Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/473,004

ACTION CONTROL SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Oct 06, 2025
Priority
Apr 11, 2023 — JP 2023-064224 +2 more
Examiner
BROSH, BENJAMIN J
Art Unit
3658
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
SoftBank Group Corp.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 8m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allowance Rate
75 granted / 103 resolved
+20.8% vs TC avg
Strong +28% interview lift
Without
With
+28.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
131
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
11.7%
-28.3% vs TC avg
§103
41.7%
+1.7% vs TC avg
§102
21.3%
-18.7% vs TC avg
§112
21.8%
-18.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 103 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . 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. Preliminary Amendment Receipt is acknowledged of a preliminary amendment prior to the first office action. The examiner has reviewed the amendment and determined that no new matter was submitted. As such, the preliminary amendment is being considered. National Stage Entry / Priority / Effective Filing Date Examiner acknowledges that the instant application is a 371 national stage entry to PCT/JP2024/014748, filed on 11 April 2024, claiming foreign priority to Japanese applications JP 2023-065858, filed 13 April 2023 and JP 2023-064224, filed 11 April 2023. As such, the effective filing date of the instant claims are 11 April 2023. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 06 October 2025 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The examiner notes that the specification contains hyperlinks to external websites, such as that found in paragraph [0014]; consistent with the guidance provided from MPEP 608.01.VII., "examiners should object to the specification and indicate to applicants that the embedded hyperlinks and/or other forms of browser-executable code are impermissible and that references to websites should be limited to the top-level domain name without any prefix such as http:// or other browser-executable code." Applicant is kindly requested to remove all instances of hyperlinks from the disclosure. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Objections Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 3: Claim 3 states "wherein the processor is configured to decide decides an action…", containing a redundant "decide"/"decides". Appropriate correction is required. Double Patenting The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969). A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. Claims 1 and 3-5 of this application is patentably indistinct from claims 18 and 19 of Application No. 19/537,568 (REFERENCE 1), claim 18 of Application No. 19/537,561 (REFERENCE 2), claim 18 of Application No. 19/537,959 (REFERENCE 3), and claim 18 of Application No. 19/537,546 (REFERENCE 4). Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.78(f), when two or more applications filed by the same applicant or assignee contain patentably indistinct claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application. Applicant is required to either cancel the patentably indistinct claims from all but one application or maintain a clear line of demarcation between the applications. See MPEP § 822. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 1 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,568 Claim 1: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: recognize a state of a user; and Claim 18: 18. A multimedia communication apparatus comprising: a sensor array including: a microphone configured to capture audio signals of a user, the microphone being configured for binaural recording, a visible light image sensor configured to capture video frames of the user, a depth sensor configured to emit an infrared pattern and analyze infrared images captured by an infrared camera to detect contours of objects, and a distance sensor configured to detect a distance to an object by emitting laser or ultrasound; a display device and a speaker; a storage device storing: a text generation model configured as a large language model, response rule data defining avatar behaviors for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns, user emotion value patterns, and user behavior patterns, history data including past emotion values and behavior history recorded for the user in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages; and circuitry configured to: analyze the audio signals to extract speech content and voice emotion features including frequency components, extract facial feature data from the video frames based on shapes and positional relationships of eyes and mouth, recognize a state of the user based on the speech content, the voice emotion features, and the facial feature data, compute an emotion value of the user by applying a neural network to the recognized state and sensor data from the sensor array, […] decide an action of an electronic device based on the state and a character that has been set or an age associated with the character. Claim 18: 18. […] generate output content by applying the text generation model to the recognized state, the emotion value, and the history data, evaluate the state of the user to determine a proposal based on the emotion value, determine a speech speed for avatar output based on an avatar emotion value, and drive the display device and the speaker to present an avatar delivering the output content and the proposal at the determined speech speed. Claim 19: 19. The multimedia communication apparatus of claim 18, wherein the circuitry is further configured to select a character for the avatar based on an age of the user and the character data, wherein a target age associated with a character in the character data is determined based on an age rating by a rating organization. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 1 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,568 Claim 3: The action control system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to decide decides an action of outputting information to an output device included in the electronic device in accordance with a mode corresponding to the age. Claim 18: 18. […] generate output content by applying the text generation model to the recognized state, the emotion value, and the history data, evaluate the state of the user to determine a proposal based on the emotion value, determine a speech speed for avatar output based on an avatar emotion value, and drive the display device and the speaker to present an avatar delivering the output content and the proposal at the determined speech speed. Claim 19: 19. The multimedia communication apparatus of claim 18, wherein the circuitry is further configured to select a character for the avatar based on an age of the user and the character data, wherein a target age associated with a character in the character data is determined based on an age rating by a rating organization. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 1 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,568 Claim 4: The action control system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to decide an action of outputting content corresponding to the character to an output device included in the electronic device. Claim 18: 18. […] generate output content by applying the text generation model to the recognized state, the emotion value, and the history data, evaluate the state of the user to determine a proposal based on the emotion value, determine a speech speed for avatar output based on an avatar emotion value, and drive the display device and the speaker to present an avatar delivering the output content and the proposal at the determined speech speed. Claim 19: 19. The multimedia communication apparatus of claim 18, wherein the circuitry is further configured to select a character for the avatar based on an age of the user and the character data, wherein a target age associated with a character in the character data is determined based on an age rating by a rating organization. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 1 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,568 Claim 5: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: collect content of a conversation between a user and an electronic device equipped with a chat engine; and Claim 18: 18. A multimedia communication apparatus comprising: a sensor array including: a microphone configured to capture audio signals of a user, the microphone being configured for binaural recording, a visible light image sensor configured to capture video frames of the user, a depth sensor configured to emit an infrared pattern and analyze infrared images captured by an infrared camera to detect contours of objects, and a distance sensor configured to detect a distance to an object by emitting laser or ultrasound; a display device and a speaker; a storage device storing: a text generation model configured as a large language model, response rule data defining avatar behaviors for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns, user emotion value patterns, and user behavior patterns, history data including past emotion values and behavior history recorded for the user in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages; and circuitry configured to: analyze the audio signals to extract speech content and voice emotion features including frequency components, extract facial feature data from the video frames based on shapes and positional relationships of eyes and mouth, recognize a state of the user based on the speech content, the voice emotion features, and the facial feature data, compute an emotion value of the user by applying a neural network to the recognized state and sensor data from the sensor array, […] notify a result of monitoring the content of the conversation. Claim 18: […] generate output content by applying the text generation model to the recognized state, the emotion value, and the history data, evaluate the state of the user to determine a proposal based on the emotion value, determine a speech speed for avatar output based on an avatar emotion value, and drive the display device and the speaker to present an avatar delivering the output content and the proposal at the determined speech speed. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 2 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,561 Claim 1: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: recognize a state of a user; and Claim 18: 18. A data processing apparatus comprising: a processor; a random access memory coupled to the processor via a host controller; a graphic controller coupled to the processor via the host controller, the graphic controller configured to acquire image data from a frame buffer in the random access memory and cause a display device to render the image data; a non-volatile storage device coupled to the processor via an input/output controller, the non-volatile storage device storing: a text generation model configured by a large language model, event detection rule data defining conditions for a plurality of event categories, the event categories including at least a learning status category, a negative-emotion event category, and a predetermined event category, response rule data defining avatar behavior for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns and user emotion value combinations, history data including past emotion values and behavior history of a user recorded in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages and setting conditions; and a communication interface coupled to the processor via the input/output controller; and the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the non-volatile storage device and loaded into the random access memory to: receive sensor data from an external sensor device via the communication interface, evaluate the sensor data against the event detection rule data to detect occurrence of an event, upon detecting the event, set a character of the avatar by referencing the character data, load the text generation model from the non-volatile storage device into the random access memory, generate, by executing the text generation model, output content corresponding to the detected event, and transmit, via the communication interface, a rendering command to cause a display device to render an avatar presenting the generated output content, the avatar having an appearance corresponding to the set character. decide an action of an electronic device based on the state and a character that has been set or an age associated with the character. Claim 18: […] receive sensor data from an external sensor device via the communication interface, evaluate the sensor data against the event detection rule data to detect occurrence of an event, upon detecting the event, set a character of the avatar by referencing the character data, load the text generation model from the non-volatile storage device into the random access memory, generate, by executing the text generation model, output content corresponding to the detected event, and transmit, via the communication interface, a rendering command to cause a display device to render an avatar presenting the generated output content, the avatar having an appearance corresponding to the set character. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 2 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,561 Claim 5: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: collect content of a conversation between a user and an electronic device equipped with a chat engine; and Claim 18: 18. A multimedia communication apparatus comprising: a sensor array including: a microphone configured to capture audio signals of a user, the microphone being configured for binaural recording, a visible light image sensor configured to capture video frames of the user, a depth sensor configured to emit an infrared pattern and analyze infrared images captured by an infrared camera to detect contours of objects, and a distance sensor configured to detect a distance to an object by emitting laser or ultrasound; a display device and a speaker; a storage device storing: a text generation model configured as a large language model, response rule data defining avatar behaviors for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns, user emotion value patterns, and user behavior patterns, history data including past emotion values and behavior history recorded for the user in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages; and circuitry configured to: analyze the audio signals to extract speech content and voice emotion features including frequency components, extract facial feature data from the video frames based on shapes and positional relationships of eyes and mouth, recognize a state of the user based on the speech content, the voice emotion features, and the facial feature data, compute an emotion value of the user by applying a neural network to the recognized state and sensor data from the sensor array, […] INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 3 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,959 Claim 1: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: recognize a state of a user; and Claim 18: 18. A data processing apparatus comprising: a processor; a random access memory coupled to the processor via a host controller; a graphic controller coupled to the processor via the host controller, the graphic controller configured to acquire image data from a frame buffer in the random access memory and cause a display device to render the image data; a non-volatile storage device coupled to the processor via an input/output controller, the non-volatile storage device storing: a text generation model configured by a large language model, event detection rule data defining conditions for a plurality of event categories, the event categories including at least a learning status category, a negative-emotion event category, and a predetermined event category, response rule data defining avatar behavior for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns and user emotion value combinations, history data including past emotion values and behavior history of a user recorded in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages and setting conditions; and a communication interface coupled to the processor via the input/output controller; and the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the non-volatile storage device and loaded into the random access memory to: receive sensor data from an external sensor device via the communication interface, evaluate the sensor data against the event detection rule data to detect occurrence of an event, upon detecting the event, set a character of the avatar by referencing the character data, load the text generation model from the non-volatile storage device into the random access memory, […] decide an action of an electronic device based on the state and a character that has been set or an age associated with the character. Claim 18: […] generate, by executing the text generation model, output content corresponding to the detected event, and transmit, via the communication interface, a rendering command to cause a display device to render an avatar presenting the generated output content, the avatar having an appearance corresponding to the set character. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 3 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,959 Claim 5: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: collect content of a conversation between a user and an electronic device equipped with a chat engine; and Claim 18: 18. A data processing apparatus comprising: a processor; a random access memory coupled to the processor via a host controller; a graphic controller coupled to the processor via the host controller, the graphic controller configured to acquire image data from a frame buffer in the random access memory and cause a display device to render the image data; a non-volatile storage device coupled to the processor via an input/output controller, the non-volatile storage device storing: a text generation model configured by a large language model, event detection rule data defining conditions for a plurality of event categories, the event categories including at least a learning status category, a negative-emotion event category, and a predetermined event category, response rule data defining avatar behavior for combinations of avatar emotion value patterns and user emotion value combinations, history data including past emotion values and behavior history of a user recorded in association with identification information of the user, and character data associating characters with ages and setting conditions; and a communication interface coupled to the processor via the input/output controller; and the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the non-volatile storage device and loaded into the random access memory to: receive sensor data from an external sensor device via the communication interface, evaluate the sensor data against the event detection rule data to detect occurrence of an event, upon detecting the event, set a character of the avatar by referencing the character data, load the text generation model from the non-volatile storage device into the random access memory, […] notify a result of monitoring the content of the conversation. Claim 18: […] generate, by executing the text generation model, output content corresponding to the detected event, and transmit, via the communication interface, a rendering command to cause a display device to render an avatar presenting the generated output content, the avatar having an appearance corresponding to the set character. INSTANT APPLICATION 19/473,004 REFERENCE 4 - COPENDING APPLICATION 19/537,546 Claim 1: An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: recognize a state of a user; and Claim 18: 18. An interactive robotic apparatus comprising: a housing configured as a stuffed animal, the housing including an outer surface and an internal cavity; a motor assembly disposed within the internal cavity and configured to articulate movable portions of the housing to produce physical gestures; a tactile sensor configured to detect physical contact; an image sensor configured to capture image frames; a microphone configured to capture audio signals; a speaker assembly; a storage device storing: response rule data defining avatar behaviors corresponding to combinations of user emotion values and avatar emotion values, history data including past emotion values and associated event records, and character data associating characters with target ages; and circuitry configured to: recognize a state of at least one of a family member of a user, a pet of the user, and a child associated with the user from the image frames and the audio signals, compute an emotion value of the user based on data from the tactile sensor, the image sensor, and the microphone, compute an avatar emotion value including values for each of a plurality of emotion categories, determine a behavior of the avatar based on the recognized state, the emotion value, the avatar emotion value, and the response rule data, select a character based on a target age from the character data, drive the motor assembly to produce physical gestures corresponding to the determined behavior, and drive the speaker assembly to output audio corresponding to the determined behavior at a speech speed determined based on the avatar emotion value. decide an action of an electronic device based on the state and a character that has been set or an age associated with the character. Claim 18: […] compute an avatar emotion value including values for each of a plurality of emotion categories, determine a behavior of the avatar based on the recognized state, the emotion value, the avatar emotion value, and the response rule data, select a character based on a target age from the character data, drive the motor assembly to produce physical gestures corresponding to the determined behavior, and drive the speaker assembly to output audio corresponding to the determined behavior at a speech speed determined based on the avatar emotion value. A person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing would have understood that the instant application claims are merely a broader form of the reference copending application claims noted above. Therefore, the claims noted above are provisionally rejected for the reasons presented above. 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)(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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ok (KR102511034B1, published 17 March 2023, provided with this action as an English translation, the English translation referenced for paragraph numbers below, hereinafter Ok). Regarding independent claim 1: Ok discloses An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: (Paragraph [0024, 0037-0040], Ok discloses a system with a processor) recognize a state of a user; and (Paragraph [0040, 0044-0047], Ok discloses obtaining user information such as an utterance or a facial expression, either reasonably reading upon a “state”) decide an action of an electronic device based on the state and a character that has been set or an age associated with the character. (Paragraph [0044-0048] and Figure [1, 3, 6-9], Ok discloses output (an action) of a character depending upon a user’s age and state (such as facial features and/or utterance)) Regarding claim 2: Ok discloses parent claim 1. Ok further discloses wherein the processor is configured to decide an action of outputting a screen indicating an appearance of the character or a color corresponding to the character to an output device included in the electronic device. (The examiner notes that “or” indicates that only one is necessary. Paragraph [0044-0048] and Figure [1, 3, 6-9], Ok discloses output of the modified character with certain features (an appearance)) Regarding claim 3: Ok discloses parent claim 1. Ok further discloses wherein the processor is configured to decide decides an action of outputting information to an output device included in the electronic device in accordance with a mode corresponding to the age. (Paragraph [0044-0048] and Figure [1, 3, 6-9], Ok discloses output (an action) of a character depending upon a user’s age and state (such as facial features and/or utterance), the display of the user inserted into the scene constituting a “mode”, as it is disclosed as depending upon the user’s relative age) Regarding claim 4: Ok discloses parent claim 1. Ok further discloses wherein the processor is configured to decide an action of outputting content corresponding to the character to an output device included in the electronic device. (Paragraph [0026, 0029, 0044-0048] and Figure [1, 3, 6-9], Ok discloses output (an action) of a character depending upon a user’s age and state (such as facial features and/or utterance), the display unit/screen of the user performed on a screen of the robot) Regarding independent claim 5: Ok discloses An action control system comprising: a processor configured to: (Paragraph [0024, 0037-0040], Ok discloses a system with a processor) collect content of a conversation between a user and an electronic device equipped with a chat engine; and (Paragraph [0030, 0037, 0039-0040, 0047], Ok discloses receiving speech from a user, the system having an AI chatbot (interpreted as a “chat engine”)) notify a result of monitoring the content of the conversation. (Paragraph [0030, 0037, 0039-0040, 0045-0047, 0049], Ok discloses outputs depending upon the registered speech (any output is interpreted as a “notification”)) References Further references that discuss prior art, but were not relied upon for creation of this office action are provided below: # Publication Number Title Inventor Dates Description of Relevance 1 US 2017/0266812 A1 Robot Control System THAPLIYA et al . Filed: 27 Jul 2016 Pub: 21 Sep 2017 Discusses a robot that receives speech and human emotional state in order to perform an output. 2 US 2021/0046638 A1 ROBOT AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING SAME Moon Filed: 17 Mar 2020 Pub: 18 Feb 2021 Discusses a robot that recognizes the speech and expression (emotion) of a user in order to control an output expression of the robot displayed on a display. 3 US 2020/0090393 A1 ROBOT AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME Shin et al. Filed: 12 Sep 2019 Pub: 19 Mar 2020 Discusses a robot that receives a user's state (both speech and facial recognition) in order to generate a display of a character on the screen of the robot that depends upon the user state. 4 US 2020/0009739 A1 ROBOT AND METHOD OF RECOGNIZING MOOD USING THE SAME Moon Filed: 19 Sep 2019 Pub: 09 Jan 2020 Discusses a robot that determines the mood of one or more users based upon facial recognition and speech in order to provide a visual character output on a screen of the robot depending upon the mood. 5 US 2019/0143528 A1 AUTONOMOUSLY ACTING ROBOT THAT UNDERSTANDS PHYSICAL CONTACT Hayashi Filed: 11 Jan 2019 Pub: 16 May 2019 Discusses a robot that determines user state (such as mood) and attributes including age and provides output based upon the user state. 6 US 2018/0136615 A1 CONCIERGE ROBOT SYSTEM , CONCIERGE SERVICE METHOD , AND CONCIERGE ROBOT Kim et al. Filed: 27 Jul 2017 Pub: 17 May 2018 Discusses a robot that displays a particular output depending upon a speech and/or facial recognition of a user. 7 US 7,313,524 B1 VOICE RECOGNITION BASED ON A GROWTH STATE OF A ROBOT Minamino Filed: 28 Nov 2000 Pat: 25 Dec 2007 Discusses a robot that judge's a user's state in addition to the robot's own growth state related to the robot's age to determine an output. 8 US 2021/0142800 A1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING VOICE SIGNAL Yang et al. Filed: 16 Apr 2020 Pub: 13 May 2021 Discusses a system that may be applied to a robot of detecting the voice and facial state of a user, determines a user age, and provides a video output based upon the aforementioned information. 9 US 2022/0309936 A1 VIDEO EDUCATION CONTENT PROVIDING METHOD AND APPARATUS BASED ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING USING CHARACTERS Jang et al. Filed: 25 Jun 2021 Pub: 29 Sep 2022 Discusses a system that determines a user state through facial expression and/or voice in addition to an age group of the user in order to generate a particular character output. 10 US 2019/0115023 A1 INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM , AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD Komori Filed: 02 Feb 2017 Pub: 18 Apr 2019 Discusses a system that may be applied to a robot that detects a user state (speech and visual) in addition to an age-related classification of the user in order to produce a character output. 11 US 2026/0170742 A1 BEHAVIOR CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND AVATAR DISPLAY DEVICE Son Filed: 12 Feb 2016 Pub: 18 Jun 2026 Double patenting reference. 12 US 2026/0162549 A1 BEHAVIOR CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND AVATAR DISPLAY DEVICE Son Filed: 12 Feb 2026 Pub: 11 Jun 2026 Double patenting reference. 13 US 2026/0162346 A1 BEHAVIOR CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND AVATAR DISPLAY DEVICE Son Filed: 12 Feb 2026 Pub: 11 Jun 2026 Double patenting reference. 14 US 2026/0158665 A1 BEHAVIOR CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND AVATAR DISPLAY DEVICE Son Filed: 12 Feb 2026 Pub: 11 Jun 2026 Double patenting reference. 15 KR 20130093290 A EMOTIONAL SYMPATHY ROBOT SERVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF THE SAME Song et al. Filed: 14 Feb 2012 Pub: 22 Aug 2013 Discusses a robot system that determines a user's emotional state through speech and facial expression monitoring and displays an output based upon this information, including for consideration based on user age. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN J BROSH whose telephone number is (571)270-0105. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0730-1700. 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, THOMAS WORDEN can be reached at (571)272-4876. 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. /B.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 3658
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 06, 2025
Application Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+28.2%)
2y 8m (~1y 8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 103 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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