Prior art

I am unable to perform a live, interactive search on the USPTO database directly. Therefore, based on the authoritative full patent text provided for US patent 8527274, the most relevant references cited within the document itself are found in the "CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS" section. These are primarily related patent applications from the same inventive entity, VoiceBox Technologies, Corp., which lay the foundational work for the natural language processing and voice user interface aspects of the claimed invention.

While these are considered "related applications" and often demonstrate the evolution of the inventive concept rather than anticipating the specific novel combination of advertising and voice interaction for disambiguation, they are explicitly referenced within the patent.

Below are the details for these cross-referenced applications and their potential relevance under 35 U.S.C. § 102, focusing on the elements they might disclose.

Most Relevant Cited References from US8527274

1. U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,209

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,398,209, entitled “Systems and Methods for Responding to Natural Language Speech Utterance”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed June 3, 2003; Issued July 8, 2008.
• Brief Description: This patent describes systems and methods for interpreting natural language voice-based inputs and generating responses. It details mechanisms for a speech recognition engine (e.g., Automatic Speech Recognizer 110) to recognize words and phrases, and for a conversational language processor (e.g., conversational language processor 120) to engage in cooperative, conversational interaction.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This reference potentially anticipates the elements of "receiving a natural language utterance" and "processing the natural language utterance to identify one or more requests associated with the natural language utterance" in a general sense. It establishes the groundwork for interpreting natural language speech and generating conversational responses. However, it does not appear to specifically disclose the elements of selecting advertisements, monitoring user interaction with advertisements, and interpreting an incomplete or ambiguous request based on advertisement interaction.

2. U.S. Pat. No. 7,693,720

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,693,720, entitled “Mobile Systems and Methods for Responding to Natural Language Speech Utterance”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed June 15, 2003; Issued April 6, 2010.
• Brief Description: Similar to US7398209, this patent focuses on mobile systems and methods for responding to natural language speech utterances, emphasizing the use of such interfaces on mobile devices.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This reference also potentially anticipates the fundamental elements of "receiving a natural language utterance from a voice-enabled device" and "processing the natural language utterance to identify one or more requests" within a mobile context. Like the previous patent, it sets the stage for voice-controlled interactions but lacks the specific advertising selection, output, monitoring, and interaction-based disambiguation features of US8527274.

3. U.S. Pat. No. 7,634,409

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,634,409, entitled “Dynamic Speech Sharpening”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed August 31, 2006; Issued December 15, 2009.
• Brief Description: This patent describes techniques for enhancing the interpretation of a user utterance, specifically through "dynamic speech sharpening," which aims to improve the accuracy of speech recognition.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This reference could contribute to the "processing the natural language utterance" step by detailing methods for improving the accuracy of speech recognition, which is a component of such processing. It may inform how an utterance is initially understood, which could indirectly relate to determining if a request is "incomplete or ambiguous." However, it does not address the advertisement delivery or interaction-based disambiguation.

4. U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,160

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,640,160, entitled “Systems and Methods for Responding to Natural Language Speech Utterance”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed August 5, 2005; Issued December 29, 2009.
• Brief Description: This patent, another in the series on natural language speech utterance response, focuses on generating context-based interpretations and responses to voice-based inputs, utilizing domain agents to competitively generate interpretations.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This patent contributes to the understanding of how "processing the natural language utterance to identify one or more requests" is performed, particularly in establishing context. It could anticipate aspects of "determining that the natural language utterance contains a request that is incomplete or ambiguous" in the sense of identifying conversational gaps. However, the core advertising-related steps of US8527274 remain distinct.

5. U.S. Pat. No. 7,949,529

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,949,529, entitled “Mobile Systems and Methods of Supporting Natural Language Human-Machine Interactions”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed August 29, 2005; Issued May 24, 2011.
• Brief Description: This patent describes mobile systems and methods for supporting natural language human-machine interactions, building on the concepts of conversational processing and domain agents in a mobile environment.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: Similar to US7640160, this patent contributes to the broad steps of "receiving a natural language utterance" and "processing the natural language utterance to identify one or more requests" in mobile contexts. It enhances the understanding of conversational flow and interaction but does not disclose the advertisement-centric features of US8527274.

6. U.S. Pat. No. 7,620,549

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 7,620,549, entitled “System and Method of Supporting Adaptive Misrecognition in Conversational Speech”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed August 10, 2005; Issued November 17, 2009.
• Brief Description: This patent focuses on supporting adaptive misrecognition, where information in a current utterance can be used to reinterpret previous, potentially incorrect, utterances to improve subsequent interpretations.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This reference is particularly relevant to "interpreting the request that is incomplete or ambiguous." It establishes a mechanism for re-interpreting utterances based on new information in a conversational context. While it deals with resolving ambiguity, it does so within the realm of speech recognition and conversational logic, not through the selection and interaction with targeted advertisements as specified in US857274's claims.

7. U.S. Pat. No. 8,073,681

• Full Citation: U.S. Patent No. 8,073,681, entitled “System and Method for a Cooperative Conversational Voice User Interface”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Filed October 16, 2006; Issued December 6, 2011.
• Brief Description: This patent describes a system and method for a cooperative conversational voice user interface, likely focusing on advanced dialogue management and user engagement to resolve requests.
• Potential Anticipation for Claims 1 and 13: This reference reinforces the general concepts of "processing the natural language utterance to identify one or more requests" and managing conversational interaction, including handling ambiguous requests within a cooperative dialogue. It addresses the user interface aspect of resolving unclear requests but does not introduce the element of using advertisement selection and interaction for this resolution.

Conclusion regarding Anticipation:

While these cited related applications provide substantial background and enable many of the underlying technologies (natural language processing, speech recognition, conversational interfaces, and ambiguity resolution within a conversational context), none of them appear to anticipate the specific combination of elements claimed in US8527274. The distinguishing features of US8527274's independent claims (Claims 1 and 13) lie in:

• The selection of advertisements associated with a natural language utterance.
• The outputting of these advertisements.
• The monitoring of user interaction with these advertisements.
• Crucially, interpreting a request that is incomplete or ambiguous specifically based on this advertisement interaction.

These advertising-centric steps, particularly their role in disambiguation of user requests, appear to be the novel contribution over the prior work described in the cross-referenced applications. The related applications primarily address the voice recognition and natural language processing aspects in general, but not their specific integration with and utilization of targeted advertisements for request clarification.