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 .
This communication is responsive to the application filed 3/29/2024.
Claims 1-3 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims do not recite any preamble to indicate whether the claims are independent claims fall within at least one of the four categories or they are dependent claims depending on the method of claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-2 recite the limitations "the creation", “the title”, “the interface”, “the default”, and “the active” in claim 1 and “the active tab group” in claim 2. There are insufficient antecedent basis for this limitations in the claims.
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barrus et al. (US 2016/0139750, hereinafter as Barrus) in view of Chao et al. (US 2018/0052939, hereinafter as Chao).
Claim 1. A computer implemented method for managing tabs and bookmarks within a web browser, comprising:
upon the creation of a tab group,
naming the tab group based on the title of one or a plurality of tabs in said tab group; Barrus discloses in [0003 and 0033] “In response to receiving this single action user input, the multiple tabs of the tab row are grouped together into a tab group that represents the multiple tabs… web application 108 is a web browser that obtains web pages from various websites via network 106.” And in [0063] “ungrouped tabs of the tab row are grouped into groups 802 and 804 responsive to user selection of option 608 “Sweep by Domain”. Tab groups 802 and 804 represent grouped tabs that have a common domain. Continuing this example, group 802 includes tabs 210 (“bing.com”) and 214 (“Bing: Spokane”), and group 804 includes tabs 212 (“Weather Reports”) and 216 (“Seattle Weather”).” (emphasis added) examiner note: based on user input, ungrouped browser tabs may be grouped and named as indicated in fig. 8,
creating a bookmark folder or location associated with said tab group and displaying said bookmark folder within the interface of said web browser; Barrus discloses in [0079] “in a web application implementation, designating a tab group as a favorite may create one or more representations of the tab group and/or multiple tabs of the tab group for display in a favorites list or bookmarks list.” (emphasis added) examiner note: the tab group may be bookmarked as favorite and displayed in the bookmark list,
upon changing the active tab of said web browser,
from an ungrouped tab to a tab within a tab group, Barrus discloses in [0059] “tab 214 is the active tab. In response to selection of option 604, all ungrouped tabs displayed to the left of tab 214 are grouped into a tab group. Continuing the present example, the “bing.com” and “Weather Reports” tabs would be grouped into a tab group in response to selection of option 604 because they are displayed to the left of tab 214 in the tab row. Alternatively, tab 214 may also be grouped into the tab group in response to selection of option 604.” (emphasis added) examiner note: changing active tab 214 from ungrouped tab to a tab group in response to selecting option 604,
displaying said tab group's associated bookmark folder, bookmarks and auxiliary applications within the web browser interface; Barrus discloses in [0076-0079] “responsive to receiving a user input at tab group 802, one or more tab group options 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008, and 1010 are displayed… Designating a tab group as a favorite may create and/or store resource locations for each of the multiple tabs of the tab group for later access… designating a tab group as a favorite may create one or more representations of the tab group and/or multiple tabs of the tab group for display in a favorites list or bookmarks list.” (emphasis added) examiner note: tab group may be bookmarked and displayed in bookmark list,
setting the default bookmark folder or location of said web browser to said tab group's associated bookmark folder or location;
from a tab within a tab group to an ungrouped tab, Barrus discloses in [0077] “Option 1002 presents an option to expand a tab group. Expanding a tab group includes displaying the multiple tabs of the tab group as ungrouped tabs in the tab row with a visual indication that the multiple tabs of the tab group are grouped together.” (emphasis added),
removing said tab group's associated bookmark folder, bookmarks and auxiliary applications from said web browser interface. Barrus discloses in [0077] “Expanding a tab group includes displaying the multiple tabs of the tab group as ungrouped tabs in the tab row with a visual indication that the multiple tabs of the tab group are grouped together. The visual indication may be any sort of visual indication such as an outline, shading, color-coding, and so on.” And in [0079] “designating a tab group as a favorite may create one or more representations of the tab group and/or multiple tabs of the tab group for display in a favorites list or bookmarks list.” And in [0081] “Option 1010 presents an option to close all multiple tabs of the tab group. For example, the multiple tabs of the tab group would be closed and removed from display in the tab row in response to selection of option 1010.” And in [0097] “Based on input 1502, tab 1204 is removed from group 802 and added to group 804. Because group 802 only includes tab 1202 after input 1502, tab 1202 is displayed as an ungrouped tab in the tab row.” (emphasis added) examiner note: tab group may be associated with a visual indication indicating that the tabs are in the same group. So, when a tab group is made favorite or bookmarked, the tab group would have the visual indication indicating that the tabs are in the same group in the bookmark list. The may remove the tab group from display by closing the tab group. Tab 1204 may be an auxiliary application that may be removed from group 802.
Barrus does not explicitly disclose
setting the default bookmark folder or location of said web browser to said bookmark folder of said tab group; setting the default bookmark folder or location of said web browser to said tab group's associated bookmark folder or location. However, Chao, in an analogous art, discloses in [0087] “If the electronic device 102 receives an input indicating a command to categorize the bookmark, the electronic device 102 may categorize the bookmark in a category indicated by the input, in a default category, and/or in a new category specified by the input… the electronic device 102 may automatically categorize the bookmark (e.g., automatically categorize the bookmark in a default category (e.g., an “all” category), automatically select an existing category based on webpage content, etc.).” (emphasis added) examiner note: the favorite list or bookmark list of Barrus may be categorized and a default category may be set by an input.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Barrus with the teaching of Chao because “Organizing bookmarks can be a tedious task especially if a user bookmarks many pages. Often, browsers allow categorization of bookmarks into different folders to help organization, but the categorization is still a manual step.” Thus, “enable automatically determining a category for a newly added bookmark based on a relationship to previously visited webpages (e.g., websites). For example, on a per tab or session basis, if a webpage (e.g., site) is bookmarked, the category for the bookmark may be determined by examining a history of previously visited sites (e.g., a linking navigation history)… These categories may be utilized to automatically categorize a bookmark for a webpage and/or to provide suggestions to a user for categorization.” Chao [0029-0030].
Claim 2. removing said bookmark when the user signals to open said bookmark as a tab. Further, Barrus discloses in [0090] “the visual indication may be any indication that visually discerns expanded tabs of a tab group in the tab row from unexpanded tab groups (e.g., tab group 804) and ungrouped tabs (e.g., tab 806). While the present example illustrates tab 806 as the active tab, in certain implementations one of the multiple tabs of an expanded tab group may automatically be made the active tab in response to receiving a request to expand the tab group. The active tab may be automatically selected based on a variety of considerations (e.g., based on a most recent accessed tab, based on whether a tab of an expanded tab group is a “favorite” tab, and so forth).” And in [0097-0098] “adjusting a display position of a tab in a tab row… Input 1502 is received at tab 1204 and drags tab 1204 into group 804 (e.g., using a touchscreen gesture, or a mouse pointer, tab 1204 is dragged and dropped onto tab group 804). Based on input 1502, tab 1204 is removed from group 802 and added to group 804… Input 1502 may drag a tab out of a tab group into the tab row so that the tab is displayed as an ungrouped tab.” (emphasis added) examiner note: dragging a tab from bookmarked (favorite) tab group and dropping the tab in the tab row may remove the tab from the bookmarked tab group.
Barrus does not explicitly disclose
Upon a user signal with a mouse click, finger tap or finger swipe on a universal resource locator (URL) displayed within the active tab of the active tab group, creating a bookmark for said URL in said tab group's associated bookmark folder or opening said URL as a tab within said tab group. However, Chao discloses in [0073] “the electronic device 102 may receive an input indicating a command to add a bookmark for a webpage. Additionally or alternatively, the electronic device 102 may determine 202 to add a bookmark for a webpage automatically (if the webpage has been accessed at least a threshold number of accesses, etc.).” and in [0080] “a sixth webpage 340 at http://websitenamesix.com is opened in a new tab 338 via a link from the fifth webpage 336. Accordingly, the fourth webpage 334 and the fifth webpage 336 are linking webpages relative to the sixth webpage 340. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a bookmark for the sixth webpage 340 would be added in the play category, since the fourth webpage 334 (a linking webpage) has a corresponding play category.” (emphasis added) examiner note: opened tab 338 may include a URL, which can be added to a bookmark category based on a user input.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Barrus with the teaching of Chao because “Organizing bookmarks can be a tedious task especially if a user bookmarks many pages. Often, browsers allow categorization of bookmarks into different folders to help organization, but the categorization is still a manual step.” Thus, “enable automatically determining a category for a newly added bookmark based on a relationship to previously visited webpages (e.g., websites). For example, on a per tab or session basis, if a webpage (e.g., site) is bookmarked, the category for the bookmark may be determined by examining a history of previously visited sites (e.g., a linking navigation history)… These categories may be utilized to automatically categorize a bookmark for a webpage and/or to provide suggestions to a user for categorization.” Chao [0029-0030].
Claim 3. Upon a user signal to save a tab within a tab group,
creating a bookmark with said tab's URL and storing said bookmark in said tab group's associated bookmark folder. Barrus discloses in [0078] “Option 1006 presents an option to designate the multiple tabs of a tab group as a “favorite”. Designating a tab group as a favorite may create and/or store resource locations for each of the multiple tabs of the tab group for later access. For example, in a web application implementation, designating a tab group as a favorite may create one or more representations of the tab group and/or multiple tabs of the tab group for display in a favorites list or bookmarks list.” And in [0097] “Input 1502 is received at tab 1204 and drags tab 1204 into group 804 (e.g., using a touchscreen gesture, or a mouse pointer, tab 1204 is dragged and dropped onto tab group 804). Based on input 1502, tab 1204 is removed from group 802 and added to group 804.” (emphasis added) examiner note: let’s assume tab group 804 is favorite or bookmarked and tab group 802 is not designated as favorite, the dragging of tab 1204 from tab group 802 onto tab group 804 may bookmark tab 1204 as being member of favorite tab group 804.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHAMED I NAZAR whose telephone number is (571)270-3174. The examiner can normally be reached 10 am to 7 pm Mon-Fri.
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/AHAMED I NAZAR/Examiner, Art Unit 2178 9/19/2025
/MOHAMMED H ZUBERI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2178