Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/29/2025 has been entered.
DETAILED ACTION
1. This action is responsive to applicant’s amendment dated 12/29/2025.
2. Claims 1-4, 6-12 and 14-20 are pending in the case.
3. Claims 5 and 13 are cancelled.
4. Claims 1, 9 and 17 are independent claims.
Applicant’s Response
5. In Applicant’s response dated 12/29/2025, applicant has amended the following:
a) Claims 1, 9 and 17
Based on Applicant’s amendments and remarks, the following rejections previously set forth in Office Action dated 10/29/2025 are withdrawn:
a) 35 U.S.C. 112 (a) Rejections to claims 1-20
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, 2, 9, 10, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nickell et al. (hereinafter “Nickell”), U.S. Published Application No. 20070016867 A1.
Claim 1:
Nickell teaches A method for prompting a battery level, comprising:
detecting a display mode of a current interface of an electronic device in response to that the electronic device is in an unplugged state and where the electronic device is not being charged and a battery level of the electronic device falls below a first preset battery level; (e.g., during a detected full screen mode, when interruption actions are allowed and battery power reached a critically low-level, a power management target module may interrupt a full screen mode application to display a low battery pop window or activate a warning sound as one of the interrupting actions par. 24; The target module may also be a power management application that provides information about the power remaining or available to a processor associated with the display space, and may control screen blanking, a suspend mode entry, a low-battery pop-up window, or other types of power information signaling, warning or display. Par. 25; The target module may be any type of application that could present an unanticipated action, such as an interrupting action, in a display space in which the full-screen mode is entered. Such interrupting actions may include displaying an icon, an image, a pop-up menu, bar, or display, a text notification or reminder, audio data or sound, or an alert signal, such as a "ping" or an alarm, screen blanking or blinking, entering a suspend mode, or other types of signaling, interrupting, disrupting, warning, or alerting actions. Par. 27; the user may wish to be informed when the power remaining on the user's laptop is reaching a critically low-level according to the Power Manager.)
and performing a target adjustment operation based on the display mode of the current interface, wherein: the target adjustment operation is associated with the display mode of the current interface, and the display mode of the current interface comprises a full-screen mode or a non-full-screen mode. (e.g., display a low battery pop window or activate a warning sound as an interrupting action during full screen mode Examiner considers the interruption actions such as display position of the pop up window or the sound indicating a warning or alert during full screen mode to be an example of the recited performed “ target adjustment operation”) par. 24; The target module may also be a power management application that provides information about the power remaining or available to a processor associated with the display space, and may control screen blanking, a suspend mode entry, a low-battery pop-up window, or other types of power information signaling, warning or display. Par. 25; The target module may be any type of application that could present an unanticipated action, such as an interrupting action, in a display space in which the full-screen mode is entered. Such interrupting actions may include displaying an icon, an image, a pop-up menu, bar, or display, a text notification or reminder, audio data or sound, or an alert signal, such as a "ping" or an alarm, screen blanking or blinking, entering a suspend mode, or other types of signaling, interrupting, disrupting, warning, or alerting actions.)
receiving an adjustment input by a user, wherein: (e.g., enabling interruption actions or disabling interruption actions par. 54; According to a further aspect of the present invention, information about the status of various target modules would be provided to the user upon request. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, a user request, such as a mouse hover over the full-screen icon 5-2, of the toolbar 5-1, would cause of full-screen display 5-3 to be shown. As shown in FIG. 5B, during a full-screen mode, the screensaver is shown as off, the power save display is shown as off, a meeting and calendar alerts display is shown as off, and text responding to an incoming instant message is shown as "sorry, I'm using the fullscreen." Further, the functions affected by the presentation mode/full-screen mode may be indicated to the user, instead of, or in addition to an indication of the names of the target modules that are affected or disabled.)
when the target adjustment operation is used to reduce a target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used increase the target attribute parameter; (e.g., when interruption actions such as sound or alerts are prevented (i.e., target adjustment operation is used reduce a target attribute parameter ) , the input to enable interruptions allows the interruption actions such as sound to alert the user (i.e., increase target attributed based on adjustment input) Par. 25; The target module may be any type of application that could present an unanticipated action, such as an interrupting action, in a display space in which the full-screen mode is entered. Such interrupting actions may include displaying an icon, an image, a pop-up menu, bar, or display, a text notification or reminder, audio data or sound, or an alert signal, such as a "ping" or an alarm, screen blanking or blinking, entering a suspend mode, or other types of signaling, interrupting, disrupting, warning, or alerting actions. Par. 27; the user may wish to be informed when the power remaining on the user's laptop is reaching a critically low-level according to the Power Manager par. 54; Further, the functions affected by the presentation mode/full-screen mode may be indicated to the user, instead of, or in addition to an indication of the names of the target modules that are affected or disabled)
when the target adjustment operation is used to increase the target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used to reduce the target attribute parameter; (e.g., when interruption actions such as sound or alerts are allowed (i.e., target adjustment operation is used to increase the target attribute parameter ) , the input to disable interruptions prevents the interruption actions such as sound to alert the user (i.e., reduce the target attributed based on adjustment input) Par. 25; The target module may be any type of application that could present an unanticipated action, such as an interrupting action, in a display space in which the full-screen mode is entered. Such interrupting actions may include displaying an icon, an image, a pop-up menu, bar, or display, a text notification or reminder, audio data or sound, or an alert signal, such as a "ping" or an alarm, screen blanking or blinking, entering a suspend mode, or other types of signaling, interrupting, disrupting, warning, or alerting actions. Par. 27; the user may wish to be informed when the power remaining on the user's laptop is reaching a critically low-level according to the Power Manager par. 54; Further, the functions affected by the presentation mode/full-screen mode may be indicated to the user, instead of, or in addition to an indication of the names of the target modules that are affected or disabled)
or when the target adjustment operation is used to perform at least one of enlarging a status bar of the electronic device or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar, the adjustment input comprises at least one of decreasing the status bar of the electronic device or decreasing the battery level mark in the status bar; (Examiner notes that this limitation is not necessitated by the claim due to the alternative language “or”)
and outputting first prompt information in response to the adjustment input, wherein the first prompt information is used to prompt that the electronic device is to be charged. (e.g., enabling, interruption actions related to battery low alerts in response to enabling full screen interruption actions from the power management module Par. 27; the user may wish to be informed when the power remaining on the user's laptop is reaching a critically low-level according to the Power Manager par. 54; Further, the functions affected by the presentation mode/full-screen mode may be indicated to the user, instead of, or in addition to an indication of the names of the target modules that are affected or disabled)
Claim 2 depends on claim 1:
Nickell teaches wherein the performing a target adjustment operation based on the display mode of the current interface comprises: adjusting a target attribute parameter of the electronic device when the display mode of the current interface is the full-screen mode, wherein the target attribute parameter comprises at least one of a volume parameter or a screen display parameter. (e.g., activating a sound (i.e., volume parameter) or screen blinking (i.e., screen display parameter) during full screen mode par. 25; The target module may be any type of application that could present an unanticipated action, such as an interrupting action, in a display space in which the full-screen mode is entered. Such interrupting actions may include displaying an icon, an image, a pop-up menu, bar, or display, a text notification or reminder, audio data or sound, or an alert signal, such as a "ping" or an alarm, screen blanking or blinking, entering a suspend mode, or other types of signaling, interrupting, disrupting, warning, or alerting actions.)
Claim 9:
Claim 9 is substantially encompassed in claim 1, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 1 to reject claim 9.
Claim 10 depends on claim 9:
Claim 10 is substantially encompassed in claim 2, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 2 to reject claim 10.
Claim 17:
Claim 17 is substantially encompassed in claim 1, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 1 to reject claim 17.
Claim 18 depends on claim 17:
Claim 18 is substantially encompassed in claim 2, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 2 to reject claim 18.
.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 3, 11 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nickell as cited above, in view of YAO, Neg-hui, CN 104572410 A.
Claim 3 depends on claim 2:
Nickell fails to expressly teach wherein the adjusting a target attribute parameter of the electronic device comprises: reducing the target attribute parameter of the electronic device to improve a battery level prompting effect, wherein the target attribute parameter comprises at least one of the volume parameter or the screen display parameter.
However, Yao teaches wherein the adjusting a target attribute parameter of the electronic device comprises: reducing the target attribute parameter of the electronic device to improve a battery level prompting effect, wherein the target attribute parameter comprises at least one of the volume parameter or the screen display parameter. (e.g., reducing screen brightness or displaying borders of applications in different colors to reflect low battery status par. 24; Preferably, the terminal further comprises an adjusting module for reducing the brightness of the display screen of the terminal. Par. 62; In this embodiment, whether the terminal currently operated interface main interface or application operation interface, as long as the residual electric quantity terminal lower than the preset alarm threshold, the terminal automatically lowers the brightness of the display screen, so as to reach the purpose of saving power. Par. 72; In this embodiment, the application operating interface of frame display in a striking manner comprises multiple manners, such as the frame of the application operation interface to other different colours in the interface display, adding rough application operation interface display or the frame of frame and the application operation interface to display in a twinkling manner, by using operation interface of the frame protrude or highlighted manner to inform the user terminal the current residual electric quantity has been lower than the pre-set alarm threshold. )
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the interrupting actions of the full screen mode as taught by Nickell to include screen parameter adjustments when the battery is low as taught by Yao, with a reasonable expectation of success, to provide the benefit of improving the user experience when receiving interrupting notifications while watching video. (see Yao; par. 2)
Claim 11 depends on claim 10:
Claim 11 is substantially encompassed in claim 3, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 3 to reject claim 11.
Claim 19 depends on claim 18:
Claim 19 is substantially encompassed in claim 3, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 3 to reject claim 19.
Claims 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nickell as cited above, in view of Yasar et al. (hereinafter “Yasar”), U.S. Published Application No. 20150128055 A1.
Claim 4 depends on claim 1:
Nickell fails to expressly teach wherein the performing a target adjustment operation based on the display mode of the current interface comprises: performing at least one of the following when the display mode of the current interface is the non-full-screen mode: enlarging a status bar of the electronic device; or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar.
However, Yasar teaches wherein the performing a target adjustment operation based on the display mode of the current interface comprises: performing at least one of the following when the display mode of the current interface is the non-full-screen mode: enlarging a status bar of the electronic device; or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar. (e.g., when in a non-full-screen mode (i.e., screen with status bar showing) , displaying enlarged battery status icon from status bar as shown in Figure 5B Examiner considers not consuming a large portion of the available display area, thus allowing for presentation of other information such as status bar icons to be an example of the recited “non full screen mode” par. 39; The status icons 510a-c are displayed in a small format to allow for displaying a plurality of icons 510a-c while not consuming a large portion of the available display area, thus allowing for presentation of other information and data, possibly relevant for applications being executed on the mobile communications terminal 500. par. 39; The mobile communications terminal 500 is configured to display at least one status icon 510a-c on the display 520. .)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the interrupting actions of the full screen mode for conveying battery status as taught by Nickell to include non full screen mode for conveying battery status as taught by Yasar to provide the benefit of improving the user awareness of the operational status of a device. (see Yasar; paras. 2-4)
Claim 6 depends on claim 1:
Nickel teaches wherein: an adjustment direction of the adjustment input is opposite to an adjustment direction of the target adjustment operation; (e.g., enabled vs disabled input is opposite of not display and activate, respectively par. 54; Further, the functions affected by the presentation mode/full-screen mode may be indicated to the user, instead of, or in addition to an indication of the names of the target modules that are affected or disabled )
Claim 7 depends on claim 1:
Nickell teaches wherein the outputting first prompt information comprises: displaying bullet-screen prompt information in the current interface when the display mode of the current interface is the full-screen mode; (e.g., display a low battery pop window or warning (i.e., bullet-screen prompt information) as an interrupting action during full screen mode par. 24; According to an aspect of the present invention, the message bus broadcasts the mode message to all modules, including applications, services or processes that may generate an interrupting action of the full-screen mode. The target module may be a screensaver application, for example a screensaver that is set to display one or more images to a display space after an elapsed time without user input. The target module may also be a power management application that provides information about the power remaining or available to a processor associated with the display space, and may control screen blanking, a suspend mode entry, a low-battery pop-up window, or other types of power information signaling, warning or display.)
Nickell fails to expressly teach or displaying a first window on the current interface in a superimposing manner when the display mode of the current interface is the non-full-screen mode, wherein the first prompt information is comprised in the first window.
However, Yasar teaches or displaying a first window on the current interface in a superimposing manner when the display mode of the current interface is the non-full-screen mode, wherein the first prompt information is comprised in the first window.(e.g., when in non full screen mode, displaying in a first window, an enlarged battery status icon and graphical data superimposed over background as shown in Figure 6A par. 52; n FIG. 6A the mobile communications terminal 600 is configured to display a status notification for the current battery level. An enlarged icon 650 representing a battery is displayed on the display 620. Below the enlarged icon a status notification 660 indicating the current status of the battery is displayed. In this example the battery is at 35%. This is also indicated by the enlarged icon 650 showing only two bars. An explanatory indication in the form of a descriptive title 680 is also displayed which clearly identifies the purpose or function that the icon relates to. By displaying both graphical data and textual data representing the current status allows the user to associate the icon and the status more easily.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the interrupting actions of the full screen mode for conveying battery status as taught by Nickell to include non full screen mode for conveying battery status as taught by Yasar to provide the benefit of improving the user awareness of the operational status of a device. (see Yasar; paras. 2-4)
Claim 12 depends on claim 9:
Claim 12 is substantially encompassed in claim 4, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 4 to reject claim 12.
Claim 14 depends on claim 9:
Claim 14 is substantially encompassed in claim 6, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 6 to reject claim 14.
Claim 15 depends on claim 9:
Claim 15 is substantially encompassed in claim 7, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 7 to reject claim 15.
Claim 20 depends on claim 17:
Claim 20 is substantially encompassed in claim 4, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 4 to reject claim 20.
Claims 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nickell as cited above, in view of Saito et al. (hereinafter “Saito”), U.S. Patent No. 5218607 A.
Claim 8 depends on claim 1:
Nickell fails to expressly teach storing data of a first application running in the electronic device in response to that the battery level of the electronic device falls below than a second preset battery level.
However, Saito teaches wherein in response to that the battery level of the electronic device falls below the first preset battery level, the method further comprises: storing data of a first application running in the electronic device in response to that the battery level of the electronic device falls below than a second preset battery level, wherein the second preset battery level is below the first preset battery level, wherein the first preset battery level is a battery level threshold that indicates the electronic device is to be charged, and the second preset battery level may be a battery level threshold that indicates that the electronic device is to be powered off. (e.g., saving data to memory based on battery level reaching power off level. abstract; When the output voltage of the internal battery becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value during data processing, a resume processing is executed for data protection irrespective of whether a resume mode is set ON or OFF, and the content of the data processing in progress is saved.
col.10 line 45; Further, upon detection of an abnormal source voltage (reduction in the output voltage) or actual switching off of the power switch 306, the PC-CPU 306 sends the NMI signal (e.g., low-battery NMI or power-switch-OFF NMI) to the main CPU 11 via the PS-IF 28.
(100) Upon reception of the power-switch-OFF NMI signal, the host CPU 11 recognizes the set status of the resume function and performs a process according to the set status.
(101) Upon reception of the low-battery NMI signal, the CPU 11 executes the resume function irrespective of the set status of the resume mode, and saves the system data into the backup RAM 19.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the low battery monitoring as taught by Nickell to include a save data feature based on battery being too low as taught by Saito, with a reasonable expectation of success, to provide the benefit of improving the reliability of the computer. (see Saito; col. 1 lines 30-45)
Claim 16 depends on claim 9:
Claim 16 is substantially encompassed in claim 8, therefore, Examiner relies on the same rationale set forth in claim 8 to reject claim 16.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/29/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Prior Art Rejections
Applicant argues that Yasar does not disclose, at least, "when the target adjustment operation is used to perform at least one of enlarging a status bar of the electronic device or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar, the adjustment input comprises at least one of decreasing the status bar of the electronic device or decreasing the battery level mark in the status bar." (see Response; page 11)
Examiner notes that the claim includes alternative language and therefore, does not necessitate the limitation above.
Applicant argues that Yasar does not disclose that "receiving an adjustment input by a user, wherein: when the target adjustment operation is used to reduce a target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used to increase the target attribute parameter; when the target adjustment operation is used to increase the target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used to reduce the target attribute parameter; or when the target adjustment operation is used to perform at least one of enlarging a status bar of the electronic device or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar, the adjustment input comprises at least one of decreasing the status bar of the electronic device or decreasing the battery level mark in the status bar," as recited in original claims 5 and 6, and now required by proposed claim 1.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
After reconsideration of the broadest reasonable interpretation for the term “adjustment input”, Examiner now relies on Nickell to teach the limitation "receiving an adjustment input by a user, wherein: when the target adjustment operation is used to reduce a target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used to increase the target attribute parameter; when the target adjustment operation is used to increase the target attribute parameter, the adjustment input is used to reduce the target attribute parameter; (see office action). Examiner notes that the claim includes alternative language and therefore, does not necessitate all the limitations above such as “or when the target adjustment operation is used to perform at least one of enlarging a status bar of the electronic device or enlarging a battery level mark in the status bar, the adjustment input comprises at least one of decreasing the status bar of the electronic device or decreasing the battery level mark in the status bar,".
For at least the foregoing reasons, the claims are not in condition for allowance.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Campbell et al. US 20030060765 A1
Par. 26; Feedback may include signals that notify the individual of modifications to the control parameters, announce that the infusion device 10 is about to initiate a particular operation, indicate a mode of operation, provide a warning (for instance to indicate a low fluid level in the reservoir or low battery power), present an alarm (such as from a timer or a clock), present an error message to indicate a malfunction of the system (such as an occlusion that restricts the delivery of the fluid, a software error, or the like), request input, confirm that communication has been established, and the like. Alarms and warnings may start out at a low level and escalate until acknowledged by the user. In preferred embodiments, the alarm intensity changes over time. If the individual does not respond to the alarm, the alarm may change tone, change volume, increase the vibration amplitude or frequency, project a brighter light or a different color light, flash, flash at a different frequency, and the like. In alternative embodiments, the intensity may vary up or down. In other alternative embodiments, the intensity is constant. In further alternative embodiments, the intensity changes by activating different alarm types over time.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY ORR whose telephone number is (571)270-1308. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
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, Adam Queler can be reached at (571)272-4140. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HENRY ORR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172