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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of invention I in the reply filed on 06/23/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that claims 13-17 are not distinct from claim 1 as claimed, as claim 13 depends from claim 1, claims 14-16 depend from claim 13, and claim 17 depends from claim 16 (e.g., all of claims 13-17 depend directly or indirectly from claim 1). The argument is found persuasive, the restriction is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mitchell et al. (US 2021/0090558) in view of Johnson et al. (US 2020/0086497).
Regarding claims 1 and 21-22, Michell discloses a computer system (fig. 1) configured to communicate with one or more sensor devices, including one or more audio sensor devices (such as microphone, paras. 0011 and 0052) and one or more cameras (to monitor the environment e.g., a house, a gym, a shop, a railway station etc., para. 0049), the computer system comprising:
one or more processors (202, fig. 2, para. 0055); and
memory (204) storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
retrieving a first set of contextual information (such as an indoor, an outdoor space or in a vehicle, para. 0049):
detecting, via the one or more audio sensor devices, first audio data (paras. 0072 and 0074); and in response to detecting the first audio data:
in accordance with a determination that the first audio data includes a first
audio event that is included in the active set of one or more audio events (paras. 0074-0075):
obtaining, via the one or more cameras, first visual information (para. 0049); and
performing one or more actions based on the first visual information (paras. 0049-0050).
Michell does not specifically disclose determining a first change to a context state based on the first set of contextual information; in response to determining the first change to the context state, updating, based on the first set of contextual information, an active set of one or more audio events.
In a similar field of endeavor, Johnson discloses determining a first change to a context state based on the first set of contextual information (paras. 0059-0060);
in response to determining the first change to the context state, updating, based on the first set of contextual information, an active set of one or more audio events (para. 0069).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the change of the context state as taught by Johnson in the system of Michell to adequately and appropriately modify operations based upon input from operating environment.
Regarding claim 2, Michell discloses when the first audio data are detected,
the active set of one or more audio events includes one or more nonverbal audio events (para. 0077).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses when the first audio data are detected, the active set of one or more audio events includes one or more verbal audio events (para. 0082 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses retrieving the first set of contextual information includes capturing, via the one or more sensor devices, sensor data (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses capturing the sensor data includes capturing camera data via a first camera of the one or more cameras (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the one or more programs further including
instructions for:
while capturing the sensor data, foregoing capturing camera data via a second camera of the one or more cameras (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses capturing the sensor data includes:
while a lower-power state is enabled, capturing sensor data via a first sensor device of the one or more sensor devices at a first rate (paras. 0090-0091 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses one or more programs further including instructions for:
in response to detecting the first audio data and in accordance with a determination that the first audio data includes the first audio event that is included in the active set of one or more audio events, enabling a higher-power state (paras. 0058-0059 of Johnson); and
while the higher-power state is enabled, capturing sensor data from the first sensor device of the one or more sensor devices at a second rate, wherein the second rate is higher than the first rate (paras. 0058-0059 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for:
in response to obtaining the first visual information, updating the first set of contextual information to include the first visual information (paras. 0058-0060 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the one or more programs further including
instructions for:
after updating the first set of contextual information, determining a second change to the context state based on the first set of contextual information (paras. 0059-0060); and
in response to determining the second change to the context state based on the first set of contextual information, updating, based on the first set of contextual information, the active set of one or more audio events (paras. 0090-0092).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses obtaining the first visual information includes capturing, via the one or more cameras, one or more frames of camera data (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses obtaining the first visual information includes capturing, via the one or more cameras, video data (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses obtaining the first visual information includes:
capturing, via the one or more cameras, first camera data (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson); and
processing the first camera data to obtain the first visual information, wherein the first visual information includes first image recognition results based on the first camera data (paras. 0017 and 0066 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses performing the one or more actions based on the first visual information includes:
identifying, based on the first image recognition results, a first intent object (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson); and
performing a first action, wherein the first action corresponds to the first intent object (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses performing the one or more actions based on the first visual information includes:
identifying, based on the first image recognition results, a first parameter value (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson); and
performing a second action using the first parameter value (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for:
identifying, based on the first image recognition results, first action metadata (paras. 0066, 0069 and 0091-0092 of Johnson); and
associating the first action metadata with a third action of the one or more actions (paras. 0066, 0069 and 0091-0092 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the one or more programs further including instructions for:
after associating the first action metadata with the third action of the one or more actions (paras. 0066, 0069 and 0091-0092 of Johnson),
detecting a user input related to the third action of the one or more actions (para. 0076 of Johnson); and
in response to detecting the user input related to the third action of the one or more actions, perform a follow-up action based on the first action metadata (para. 0076 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses performing the one or more actions based on the first visual information includes causing an application to perform a respective action (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses performing the one or more actions based on the first visual information includes providing an output based on the first visual information (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Michell and Johnson discloses the output based on the first visual information includes an output generated by a digital assistant of the computer system (paras. 0066 and 0069 of Johnson).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Zimmerman et al. (US 2019/0286910) disclose the contextual inference analysis system 100 may convey scene context information to the user in different forms. In one implementation where the contextual inference analysis system collects visual imagery, the scene context information may be provided to a user in auditory form (para. 0026).
Goslin et al. (US 2016/0206955) disclose a platform includes a controller device configured to perform an operation for recognizing non-verbal vocalizations (para. 0005).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNIFER T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7696. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin C Lee can be reached at 5712722963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JENNIFER T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629
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