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 . Claims 1-25 are presented for examination by preliminary amendment.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/14/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 5 & 22 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 5 recites “and/or” which renders the claim limitations unclear because some limitations are optional. The examiner suggests this be amended to instead recite either “and” or “or”.
Claim 22 recites “wherein the avatar is selectable by the end-user”, with “selectable” rendering the limitation optional because it is not required. The examiner suggests this be amended to instead recite “selected” to require the limitation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4, 6-21 & 23-25 are allowed.
Claims 5 & 22 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record, US 2024/0296219 A1 (Gardner), teaches implementing adverse or malicious input mitigation for large language models (“LLMs”) or other AI/ML systems. A subset of example pairs of adverse inputs and proper outputs whose inputs are similar to inputs of a current dialogue context is identified. A subset of example pairs of non-adverse inputs and proper outputs whose inputs are similar to the inputs of the current dialogue context may also be identified. The identified subset(s) of similar example pairs (adverse set and, sometimes, non-adverse set also) is incorporated as part of a prompt for an LLM or AI/ML system to return an output. By following the example adverse input and proper output pairs (and in some cases, the example non-adverse input and proper output pairs as well), the LLM or AI/ML system is less likely to produce improper or inappropriate outputs in response to an attack or other adverse inputs.
The prior art of record, US 2025/0022573 A1 (Darcy et al.), teaches using a using an LLM-based conversation engine to treat a mental health disorder. The method includes obtaining data corresponding to a communication from a user device, determining a current user context based on the obtained data, determining based on the determined user context, whether to invoke the LLM, and based on a determination to invoke the LLM: determining a prompt that is to be provided to the LLM based on the determined user context, providing input data to the LLM, the input data comprising (i) the obtained data and (ii) the determined prompt, obtaining output data, generated by the LLM based on the LLM processing the provided input data, indicating a classification of the provided input data, and using the obtained output data to determine a therapeutic treatment for the user.
The prior art of record, US 2023/0351661 A1 (Gelfenbeyn et al.), teaches providing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) character model with a goal-oriented behavior are provided. An example method includes assigning, to the AI character model, a goal to be achieved during an interaction of the AI character model and a user of a client-side computing device; receiving, from the client-side computing device, a message of the user; generating, based on the message, an input to a language model configured to predict a first response to the message; providing the input to the language model to obtain the first response; modifying, based on the goal, the first response to obtain a second response; and transmitting the second response to the client-side computing device. The client-side computing device presents the second response to the user. The second response is configured to prompt the user to provide a response to achieve the goal.
The prior art of record, USPN 11,580,961 B1 (Jawale et al.), teaches organizing conversation information. A tracker vocabulary may be provided to a universal model to predict a generalized vocabulary associated with the tracker vocabulary. A tracker model may be generated based on the portions of the universal model activated by the tracker vocabulary such that a remainder of the universal model may be excluded from the tracker model. Portions of a conversation stream may be provided to the tracker model. A match score may be generated based on the track model and the portions of the conversation stream such that the match score predicts if the portions of the conversation stream may be in the generalized vocabulary predicted for the tracker vocabulary. Tracker metrics may be collected based on the portions of the conversation and the match scores such that the tracker metrics may be included in reports or notifications.
However, the prior art of record does not anticipate, nor do they render obvious in any reasonable combination to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the combination of limitations recited in independent claims 1, 24, & 25. Thus, independent claims 1, 24 & 25 are patently distinct over the prior art of record for at least the reasons above. The remaining claims are dependent claims, thus they are also patently distinct over the prior art of record for at least the reasons above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott A. Waldron whose telephone number is (571)272-5898. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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, Ajay Bhatia can be reached at (571) 272-3906. 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.
/Scott A. Waldron/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156
