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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to: Application filed on January 17th, 2024
Claims 1-10 are pending claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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 - 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasakuma, US PG PUB# 2018/0183955 A1 (hereinafter Sasakuma) in view of Kittaka, US PG PUB# 2015/0156348 A1 (hereinafter Kittaka).
As for independent claim 1:
Sasakuma discloses information processing apparatus comprising circuitry configured to:
switch display of the screen in accordance with an urgency level of an error in response to occurrence of the error after the operation is disabled (0069-0074, Sasakuma discloses detecting an error on an image processing device and display screen with error information. When the error is detected, the server adds error information to the screen and outputs modified screen display info with the error rather the normal screen without the error. This teaches switching display of the screen in response to occurrence of the error).
Sasakuma does not disclose disable an operation on a screen displayed on a display. Kittaka discloses disable an operation on a screen displayed on a display in 0163-0165, Figs 14 and 16. In the cited sections Kittaka discloses disabling an operation on a screen by displaying an error overlaid on the functional screen effectively interrupts the normal operation of the screen. Accordingly it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a skilled artisan to modify the apparatus of Sasakuma to incorporate the teaching of displaying error overlaid information on a display by Kittaka, thus allow disabling operation on a screen (0093, 163-0165 Kittaka).
As for dependent claim 2:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: display an error screen on the display in response to the occurrence of the error, the error screen including a predetermined screen; and hide the predetermined screen or make the predetermined screen transparent, in accordance with the urgency level of the error (Sasakuma, 0070-0074, Kittaka, 0173-0175, error information that was displayed on the related screen is hidden on the unrelated screen).
As for dependent claim 3:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: display an error screen on the display in response to the occurrence of the error, the error screen including a button; and change, in accordance with the urgency level of the error, a response condition under which the button responds (Sasakuma, 0073-0074, see error and button display, see guidance button to obtain guidance information)
As for dependent claim 4:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: display an error screen on the display in response to the occurrence of the error, the error screen including a button; and hide the button, in accordance with the urgency level of the error (Kittaka, see hiding button and information of related and unrelated level of error of the displayed screen, 0163-0165, 0173-0175). Accordingly it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a skilled artisan to modify the apparatus of Sasakuma to incorporate the teaching by Kittaka, thus allow disabling operation on a screen and less information on the user interface, hiding button(0163-0165 Kittaka).
As for dependent claim 5:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: set a switching condition for switching display of the screen, the switching condition including the urgency level; and switch the screen in accordance with the switching condition that is set (Sasakuma discloses switching display when error is detected by adding error information to the screen info and output modified screen, 0069-0072, 0075).
As for dependent claim 6:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an engine to execute an image processing function (Sasakuma 0044, 0051-0053; Kittaka, 0051)
As for independent claim 7:
Claim 7 contains substantial subject matter as claimed in claim 1 and is respectfully rejected along the same rationale.
As for dependent claim 8:
Sasakuma - Kittaka discloses the information processing system according to claim 7, further comprising: a first apparatus including the display to display the screen that receives an operation, and the circuitry; and one or more second apparatuses to implement one or more functions operated by the first apparatus via the screen (0069-0074, Sasakuma discloses detecting an error on an image processing device and display screen with error information).
As for independent claim 9:Claim 9 contains substantial subject matter as claimed in claim 1 and is respectfully rejected along the same rationale.
As for claim 10:Claim 10 contains substantial subject matter as claimed in claim 1 and is respectfully rejected along the same rationale.
It is noted that any citation to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33,216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)).
The Examiner notes MPEP § 2144.01, that quotes In re Preda, 401 F.2d 825,159 USPQ 342, 344 (CCPA 1968) as stating “in considering the disclosure of a reference, it is proper to take into account not only specific teachings of the reference but also the inferences which one skilled in the art would reasonably be expected to draw therefrom.” Further MPEP 2123, states that “a reference may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill the art, including nonpreferred embodiments. Merck & Co. v. Biocraft Laboratories, 874 F.2d 804, 10 USPQ2d 1843 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 975 (1989).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID PHANTANA ANGKOOL whose telephone number is (571) 272-2673 the examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7:00-3:30 PM.
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/David Phantana-angkool/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172
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