DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claim is directed toward non-statutory subject matter of a computer program product. Data structures not claimed as embodied in a computer readable medium are descriptive material per se and are not statutory because they are not capable of causing functional change in the computer. See, e.g., Warmerdam, 33 F.3d at 1361, 31 USPQ2d at 1754 (claim to a data structure per se held non-statutory).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claims are directed towards non-statutory subject matter.
With respect to claim 14, the claims are not limited to tangible embodiments. The claims recited a computer-readable storage medium. It can be reasonably interpreted that the computer-readable storage medium would include embodiments including propagation media, such as carrier waves, which fail to establish a statutory category of invention. Amending the specification as well as the claim to recite "a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium" is believed to be sufficient to overcome this rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
With regard to claims 1, 12, the most pertinent prior art of record,
Edmonds et al. (US 20190172177 A1) teaches method of displaying a portion of an image on a mobile device having a screen by communicatively coupling the mobile device to a computer device displaying an image on a display under the control of the computer device, receiving image data relating to the image from the computer device, and displaying an area of the image on the screen of the mobile device, the area having a magnification factor compared to the image. The magnification factor may be selected by the user according to the level of detail that is required and therefore allows the user to view the magnified area more privately, which may be appropriate in a presentation context where a member of the audience has difficulty seeing the screen and wishes to instead view the presentation or magnified sections of it on a hand-held device.
Kim et al. (US 20100173678 A1) teaches method of controlling a mobile terminal, and which includes displaying, via a display on the mobile terminal, a captured or a preview image in a first display portion, displaying, via the display, the same captured or a preview image in a second display portion, zooming, via a controller on the mobile terminal, the captured or preview image displayed in the first display portion, and displaying, via the display, a zoom guide on the image displayed in the second display portion that identifies a zoomed portion of the image displayed in the first display portion.
Von Wendt (US 20060165377 A1) teaches a method of reproducing at least one video clip on a computer screen and at least one music piece out of a plurality of video clips and music pieces stored on a data carrier, each of the video clips being linked with one of the music pieces, wherein the following steps are provided: selecting at least one of the plurality of video clips and at least one of the plurality of music pieces for reproduction; displaying simultaneously the at least one selected video clip in the selected segments with the respective selected magnification factor, and reproducing one of the selected music pieces, whereby the selected segments with the at least one selected video clip are overlaid to each other on the screen according to a predefined scheme, the predefined scheme defining which one of the segments is displayed where at least two of the selected segments are overlapping on the screen, and defining the one music piece of the selected music pieces linked with the selected video clips which is to be reproduced.
Cho et al. (US 20140018053 A1) teaches mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which data can be shared with a counterpart terminal in the course of a phone call. The present invention includes a touchscreen, a sensing unit configured to sense an action of a user, a communication unit configured to communicate with a counterpart terminal via at least one of a first communication network and a second communication network, and a controller, in response to a first user command inputted via at least one of the touchscreen and the sensing unit in the course of performing a voice call to the counterpart terminal via the first communication network, controlling a first data sharing screen with the counterpart terminal to be displayed on the touchscreen, the controller controlling a data sharing via the first data sharing screen to be performed together with the voice call.
Jeon et al. (US 20170134553 A1) teaches a mobile terminal includes a camera unit configured to sense an image, a touch screen configured to output image information, a communication unit configured to perform wireless communication with at least one Internet of things (IOT) device, and a controller configured to, when the mobile terminal enters a specific indoor area, control IOT devices included in the sensed image or a previously stored image of the specific indoor area by using the image, wherein the controller stores a plurality of pieces of set information including a state in which at least some of the IOT devices are connected and operational states of the connected IOT devices, and when any one of the plurality of pieces of set information is selected, the controller controls at least some of the IOT devices to be connected to each other and operate according to the selected set information.
However, the prior art of record alone or in combination fail to anticipate or render obvious the following:
“a continuous readout of at least one imaging sensor for detecting a number of potential communication partners, wherein a magnification factor of at least one sensor of the imaging sensors is set as a function of a preset number of potential communication partners, wherein the preset number of potential communication partners is specified depending on the resolution of the display unit and a percentage screen occupancy of the display unit; an enabling of a selection of communication partners by means of a provided registration information; and setting up a communication channel from a predefined number of communication channels to a terminal device of the communication partner in accordance with a stored terminal device identifier of an enabled communication partner depending on the user input of the user's mobile terminal device.”
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHAI MINH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7923. The examiner can normally be reached on 6-3.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached on 571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KHAI M NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641