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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/25/2026 has been entered.
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 (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.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), further in view of Chen (CN 107844188 A – see translation for citations below), Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1).
As to claim 1, Lawrence teaches a resource control method, comprising: identifying a primary scenario and a non-primary scenario according to two or more windows displayed on a screen (see at least figs. 5A-5C: a focus application window 553 (primary) and non-focus windows 552/551 (non-primary) and [0058]); and
decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario (see at least fig. 5C and [0058] “In some embodiments, only the focus application window position within the display screen is offset to implement display motion compensation. FIG. 5C illustrates an exemplary focus application window 553, which may be smaller than display screen 513 regardless of whether display motion compensation is enabled. In response to enabling display motion compensation, focus application window 553 may be displaced by display coordinate offsets vi, hi to move between frame position 522A and frame position 522B in compensation of a relative motion jitter input that scales to display coordinate offsets vi, hi. In this exemplary embodiment, coordinate offsets vi, hi are only applied to focus application window 553 (i.e., non-focus application windows 552 and 551 are not repositioned during a content frame refresh)” – note the resource of compensation is decreased (i.e. not applied) to the non-focus windows when motion compensation is needed).
Lawrence does not directly teach decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present, wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate.
He teaches detecting frame dropping / unstable frame rate and adjusting system resources in response (see at least Step 203: “The mobile terminal detects … whether a display interface of the preset application program has dropped frames.”, “The determination condition … is to detect the current frame rate … If low … it is determined that the display interface … has dropped frames.” – note this corresponds to the claimed frame dropping or frame jitter.. wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate; Step 204: “In the case that a frame drop occurs … the mobile terminal adjusts the frequency of the main CPU to the target frequency.”, “When it is detected that … dropped frames, the CPU frequency is actively increased … to optimize the environment for running the preset application.” – note this teaches adjusting system resources in response to frame drop; Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.” – note this teaches that closing an application is a reduction of system resource allocation to that application). Thus, He teaches changing system resources in response to frame drop and reducing resources of non-priority applications.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply He’s frame-drop-triggered resource-management technique to Lawrence’s focus/non-focus multi-window system, such that, when frame dropping or unstable frame rate of Lawrence’s primary focus window is detected, the resource burden imposed by the non-primary, non-focus windows is decreased. Lawrence already distinguishes the application receiving primary user attention from concurrently displayed non-primary applications, while He teaches detecting low or unstable frame rate in a prioritized application and reducing the resource burden of non-high-priority applications to improve operation of the prioritized application. Applying He’s resource-management technique to Lawrence’s multi-window arrangement would have predictably preserved system capacity for the primary scenario and improved its frame stability.
He does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario.
Chen teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario (see at least [0048] “Step 330: controlling a portion or all of the non-focus display area to update display content at a first update speed corresponding to the data change rate or data change speed.”; [0049] “the lower the data change rate or data change speed, the lower the update speed of the display content that can be adopted by the corresponding non-focus display area, so that the display content is updated using a slower first update speed.”; [0051]: “Since the focus area obtains higher user attention than the non-focus area, the display content of the focus area is updated using a second update speed that is higher than that of the non-focus area.” – note Chen’s lower update speed for the non-focus display area corresponds to decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario because the display content of that non-focus scenario is refreshed fewer times over a given period than the display content of the focus scenario).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the decrease in resources allocated to Lawrence’s non-primary windows, as modified by He, using Chen’s lower frame or update rate for the non-focus display area. Chen teaches that the non-focus area receives less user attention and can therefore be updated at a slower rate. Reducing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario would have predictably reduced the frequency at which frames for that scenario are generated, processed, and displayed, thereby decreasing its graphics-processing burden and preserving processing capacity for the primary scenario experiencing frame dropping or unstable frame rate.
Chen does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario.
Cheng teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit (see at least [0024] “the CPU integrated in the processor 110 includes at least two cores. The at least two cores include at least one first performance core (high performance core) and at least one second performance core (low performance core).”; [0026] “The operating system may be an Android system.”; [0051] “the core information includes a core type and a core number corresponding to each core (processor core).”; [0067] “the target application schedules a target core to operate a process of the target application in a system calling way based on the core information.”; [0073] “since the application in a background operation state has a lower requirement on an operation performance, in order to reduce the power consumption, when a foreground operation is switched to a background operation, the target application schedules the second performance core to operate the process in the system calling way.”; [0076] “setting, by the target application, an affinity degree between the process and each core in the system calling way based on a core number of the target core and a process identifier of the process, … and binding, by the operating system, the process and the target core based on the affinity degree, in which the bound process operates on the target core.”; [0105] “In order to enable the process of the target application to operate on the specified target core, in one possible implementation, the target application utilizes a function provided by the operating system to set the affinity degree between the process and each core.”; [0106] “the target application sets the number corresponding to the target core.. based on the core number of the target core, .. and then sets the affinity degree .. based on the target mask and the process identity (PID) of the process.”; [0108] “the operating system binds the process and the target core based on the affinity degree,”; [0111] “The bound process operates on the target core.”; [0132] “the scheduling request includes an application identifier. The application identifier may be a package name of the target application.” – note Cheng’s package-name identification, process identification, core-number selection, affinity setting, and process-to-core binding teach the substance of assigning an Android package (APK) to a certain central processing unit).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the decrease in resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in Lawrence, as modified by He and Chen, using Cheng’s application-to-core assignment technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping is detected in a prioritized application. Cheng teaches that a background application has a lower performance requirement and therefore may be assigned to a selected lower-performance processor core through CPU-affinity binding. Applying Cheng’s technique to the non-primary application would have predictably controlled and reduced the high-performance CPU resources available to that application, thereby preserving additional processing capacity for stabilizing the frame performance of the primary scenario.
Cheng does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario.
Liu teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario (see at least [0021] “an appropriate resolution corresponding to an application program to be executed is determined from at least two selectable resolutions,”; [0022] “The at least selectable resolutions are predetermined in the display device, .. the at least two resolutions may be 3840×2160, 1920×1080 and 960×540.”; [0027] “In a system application, e.g., an Android application, resource files corresponding to different resolutions are stored in a resource folder, such that an application package file (APK) of the application program can be used for multiple monitors having different resolutions.”; [0032] “the appropriate resolution of an application program interface with an attribute as a video player is set to 3840×2160, the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a drawing tool is set to 1920×1080, and the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a calculator is set to 960×540.”; [0033] “the default resolution may be a physical resolution of the display device or a predetermined resolution smaller than the physical resolution of the display device.”; [0038] “the appropriate resolution is smaller than the physical resolution of the display device,”; [0040] “an Android-type application program interface having undergone the layout process is rendered in the display window.”; [0058] “ActivityManagerService (AMS) determines the appropriate resolution corresponding to the application program to be executed from at least two predetermined selectable resolutions according the established activity.”; [0060] “WindowManagerService (WMS) establishes a display window having a size equal to the size corresponding to the appropriate resolution,”; [0064] “a lower and appropriate resolution is selected in a high-resolution device to display an application program interface having a lower resolution, thereby achieving a technical effect of saving resources of a graphic processor.” – note Liu teaches decreasing the resolution of an Android application scenario as a known technique for decreasing graphics-processing resource consumption.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further implement the reduction of resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in the system of Lawrence, as modified by He, Chen, and Cheng, using Liu’s lower-resolution application-rendering technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping or low frame rate is detected in a prioritized application, and Liu expressly teaches that rendering an application interface at a lower resolution saves graphics-processor resources. Accordingly, decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario would have predictably reduced the number of pixels processed for each frame of that scenario and preserved additional graphics-processing capacity for improving the frame performance of the primary scenario.
The proposed combination represents the application of known, complementary resource-management techniques to a known multi-window resource-contention problem. He establishes the reason to reduce the burden imposed by lower-priority applications when a prioritized application exhibits frame dropping or unstable frame rate. Chen, Cheng, and Liu respectively teach reducing three different components of the non-primary application’s resource consumption. Each technique performs its established function in the combination, and their combined use would have predictably produced cumulative CPU and graphics-resource savings for the benefit of the primary scenario. The combination therefore amounts to the use of known resource-reduction techniques according to their established functions to obtain the predictable result of improving frame stability of the primary scenario.
As to claim 2, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection), wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario according to the two or more windows displayed on the screen further comprises: detecting user input on the two or more windows of the screen to obtain a user behavior index, wherein the user behavior index comprises the number of touches of the two or more windows and usage time of the two or more windows, wherein the primary scenario is displayed in the window with the most touches or the longest usage time, and the non-primary scenario is displayed in the window with the least number of touches or the shortest usage time (see Chen at least [0029] “the terminal described in the embodiments of the present invention includes but is not limited to other portable devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers or tablet computers with touch-sensitive surfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touch pads). It should also be understood that in some embodiments, the device is not a portable communication device, but rather a desktop computer with a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad)”and [0042] “the focus display area is often the area that the user pays attention to. The user's continuous operation, or the user's last click or other related operations make the corresponding area gain focus, so that this area is also the area that the user is paying attention to or the area that last gained the user's attention. Correspondingly, areas that do not receive user attention or areas that receive less user attention will lose focus or fail to gain focus. In this case, the non-focus display area can be displayed in a low-power manner to avoid wasting energy.”).
As to claim 3, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection), wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario according to the two or more windows displayed on the screen further comprises: detecting window sizes of the two or more windows on the screen, wherein the primary scenario is displayed in the window having a large window size, and the non-primary scenario is displayed in the window having a small window size (see Chen at least [0038] “Multiple application display areas may also be displayed in a partially or completely overlapping manner, for example, one application display area is displayed in the upper layer, and another application display area is displayed in the lower layer, and the application display area displayed in the lower layer is partially or completely blocked by the application display area displayed in the upper layer. In some embodiments of the present invention, when the first application display area is partially blocked by the second application display area, the first application display area is controlled to be displayed in a low-power consumption manner.” – application in upper layer takes up a larger portion of the screen than the blocked application in the lower layer).
As to claim 4, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection), wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario according to the two or more windows displayed on the screen comprises: identifying the primary scenario according to an user behavior index, wherein the user behavior index indicates which audio has been played in one of the windows through a speaker or which one of the windows has larger sound level (see He at least “step 309: if not, the mobile terminal to close the target application program. when there is occupied by application program of main CPU ratio exceeds 30%, then determining whether the target application process running in the foreground, such as: judging whether playing audio, judging .. if it is, the target application program of higher priority level, then the target application program from the main CPU is switched from running on the CPU to avoid occupying the main resource of the CPU, when the priority level of the application program is low, that is, the application running in background, the target application program is closed.”; “audio output unit 603 can be a radio frequency unit 601 or network module 602 receiving or audio data stored in the memory 609 into audio signals and output as sound. The audio output unit 603 may also provide audio output (e.g., a call signal reception sound, a message reception sound, etc.) performed a specific function with related to the mobile terminal 600. audio output unit 603 comprises a speaker, a buzzer and a receiver.”).
As to claim 5, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 4 (see above rejection), wherein each of the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario is performed by an individual application, wherein the method further comprises: decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when a performance index indicates that a first condition is present (see Chen at least [0048] “Step 330: controlling a portion or all of the non-focus display area to update display content at a first update speed corresponding to the data change rate or data change speed”; [0049] “the lower the data change rate or data change speed, the lower the update speed of the display content that can be adopted by the corresponding non-focus display area, so that the display content is updated using a slower first update speed”; and [0051] “Since the focus area obtains higher user attention than the non-focus area, the display content of the focus area is updated using a second update speed that is higher than that of the non-focus area.”).
As to claim 6, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 5 (see above rejection), further comprising: disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates that a second condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario, so as to remove the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”; and Chen at least [0038] “Multiple application display areas may also be displayed in a partially or completely overlapping manner, for example, one application display area is displayed in the upper layer, and another application display area is displayed in the lower layer, and the application display area displayed in the lower layer is partially or completely blocked by the application display area displayed in the upper layer. In some embodiments of the present invention, when the first application display area is partially blocked by the second application display area, the first application display area is controlled to be displayed in a low-power consumption manner.”; and [0064] “Step 440: controlling the first display area to update display content at a third update speed”; [0065] “In some embodiments of the present invention, since data in the first display area changes during the time period from the first time to the second time, the corresponding first display area requires a higher update speed for display content, and thus a faster first update speed is used to update the display content.”; [0066] “Step 450: Control a second display area in the non-focus display area to update display content at a fourth update speed, wherein the second display area is a portion or all of the display area of the non-focus display area excluding the first display area, and the third update speed is greater than the fourth update speed.”; and [0067] “Similarly, since the data of the second display area other than the first display area in the non-focus display area has not changed during the time period from the first time to the second time, the corresponding second display area can use a lower update speed for the display content, thereby using the slower first update speed to update the display content. In the technical solution of the present invention, the third update speed and the fourth update speed are update speeds corresponding to the frame rate at which the display updates the non-focus area.”).
Claims 7-8, 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), further in view of Chen (CN 107844188 A – see translation for citations below), Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1), and further in view of Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2).
As to claim 7, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 4 (see above rejection), wherein decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates that the first condition is present further comprises: sensing a temperature and decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the temperature is equal to or higher than a first threshold value (see He Embodiment Three, Steps 301–304, Fig. 3, col. 6–7: He describes detecting the temperature of the mobile terminal and adjusting CPU frequency or other operating parameters to reduce the resource consumption of non-primary applications when the temperature exceeds a preset threshold).
Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach do not directly teach detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value.
Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value (see at least see at least figs. 10 (a)-10(b), 11 and col. 6 lines 24-31 “The sensing part 140 may … a battery gauge”; col. 14 lines 43-63 “the controller 630 may identify a remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the controller 630 may change resource allocation information of an application that is on execution. For example, when a remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to 10%, the controller 630 may reduce a display brightness to 50% of a current resource allocation value. In some cases, an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; col. 16 lines 38-40 “the electronic apparatus may adjust the resource allocation information based on a user input reception or a state of a battery”; col. 17 line 66 – col. 18 line 2 “(a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”; and col. 18 line 46 – col. 19 line 49 – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value) – note Noh describes adjusting display brightness or CPU allocation when the battery falls below a predetermined value to ensure proper resource management for running applications).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of He, Cheng, Liu and Noh with the multi-window resource control system of Lawrence and Chen in order to improve display performance, battery efficiency, and user experience. Incorporating temperature-based and battery-based resource adjustments into Lawrence and Chen would have been a predictable design choice for one skilled in the art seeking to optimize system performance and ensure safe operation under high temperature or low battery conditions. Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
As to claim 8, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, Liu, and Noh teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 7 (see above rejection), wherein disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates the second condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the remaining battery power is lower than the first threshold value and higher than a second threshold value; and disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the remaining battery power is lower than the second threshold value (see Chen at least [0038] “Multiple application display areas may also be displayed in a partially or completely overlapping manner, for example, one application display area is displayed in the upper layer, and another application display area is displayed in the lower layer, and the application display area displayed in the lower layer is partially or completely blocked by the application display area displayed in the upper layer. In some embodiments of the present invention, when the first application display area is partially blocked by the second application display area, the first application display area is controlled to be displayed in a low-power consumption manner.”; and Noh at least figs. 10 (a)-10(b), 11 and col. 6 lines 24-31 “The sensing part 140 may … a battery gauge”; col. 14 lines 43-63 “the controller 630 may identify a remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the controller 630 may change resource allocation information of an application that is on execution. For example, when a remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to 10%, the controller 630 may reduce a display brightness to 50% of a current resource allocation value. In some cases, an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; col. 16 lines 38-40 “the electronic apparatus may adjust the resource allocation information based on a user input reception or a state of a battery”; col. 17 line 66 – col. 18 line 2 “(a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”; and col. 18 line 46 – col. 19 line 49 – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value).
As to claim 10, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection), wherein decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates that the first condition is present further comprises: decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario from a default frame rate to a first frame rate when the performance index indicates that the first condition is present, wherein a second frame rate is higher than the first frame rate (see Chen at least [0040] “at least one of the at least two application display areas displayed by the display obtains focus, that is, the at least two application display areas include one or more focus areas and one or more non-focus display areas. The application display area can obtain focus through user operation, for example, the user clicks on the application display area to make the application display area obtain focus. The application display area can also obtain the focus by default through an associated operation. For example, when the display switches from a state of one application display area to a state of two application display areas, the application display area opened later can be set as the focus area.”; [0041] “Step 230: Control the non-focus display area to display in a low-power consumption manner.”; [0042] “Generally speaking, the focus display area is often the area that the user pays attention to. The user's continuous operation, or the user's last click or other related operations make the corresponding area gain focus, so that this area is also the area that the user is paying attention to or the area that last gained the user's attention. Correspondingly, areas that do not receive user attention or areas that receive less user attention will lose focus or fail to gain focus. In this case, the non-focus display area can be displayed in a low-power manner to avoid wasting energy.”; [0048] “Step 330: controlling a portion or all of the non-focus display area to update display content at a first update speed corresponding to the data change rate or data change speed”; [0049] “the lower the data change rate or data change speed, the lower the update speed of the display content that can be adopted by the corresponding non-focus display area, so that the display content is updated using a slower first update speed”; and [0051] “Since the focus area obtains higher user attention than the non-focus area, the display content of the focus area is updated using a second update speed that is higher than that of the non-focus area.”; and [0064] “Step 440: controlling the first display area to update display content at a third update speed”; [0065] “In some embodiments of the present invention, since data in the first display area changes during the time period from the first time to the second time, the corresponding first display area requires a higher update speed for display content, and thus a faster first update speed is used to update the display content.”; [0066] “Step 450: Control a second display area in the non-focus display area to update display content at a fourth update speed, wherein the second display area is a portion or all of the display area of the non-focus display area excluding the first display area, and the third update speed is greater than the fourth update speed.”; and [0067] “Similarly, since the data of the second display area other than the first display area in the non-focus display area has not changed during the time period from the first time to the second time, the corresponding second display area can use a lower update speed for the display content, thereby using the slower first update speed to update the display content. In the technical solution of the present invention, the third update speed and the fourth update speed are update speeds corresponding to the frame rate at which the display updates the non-focus area.” and Lawrence at least fig. 5C and [0058]).
Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu do not directly teach decreasing a frame rate of the primary scenario.
Noh teaches decreasing a frame rate of the primary scenario from the default frame rate to a second frame rate when the performance index indicates that the first condition is present (see Noh at least figs. 10(a)-10(b); column 14 lines 53 – 63 “an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the conditions for decreasing resources of the non-primary scenario as taught by Noh into Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng and Liu in order to improve user experience. Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods, and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
As to claim 20, Lawrence teaches a controller for controlling resource in multi-window scenario of a mobile device, comprising:
a processor (see at least figs. 5A-C, 7-10 and [0024] “the material disclosed herein may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors (graphics processors and/or central processors”) configured to:
identifying a primary scenario and a non-primary scenario according to two or more windows displayed on a screen of the mobile device (see at least figs. 5A-5C: a focus application window 553 (primary) and non-focus windows 552/551 (non-primary) and [0058]);
decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario (see at least fig. 5C and [0058] “In some embodiments, only the focus application window position within the display screen is offset to implement display motion compensation. FIG. 5C illustrates an exemplary focus application window 553, which may be smaller than display screen 513 regardless of whether display motion compensation is enabled. In response to enabling display motion compensation, focus application window 553 may be displaced by display coordinate offsets vi, hi to move between frame position 522A and frame position 522B in compensation of a relative motion jitter input that scales to display coordinate offsets vi, hi. In this exemplary embodiment, coordinate offsets vi, hi are only applied to focus application window 553 (i.e., non-focus application windows 552 and 551 are not repositioned during a content frame refresh)” – note the resource of compensation is decreased (i.e. not applied) to the non-focus windows when motion compensation is needed).
Lawrence does not directly teach decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present, wherein decreasing the resource of the non- primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario, wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate; wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, or decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; wherein when a temperature of the mobile device is equal to or higher than a first threshold value or remaining battery power of a battery of the mobile device is lower than a second threshold value, the processor is configured to decrease the resource of the non- primary scenario; wherein when the temperature of the mobile device is higher than a third threshold value that is higher than the first threshold value, or the remaining battery power of the battery is lower than a fourth threshold value that is lower than the second threshold value, the processor is configured to close the non- primary scenario, so as to remove the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen.
He teaches changing/adjusting a resource when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present, wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate (see at least Step 203: “The mobile terminal detects … whether a display interface of the preset application program has dropped frames.”, “The determination condition … is to detect the current frame rate … If low … it is determined that the display interface … has dropped frames.”; Step 204: “In the case that a frame drop occurs … the mobile terminal adjusts the frequency of the main CPU to the target frequency.”, “When it is detected that … dropped frames, the CPU frequency is actively increased … to optimize the environment for running the preset application.”; Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”);
sensing a temperature and decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the temperature is equal to or higher than a threshold value (see He Embodiment Three, Steps 301–304, Fig. 3, col. 6–7: He describes detecting the temperature of the mobile terminal and adjusting CPU frequency or other operating parameters to reduce the resource consumption of non-primary applications when the temperature exceeds a preset threshold);
remove the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply He’s frame-drop-triggered resource adjustment to Lawrence’s focus/non-focus architecture such that, when the primary (focus) window exhibits unstable frame rate, resources allocated to non-primary windows are reduced to stabilize performance of the primary window. This modification uses known resource management techniques (He), in a known multi-window prioritization system (Lawrence), for the predictable purpose of improving frame stability of the primary window. Such prioritization is a routine system-level optimization and represents the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.
He does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; and detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a threshold value.
Chen teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario (see at least [0048] “Step 330: controlling a portion or all of the non-focus display area to update display content at a first update speed corresponding to the data change rate or data change speed.”; [0049] “the lower the data change rate or data change speed, the lower the update speed of the display content that can be adopted by the corresponding non-focus display area, so that the display content is updated using a slower first update speed.”; [0051]: “Since the focus area obtains higher user attention than the non-focus area, the display content of the focus area is updated using a second update speed that is higher than that of the non-focus area.” – note Chen’s lower update speed for the non-focus display area corresponds to decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario because the display content of that non-focus scenario is refreshed fewer times over a given period than the display content of the focus scenario).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the decrease in resources allocated to Lawrence’s non-primary windows, as modified by He, using Chen’s lower frame or update rate for the non-focus display area. Chen teaches that the non-focus area receives less user attention and can therefore be updated at a slower rate. Reducing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario would have predictably reduced the frequency at which frames for that scenario are generated, processed, and displayed, thereby decreasing its graphics-processing burden and preserving processing capacity for the primary scenario experiencing frame dropping or unstable frame rate.
Chen does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; and detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a threshold value.
Cheng teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit (see at least [0024] “the CPU integrated in the processor 110 includes at least two cores. The at least two cores include at least one first performance core (high performance core) and at least one second performance core (low performance core).”; [0026] “The operating system may be an Android system.”; [0051] “the core information includes a core type and a core number corresponding to each core (processor core).”; [0067] “the target application schedules a target core to operate a process of the target application in a system calling way based on the core information.”; [0073] “since the application in a background operation state has a lower requirement on an operation performance, in order to reduce the power consumption, when a foreground operation is switched to a background operation, the target application schedules the second performance core to operate the process in the system calling way.”; [0076] “setting, by the target application, an affinity degree between the process and each core in the system calling way based on a core number of the target core and a process identifier of the process, … and binding, by the operating system, the process and the target core based on the affinity degree, in which the bound process operates on the target core.”; [0105] “In order to enable the process of the target application to operate on the specified target core, in one possible implementation, the target application utilizes a function provided by the operating system to set the affinity degree between the process and each core.”; [0106] “the target application sets the number corresponding to the target core.. based on the core number of the target core, .. and then sets the affinity degree .. based on the target mask and the process identity (PID) of the process.”; [0108] “the operating system binds the process and the target core based on the affinity degree,”; [0111] “The bound process operates on the target core.”; [0132] “the scheduling request includes an application identifier. The application identifier may be a package name of the target application.” – note Cheng’s package-name identification, process identification, core-number selection, affinity setting, and process-to-core binding teach the substance of assigning an Android package (APK) to a certain central processing unit).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the decrease in resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in Lawrence, as modified by He and Chen, using Cheng’s application-to-core assignment technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping is detected in a prioritized application. Cheng teaches that a background application has a lower performance requirement and therefore may be assigned to a selected lower-performance processor core through CPU-affinity binding. Applying Cheng’s technique to the non-primary application would have predictably controlled and reduced the high-performance CPU resources available to that application, thereby preserving additional processing capacity for stabilizing the frame performance of the primary scenario.
Cheng does not directly teach wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; and detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a threshold value.
Liu teaches wherein decreasing the resource of the non-primary scenario comprises: decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario (see at least [0021] “an appropriate resolution corresponding to an application program to be executed is determined from at least two selectable resolutions,”; [0022] “The at least selectable resolutions are predetermined in the display device, .. the at least two resolutions may be 3840×2160, 1920×1080 and 960×540.”; [0027] “In a system application, e.g., an Android application, resource files corresponding to different resolutions are stored in a resource folder, such that an application package file (APK) of the application program can be used for multiple monitors having different resolutions.”; [0032] “the appropriate resolution of an application program interface with an attribute as a video player is set to 3840×2160, the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a drawing tool is set to 1920×1080, and the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a calculator is set to 960×540.”; [0033] “the default resolution may be a physical resolution of the display device or a predetermined resolution smaller than the physical resolution of the display device.”; [0038] “the appropriate resolution is smaller than the physical resolution of the display device,”; [0040] “an Android-type application program interface having undergone the layout process is rendered in the display window.”; [0058] “ActivityManagerService (AMS) determines the appropriate resolution corresponding to the application program to be executed from at least two predetermined selectable resolutions according the established activity.”; [0060] “WindowManagerService (WMS) establishes a display window having a size equal to the size corresponding to the appropriate resolution,”; [0064] “a lower and appropriate resolution is selected in a high-resolution device to display an application program interface having a lower resolution, thereby achieving a technical effect of saving resources of a graphic processor.” – note Liu teaches decreasing the resolution of an Android application scenario as a known technique for decreasing graphics-processing resource consumption.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further implement the reduction of resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in the system of Lawrence, as modified by He, Chen, and Cheng, using Liu’s lower-resolution application-rendering technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping or low frame rate is detected in a prioritized application, and Liu expressly teaches that rendering an application interface at a lower resolution saves graphics-processor resources. Accordingly, decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario would have predictably reduced the number of pixels processed for each frame of that scenario and preserved additional graphics-processing capacity for improving the frame performance of the primary scenario.
Liu does not directly teach detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a threshold value.
Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and decreasing resources of non-primary applications when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a threshold value (see at least see at least figs. 10 (a)-10(b), 11 and col. 6 lines 24-31 “The sensing part 140 may … a battery gauge”; col. 14 lines 43-63 “the controller 630 may identify a remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the controller 630 may change resource allocation information of an application that is on execution. For example, when a remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to 10%, the controller 630 may reduce a display brightness to 50% of a current resource allocation value. In some cases, an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; col. 16 lines 38-40 “the electronic apparatus may adjust the resource allocation information based on a user input reception or a state of a battery”; col. 17 line 66 – col. 18 line 2 “(a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”; and col. 18 line 46 – col. 19 line 49 – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value) – note Noh describes adjusting display brightness or CPU allocation when the battery falls below a predetermined value to ensure proper resource management for running applications).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Noh with Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, and Liu in order to improve display performance, battery efficiency, and user experience. Incorporating battery-based resource adjustments into Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng and Liu would have been a predictable design choice for one skilled in the art seeking to optimize system performance and ensure safe operation under low battery conditions. Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), in view of Chen (CN 107844188 A – see translation for citations below), Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1), and in view of Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2), and further in view of Zeng (USPN 2022/0375393 A1).
As to claim 9, the combination of Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, Liu, and Noh teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 7 (see above rejection), disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”; and Chen at least [0038] “Multiple application display areas may also be displayed in a partially or completely overlapping manner, for example, one application display area is displayed in the upper layer, and another application display area is displayed in the lower layer, and the application display area displayed in the lower layer is partially or completely blocked by the application display area displayed in the upper layer. In some embodiments of the present invention, when the first application display area is partially blocked by the second application display area, the first application display area is controlled to be displayed in a low-power consumption manner.”).
Lawrence, He, Chen Cheng, Liu, and Noh do not directly teach wherein disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates the second condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the temperature is higher than the first threshold value and lower than a second threshold value; and when the temperature is higher than the second threshold value.
Zeng teaches wherein disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the performance index indicates the second condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the temperature is higher than the first threshold value and lower than a second threshold value; and disabling the application corresponding to the non-primary scenario when the temperature is higher than the second threshold value (see at least [0035] “There is a preset corresponding relationship between a screen display frame rate and a temperature interval, and the preset corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may be preset according to the configuration and usage of the terminal. The temperature interval is determined based on the tolerance of the human body to temperature. For example, the temperature interval may be determined based on the degree of comfort when the human body uses the terminal, and, to ensure the safe use of the terminal, other temperature intervals are determined based on the material and performance of the terminal. It is understandable that the corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may be preset in the terminal, and therefore, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to each user is the same; the corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may also be set according to actual situations of different users, and therefore, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to different users may be different, for example, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to users of different age groups is different.”; [0040] “Based on the sensitivity of human body to temperatures and its tolerance to high temperatures, the temperature point corresponding to the maximum impulse frequency of the human body is determined as a first temperature threshold, that is, when the first temperature threshold is reached, the current screen display frame rate is reduced to reduce the temperature of the terminal, so as to prevent the temperature of the terminal from entering the temperature interval where the human body is prone to impulse. In addition, for the metal body material of the terminal, the temperature point to ensure the safe use of the terminal is a second temperature threshold. That is, during continuous use of the terminal to run the application, when the terminal generates heat and the temperature rises to the second temperature threshold, the frame rate is further reduced to control the temperature rise and ensure the use safety of the terminal.”; [0042] “The first temperature interval corresponds to a first screen display frame rate, the second temperature interval corresponds to a second screen display frame rate, the third temperature interval includes a plurality of continuous temperature sub-intervals, and each temperature sub-interval has a corresponding relationship with a third screen display frame rate, that is, each temperature sub-interval has a corresponding third screen display frame rate. The second screen display frame rate is smaller than the first screen display frame rate, and the third screen display frame rate is between the first screen display frame rate and the second screen display frame rate. It is understandable that the higher the temperature value included in the temperature sub-interval is, the lower the corresponding third screen display frame rate is.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the temperature conditions for decreasing resources of the non-primary scenario as taught by Zeng into Lawrence, He, Chen, Cheng, Liu, and Noh in order to improve user experience and ensure safety of a terminal. Support for modifying Zeng is found in at least paragraphs [0115]-[0116] “the present application is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptive changes of the disclosure … various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope.” Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods, and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 11 and 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), in view of Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1), and further in view of Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2).
As to claim 11, Lawrence teaches a resource control method, comprising: identifying a primary scenario and a non-primary scenario in a multi-window scenario of a mobile device, wherein each scenario is displayed in an individual window on a screen (see at least figs. 5A–5C: a focus application window 553 (primary) and non-focus windows 552/551 (non-primary) and [0058]); and decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario (see at least fig. 5C and [0058]: “In some embodiments, only the focus application window position within the display screen is offset to implement display motion compensation… coordinate offsets vi, hi are only applied to focus application window 553 (i.e., non-focus application windows 552 and 551 are not repositioned during a content frame refresh)” – note that the resource of motion compensation is decreased or not applied to non-focus windows when needed).
Lawrence does not directly teach decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary scenario, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present, wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate; decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario and preserving a frame rate of the primary scenario when a performance index indicates that a first condition is present; and decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario to a first frame rate and decreasing the frame rate of the primary scenario to a second frame rate when the performance index indicates that a second condition is present, wherein the first frame rate is lower than the second frame rate.
He teaches changing/adjusting a frame rate when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present, wherein the frame jitter is defined as unstable frame rate (see at least Step 203: “The mobile terminal detects … whether a display interface of the preset application program has dropped frames.”, “The determination condition … is to detect the current frame rate … If low … it is determined that the display interface … has dropped frames.”; Step 204: “In the case that a frame drop occurs … the mobile terminal adjusts the frequency of the main CPU to the target frequency.”, “When it is detected that … dropped frames, the CPU frequency is actively increased … to optimize the environment for running the preset application.”; Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply He’s frame-drop-triggered resource adjustment to Lawrence’s focus/non-focus architecture such that, when the primary (focus) window exhibits unstable frame rate, resources allocated to non-primary windows are reduced to stabilize performance of the primary window. This modification uses known resource management techniques (He), in a known multi-window prioritization system (Lawrence), for the predictable purpose of improving frame stability of the primary window. Such prioritization is a routine system-level optimization and represents the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions.
He does not directly teach assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; and decreasing the frame rate of a primary scenario from a default frame rate to a second frame rate when a performance index indicates a first or second condition.
Cheng teaches assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit (see at least [0024] “the CPU integrated in the processor 110 includes at least two cores. The at least two cores include at least one first performance core (high performance core) and at least one second performance core (low performance core).”; [0026] “The operating system may be an Android system.”; [0051] “the core information includes a core type and a core number corresponding to each core (processor core).”; [0067] “the target application schedules a target core to operate a process of the target application in a system calling way based on the core information.”; [0073] “since the application in a background operation state has a lower requirement on an operation performance, in order to reduce the power consumption, when a foreground operation is switched to a background operation, the target application schedules the second performance core to operate the process in the system calling way.”; [0076] “setting, by the target application, an affinity degree between the process and each core in the system calling way based on a core number of the target core and a process identifier of the process, … and binding, by the operating system, the process and the target core based on the affinity degree, in which the bound process operates on the target core.”; [0105] “In order to enable the process of the target application to operate on the specified target core, in one possible implementation, the target application utilizes a function provided by the operating system to set the affinity degree between the process and each core.”; [0106] “the target application sets the number corresponding to the target core.. based on the core number of the target core, .. and then sets the affinity degree .. based on the target mask and the process identity (PID) of the process.”; [0108] “the operating system binds the process and the target core based on the affinity degree,”; [0111] “The bound process operates on the target core.”; [0132] “the scheduling request includes an application identifier. The application identifier may be a package name of the target application.” – note Cheng’s package-name identification, process identification, core-number selection, affinity setting, and process-to-core binding teach the substance of assigning an Android package (APK) to a certain central processing unit).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the decrease in resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in Lawrence, as modified by He, using Cheng’s application-to-core assignment technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping is detected in a prioritized application. Cheng teaches that a background application has a lower performance requirement and therefore may be assigned to a selected lower-performance processor core through CPU-affinity binding. Applying Cheng’s technique to the non-primary application would have predictably controlled and reduced the high-performance CPU resources available to that application, thereby preserving additional processing capacity for stabilizing the frame performance of the primary scenario.
Cheng does not directly teach and decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario; and decreasing the frame rate of a primary scenario from a default frame rate to a second frame rate when a performance index indicates a first or second condition.
Liu teaches decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario (see at least [0021] “an appropriate resolution corresponding to an application program to be executed is determined from at least two selectable resolutions,”; [0022] “The at least selectable resolutions are predetermined in the display device, .. the at least two resolutions may be 3840×2160, 1920×1080 and 960×540.”; [0027] “In a system application, e.g., an Android application, resource files corresponding to different resolutions are stored in a resource folder, such that an application package file (APK) of the application program can be used for multiple monitors having different resolutions.”; [0032] “the appropriate resolution of an application program interface with an attribute as a video player is set to 3840×2160, the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a drawing tool is set to 1920×1080, and the appropriate resolution for an application program interface with an attribute as a calculator is set to 960×540.”; [0033] “the default resolution may be a physical resolution of the display device or a predetermined resolution smaller than the physical resolution of the display device.”; [0038] “the appropriate resolution is smaller than the physical resolution of the display device,”; [0040] “an Android-type application program interface having undergone the layout process is rendered in the display window.”; [0058] “ActivityManagerService (AMS) determines the appropriate resolution corresponding to the application program to be executed from at least two predetermined selectable resolutions according the established activity.”; [0060] “WindowManagerService (WMS) establishes a display window having a size equal to the size corresponding to the appropriate resolution,”; [0064] “a lower and appropriate resolution is selected in a high-resolution device to display an application program interface having a lower resolution, thereby achieving a technical effect of saving resources of a graphic processor.” – note Liu teaches decreasing the resolution of an Android application scenario as a known technique for decreasing graphics-processing resource consumption.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further implement the reduction of resources allocated to the non-primary scenario in the system of Lawrence, as modified by He and Cheng, using Liu’s lower-resolution application-rendering technique. He teaches reducing the resource burden imposed by non-high-priority applications when frame dropping or low frame rate is detected in a prioritized application, and Liu expressly teaches that rendering an application interface at a lower resolution saves graphics-processor resources. Accordingly, decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario would have predictably reduced the number of pixels processed for each frame of that scenario and preserved additional graphics-processing capacity for improving the frame performance of the primary scenario. The proposed combination represents the application of known, complementary resource-management techniques to a known multi-window resource-contention problem. He establishes the reason to reduce the burden imposed by lower-priority applications when a prioritized application exhibits frame dropping or unstable frame rate. Chen, Cheng, and Liu respectively teach reducing three different components of the non-primary application’s resource consumption. Each technique performs its established function in the combination, and their combined use would have predictably produced cumulative CPU and graphics-resource savings for the benefit of the primary scenario. The combination therefore amounts to the use of known resource-reduction techniques according to their established functions to obtain the predictable result of improving frame stability of the primary scenario.
Liu does not directly teach decreasing the frame rate of a primary scenario from a default frame rate to a second frame rate when a performance index indicates a first or second condition.
Noh teaches decreasing the frame rate of a primary scenario from a default frame rate to a second frame rate when a performance index indicates a first or second condition (see at least figs. 10(a)-10(b); column 14 lines 53 – 63 “an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; column 17 line 63 – column 18 line 2 “FIG. 10 illustrates examples of an electronic apparatus entering a power saving mode according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. (a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”; and column 18 line 64 – column 19 line 8 “referring to (b) of FIG. 10, when the remaining capacity of the battery is less than a second value (e.g., 10%), a stage of resource allocation information of each of the first application, the second application, and the third application may be adjusted. That is, a resource allocation value of each of the applications may be adjusted to be reduced by one stage. As such, when the resource allocation information is adjusted based on the remaining capacity of the battery, energy consumption of the electronic apparatus may be reduced, which may prolong an operation time of the electronic apparatus.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the primary scenario frame rate adjustment of Noh with Lawrence, He, Cheng and Liu in order to improve user experience in a multi-window mobile environment. One skilled in the art would have found it obvious to decrease the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is detected, to preserve the frame rate of the primary scenario when a first condition is indicated, and to decrease both non-primary and primary scenario frame rates to first and second frame rates, respectively, when a second condition is indicated, wherein the first frame rate is lower than the second frame rate. Such a combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art, and represents a common design optimization to improve display responsiveness and user-perceived smoothness in a multi-window environment.
As to claim 13, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh teach the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection), wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario in the multi-window scenario of the mobile device further comprises: detecting window sizes of the windows, wherein the primary scenario is displayed in the window with a large window size, and the non-primary scenario is displayed in the window with a small window size (see Lawrence fig. 5A and [0058] “a size of the window for the application with focus is assessed and repositioned, if necessary.”).
As to claim 14, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh teach the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection), wherein decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario and preserving the frame rate of the primary scenario when the performance index indicates that the first condition is present further comprises: detecting a battery of the mobile device to obtain remaining battery power; and decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario and preserving the frame rate of the primary scenario when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value (see Noh at least figs. 10(a)-10(b); column 14 lines 53 – 63 “an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; and column 17 line 63 – column 18 line 2 “FIG. 10 illustrates examples of an electronic apparatus entering a power saving mode according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. (a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”).
As to claim 15, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection), wherein decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario to the first frame rate and decreasing the frame rate of the primary scenario to the second frame rate when the performance index indicates that the second condition is present further comprises: sensing a temperature; and decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario to the first frame rate and decreasing the frame rate of the primary scenario to the second frame rate when the temperature is equal to or higher than a first threshold value (see He Embodiment Three, Steps 301–304, Fig. 3, col. 6–7: He describes detecting the temperature of the mobile terminal and adjusting CPU frequency or other operating parameters to reduce the resource consumption of applications when the temperature exceeds a preset threshold).
As to claim 16, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection), further comprising: removing the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen when the performance index indicates that a third condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”; and Noh at least figs. 10(a)-10(b); column 14 lines 53 – 63 “an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; and column 18 line 64 – column 19 line 8 “referring to (b) of FIG. 10, when the remaining capacity of the battery is less than a second value (e.g., 10%), a stage of resource allocation information of each of the first application, the second application, and the third application may be adjusted. That is, a resource allocation value of each of the applications may be adjusted to be reduced by one stage. As such, when the resource allocation information is adjusted based on the remaining capacity of the battery, energy consumption of the electronic apparatus may be reduced, which may prolong an operation time of the electronic apparatus.”).
As to claim 17, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 16 (see above rejection), wherein removing the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen when the performance index indicates that the third condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario when the remaining battery power is lower than a first threshold value and higher than a second threshold value; and removing the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario from the screen when the remaining battery power is lower than the second threshold value (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”; and Noh at least figs. 10 (a)-10(b), 11 and col. 6 lines 24-31 “The sensing part 140 may … a battery gauge”; col. 14 lines 43-63 “the controller 630 may identify a remaining capacity of the battery. When the remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the controller 630 may change resource allocation information of an application that is on execution. For example, when a remaining capacity of the battery is less than or equal to 10%, the controller 630 may reduce a display brightness to 50% of a current resource allocation value. In some cases, an allocation value for each resource of the resource allocation information may be designated for each stage. For example, resource allocation information of a first stage may indicate a stage of reflecting an initial value without a change. Also, a second stage may indicate a stage of operating at 80% of the initial value (for example, when an initial value of an FPS is 10, a value is 8 equal to 80% of 10 in the second stage). In such cases, the controller 630 may adjust a stage of the resource allocation information based on the remaining capacity of the battery.”; col. 16 lines 38-40 “the electronic apparatus may adjust the resource allocation information based on a user input reception or a state of a battery”; col. 17 line 66 – col. 18 line 2 “(a) of FIG. 10 illustrates an example of adjusting resource allocation information of other applications when a remaining capacity of a battery is less than or equal to a first value and a user input is applied to an application ‘A’.”; and col. 18 line 46 – col. 19 line 49 – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Noh teaches detecting a battery to obtain remaining battery power and when the remaining battery power is equal to or less than a first threshold value).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), in view of Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1), and Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2), and further in view of Chen (CN 107844188 A – see translation for citations below).
As to claim 12, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh teach the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection).
Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh do not directly teach wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario in the multi-window scenario of the mobile device further comprises: detecting user input on the windows of the screen to obtain a user behavior index, wherein the user behavior index comprises the number of touches of the windows and usage time of the windows, wherein the primary scenario is displayed in the window with the most touches or the longest usage time, and the non-primary scenario is displayed in the window with the least number of touches or the shortest usage time
Chen teaches wherein identifying the primary scenario and the non-primary scenario in the multi-window scenario of the mobile device further comprises: detecting user input on the windows of the screen to obtain a user behavior index, wherein the user behavior index comprises the number of touches of the windows and usage time of the windows, wherein the primary scenario is displayed in the window with the most touches or the longest usage time, and the non-primary scenario is displayed in the window with the least number of touches or the shortest usage time (see Chen at least [0029] “the terminal described in the embodiments of the present invention includes but is not limited to other portable devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers or tablet computers with touch-sensitive surfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touch pads). It should also be understood that in some embodiments, the device is not a portable communication device, but rather a desktop computer with a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad)”and [0042] “the focus display area is often the area that the user pays attention to. The user's continuous operation, or the user's last click or other related operations make the corresponding area gain focus, so that this area is also the area that the user is paying attention to or the area that last gained the user's attention. Correspondingly, areas that do not receive user attention or areas that receive less user attention will lose focus or fail to gain focus. In this case, the non-focus display area can be displayed in a low-power manner to avoid wasting energy.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Chen’s user-interaction–based focus determination into the multi-window resource control system of Lawrence, as modified by He, Cheng, Liu and Noh, in order to more accurately and dynamically identify which window represents the user’s primary scenario. Using a user behavior index (e.g., number of touches or duration of use) to determine the focus window would have been a predictable and advantageous design choice to improve responsiveness and resource prioritization consistent with the teachings of Chen. Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawrence (USPN 2017/0064157 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 109831585 A – see translation for citations below), in view of Cheng (USPN 2021/0026688 A1), and Liu (USPN 2016/0155411 A1), and Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2), and further in view of Zeng (USPN 2022/0375393 A1).
As to claim 18, the combination of Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh teach the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 16 (see above rejection), removing the window corresponding to the non-primary scenario (see He at least Embodiment 5, Modules 509–512: “…determine the proportion of each application of the main CPU… obtain target applications that are greater than the preset ratio … if the target application is not high priority … the target application is closed.”).
Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh do not directly teach when the performance index indicates that the third condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario to lower than the first frame rate when the temperature is higher than a first threshold value and lower than a second threshold value; when the temperature is higher than the second threshold value.
Zeng teaches when the performance index indicates that the third condition is present after decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario further comprises: continuously decreasing the frame rate of the non-primary scenario to lower than the first frame rate when the temperature is higher than a first threshold value and lower than a second threshold value; and when the temperature is higher than the second threshold value (see at least [0035] “There is a preset corresponding relationship between a screen display frame rate and a temperature interval, and the preset corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may be preset according to the configuration and usage of the terminal. The temperature interval is determined based on the tolerance of the human body to temperature. For example, the temperature interval may be determined based on the degree of comfort when the human body uses the terminal, and, to ensure the safe use of the terminal, other temperature intervals are determined based on the material and performance of the terminal. It is understandable that the corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may be preset in the terminal, and therefore, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to each user is the same; the corresponding relationship between the screen display frame rate and the temperature interval may also be set according to actual situations of different users, and therefore, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to different users may be different, for example, the preset corresponding relationship corresponding to users of different age groups is different.”; [0040] “Based on the sensitivity of human body to temperatures and its tolerance to high temperatures, the temperature point corresponding to the maximum impulse frequency of the human body is determined as a first temperature threshold, that is, when the first temperature threshold is reached, the current screen display frame rate is reduced to reduce the temperature of the terminal, so as to prevent the temperature of the terminal from entering the temperature interval where the human body is prone to impulse. In addition, for the metal body material of the terminal, the temperature point to ensure the safe use of the terminal is a second temperature threshold. That is, during continuous use of the terminal to run the application, when the terminal generates heat and the temperature rises to the second temperature threshold, the frame rate is further reduced to control the temperature rise and ensure the use safety of the terminal.”; [0042] “The first temperature interval corresponds to a first screen display frame rate, the second temperature interval corresponds to a second screen display frame rate, the third temperature interval includes a plurality of continuous temperature sub-intervals, and each temperature sub-interval has a corresponding relationship with a third screen display frame rate, that is, each temperature sub-interval has a corresponding third screen display frame rate. The second screen display frame rate is smaller than the first screen display frame rate, and the third screen display frame rate is between the first screen display frame rate and the second screen display frame rate. It is understandable that the higher the temperature value included in the temperature sub-interval is, the lower the corresponding third screen display frame rate is.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the temperature conditions for decreasing resources of the non-primary scenario as taught by Zeng into Lawrence, He, Cheng, Liu and Noh in order to improve user experience and ensure safety of a terminal. Support for modifying Zeng is found in at least paragraphs [0115]-[0116] “the present application is intended to cover any variations, uses or adaptive changes of the disclosure … various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope.” Further rationale to support a conclusion that the claim would have been obvious is that all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods, and the combination yields nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 6/25/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/JENNIFER L ZUBAJLO/Examiner, Art Unit 2627 7/18/2026
/KE XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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