combined audio output to ensure that the combined audio output is perceivable while overlapping with the music (Naik; p. 0027 - when media application 104 is playing music from a music stream, notification application 106 can dim (e.g., lower the volume) of the currently playing music and present the audio notification over the playing music).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and system of Min to include wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: determine that music is being played; and modify at least one characteristic of the combined audio output to ensure that the combined audio output is perceivable while overlapping with the music, as taught by Naik, in order to personalize a media stream by converting notifications into audio notifications and presenting the audio notifications at locations within the media stream that do not interrupt the enjoyment of the media stream by the user (Naik; p. 0003).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art made of record and not relied upon includes:
Bradley (US PG Pub 20160092935) discloses systems and methods for generating customized advertising content by combining one or more content items with advertising content. The content items may comprise various forms of media content, including, video, audio, etc. Users may utilize an interface to accesses advertising content and content items. In one embodiment, the user may utilize the interface to integrate one or more content items with advertising content to generate customized advertising content. The interface may be used to further modify the customized advertising content. A computing device may monitor on more user's consumption of customized advertising content for various purposes (Bradley; Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rodrigo A Chavez whose telephone number is (571)270-0139. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Richemond Dorvil can be reached at 5712727602. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RODRIGO A CHAVEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2658
/RICHEMOND DORVIL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2658
