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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/16/2024 was filed before the first office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejection Notes
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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 3/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of independent claim(s) under 35 USC 102, to Zhang, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the combination of Zhang and Kwon, wherein Kwon has been added to cure the deficiencies of Zhang.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6-8, 12-14, and 18-20, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 20150370427 A1, published: 12/24/2015), in view of Kwon et al. (US 20080022228 A1, published: 1/24/2008).
Claim 1. (Currently Amended): Zhang teaches a method for application icon display, comprising:
receiving a first input when a first icon set is displayed in a first mode and a second icon set is displayed in a second mode (taking FIG. 4 as an example, in the valid region of the 2.sup.nd layer of response region, the current tag element is “often-used”, such that what represented in the 3.sup.rd and the 4.sup.th layers of response region present are icons of the top 9 of applications in a sequence of use frequency from high to low [Zhang, 0034, FIG. 4]; Examiner's Note: First mode is the first icon (X) that upon selecting will display the first list recently-installed, often-used, and recently-opened. The Second mode is when one of these previous 3 are selected, four more icons will be displayed, as illustrated),
wherein the first icon set comprises a plurality of first application icons, a first target application icon is an icon in the first icon set (if the sector user interface is required to be displayed in a corner area corresponding to a certain corner of the screen, the 4 layers of response region, with one of their corners, will overlap at that corner of the screen; if the sector user interface is required to be displayed in a side edge area corresponding to a certain edge of the screen, the of 4 layers of response region, with one of their side edges, will overlap at that edge of the screen. Herein, the mth layer of response region is larger than the m−1th layer of response region, wherein mε[2, n]. That is, from the 1.sup.st layer of response region, areas of various layers of response region increase sequentially [Zhang, 0029, FIG. 2]; [Zhang, FIG. 4]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated),
the second icon set comprises a plurality of second application icons, a second target application icon is an icon in the second icon set, and a display area of an application icon in the first mode is different from that in the second mode (as shown in FIG. 2, the valid region 20 of the 1.sup.st layer of response region is sector region, and the valid region 21 of the 2.sup.nd layer of response region, the valid region 22 of the 3.sup.rd layer of response region and the valid region 23 of the 4.sup.th layer of response region are annulus sector regions [Zhang, 0030]; [Zhang, FIG. 4]; Examiner's Note: each icon set displayed in FIG. 4 is associated with a different layer mode: 20, 21, 22, and 23).
Zhang does not teach and in response to the first input, changing a display mode of the first target application icon from the first mode to the second mode, and changing the display mode of the second target application icon from the second mode to the first mode.
However, Kwon teaches and in response to the first input, changing a display mode of the first target application icon from the first mode to the second mode, and changing the display mode of the second target application icon from the second mode to the first mode (when the searched upper menu (e.g., Photo) with the corresponding icon is positioned on the center axis C, first sub-menus (e.g., User Folder, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Photo-list) are displayed at the forefront of the screen as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 3B. That is, the size of the first ring 300 and the sizes of the upper menus (e.g., Photo, Music, Movie, DMB, and Settings) and corresponding icons arranged on the first ring 300 become smaller, and a second ring 330 having a perspective appearance of the first sub-menus is formed around the first ring 300 [Kwon, 0075, FIG. 3B]; [Kwon, FIGs. 3A-B]; Examiner's Note: based upon selecting a radial menu item in a first display mode, Photo, a second submenu display mode is further displayed to display the sub-menu items relative to the selected Photo application icon).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the icon selection and launching invention of Zhang to include the radial menu to sub-menu feature of Kwon.
One would have been motivated to make this modification to improve the ability to alter graphical elements based on specific inputs, such that as one icon is selected, a sub-section is further presented. Such would improve hierarchical menu display structures, by showing users a clear path from menu items to submenu items.
Claims 7 and 13, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 1, are likewise rejected.
Claim 2: The combination of Zhang and Kwon, teaches the method according to claim 1. Zhang further teaches wherein after receiving the first input, the method further comprises: in response to the first input, switching the first target application icon from a first state to a second state, and switching the second target application icon from the second state to the first state; when a second input to any second target application icon in the first state is received, displaying an application interface corresponding to the any second target application icon; and when a third input to any first target application icon in the second state is received, not responding to the third input ([Zhang, 0031, FIG. 4]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated).
Claims 8 and 14, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 2, are likewise rejected.
Claim 6: The combination of Zhang and Kwon, teaches the method according to claim 1. Zhang does not teach further comprising: receiving a fourth input for moving a third target application icon to a central area of an interface; and in response to the fourth input, deleting the third target application icon (FIG. 4, a close UI element for realizing a UI closing function is presented in the valid region of the 1.sup.st layer of response region. When the user clicks the close UI element, the entire UI interface will be closed [Zhang, 0031]).
Claims 12 and 18, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 6, are likewise rejected.
Claim 19: The combination of Zhang and Kwon, teaches the method according to claim 1. Kwon further teaches further comprising: prior to receiving the first input, displaying the first target application icon as a complete application icon, and displaying the second target application icon as a point, wherein in response to the first input, changing the display mode of the first target application icon from the first mode to the second mode, and changing the display mode of the second target application icon from the second mode to the first mode further comprises: in response to the first input, displaying the first target application icon as a point, and displaying the second target application icon as a complete application icon (when the searched upper menu (e.g., Photo) with the corresponding icon is positioned on the center axis C, first sub-menus (e.g., User Folder, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Photo-list) are displayed at the forefront of the screen as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 3B. That is, the size of the first ring 300 and the sizes of the upper menus (e.g., Photo, Music, Movie, DMB, and Settings) and corresponding icons arranged on the first ring 300 become smaller, and a second ring 330 having a perspective appearance of the first sub-menus is formed around the first ring 300 [Kwon, 0075, FIG. 3B]; [Kwon, FIGs. 3A-B]; Examiner's Note: based upon selecting a radial menu item in a first display mode, Photo, a second submenu display mode is further displayed to display the sub-menu items relative to the selected Photo application icon).
Claim 20, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 19, is likewise rejected.
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.
Claim(s) 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, and 16, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 20150370427 A1, published: 12/24/2015) and Kwon et al. (US 20080022228 A1, published: 1/24/2008), and in further view of Mouilleseaux et al. (US 20090327964 A1, published: 12/31/2009).
Claim 3: The combination of Zhang and Kwon, teaches the method according to claim 1. The combination of Zhang and Kwon, does not teach wherein after receiving the first input, the method further comprises: in response to the first input, moving the first target application icon from a first display position to a second display position, and moving the second target application icon from the second display position to a third display position.
However, Mouilleseaux teaches wherein after receiving the first input, the method further comprises: in response to the first input, moving the first target application icon from a first display position to a second display position, and moving the second target application icon from the second display position to a third display position (FIG. 1c shows that, as a result of the sweep gesture across submenu select item 142 (as numbered in FIG. 1b), the menu item 142 has been automatically activated, causing the submenu 150 to be displayed (being displayed is sometimes referred to as "popping up") surrounding the location of cursor 115 at the end of the sweep. The submenu of the illustrated embodiment does not open up at the location of the beginning of the sweep (e.g., the location of menu 110), denoted here by faded submenu 160 [Mouilleseaux, FIG. 1c]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated between FIGs. 1b-1c, Sub-Menu A is moved and a new radial menu surrounds it).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the icon selection and launching invention of the combination of Zhang and Kwon, to include the moving of icon positions of Mouilleseaux.
One would have been motivated to make this modification to improve the ability to alter graphical elements based on specific inputs. Such would improve hierarchical menu display structures.
Claims 9 and 15, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 3, are likewise rejected.
Claim 4: The combination of Zhang, Kwon, and Mouilleseaux, teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein the first display position is the same as the third display position ([Mouilleseaux, FIG. 1c]; Examiner's Note: wherein Item H, a third display position, is at the approximate display position of the first display position).
Claims 10 and 16, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 4, are likewise rejected.
Claim(s) 5, 11, and 17, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 20150370427 A1, published: 12/24/2015) and Kwon et al. (US 20080022228 A1, published: 1/24/2008), and in further view of Anderson et al. (US 11150730 B1, published: 10/19/2021).
Claim 5: The combination of Zhang and Kwon, teaches the method according to claim 1. The combination of Zhang and Kwon, does not teach wherein when the first input is a pinch input or a spread input, the first target application icon is all icons in the first icon set.
However, Anderson teaches wherein when the first input is a pinch input or a spread input, the first target application icon is all icons in the first icon set (when associated with webpage 1102, radial menu 1000 may function and/or serve as a navigation menu that enabling the user to move back to a previous page or forward to subsequent page depending on the menu button selected (e.g., using a wrist gesture) and/or clicked (e.g., using a finger pinch pose) by the user in the superimposed navigation menu [Anderson, 22:61-67]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the icon selection and launching invention of the combination of Zhang and Kwon, to include the generic gestures of Anderson.
One would have been motivated to make this modification to use the already known forms of gesture control to be mapped to hierarchical menu icons. Such would use gestures that users have likely already learned when using generic smartphone applications.
Claims 11 and 17, sharing the same deficiencies of claim 5, are likewise rejected.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SETH A SILVERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur, 8AM-4PM MST.
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, Adam Queler can be reached at (571)272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Seth A Silverman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172
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