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.
Claims 1, 7, 11, 17, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fang, US Patent Publication 2015/0286281 in view of Yin et al., US Patent Publication 20220058225.
Regarding independent claim 1, Fang teaches a screenshot method (described in abstract), applied to an electronic device (device 100 of figure 1), wherein the method comprises:
in response to a detected multi-finger swipe operation of a user (paragraph 0022 explains that multiple fingers of the user may be used to perform the gesture of moving from top to bottom of a screen, which is a swipe operation), obtaining first data of the user (paragraph 0024 explains how sensor 206 obtains position points of object 202 that is given in paragraph 0023 to be the user’s hand);
parsing the first data, and updating the first data based on a parsing result to obtain second data (paragraphs 0024 and 0033-0035 explain how the position points or coordinates of the first data are parsed and analyzed to determine second data of movement data);
parsing the second data to determine whether a user gesture corresponding to the second data is a preset screenshot gesture (paragraph 0024 explains how the movement of the object is compared to see if it meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture); and
performing a screenshot operation if it is determined that the user gesture corresponding to the second data is the preset screenshot gesture (paragraph 0024 explains that “If the movement of the object meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture, then the movement of the object qualifies as a preset non-contact screenshot gesture and a screen capture of the information that is currently presented at device screen 212 is generated and stored.”).
Fang does not teach that the screenshot gesture is a touch gesture. Yin et al. specifically teaches a touch screenshot gesture (paragraph 0094 explains the multi-finger touch operation used as a screenshot operation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate touch gestures as taught by Yin et al. into the hover system of Fang. The rationale to combine would be to expand the use of the device to allow multiple types of trigger operations (paragraphs 0094-0095 of Yin et al.).
Regarding claim 7, Fang teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the second data comprises a plurality of pieces of point data (paragraphs 0024 and 0033 explain the position points or point data sensed by the sensor), each piece of point data comprises point coordinates (paragraph 0024 explains that the position point comprises a coordinate in three dimensional space), and the parsing the second data to determine whether the user gesture corresponding to the second touch data is the preset screenshot gesture comprises:
reading the point data in the second touch data, and determining that a total quantity of pieces of the point data is a point quantity (enough to be determined to be a gesture as given in paragraph 0024);
determining an action of the user based on a change of the point coordinates in the point data in the second data (paragraphs 0022-0023 describe how second data of movement data is determined from the position data to determine an action or gesture); and
determining, based on the point quantity and the action of the user, whether the user gesture corresponding to the second data is the preset screenshot gesture, wherein the preset screenshot gesture comprises a preset point quantity and a preset action (paragraph 0024 explains how the movement of the object is compared to see if it meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture where movement or action is used along with the number of data points to be eligible to be analyzed).
Fang does not teach that the screenshot gesture is a touch gesture. Yin et al. specifically teaches a touch screenshot gesture (paragraph 0094 explains the multi-finger touch operation used as a screenshot operation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate touch gestures as taught by Yin et al. into the hover system of Fang. The rationale to combine would be to expand the use of the device to allow multiple types of trigger operations (paragraphs 0094-0095 of Yin et al.).
Regarding independent claim 11, Fang teaches an electronic device, comprising a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store computer program code, the computer program code comprises instructions, and when the electronic device reads the instructions from the memory (as described in paragraphs 0017, 0077-0079, 0081, and 0083), the electronic device is enabled to perform the following steps:
in response to a detected multi-finger swipe operation of a user (paragraph 0022 explains that multiple fingers of the user may be used to perform the gesture of moving from top to bottom of a screen, which is a swipe operation), obtaining first data of the user (paragraph 0024 explains how sensor 206 obtains position points of object 202 that is given in paragraph 0023 to be the user’s hand);
parsing the first data, and updating the first data based on a parsing result to obtain second data (paragraphs 0024 and 0033-0035 explain how the position points or coordinates of the first data are parsed and analyzed to determine second data of movement data);
parsing the second data to determine whether a user gesture corresponding to the second data is a preset screenshot gesture (paragraph 0024 explains how the movement of the object is compared to see if it meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture); and
performing a screenshot operation if it is determined that the user gesture corresponding to the second data is the preset screenshot gesture (paragraph 0024 explains that “If the movement of the object meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture, then the movement of the object qualifies as a preset non-contact screenshot gesture and a screen capture of the information that is currently presented at device screen 212 is generated and stored.”).
Fang does not teach that the screenshot gesture is a touch gesture. Yin et al. specifically teaches a touch screenshot gesture (paragraph 0094 explains the multi-finger touch operation used as a screenshot operation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate touch gestures as taught by Yin et al. into the hover system of Fang. The rationale to combine would be to expand the use of the device to allow multiple types of trigger operations (paragraphs 0094-0095 of Yin et al.).
Regarding claim 17, Fang teaches the electronic device according to claim 11, wherein the second data comprises a plurality of pieces of point data (paragraphs 0024 and 0033 explain the position points or point data sensed by the sensor), each piece of point data comprises point coordinates (paragraph 0024 explains that the position point comprises a coordinate in three dimensional space), and when the instructions are executed by the electronic device, the step in which the electronic device is enabled to parse the second data to determine whether the user gesture corresponding to the second data is the preset screenshot gesture comprises:
reading the point data in the second touch data, and determining that a total quantity of pieces of point data is a touch point quantity (enough to be determined to be a gesture as given in paragraph 0024);
determining an action of the user based on a change of the point coordinates in the point data in the second touch data (paragraphs 0022-0023 describe how second data of movement data is determined from the position data to determine an action or gesture); and
determining, based on the point quantity and the action of the user, whether the user gesture corresponding to the second data is the preset screenshot gesture (paragraph 0024 explains how the movement of the object is compared to see if it meets a condition associated with the preset non-contact screenshot gesture where movement or action is used along with the number of data points to be eligible to be analyzed).
Fang does not teach that the screenshot gesture is a touch gesture. Yin et al. specifically teaches a touch screenshot gesture (paragraph 0094 explains the multi-finger touch operation used as a screenshot operation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate touch gestures as taught by Yin et al. into the hover system of Fang. The rationale to combine would be to expand the use of the device to allow multiple types of trigger operations (paragraphs 0094-0095 of Yin et al.).
Regarding claim 21, Fang teaches a computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions, wherein when the computer instructions are run on an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to perform the method according to claim 1 (as described in paragraphs 0017, 0067, 0078-0079, and 0083).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 and 12-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art does not teach the features of the claims as explained in the patent board decision of 4/21/26.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Relevant prior art is made of record in the attached notice of references cited.
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/PARUL H GUPTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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