DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is made non-final.
In view of the Appeal Brief filed on 4/17/2026, PROSECUTION IS HEREBY REOPENED. New grounds of rejection are set forth below.
To avoid abandonment of the application, appellant must exercise one of the following two options:
(1) file a reply under 37 CFR 1.111 (if this Office action is non-final) or a reply under 37 CFR 1.113 (if this Office action is final); or,
(2) initiate a new appeal by filing a notice of appeal under 37 CFR 41.31 followed by an appeal brief under 37 CFR 41.37. The previously paid notice of appeal fee and appeal brief fee can be applied to the new appeal. If, however, the appeal fees set forth in 37 CFR 41.20 have been increased since they were previously paid, then appellant must pay the difference between the increased fees and the amount previously paid.
A Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) has approved of reopening prosecution by signing below:
{ 4 }
This office action is in responsive to communication(s):
The appeal brief filed on 4/17/2026.
Application filed on 9/29/2023 with effective filing date of 6/10/2016 based on parent application 15/421865 now US Patent 12175065, and provisional application 62/348843.
The status of the claims is summarized as below:
Claims 1-19 are pending.
Claims 1, 16, and 17 are independent claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed with appeal brief 4/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of a new ground of rejection set forth below with newly cited arts Android and Yuen.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) filed on 1/12/2026 comply/complies with the provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 1.97, 1.98, and MPEP § 609, and therefore has/have been placed in the application file. The information referred to therein has/have been considered as to the merits.
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.
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 of this title, 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) 1-4, 6, 8-17, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being as being unpatentable over “Android Wear: Stay connected with interactive watch faces” by Android team (August 20, 2015, accessible through URL https://android.googleblog.com/2015/08/android-wear-stay-connected-with.html, hereinafter Android), in view of Watterson (US Pub 20150253736, hereinafter Watterson), and Yuen et al. (US Pat 9241635, hereinafter Yuen).
Per claim 1, Android teaches:
An electronic device, comprising: (Page 1 line 17-23: watch with android wear);
a display; (Page 1 line 30-50 shows two different watch face display);
displaying, on the display, a user interface, wherein displaying the user interface includes concurrently displaying: (Page 1 line 30-50 shows two different watch faces on displays);
a first complication, wherein the first complication displays a (Page 1 line 30-37 show a watch interface from “Bits” that include a clock face in the center and 6 different complications on the side, including complication such as “step count” on the bottom of the screen; also see Page 3 which shows animated feature from figure in page 1 line 30-37; page 1 line 21-28: with a tap, user can launch a specific app from the interactive watch face, such as tapping on the weather complication, weather app is launched as shown in Page 3 Fig. 3A-3B);
a clock face; (Page 1 line 30-37 figure shows a watch interface with a clock face in the center);
while displaying the user interface: (Page 1 line 30-37 Figure shows the watch interface);
receiving data corresponding to a (Page 1 line 18-23: Android wear expanded at-a-glance experience to other useful info such as daily step count of the user, where step data are received from watch sensor and updated on the complication; also see enlarged Fig. 1 from page 3);
updating the displayed (Page 1 line 18-23: Android wear expanded at-a-glance experience to other useful info such as daily step count of the user, where step data of the user are received from watch sensor and updated on the complication as shown in figure on line 30-37, shown as “1603 steps”; also see Fig. 1 from page 3);
detecting an input; and (Page 1 line 21-28: user can tap on the complication to launch app to see more information);
in accordance with a determination that the input corresponds to the first complication, launching the (page 1 line 21-23: with a tap from your watch face, a specific app can be launched; line 25-28: in response to user tap on the weather complication, the weather app is launched to show additional information such as this afternoon’s weather forecast; Page 3 Fig. 2A-2B show launching of calendar app; Fig. 3A-3B show launching of weather app).
Although Android teaches displaying different complications on a watch interface (page 1-3), Android does not explicitly teach a “heart rate monitoring application” that displays and updates “heart rate information” as a complication:
“one or more processors; and
memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
… a first complication, wherein the first complication displays a heart-rate information of a user of the electronic device …
while displaying the user interface
receiving data corresponding to a heart rate of the user of the electronic device;
updating the displayed heart-rate information with the data corresponding to the heart rate of the user of the electronic device; and …”.
However, Watterson teaches:
one or more processors; and ([0085, 0104] wrist watch includes a processor; Fig. 3 processing resource 64 which include at least one processor);
memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for: ([0085, 0104] wrist watch includes memory; Fig. 3 memory resource 66)
… a first complication, wherein the first complication displays a heart-rate information of a user of the electronic device …; and ([0116] Fig. 4 shows a pulse complication 28 (first complication) tracking heart rate of the user of the watch);
while displaying the user interface: ([0104] Fig. 12-13)
receiving data corresponding to a heart rate of the user of the electronic device; ([0095, 0113, 0124] Fig. 3, Fig. 12-13: a heart rate monitor is depicted as being in communication with the wrist watch 10 in Fig. 12-13, where the accessory/heart rate monitor can be used to communicate data to the wrist watch 10, the data is in turn used to determine the appropriate measurement to display on the watch face 12, 14);
updating the displayed heart-rate information with the data corresponding to the heart rate of the user of the electronic device; and ([0124] Fig. 12-13: a heart rate monitor is depicted as being in communication with the wrist watch 10 in Fig. 12-13, where the accessory/heart rate monitor can be used to communicate data to the wrist watch 10, where the data is in turn then used to determine the appropriate measurement to display on the watch face 12, 14).
Although Android does not explicitly teach a “heart-rate” complication that would display and update heart rate information on the complication. However, Watterson teaches a heart rate monitoring application that can display heart rate information as a complication on a watch face ([0104] Fig. 4), while updating the heart rate information on the complication (Fig. 3, Fig. 12-13 [0095, 0113, 0124]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, having both Android and Watterson before them to substitute the heart rate complication as taught by Watterson for one of displayed complications on a watch interface from Android. Because both Android and Watterson teach watch interface with updated complications, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to substitute one known method for the other to achieve the predictable result of displaying updated heart rate complication on a watch interface, and launching corresponding application in response to a tap on the complication. See KSR Int’l v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1740-41, 85 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007); and MPEP 2143(I)(B). One would be motivated to make the substitution/combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would provide additional updated information such as heart rate of the user as complications on the watch interface for the convenience of user, without further user input to switch interface to view the updated heart rate information; it would also provide direct access to the corresponding heart rate application from tapping on the heart rate complication without requiring additional input from the user to switch to a list of applications to launch a specific application, thereby also saving user’s time and effort for launching specific applications.
Additionally, Although Android teaches tapping on a complication to open the corresponding application (Android page 3), and Watterson teaches a heart rate complication on the watch interface (Watterson Fig. 4), Android-Watterson do not explicitly teach launching a heart rate application “launching the heart-rate monitoring application”.
However, Yuen teaches “launching the heart-rate monitoring application” (col 31 line 20-47, claim 12: application for rendering content associated with the application on the display screen can be automatically selected for execution, where the plurality of application including a watch function, a heart rate analysis function).
Yuen and Android-Watterson are analogous art because Yuen also teach a wrist watch with complications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, having the teachings of Android-Watterson and yuen before him/her, to modify the teachings of Android-Watterson to include the teachings of Yuen so that the corresponding application to heart rate complication can be launched via user selection on the complication. One would be motivated to make the combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would provide direct access to a hear rate analysis application interface from the watch interface without any additional steps from the user, saving user’s time and providing convenience to the user.
Per claim 2, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 1, and further teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes a second complication different from the first complication (Android page 1 and page 3 show figures with 6 different complications around the watch interface), wherein the second complication is an affordance for launching a workout application. (Android Page 3 Fig. 1 shows a step counter complication where it can launch a pedometer (workout) application).
Per claim 3, , Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 2, and further teaches:
the one or more programs further including instructions for:
in accordance with a determination that the input corresponds to the second complication (Android page 3 Fig. 1 shows 6 different complications), launching a workout application (Android page 3 Fig. 1 shows a step/pedometer complication, where Fig. 2A-2B and 3A-3B show tapping on the complication would launch the corresponding application, i.e. steps complication would launch pedometer (workout) application).
Per claim 4, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 2, and further teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes:
while displaying the user interface: (Watterson Fig. 4, Fig. 12-13)
receiving data corresponding to a heart rate of the user of the electronic device; and (Watterson [0095, 0113, 0124] Fig. 3, Fig. 12-13: data from heart rate sensor is received by the watch to be displayed on the watch interface as shown in Fig. 4);
displaying, within the second complication, a graphical representation corresponding to the heart rate of the user of the electronic device. (Watterson [0095, 0113, 0124] Fig. 3, Fig. 12-13: data from heart rate sensor is received by the watch to be displayed on the watch interface as shown in Fig. 4 [0116] );
Per claim 6, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and further teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes a third complication different from the first complication (Android Page 3 Fig. 1 shows 6 different complications around the watch interface), wherein the third complication is an affordance for launching a weather application (Android Page 3 Fig. 3A-3B shows a weather application is launched from tapping on the weather complication).
Per claim 8, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 6, and further teaches:
the one or more programs further including instructions for:
in accordance with a determination that the input corresponds to the third complication, launching a weather application (Android Page 3 Fig. 3A-3B shows a weather application is launched from tapping on the weather complication).
Per claim 9, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 1, although Android teaches two physical visual indicators (page 3 Fig. 1 steps counter and flights climbed complications), but they do not explicitly teach two different physical activity indicators corresponding to two different physical activities; Watterson additionally teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes concurrently displaying a first visual indication of a first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and a second visual indication of a second physical activity of the user of the electronic device, wherein the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device are different ([0116, 0119] Fig. 4 and Fig. 7 show different visual indications of physical activities such as “steps” and “pulse”, where they are different from each other).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, to modify the combination of claim 1 to utilize the additional teachings of Watterson so that so that multiple different physical activity trackers can be included on the clock interface as well. One would be motivated to make the combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would provide additional clock complications to help the user to track other physical activities performed by the user.
Per claim 10, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teach:
wherein the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device corresponds to a physical activity of the user of the electronic device over a first time range, and the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device corresponds to a physical activity of the user of the electronic device over a second time range, wherein the first time range and the second time range are different. (Watterson: [0078] Fig. 1 and 2 tracks user physiological parameter over different time periods, where Fig. 1 shows parameters/indicators tracked over a day, Fig. 2 shows parameters/indicators tracked during a workout).
Per claim 11, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches:
the one or more programs further including instructions for:
detecting a change in the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device; and (Watterson [0084-0085] Fig. 1 shows a tracker to track a number of steps taken by a user, where the pointer 38 may move in response to each recorded step);
in response to detecting the change in the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device, updating the first visual indication of the physical activity of the user of the electronic device. (Watterson [0084-0085] Fig. 1 shows a tracker to track a number of steps taken by a user, where the pointer 38 may move in response to each recorded step).
Per claim 12, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches:
wherein the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device are concentric rings (Watterson: Fig. 5 shows “calorie” and “steps” as concentric rings).
Per claim 13, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches:
wherein the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device are non-concentric rings. (Watterson: [0081] Fig. 1 shows “calorie” and “heart rate” as non-concentric rings).
Per claim 14, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes a clock hand that overlaps the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and does not overlap the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device. (Watterson: [0081, 0094] Fig. 1 shows two complications 24 and 28 overlapping different portions of the clock face, where the minute or hour hand would overlap with one of the visual indication/complication for physical activity at a given time, but not the other).
Per claim 15, Android-Watterson-Yuen teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches:
wherein displaying the user interface further includes a clock hand that overlaps the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device and the second visual indication of the second physical activity of the user of the electronic device. (Watterson [0117] Fig. 5 shows “Calorie” and “steps” as concentric rings where any clock hand would overlap with both visual indications at any given time).
Per claim 16, claim 16 is a medium claim (Watterson [0085, 0104] wrist watch includes memory; Fig. 3 memory resource 66) that includes limitations that are substantially the same as claim 1, and is likewise rejected. The examiner notes the limitation “to be executed by one or more processors of an electronic device with a display, one or more processors, and memory” is considered intended use that carries no patentable weight.
Per claim 17, claim 17 is a method claim that includes limitations that are substantially the same as claim 1, and is likewise rejected.
Per claim 19, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 1, and further teach:
displaying the user interface includes concurrently displaying a first visual indication of a first physical activity of the user of the electronic device indicating user progress for a physical activity over a predetermined interval of time along with the clock face and the first complication; and (Watterson [0116] Fig. 4 shows a user interface concurrently displaying a step counter 18 and a clock interface 20; [0119] where the step counter may be used during a workout (predetermined interval of time));
the one or more program further include instructions for, in accordance with a determination of the input corresponds to the first visual indication of the first physical activity of the user of the electronic device, launching a physical activity monitoring application. (Android Page 1 line 21-28, in response to a tap on the complication, the corresponding application can be launched, figure shows a step complication, where user can tap to launch corresponding application).
Claim(s) 5, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being as being unpatentable over Android, in view of Watterson, Yuen, and “The FitBit Charge HR heads-on” by Shaqtech (Sept 19, 2015, screenshots (including updated screenshots) and transcript from video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWo04yzJpdg, hereinafter Shaqtech).
Per claim 5, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 4, but they don’t explicitly teach “wherein displaying the graphical representation includes displaying an animation of a pulsing heart“.
However, Shaqtech teaches:
wherein displaying the graphical representation includes displaying an animation of a pulsing heart. (Page 2 Fig. 1 and 2 shows an animation of a pulsing heart with updated heart rate information for the user on a FitBit Charge HR wearable device).
Shaqtech and Android-Watterson-Yuen are analogous art because Shaqtech also teach a wearable watch device with other functions such as heart rate information. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, having the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen and Shaqtech before him/her, to modify the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen to include the teachings of Shaqtech so that animation of a heart is included as part of the user interface. One would be motivated to make the combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would provide a more interesting user interface with animation of a heart next to the heart rate information to give users a more intuitive sense of the meaning of the displayed information.
Per claim 18, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 1, but they do not teach turning on the display with user movement raising the device.
However, Shaqtech teaches:
detecting a user movement, wherein the user movement corresponds to the user of the electronic device raising the electronic device; and (Page 3: Fig. 4 shows the user moving the wrist, and raising the device to the front);
in response to detecting the user movement, activating the display, wherein displaying the user interface occurs in response to detecting the user movement. (Page 3: Fig. 3 shows after the user movement, the display is activated to display the clock interface).
Shaqtech and Android-Watterson-Yuen are analogous art because Shaqtech also teach a wearable watch device with other functions such as heart rate information. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, having the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen and Shaqtech before him/her, to modify the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen to include the teachings of Shaqtech so that the watch display can be activated when user movement to raise the device is detected. One would be motivated to make the combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would provide a power saving mechanism to only activate the display when user movement to raise the device is detected.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being as being unpatentable over Android, in view of Watterson, Yuen, and Oh et al. (US Pub 20110202883, from IDS, hereinafter Oh).
Per claim 7, Android-Watterson-Yuen teach all the limitations of claim 6, but they don’t explicitly teach “receiving data from the weather application; and subsequent to receiving data from the weather application, updating the third complication“.
However, Oh teaches:
the one or more programs further including instructions for:
receiving data from the weather application; and ([0031] Fig. 2A shows a clock/time interface with weather information, where the update icon 234 is tapped by the user, current weather information from a server is received and updated);
subsequent to receiving data from the weather application, updating the third complication. ([0031] the weather icon 220 showing the weather of the specific location 232 is updated according to the most recently updated time 233 after the user tap the update icon 234).
Oh and Android-Watterson-Yuen are analogous art because Oh also teach a clock/watch interfaced with complications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in art before the effective filing date, having the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen and Oh before him/her, to modify the teachings of Android-Watterson-Yuen to include the teachings of Oh so that weather complication can be updated on the watch interface. One would be motivated to make the combination, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would enable live update of the weather information through complications on a watch/clock interface, providing user with the most up to date information.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
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Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider these references fully when responding to this action.
The examiner requests, in response to this Office action, support by shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line no(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the examiner in prosecuting the application.
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections, See 37 CFR 1.111(c).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHOEBE X PAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7794. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fred Ehichioya can be reached at (571) 272-4034. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHOEBE X PAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2179
/IRETE F EHICHIOYA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2179
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