DETAILED ACTION
Priority
This action is in response to the U.S. filing dated 01 September 2023 which is a bypass continuation of PCT/KR2023/013014, dated 31 August 2023, which claims foreign priority dates, of 19 September 2022 and 14 October 2022. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been considered below.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 for KR10-2022-0132298.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed (KR10-2022-0117590) on 19 September 2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of this application as required by 37 CFR 1.55. Examiner notes that the PDX retrieval failed.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01 September 2023, 02 April 2024 and 04 February 2025 have been received, entered into the record, and considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Title of Invention
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. 37 C.F.R. 1.72(a) states: "The title of the invention may not exceed 500 characters in length and must be as short and specific as possible" (emphasis added). Thus, the title of the invention is not sufficiently descriptive.
The examiner suggests the following title: METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DISPLAYING COMPONENTS AFTER A MODE CHANGE WHILE MAINTAINING A LAYOUT BASED ON A PLURALITY OF GRIDS.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Singal et al. (US 2016/0048305 A1).
As for independent claim 1, Singal discloses a device comprising:
a sensor module; at least one display; a memory; and at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured to: [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0083, 0099, 0102) ”The example computing device 902 as illustrated includes a processing system 904, one or more computer-readable media 906, and one or more I/O interface 908 that are communicatively coupled, one to another … Examples of output devices include a display device … The sensors that sense this change may include an accelerometer, a gyroscope”].
display a plurality of components through the display in a first mode of the electronic device [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0062 and Fig. 3) ”With reference to the landscape orientation depicted at 302, the user interface output via the display device 112 is depicted presenting a first group 308 and second group 310 of graphics”].
determine a pivot region including a plurality of grids [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0033, 0043) ”The graphics may be implemented as icons, tiles, textual descriptions, and so on which may be displayed in a matrix or grid of rows and/or columns of graphics (icons, tiles, etc.) … The display manager 122 may assign priorities to the groups in a similar manner as to the graphics within a particular group. For example, the display manager 122 may determine that groups positioned in the upper-left of the user interface have a highest priority and that groups positioned in the bottom-right have a lowest priority”].
detect a change to a second mode of the electronic device based on sensing information sensed through the sensor module [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0086) ”An input indicative of a rotation of the display device is detected (block 604). For example, sensors of the computing device 104 sense that the computing device has been rotated from the landscape orientation depicted at 202 to the portrait orientation depicted at 204. The sensors that sense this change may include an accelerometer, a gyroscope”].
and in the second mode, maintain a layout of components included in the pivot region and display the plurality of components [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0065, 0066, 0067 and Fig. 3) ”FIG. 3 illustrates a rearrangement of graphics for a rotation of the display device 112 from the landscape orientation at 302 to the portrait orientation at 306 … An order in which the groups are stacked may be based on prioritization of the groups. By way of example, a group with the highest priority may be arranged at a top of the stack of groups, a group with the second highest priority below the highest-priority group, and so on. The display manager 122 may determine a priority of the groups based on a defined algorithm to determine which groups are displayed closer to a top of the stack … Although an alignment of the groups in FIG. 3 has changed, one group to another, from a side-to-side alignment to a top-to-bottom alignment, the relative positioning of the graphics contained within the groups has been maintained”].
As for dependent claim 2, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: map grids of the first mode onto grids of the second mode such that the layout is maintained [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0033, 0066) ”The graphics may be implemented as icons, tiles, textual descriptions, and so on which may be displayed in a matrix or grid of rows and/or columns of graphics (icons, tiles, etc.) … Although an alignment of the groups in FIG. 3 has changed, one group to another, from a side-to-side alignment to a top-to-bottom alignment, the relative positioning of the graphics contained within the groups has been maintained”].
As for dependent claim 3, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine the pivot region based on a number of grids of the first mode in a first direction and a number of grids of the second mode in a second direction [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0038, 0052) ”The display manager 122 may also be representative of functionality to manage customization of the arrangement of graphics presented via the user interface. As part of doing so, the display manager 122 may impose constraints on the customizations that a user is allowed to make to the arrangement. For example, the display manager 122 may specify that the graphics are to be arranged in groups, such that each graphic is contained within a region of the user interface designated for the corresponding group. For each such group, the display manager 122 may impose pre-defined size constraints, e.g., to restrict a width or a height of each group. By way of example, the display manager 122 may restrict a height and width of each group based on a smallest dimension of the display device 112. By restricting the groups in this way, the display manager 112 may ensure that a row of groups can fit on the display when positioned in a landscape orientation or that a column of groups can fit on the display when positioned in a portrait orientation … Given the arrangement constraints represented in FIG. 2, the display manager 122 may rearrange the graphics of the user interface in the following way when a switch from the landscape orientation to the portrait orientation is detected. Due to its positioning in the landscape orientation at 202 as the left-most group, the first group 208 may be determined the highest priority group. The second group 210, because it is positioned next to the highest priority group, may be the group with the next highest priority … Assuming though that the first group 208 has a highest priority and the second group 210 a next highest priority, the display manager 122 can rearrange the graphics so that the first group 208 is repositioned at a top of the user interface (e.g., because it has the highest priority) and the second group 210 just below the first group 208, as at 206”].
As for dependent claim 4, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine the pivot region based on an arrangement of widgets included in the plurality of components, or a number of the widgets [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0039, 0041) ”The display manager 122 also represents functionality to determine priorities for the graphics and the groups. The display manager 122 may do so based, at least in part, on where a user positions a graphic or group within the user interface. Within a particular group, for instance, the display manager 122 may determine that graphics positioned in the upper left of the group have a highest priority and that graphics positioned in the bottom right of the group have a lowest priority … the display manager 122 may also restrict a user interface to having a pre-defined number of groups, restrict each of the groups to having a pre-defined number of graphics, specify spacing between the groups, specify particular locations at which the graphics can be located on the user interface, restrict the size of each graphic, and so on”].
As for dependent claim 5, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a preliminary pivot region based on a number of grids of the first mode in a first direction and a number of grids of the second mode in a second direction and determine the pivot region by moving the preliminary pivot region or changing a size of the preliminary pivot region by reflecting an arrangement of widgets included in the plurality of components [(e.g. see Singal paragraphs 0038, 0063) ”For each such group, the display manager 122 may impose pre-defined size constraints, e.g., to restrict a width or a height of each group. By way of example, the display manager 122 may restrict a height and width of each group based on a smallest dimension of the display device 112. By restricting the groups in this way, the display manager 112 may ensure that a row of groups can fit on the display when positioned in a landscape orientation or that a column of groups can fit on the display when positioned in a portrait orientation … From the landscape orientation depicted at 302, the display device 112 may be rotated ninety degrees in the clockwise direction to temporarily result in the user interface being displayed as at 304. The user interface may be displayed in this way for the portrait orientation just until the display manager 122 detects the change in orientation and causes the graphics to be rearranged and rendered. By way of example, the display manager 122 may determine to rearrange the graphics by rotating each group as a group ninety degrees counterclockwise around an axis that runs through a center of the group in a direction substantially perpendicular to a display surface of the display device 112. For embodiments in which a width and height of the groups are not substantially equal, the display manager 122 may determine axes around which to rotate the groups and rearrange the graphics by rotating each group as a group around a respective determined axis. Further, the display manager 122 may reposition the groups so that the graphics of one group do not overlap those of another group”].
As for dependent claim 6, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Signal further discloses:
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: preset a reference line for the first mode or the second mode [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0043) ”a first radius centered at the upper-left corner of the user interface”].
determine the pivot region so as to correspond to the reference line [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0043) ”the display manager 122 may assign a highest priority to the group or groups that are positioned within a first radius centered at the upper-left corner of the user interface,”].
As for dependent claim 7, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the sensor module includes a first sensor configured to sense rotation of the electronic device [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0083) ”An input indicative of a rotation of the display device is detected (block 604). For example, sensors of the computing device 104 sense that the computing device has been rotated from the landscape orientation depicted at 202 to the portrait orientation depicted at 204. The sensors that sense this change may include an accelerometer, a gyroscope”].
As for dependent claim 8, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 7 and Singal further discloses:
wherein the first sensor includes at least one of a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, or a grip sensor [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0083) ”An input indicative of a rotation of the display device is detected (block 604). For example, sensors of the computing device 104 sense that the computing device has been rotated from the landscape orientation depicted at 202 to the portrait orientation depicted at 204. The sensors that sense this change may include an accelerometer, a gyroscope”].
As for dependent claim 9, Singal discloses the device as described in claim 1 and Signal further discloses:
wherein the first mode is one of a portrait mode or a landscape mode and wherein the second mode is the other of the portrait mode or the landscape mode [(e.g. see Singal paragraph 0046) ”The example illustrated at 200 depicts the computing device 104 of FIG. 1 initially in a landscape orientation at 202. FIG. 2 also depicts, at 204, the computing device 104 of FIG. 1 having its orientation changed to a portrait orientation (e.g., by rotating the computing device ninety degrees clockwise from the orientation depicted at 202”].
As for independent claim 14, Singal discloses a method. Claim 14 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 1.
As for dependent claim 15, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 14 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 2. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 2.
As for dependent claim 16, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 16 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 3. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 3.
As for dependent claim 17, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 17 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 4. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 4.
As for dependent claim 18, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 18 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 5. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 5.
As for dependent claim 19, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 19 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 6. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 6.
As for dependent claim 20, Singal discloses the method as described in claim 14; further, claim 20 discloses substantially the same limitations as claim 9. Therefore, it is rejected with the same rational as claim 9.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singal et al. (US 2016/0048305 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0291811 A1).
As for dependent claim 10, Singal teaches the device as described in claim 1, but does not specifically teach further comprising: a first housing, a second housing, and a hinge structure, wherein the at least one display includes a sub-display and a flexible display or wherein, when the first housing and the second housing are folded about the hinge structure, the sub-display is exposed to an outside. However, in the same field of invention, Zhang teaches:
further comprising: a first housing, a second housing, and a hinge structure [(e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0071 and Fig. 2A) ”FIG. 2A(a) and FIG. 2A(b) are a schematic diagram of a foldable mobile phone to which an embodiment of this application may be applied. As shown in FIG. 2A(a), the foldable mobile phone includes a first body and a second body. An included angle between the first body and the second body may change, so that the foldable mobile phone is unfolded or folded”].
wherein the at least one display includes a sub-display and a flexible display [(e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0121 and Fig. 5A) ”FIG. 5A(a), FIG. 5A(b), and FIG. 5A(c) are a schematic diagram of a physical state of an inward-folding mobile phone according to an embodiment of this application. The electronic device includes a first display screen 21 and a second display screen 22. The first display screen 21 is a screen that cannot be folded, and the second display screen 22 is a screen that can be folded”].
wherein, when the first housing and the second housing are folded about the hinge structure, the sub-display is exposed to an outside [(e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0121 and Fig. 5A) ”FIG. 5A(a), FIG. 5A(b), and FIG. 5A(c) are a schematic diagram of a physical state of an inward-folding mobile phone according to an embodiment of this application. The electronic device includes a first display screen 21 and a second display screen 22. The first display screen 21 is a screen that cannot be folded, and the second display screen 22 is a screen that can be folded. As shown in FIG. 5A(a), FIG. 5A(b), and FIG. 5A(c), the first display screen 21 may be referred to as an external screen, or a secondary screen, or the like; and the second display screen 22 may be referred to as an internal screen, or a primary screen, or the like. It should be noted that an included angle between the first display screen 21 and the second display screen 22 shown in FIG. 5A(a) is 0 degrees. When the included angle between the first display screen 21 and the second display screen 22 is 30 degrees, for example, this is shown in FIG. 5A(b). When the included angle between the first display screen 21 and the second display screen 22 is 180 degrees, as shown in FIG. 5A(c), the second display screen 22 is in an unfolded state. It should be noted that in an inward-folding physical state, the first display screen 21 and the second display screen 22 are two mutually independent display screens”].
Therefore, considering the teachings of Singal and Zhang, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add further comprising: a first housing, a second housing, and a hinge structure, wherein the at least one display includes a sub-display and a flexible display and wherein, when the first housing and the second housing are folded about the hinge structure, the sub-display is exposed to an outside, as taught by Zhang, to the teachings of Singal because providing a display that is able to be expanded improves screen utilization (e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0014).
As for dependent claim 11, Singal and Zhang teach the device as described in claim 10, but Singal does not specifically teach the following limitation. However, Zhang teaches:
wherein the sensor module includes a second sensor configured to sense an angle between the first housing and the second housing [(e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0104) ”the foldable screen of the mobile phone 100 may be folded to form a screen A and a screen B shown in FIG. 4A. A gyroscope sensor A is disposed on the screen A, and a gyroscope sensor B is disposed on the screen B. Herein, this embodiment of this application describes a principle by using which the gyroscope sensor A measures an orientation (that is, a direction vector of the orientation) of the screen A, a principle by using which the gyroscope sensor B measures an orientation (that is, a direction vector of the orientation) of the screen B, and a principle by using the electronic device 100 calculates an included angle α between the screen A and the screen B based on the orientation of the screen A and the orientation of the screen B”].
The motivation to combine is the same as that used for claim 10.
As for dependent claim 12, Singal and Zhang teach the device as described in claim 11, but Singal does not specifically teach the following limitation. However, Zhang teaches:
wherein the second sensor is a hall sensor [(e.g. see Zhang paragraph 0092) ”sensor 180D includes a Hall effect sensor”].
The motivation to combine is the same as that used for claim 10.
As for dependent claim 13, Singal and Zhang teach the device as described in claim 10, but Singal does not specifically teach the following limitation. However, Zhang teaches:
wherein the first mode or the second mode includes a mode in which a first portion of the flexible display displays the plurality of components and wherein a second portion of the flexible display receives a user input in a partially folded state such that the first housing and the second housing form a specified angle range [(e.g. see Zhang paragraphs 0074, 0200 and Fig. 15(b)) ”the foldable screen may include an unfolded state, a folded state, and a half-folded state. The unfolded state indicates that the foldable screen is fully unfolded, that is, an included angle between two adjacent sub-screens in the foldable screen is 180 degrees. The folded state indicates that the foldable screen is fully folded, that is, an included angle between two adjacent sub-screens in the foldable screen is 0 degrees. The half-folded state is a state between the unfolded state and the folded state, that is, an included angle between two adjacent sub-screens in the foldable screen is between 0 degrees and 180 degrees. For example, the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2B(b) shows the foldable screen in the half-folded state … foldable mobile phone is used as an example. As shown in FIG. 15(a), FIG. 15(b), and FIG. 15(c), it is assumed that a user interface of the mobile phone 100 in the folded state is shown in FIG. 15(a). When the mobile phone 100 is in the half-folded state, a quantity of application icons in the DOCK region is greater than the quantity of application icons in the DOCK region in the folded state. With reference to FIG. 15(b), for example, as shown in FIG. 15(c), when the mobile phone 100 is in the unfolded state, a quantity of application icons in the DOCK region is greater than the quantity of application icons in the DOCK region in the half-folded state. Specifically, the application icon in the DOCK region may be the icon of the application recently used by the user, or may be the icon of the application highly frequently used by the user in the preset time, or may be the icon of the application used by the user for the relatively long duration in the preset time, or may be the icon of the application that meets the use rule of the user in the preset time”].
The motivation to combine is the same as that used for claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent 7,730,422 B2 issued to Russo on 01 June 2010. The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g. using a grid to layout icons on the desktop between landscape and portrait modes).
U.S. PGPub 2014/0013271 A1 issued to Moore et al. on 09 January 2014. The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g. grid based arrangement of an interface to accommodate different sized sub-divisions).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER J FIBBI whose telephone number is (571)-270-3358. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday (8am-6pm).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Bashore can be reached at (571)-272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER J FIBBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2174
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