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 .
Response to Amendment
In response to the Office Action mailed March 3, 2026, applicant submitted an amendment filed on June 4, 2026, in which the applicant amended and requested reconsideration.
Response to Arguments
Applicants argue that the prior art cited fails to teach the claims as amended. Applicants’ arguments are persuasive, but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-10, 13-17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feinauer et al. (PGPUB 2020/0193971), hereinafter referenced as Feinauer in view of Jia et al. (PGPUB 2024/0079024), hereinafter referenced as Jia.
Regarding claims 1, 7 and 14, Fainauer discloses a speech processing system, method and medium, hereinafter referenced as a system comprising memory (figure 1, element 122) having instructions stored thereon and one or more processors (figure 1, element 103) coupled to the memory (figure 1, element 122) and configured to execute the instructions to:
apply one or more machine learning models (trained machine learning models; p. 0062) to first input audio data to generate accent features (vocal feature of a range of accents; p. 0065, 0080) associated with a first accent of a first user (first participant; fig. 2A, element 200 with p. 0041-0046);
analyze second input audio data associated with a second accent of a second user to generate vocal characteristics that are distinct to the second user and comprise a voice quality or one or more phonetic patterns, prosodic features (prosody; p. 0095-0100), articulation styles, or intonation patterns (second participant; fig. 2B, element 240 with p. 0041-0046, 0074);
modify the second input audio data based on the vocal characteristics and the accent features (duplicating accent/optimal accent; p. 0005-0007, 0054); and
generate output audio data based on the modified second audio data and output the output audio data (accent and dialect modifier modifies the voice of the user into an accent or dialect desired or target for the participant; p. 0007, 0046), but does not specifically teach modifying the second input audio data based on the vocal characteristics that are distinct to the second user and the accent features associated with the first accent of the first user.
Jia discloses a system comprising modifying the second input audio data based on the vocal characteristics that are distinct to the second user and the accent features associated with the first accent of the first user (accent converter that modifies an accent in the input language based on accent conversion while preserving the speaker’s voice; p. 0057, 0217, 0229), to improve accent conversion between speakers to prevent language barrier.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method as described above, to improve the ability to communicate with others and thereby improve user’s overall experience.
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Feinauer discloses a system wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to extract from the input audio data one or more prosodic features (prosodic features; p. 0095-0100), linguistic features, or global speaker characteristics.
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Feinauer discloses a system wherein the accent features comprise one or more pitch contours (pitch; p. 0057), intonation patterns (p. 0074), or phoneme pronunciations and the pitch contours comprise variations in pitch throughout input speech corresponding to the first input audio data (characteristics of pitch; p. 0057), the intonation patterns comprise the rise and fall of pitch at the ends of phrases or sentences, or the phoneme pronunciations comprise a unique production of phonemes in the first accent (p. 0040, 0065, 0073, 0091, 0117).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, Feinauer discloses a system wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to receive the second input audio data via one or more communication networks and from a user computing device that is remote from the speech processing system (remote), wherein the second input audio data is captured at the user computing device (figs. 2-3 with p. 0051-0052).
Regarding claims 8 and 15, Feinauer discloses a system wherein the modified second input audio data preserves aspects of a natural voice of the second user and mimics the first accent (duplicating accent/optimal accent; p. 0005-0007, 0054).
Claim(s) 4-5, 11-12 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feinauer in view of Jia and in further view of Kashtan et al. (PGPUB 2016/0275952), hereinafter referenced as Kashtan.
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, Feinauer in view Jia disclose a system wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to apply a mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) analysis (p. 0095), but does not specifically teach to extract a unique fingerprint of the voice of the second user, wherein the generated characteristics comprise the unique fingerprint.
Kashtan discloses a system comprising extracting a unique fingerprint of the voice of the second user, wherein the generated characteristics comprise the unique fingerprint (p. 0037-0045), to assist with identifying a user.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the method as described above, to provide a tailored user’s experience.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, it is interpreted and rejected for similar reasons as set forth above. In addition, Kashtan discloses a system wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the instructions to apply a speaker identity encoding technique to encode speaker-specific voice characteristics, wherein the generated characteristics comprise the speaker-specific voice characteristics (speech characteristics; p. 0037).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This information has been detailed in the PTO 892 attached (Notice of References Cited).
Serebryakov discloses a real-time accent conversion.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAKIEDA R JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 6:30a-2:30p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Daniel Washburn can be reached on 571.272.5551. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAKIEDA R JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2657
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