DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to RCE/Amendment filed 06/30/2026.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9-11 and 14-17 are pending in this application. In the Amendment, claims 1, 6 and 11 are amended and claims 2-3, 7-8 and 12-13 are cancelled.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/30/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued that neither Lee nor WonLee discloses changing the folder attribute based on the position of the target folder.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees as WonLee groups icons according to attributes and are located in folder pages containing the same attributes where changing the display of the page which is changing the position of the target folder also results in the display of the displayed attributes being changed accordingly (WonLee, para.100-104; Fig.5A-C, changing of positions/pages D2 is moving the target folder which is the folder the user targets to view and removes from the display view icons that do not belong in the classified page group). Therefore Lee and WonLee still read into the claims as they are currently written.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 4-6, 9-11 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 6 and 11 recite the limitation "the first attribute" in line 3, 5 and 5 respectively.
Claims 1, 6 and 11 recite the limitation "the first area" in line 9, 11 and 11 respectively.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claims. Claims 4-5, 7, 9-10, 12 and 14-17 are rejected for fully incorporating the deficiencies of their respective base claims. Appropriate corrections are required.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (“Lee”, US 2017/0277400) in view of Lee (“WonLee”, US 2014/0324873).
As per claim 1, Lee teaches an application icon display method, comprising:
displaying a target folder, the target folder has a first attribute (Lee, para.147, attribute information);
receiving a first input by a user (Lee, Fig.2B, Folder Edition; para.144-146, edition request; Fig.3A, para.157, folder generation); and
in response to the first input, displaying the target folder in the first position (Lee, Fig.2B, target folder 3, para.151; Fig.3A, folder 6a, para.160), canceling the display of a first icon displayed in the first area (Lee, Fig.2B, applications 1 and 2; para.151, 159, icons deleted from home screen), and displaying the first icon in the target folder (Lee, Fig.2B, 3A, icons 1 and 2 displayed in target folder 3; para.146, 151, 160);
wherein the first area is determined by the first position (Lee, Fig.2B, 3A, target folder displayed in place of icons, para.151, 160) and the first icon comprises an icon corresponding to the first attribute among icons displayed in the first area (Lee, para.148, 155, icons in home screen page with similar attribute included in target folder).
receiving a second input for the target folder (Lee, Fig.5B, control screen 20 displayed; para.182-184); and
in response to the second input, changing the attribute of the target folder to a second attribute (Lee, Fig.5B, para.182-184, unfolding of already-generated folder), canceling the display of a second icon displayed in the first area, and updating the first icon displayed in the target folder to the second icon (Lee, Fig.5B; para.184, changed state reflected on home screen);
wherein the second icon comprises an icon corresponding to the second attribute among icons displayed in the first area (Lee, Fig.5B; para.184, changed state reflected on home screen).
However Lee does not teach displaying the target folder in a second position, wherein the target folder comprises a third icon; the third icon comprises an icon corresponding to the first attribute among icons displayed in a second area, and the second area is determined by the second position; and wherein the first input is moving the target folder, the position of the target folder is changed from the second position to the first position, canceling display of the third icon in the target folder not belonging to the first area in the target folder. WonLee teaches a method of moving icons to target folders that comprises: display the target folder in a second position, wherein the target folder comprises a third icon (WonLee, para.100-133; Fig.5A-C, folders in different screen positions/pages D2 with app icons; Fig.6, folders F1-F4 divided into areas include app icons classified according to group; Fig.7-8, areas F1-F4); the third icon comprises an icon corresponding to the first attribute among icons displayed in a second area (WonLee, para.100-133; Fig.5A-C, 6-8, folders F1-F4 divided into areas include app icons classified according to group), and the second area is determined by the second position (WonLee, para.100-133; Fig.5A-C, area/position according to page D2; Fig.6-8, folders F1-F4 divided into areas/positions); and wherein the first input is moving the target folder, the position of the target folder is changed from the second position to the first position, canceling display of the third icon in the target folder not belonging to the first area in the target folder (WonLee, para.100-104; Fig.5A-C, changing of positions/pages D2 is moving the target folder which is the folder the user targets to view and removes from the display view icons that do not belong in the classified page group). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include WonLee‘s teaching with Lee’s method in order to rearrange icons within folders automatically.
As per claim 4, the method of Lee and WonLee teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein before displaying the target folder in the first position, the method further comprises:
obtaining a first size parameter of the target folder (Lee, Fig.2B, para.151; Fig.3A, para.160, target folder displayed in icon size); and
after receiving the first input by the user and before displaying the target folder in the first position, the method further comprises:
obtaining an end position of an input track of the first input (Lee, Fig.2B, para.144-145; Fig.3A, para.157, input on icon is end position), and determining the first position according to the end position, wherein the first position is a position close to the end position and satisfying the first size parameter (Lee, Fig.2B, 3A, target folder displayed in position of selected icon, para.151, 160).
Claims 6 and 11 are similar in scope to claim 1, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Claims 9 and 14 are similar in scope to claim 4, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale.
As per claim 16, the method of Lee and WonLee teaches a chip, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is configured to run a program or an instruction, so that steps of the application icon display method according to claim 1 are implemented (Lee, para.46-48, 54, 217, Fig.1A, interface 110, processor 180).
As per claim 17, the method of Lee and WonLee teaches a computer program product, wherein the computer program product is stored in a storage medium, and the computer program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the application icon display method according to claim 1 (Lee, para.46, 53-54, 217, Fig.1A, memory 170, processor 180).
Claims 5, 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (“Lee”, US 2017/0277400) and Lee (“WonLee”, US 2014/0324873) in view of Xu et al. (“Xu”, US 2016/0313893).
As per claim 5, the method of Lee and WonLee teaches the method according to claim 1, before displaying the first icon in the target folder, the method further comprises: obtaining a second size parameter of the target folder (Lee, Fig.2B, para.151; Fig.3A, para.160, target folder displayed in icon size). However, the method of Lee and WonLee does not teach wherein the first icon comprises multiple sub-icons, and displaying the first icon in the target folder comprises: displaying N sub-icons in a first size in the target folder, and displaying sub-icons among the multiple sub-icons other than the N sub-icons in a second size; wherein N is determined by the second size parameter, in a case that the sub-icon of the first size receives an input, a user interface of an application program corresponding to the sub-icon of the first size is displayed; and in a case that the sub-icon of the second size receives an input, an expansion interface of the target folder is displayed.
Xu teaches a method of displaying icons within folders wherein an icon comprises multiple sub-icons (Xu, Fig.3, para.197, Folder 1 icon includes sub-icons/thumbnails A-H), and displaying the first icon in the target folder comprises: displaying N sub-icons in a first size in the target folder (Xu, Fig.3, para.197, Folder 1 icon includes sub-icons/thumbnails A-H), and displaying sub-icons among the multiple sub-icons other than the N sub-icons in a second size (Xu, Fig.3, para.197, thumbnails A-H smaller size); wherein N is determined by the second size parameter, in a case that the sub-icon of the first size receives an input (Xu, Fig.3, para.197, application E larger size), a user interface of an application program corresponding to the sub-icon of the first size is displayed (Xu, Fig.4A, para.198, application open when app E selected); and in a case that the sub-icon of the second size receives an input, an expansion interface of the target folder is displayed (Xu, Fig.4B, para.198, expansion of folder when thumbnails selected). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include Xu‘s teaching with the method of Lee and WonLee in order to facilitate viewing of all applications.
Claims 10 and 15 are similar in scope to claim 5, and are therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Son et al. (US 2014/0320516) teaches a method of arranging icons based on color attribute.
WON et al. (US 2014/0181751) teaches a method of creating folders based on apps of similar categories.
Park et al. (US 2013/0097560) teaches a method of automatically moving icons based on usage.
Jeong et al. (US 2014/0101583) teaches a method of arranging icons in different areas based on category.
Kasterstein et al. (US 2013/0166527) teaches a method of dynamically creating folder grouping icons with similar parameters.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAJEDA MUHEBBULLAH whose telephone number is (571)272-4065. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Tue/Thur-Fri 10am-8pm.
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/S.M./
Sajeda MuhebbullahExaminer, Art Unit 2174
/WILLIAM L BASHORE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2174
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