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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claims 12-14 are objected to because of the following informalities: there is no antecedent basis for “the utterance-text display circle”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a user icon of a user making a positive action”. The terms “user” and “positive action” have already been introduced. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a user icon of a user making a negative action”. The terms “user” and “negative action” have already been introduced. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakai (US 2021/0136323 A1).
Instant Claim 1: An information processing device (“The present technology relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program, and more particularly relates to, for example, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program capable of facilitating smooth communication.” (Sakai, paragraph 2))
comprising: a data analysis unit that analyzes received data from a user terminal (“The signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) performs necessary processing on the respective sounds and images supplied from the microphone 31 and camera 32 of the input device 21,” (Sakai, paragraph 65) The signal processing unit 51 of Sakai corresponds to the data analysis unit of the claim. The combination of input device 21 and output device 22 corresponds to the user terminal of the claim.)
“By recognizing the context, the signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) analyzes and collects information of an emotion, psychological state, and others of the user perceived by an actual care-worker who pays careful attention to the user.” (Sakai, paragraph 95))
carrying out a conversation via a communication network; (“An information processing device includes a supplementary processing unit configured to perform supplementary processing of supplementing communication between users at a plurality of points in accordance with a context of interaction between the users at the respective points in a telepresence system configured to perform bidirectional image and sound communication for the communication.” (Sakai, abstract) The communication unit 52 (fig 2) of Sakai corresponds to the communication network of the claim.)
and a display data control unit that controls display data (“The output device 22 (fig 2) outputs various kinds of information in accordance with control of the signal processing device 23. In FIG. 2, the output device 22 includes a speaker 41, a display 42, and an actuator 43.” (Sakai, paragraph 60) The signal processing device 23 of Sakai corresponds to the display data control unit of the claim.)
having an utterance-text display region including text corresponding to a user utterance to be provided to the user terminal, on a basis of an analysis result of the data analysis unit, (“At the same time, a caption (character information) of the utterance “Hello” of the user UA is displayed in a speech bubble on the display 42B (fig 6) at the point B, as if the user UA were making the utterance.” (Sakai, paragraph 152) The area of display 42B of Sakai presenting the speech bubble corresponds to the utterance-text display region of the claim.)
wherein the display data control unit controls a display mode of at least one of the utterance-text display region and a background region and generates display data visualizing at least one of a user state and a conversation state of a user carrying out a conversation. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Referring to fig 2 of Sakai, the signal processing device 23 processes data that leads to the display of utterance text – including visualizing the state of the user.)
Instant Claim 2: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit controls a size, position, color, or a movement of the utterance-text display region or at least one of output images around the utterance-text display region, and generates display data visualizing at least one of a user state and a conversation state of the user carrying out a conversation. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Referring to fig 2 of Sakai, the signal processing device 23 processes data that leads to the display of utterance text – including visualizing the state of the user.)
Instant Claim 3: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the data analysis unit analyzes voice data and image data that are received from the user terminal, (“The signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) performs necessary processing on the respective sounds and images supplied from the microphone 31 and camera 32 of the input device 21,” (Sakai, paragraph 65))
and the display data control unit controls display data displayed on the user terminal, on a basis of at least one of an analysis result of voice data and an analysis result of image data analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“The output device 22 (fig 1) outputs various kinds of information in accordance with control of the signal processing device 23. In FIG. 2, the output device 22 includes a speaker 41, a display 42, and an actuator 43.” (Sakai, paragraph 60))
Instant Claim 4: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit changes a size of the utterance-text display region according to a volume of a user utterance analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Changing the size of the characters in Sakai corresponds to changing a size of the utterance-text display region of the claim.)
Instant Claim 5: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit changes a color of the utterance-text display region or outputs an effect image around the utterance-text display region according to a tone of a user utterance analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95))
Instant Claim 6: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit performs at least one of processing for zooming in on a keyword region in text corresponding to a user utterance to be displayed in the utterance-text display region and processing for displaying a changed color, according to a keyword in a user utterance analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Analyzing the emotion of the user of Sakai entails monitoring for emotionally driven keywords.)
Instant Claim 7: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit changes a display position of the utterance-text display region or changes a color of the utterance-text display region according to time-series information of a user utterance analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) The intonation of the user of Sakai corresponds to the time-series information of the claim.)
Instant Claim 8: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the display data control unit performs at least one of processing for controlling a display position or a size of the utterance-text display region corresponding to a main user utterance or a dominant user utterance that is selected from a plurality of user utterances by the data analysis unit, and processing for additionally displaying a conversation center identification icon. (“In addition, the user UA can check whether the user UB on the other end side has noticed the user UA by referring to the state UI 112 (fig 6).” (Sakai, paragraph 159) The state UI 112 of Sakai corresponds to the conversation center identification icon of the claim.)
Instant Claim 9: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when an analysis result that a subsequent user utterance corresponds to a specific preceding utterance is input as the analysis result of the data analysis unit, the display data control unit displays the utterance-text display region of the subsequent utterance while moving the utterance-text display region into contact with or close to an utterance-text display region corresponding to the preceding utterance. (Referring to fig 6 of Sakai, the words “OH” and “HI” are close to each other.)
Instant Claim 10: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when an analysis result that a subsequent user utterance is a positive utterance corresponding to a specific preceding utterance is input as the analysis result of the data analysis unit, the display data control unit performs at least one of display control for displaying the utterance-text display region of the subsequent utterance while moving the utterance-text display region close to an utterance-text display region corresponding to the preceding utterance and display control processing for setting a color of the utterance-text display region of the subsequent utterance to a color similar to a color of the utterance-text display region corresponding to the preceding utterance. (Referring to fig 6 of Sakai, the word “HI” is a positive utterance corresponding to the word “OH”; the two words are close to each other.)
Instant Claim 11: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when an analysis result that a subsequent user utterance is a negative utterance corresponding to a specific preceding utterance is input as the analysis result of the data analysis unit, the display data control unit performs at least one of display control for displaying the utterance-text display region of the subsequent utterance while moving the utterance-text display region to be separated from an utterance-text display region corresponding to the preceding utterance and display control processing for setting a color of the utterance-text display region of the subsequent utterance to a color different from a color of an utterance-text display region corresponding to the preceding utterance. (Referring to fig 6 of Sakai, the word “HI” is a negative utterance corresponding to the word “OH”; the two words are separated from each other.)
Instant Claim 12: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when the data analysis unit detects a positive action of the user, the display data control unit performs at least one of control for shaking the utterance-text display circle or a user icon of a user making a positive action, control for upsizing and downsizing, and color changing control for changing a color to a bright color, and when the data analysis unit detects a negative action of the user, the display data control unit performs at least one of control for shaking the utterance-text display circle or the user icon of a user making a negative action, control for upsizing and downsizing, and color changing control for changing a color to a dark color. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Changing the size of the characters in Sakai corresponds to upsizing and downsizing of the claim.)
Instant Claim 13: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when the data analysis unit detects excitement of a conversation, the display data control unit performs at least one of control for shaking the utterance-text display circle or a user icon of a user, control for upsizing and downsizing, color changing control for changing a color to a bright color, and background color changing control for changing, to a bright color, a color of a background region including an utterance-text display region corresponding to a plurality of user utterances constituting the conversation indicating excitement. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Changing the size of the characters in Sakai corresponds to upsizing and downsizing of the claim.)
Instant Claim 14: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when the data analysis unit detects decreasing excitement of a conversation, the display data control unit performs at least one of control for shaking the utterance-text display circle or a user icon of a user, control for upsizing and downsizing, color changing control for changing a color to a dark color, and background color changing control for changing, to a dark color, a color of a background region including an utterance-text display region corresponding to a plurality of user utterances constituting the conversation indicating decreasing excitement. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Changing the size of the characters in Sakai corresponds to upsizing and downsizing of the claim.)
Instant Claim 15: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein when receiving a classification result of opinions corresponding to a plurality of user utterances from the data analysis unit, the display data control unit performs at least one of display control for generating and displaying a data series of individual utterance-text display regions for each of opinion groups and display control for setting and displaying colors of utterance-text display regions of the same opinion or similar opinions in a similar color. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) If the state of the user of Sakai remains the same, then the color would remain the same.)
Instant Claim 16: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the received data from the user terminal includes user biological information, the data analysis unit analyzes the user biological information received from the user terminal, and the display data control unit controls display data displayed on the user terminal, on a basis of an analysis result of the user biological information analyzed by the data analysis unit. (“The sensor 33 (fig 2) senses biological information, such as a body temperature, amount of sweating, blood pressure, and heart rate of a user, and other physical quantities such as an ambient temperature and a distance, and supplies the information to the signal processing device 23.” (Sakai, paragraph 59))
Instant Claim 17: The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the data display control unit generates display data according to user setting information input from the user terminal. (“The sensor 33 (fig 2) senses biological information, such as a body temperature, amount of sweating, blood pressure, and heart rate of a user, and other physical quantities such as an ambient temperature and a distance, and supplies the information to the signal processing device 23.” (Sakai, paragraph 59) The body temperature of the user of Sakai may correspond to the user setting information of the claim.)
Instant Claim 18: The information processing device according to claim 17, wherein the user setting information includes at least one of on/off setting information of individual visualized elements and visualization level setting information of individual visualized elements. (“The sensor 33 (fig 2) senses biological information, such as a body temperature, amount of sweating, blood pressure, and heart rate of a user, and other physical quantities such as an ambient temperature and a distance, and supplies the information to the signal processing device 23.” (Sakai, paragraph 59) The distance of Sakai corresponds to the visualization level setting information of the claim.)
Instant Claim 19: An information processing system (“FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a telepresence system according to an embodiment of the present technology.” (Sakai, paragraph 17) The telepresence system of Sakai corresponds to the information processing system of the claim.)
comprising: a plurality of user terminals (“The signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) performs necessary processing on the respective sounds and images supplied from the microphone 31 and camera 32 of the input device 21,” (Sakai, paragraph 65) The combination of input device 21 and output device 22 of Sakai corresponds to the user terminal of the claim. Referring to fig 1 of Sakai, each of the telepresence device 11A and telepresence device 11B contains an input device 21 and output device 22.)
that carry out a conversation via a communication network (“An information processing device includes a supplementary processing unit configured to perform supplementary processing of supplementing communication between users at a plurality of points in accordance with a context of interaction between the users at the respective points in a telepresence system configured to perform bidirectional image and sound communication for the communication.” (Sakai, abstract) The communication unit 52 (fig 2) of Sakai corresponds to the communication network of the claim.)
and a server that manages the conversation, wherein the user terminal transmits voice data acquired through a microphone and image data captured by a camera to the server, (“The signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) performs necessary processing on the respective sounds and images supplied from the microphone 31 and camera 32 of the input device 21,” (Sakai, paragraph 65) The signal processing unit 51 of Sakai corresponds to the server of the claim.)
the server analyzes the voice data and the image data that are received from the user terminal, (“By recognizing the context, the signal processing unit 51 (fig 2) analyzes and collects information of an emotion, psychological state, and others of the user perceived by an actual care-worker who pays careful attention to the user.” (Sakai, paragraph 95))
as control processing of display data having an utterance-text display region including text corresponding to a user utterance to be provided to the user terminal, the control processing being based on an analysis result, (“At the same time, a caption (character information) of the utterance “Hello” of the user UA is displayed in a speech bubble on the display 42B (fig 6) at the point B, as if the user UA were making the utterance.” (Sakai, paragraph 152) The area of display 42B of Sakai presenting the speech bubble corresponds to the utterance-text display region of the claim.)
the server adjusts a display mode of at least one of the utterance-text display region and a background region and generates display data visualizing at least one of a user state and a conversation state of a user carrying out a conversation, and the user terminal displays the display data including the utterance-text display region on a display part, the display data being generated by the server. (“In addition, in a case where the character information is displayed by captions, for example, it is possible to emphatically display part or all of the character information by changing the color and/or size of characters in accordance with the state of the user, such as an emotion and intonation of the user who is uttering as the interaction context.” (Sakai, paragraph 95) Referring to fig 2 of Sakai, the signal processing unit 51 processes data that leads to the display of utterance text – including visualizing the state of the user.)
Instant Claim 20: (Method claim 20 and apparatus claim 1 are related as apparatus and the method of using same, with each claimed element’s function corresponding to the claimed method step. Accordingly, claim 20 is similarly rejected under the same rationale as applied above with respect to apparatus claim 1.)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yaron Cohen whose telephone number is (571)270-7995. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM to 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, Temesghen Ghebretinsae can be reached at 571-272-3017. 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.
/YARON COHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2626
Prosecution Insights