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 .
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).
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 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.
Lawrence provides a system that distinguishes a primary (focus) window and non-primary windows and allocates display resources preferentially to the primary window. He teaches detecting unstable frame rate (frame drop) and, in response, adjusting system resources, including reducing or closing lower-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 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.
Claims 2-6 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).
As to claim 2, the combination of Lawrence and He teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection).
Lawrence and He do not directly teach 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.
Chen teaches 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.”).
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, 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.
As to claim 3, the combination of Lawrence and He teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection).
Lawrence and He do not directly teach 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.
Chen teaches 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).
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 Chen’s teaching of determining focus based on relative window size or layer priority to the multi-window system of Lawrence, as modified by He, so that the window occupying a larger visible portion of the screen (or top layer) is treated as the primary scenario. Such a modification would predictably improve display resource allocation efficiency and visual clarity by ensuring that larger or foreground windows receive higher priority resources, consistent with ordinary display management principles. 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 4, the combination of Lawrence and He teach the resource control method as claimed in claim 1 (see above rejection).
Lawrence and He do 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, or 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, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, or decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario (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.” – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Chen teaches decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary 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 Chen’s specific techniques for reducing non-primary resource consumption—such as lowering frame rate —within the Lawrence and He system, in order to realize the resource-reduction step more concretely. Applying these known resource-adjustment strategies to non-primary windows would have been a straightforward and predictable optimization to further reduce processing load and power consumption while maintaining smooth performance for the primary scenario. 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 5, the combination of Lawrence, He and Chen 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 and Chen 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), and further in view of Noh et al. (USPN 11,340,959 B2).
As to claim 7, the combination of Lawrence, He, and Chen 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 and Chen 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 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 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 and Chen 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: 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 and Chen 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 Chen and Lawrence in order to improve user experience. Support for modifying Chen with Noh is found in at least Chen paragraph [0120] “It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings” and Noh column 23 lines 4-8 “The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains may make various modifications and changes without departing from the essential quality of the present disclosure.” 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).
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.
Lawrence and He do 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, or 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, assigning an Android package (APK) to certain central processing unit, or decreasing the resolution of the non-primary scenario (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.” – note “or” only requires one in the list and therefore Chen teaches decreasing a frame rate of the non-primary 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 Chen’s specific techniques for reducing non-primary resource consumption—such as lowering frame rate —within the Lawrence and He system, in order to realize the resource-reduction step more concretely. Applying these known resource-adjustment strategies to non-primary windows would have been a straightforward and predictable optimization to further reduce processing load and power consumption while maintaining smooth performance for the primary scenario. 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.
Lawrence, He and Chen 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 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 He 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 battery-based resource adjustments into Lawrence, He 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 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), further in view of Chen (CN 107844188 A – see translation for citations below), further 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 multi-window resource control method of Lawrence with the frame drop-based resource adjustment of He and the primary scenario frame rate adjustment of Noh 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 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 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 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 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 and Noh teach 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 and Noh teach 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 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 and Noh teach the frame rate control method as claimed in claim 11 (see above rejection).
Lawrence, He 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 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 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 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 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 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 1/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues –
Claim 1 recites: "decreasing a resource 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. Applicant believes that the claim 1 patently defines over the cited references for at least the reason that the cited references fail to disclose the aforementioned features.
The Office Action page 5 states that He discloses the aforementioned features in the following contents.
He discloses: step 203: the mobile terminal detects whether the preset application program has dropped frames. When it is detected that the display interface of the preset
application has dropped frames, the CU frequency is actively increased
He also discloses: the second detecting module 508 is configured to detect the proportion of each application of the main CPU; the second obtaining module 509 is configured to obtain,
for each of the proportions, the target applications that are greater than the preset ratio; the determining module 510 is configured to determine whether the priority of the target application
is a high priority; if the priority of the target application is a high priority, the target application is switched from the main CPU to the slave CPU; otherwise, the target application is closed.
Based on the contents of He cited above, the CPU frequency is increased, when the display interface of the preset application has dropped frames. When the proportion of a target application in the CPU is higher than the preset ratio and the target application doesn't have a high priority, the target application is closed.
However, He fails to disclose "increasing the CPU frequency" is related to "the proportion of the target application in the CPU". In other words, He fails to disclose that "increasing the CPU frequency" will change "the proportion of the target application in the CPU" and thus cause the target application to be closed. Thus, it can't be derived, from the contents of He cited above, that "increasing the CPU frequency" will cause "the target application to be closed"
Assuming that the "preset application" corresponds to the "primary scenario", He only relevantly discloses the frame dropping of the primary scenario will cause the CPU frequency to be increased. Increasing the CPU frequency increases both the resource of the primary scenario and the resource of the non-primary scenario. Thus, He fails to disclose or teach "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping of the primary scenario is present"
In summary, He fails to disclose the aforementioned features.
As for Lawrence, paragraph [0028] of Lawrence states: "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)."
Office Action states that: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 fails to disclose when will the resource of the primary scenario is decreased. In other words, Lawrence fails to disclose "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present"
As for Chen, paragraphs [0048], [0049], [0OS1] of Chen recite:
[0048]
418 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]
423 in some embodiments of the present invention, the higher the data change rate or data change speed is, the higher the update speed of the display content required in the corresponding non-focus display area is so that the display content is updated using a faster first update speed.
426 Likewise, 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.
428 In the technical solution of the present invention, the first update speed is an update speed corresponding to the frame rate at which the display updates the non- focus area.
[0051]
440 The other display areas outside the non-focus display area are the focus areas.
441 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.
443 The second update speed is the update speed corresponding to the frame rate at which the display updates the focus àrea.
Chen also fails to disclose when will the resource of the primary scenario is decreased.
Thus, Chen fails to disclose "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present".
As for Noh, col. 17, line 63-col. 19, line 8 of Noh states:
"(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'. 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 described in the contents cited above, the method of Noh adjusts the resource based on the remaining capacity of the battery. Thus, Noh fails to disclose "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present".
As for Zeng, paragraph [0035], [0040], [0042] of Zeng recite:
'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 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.
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."
As described in the contents cited above, the method of Zeng adjusts the screen display frame rate based on the temperature. Thus, Zeng fails to disclose "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present"
In conclusion, none of Lawrence, He, Chen, Noh, and Zeng discloses the aforementioned features included in the claim 1. Applicant respectfully submits that independent claim 1 is patentable over Lawrence, He, Chen, Noh, and Zeng.
Claims 11 and 20 include features corresponding to the claim 1. Based on the above arguments, applicant respectfully submits that claims 11 and 20 are patentable over Lawrence, He, Chen, Noh, and Zeng.
Insofar as claims 2-10, and 12-18 ultimately depend on claims 1 and 11, these claims are allowable at least by virtue of their dependency.
Examiner disagrees –
In response to Applicant’s argument that He does not disclose that increasing CPU frequency causes closing of applications – Examiner notes that the claim does not require that increasing CPU frequency cause closing of applications. The claim requires decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario when frame dropping is present.
He teaches: detecting frame drop (Step 203), adjusting CPU resources in response (Step 204), and closing non-high-priority applications (Modules 509–512). Closing an application is a decrease of resources allocated to that application. The causal linkage asserted by Applicant is not required by the claim.
Further, in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., increasing CPU frequency causes closing of applications) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
In response to Applicant’s argument that He’s increasing CPU frequency increases resources for both primary and non-primary scenarios - Examiner notes that He does not only increase frequency. He also teaches closing non-high-priority applications. Closing an application reduces its allocated resources. Thus, He teaches both increasing priority resources and decreasing non-priority resources in response to frame drop.
In response to Applicant’s argument that Lawrence does not disclose decreasing resources when frame drop occurs – Examiner notes Lawrence is relied upon for primary/non-primary differentiation and selective allocation of display resources. He is relied upon for detecting frame drop and triggering resource adjustment. The rejection is based on the combination, not Lawrence alone.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
In response to Applicant’s argument regarding Chen, Noh, and Zeng that they each fail to disclose "decreasing a resource of the non-primary scenario, when frame dropping or frame jitter of the primary scenario is present" – Examiner notes that the rejection of this limitation relies on Lawrence in view of He, not Chen, Noh or Zeng.
With respect to Applicant’s argument that Claims 11 and 20 include features corresponding to the claim 1 – Examiner notes the response to arguments above.
With respect to claims 2-10, and 12-18 that depend on claims 1 and 11, these claims are rejected at least by virtue of their dependency.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JENNIFER L ZUBAJLO/Examiner, Art Unit 2627 2/23/2026
/KE XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2627