DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final communication is in response to Application No. 18/628,110 filed 4/5/2024 which claims priority from PCT/CN2022/123396 filed 9/30/2022 and CN202111172527.9 filed 10/8/2021. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The Request for Continued Examination and Amendment presented on 1/28/2026 which provides amendment to claims 1, 6, 17, and 20, cancellation of claim 5, and new claims 22-25, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-8, 11, 13-17, and 19-25 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections – Withdrawn
The previous 35 U.S.C §103 rejections in view of McBride (US 2013/0305147 A1) and Kang (US 2014/0359419 A1), have been withdrawn as necessitated by amendment and updated search.
The previous 35 U.S.C § 112(b) rejection of claims 1, 3-8, 11, 13-17, and 19-21 has been withdrawn as necessitated by amendment.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 17, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Each of the independent claims recite two tests, that, as written, are performed only in the alternative. The following language is suggested as it appears to cover the intended functionality:
(1) “if the current state is an unselected state, displaying the column area and a non-column area integratedly; [[or]] and,”
(2) “if the current state is a selected state, displaying the column area and the non-column area separately;”
This way, both tests occur while the columns are still displayed in the alternative ways recited, as a result of the tests, which is how the claims are interpreted anyway.
Additionally, the following language is suggested:
“…wherein, after creating the column area within the document area,
displaying…”
The “further comprising” language is typically used to refer to a previous method or step, however, it is not needed within the “wherein” limitation already referring to a previous step (“creating the column area”).
Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to the prior art rejections have been considered, however, the amendment(s) to the claims necessitated a new consideration and search resulting in new prior art cited below.
In addition, the Examiner maintains that Samadani suggests a large portion of the amended language. Specifically:
"displaying an edit mark in a created column area, wherein in accordance with the edit mark being displayed in the column area, the column area is in the selected state to distinguish the column area from the non-column area…".
As shown in the updated citations below, Samadani provides discussion related to creating new rows and/or columns. Once a new row or column region is created, the new region enters an "edit mode" and the cursor placed into the new region. "A boundary or other visual feedback is displayed to alert the user to the fact" that a selected region was placed in "edit mode" (see at least col 20, line 10 - col 21, line 21 col 16, lines 37-40). This “boundary” in Samadani appears to provide both, a "selected state to distinguish it from the non-column area" as well as "prompt information to prompt that the column is editable".
New prior art, Swartz, is cited for suggesting at least that a newly added column is shown with an edit cursor as well as a textual prompt for input. See the rejections below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 7, 14-17, and 20, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansfield et al. (US 2012/0184766 A1, hereinafter “Mansfield”), in view of Samadani (US 9,977,772 B1), and further in view of Swartz et al. (US 12,154,037 B1, filed 1/29/2020, hereinafter “Swartz”).
Regarding claim 1, Mansfield teaches a method for document processing, comprising: …determining a current state of the column area in the document area; if the current state is an unselected state, displaying the column area and a non-column area integratedly; or, if the current state is a selected state, displaying the column area and the non-column area separately. More specifically, a selected column of a document is highlighted/differentiated from the rest of the document including other non-selected columns (Mansfield, [0126], at least Figures 5, 6, 7, 10, 19, 22, etc.).
However, Mansfield may not explicitly teach every aspect of
in response to a column area creation event, creating a column area within a document area;
wherein after creating the column area within the document area, further comprising:
displaying an edit mark in a created column area, wherein, in accordance with the edit mark being displayed in the column area, the column area is in the selected state to distinguish the column area from the non-column area.
Samadani discloses methods and systems for organizing information in a grid (Samadani, abstract). New rows and columns may be inserted via keyboard shortcuts. “[N]ew columns are inserted to the left or right of the column containing the target cell” (Samadani, col 13, lines 64-66). For example, one or more cells may be selected and a specially designated key combination may be pressed to indicate that new rows are to be inserted above the topmost selected row and the selected cells are to be moved to the newly inserted rows. Other key combinations may be available for inserting new rows as children of the row containing the currently selected cell, or for inserting columns (Samadani, col 15, lines 31-39). Editing the content of a cell via keyboard may result in the insertion of new rows or column. For example, if while editing a cell the user presses carriage return or CR while simultaneously pressing a specially designated key such as the control key or CTRL, a new row may be inserted “immediately below” the current row (Samadani, col 20, lines 11-18, it is consistently suggested that the same operations for adding rows can be used for adding columns, therefore, a specially designated key combination would insert a new column immediately next to the current column with the cursor). Once a new row or column region is created, the new region enters an "edit mode" and the cursor placed into the new region. "A BOUNDARY or other visual feedback is displayed to ALERT the user to the fact" that a SELECTED region was placed in "EDIT mode" (see at least col 16, lines 37-40). This boundary in Samadani appears to provide both, a "selected state to distinguish it from the non-column area" as well as "prompt information to prompt that the column is editable" (Figure 21A to Figure 21D or 21E; col 20, line 31 – col 21, line 113; item 2134 or 2146). A menu may have column commands including the number of columns to display (Samadani, col 27, lines 12-24; col 34, line 63 - col 33, line 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield with Samadani that a method for document processing with selecting and displaying columns would include creating column areas in accordance with a column area creation event and displaying the created column areas in a selected state, distinguishing from non-selected column areas, and with prompt information that the column area is editable. With Mansfield and Samadani disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Samadani additionally disclosing creating adjacent new columns with keyboard input within an existing column, and displaying the created new columns with an editing cursor and boundary indicating it is editable, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting and displaying columns would include creating column areas in accordance with a column area creation event and displaying the created column areas in a selected state, distinguishing from non-selected column areas, and with prompt information that the column area is editable in order to allow a user to skip having to utilize a mouse, as keyboard input can be faster for document and column manipulation. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
However, Mansfield and Samadani may not explicitly teach every aspect of
prompt information is displayed in a text form to prompt that the column area is editable.
Swartz discloses an environment of editing column-based documents (Swarts, Figure 4). Control 420 is used to add a column (Swarts, Figure 4, col 8, lines 9-38). Figure 5 depicts the result of adding a new column, including field 512 within the column that has the “|” editing cursor and prompt text “Column Name” informing the user that the column is ready and expecting a typed column name (Swartz, col 8, lines 39-50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield and Samadani with Swartz that a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include displaying the added columns with textual prompts. With Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz disclosing columns being part of a document, with Samadani and Swartz disclosing methods for adding new columns to a document where the new column is ready for input with an edit cursor in place, and with Swartz additionally disclosing the new column having prompt text with the edit cursor, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include displaying the added columns with textual prompts in order to allow a user to understand what type of content is expected to be entered resulting in preventing editing errors. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting and adding columns.
Regarding claim 6, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz teach the method of claim 1, wherein the displaying an edit mark in a created column area comprises: displaying the edit mark in a first column of a target column area in the created column area; wherein the target column area is a column area closest to a target side in the created column area. More specifically, Samadani describes that the creation of new rows or new columns with keyboard input is substantially the same however, slightly more detail is given when describing the creation of rows. For instance, Figures 21D and 21E depict the creation of new columns 2136 and 2146 and target cells 2134 and 2144, respectively, all when starting from Figure 21A. Figures 21B and 21C depict the creation of new row 2112 and target cells 2116 and 2134. When the target cell 2116 is created, the cell enters edit mode and the cursor is placed at the beginning of its content (Samadani, col 20, line 10 - col 21, line 21). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the cursor can be automatically placed in the new target cell in the newly created column in the same way as a newly created row. Additionally, the new column 511 is adjacent to the column 412 where the new column control 420 was selected (Swartz, Figures 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 7, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Ehow teach the method of claim 3, wherein, in response to a second operation event on a second control displayed in an associated area of the column area, adding a new column area to a side of the existing column area. More specifically, the new column 511 is adjacent to the column 412 where the new column control 420 was selected (Swartz, Figures 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swarts teach the method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the column area and the non-column area separately comprises at least one of the following: displaying a background color different from that of the non-column area in the column area, or displaying a boundary line of the column area. More specifically, highlighted columns appear to include a boundary line (Mansfield, [0126], Figure 19).
Regarding claim 15, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swarts teach the method of claim 1, wherein the column area is in the selected state if at least one of the following is satisfied: an edit mark is located in the column area, a control mark hovers over the column area, or an area selection mark covers at least a portion of the column area. More specifically, column selections are received via a cursor or a point of contact on a touch screen and even an area selection 1830 (Mansfield, [0117], Figure 18).
Regarding claim 16, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swarts teach the method of claim 1, wherein, when a row of the document area comprises at least two column areas, if at least one of the at least two column areas is in the selected state, both of the at least two column areas are in the selected state. More specifically, multiple columns can be selected at the same time (Mansfield, at least Figures 4, 6, 8, and 18).
Regarding claim 17, this claim recites a terminal that performs the steps of the method of claim1, therefore, the same rationale of rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 20, this claim recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with instructions for performing the steps of the method of claim 1, therefore, the same rationale of rejection is applicable.
Claim(s) 3, 4, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansfield, Samadani, and Swarts, and further in view of Ehow (Ehow, "Using Microsoft Word : How to Add Columns to a Microsoft Word Document", 1/26/2009, hereinafter “Ehow”).
Regarding claim 3, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swarts teach the method of claim 1, however, may not explicitly teach every aspect of wherein the in response to a column area creation event, creating the column area within the document area comprises: in response to a first operation event on a first control, displaying a column creation interface comprising a predetermined number of column thumbnails, and in response to a selection operation on the column thumbnails, creating a selected number of the column areas within the document area based on the selected number of selected column thumbnails.
Ehow is a Youtube video that depicts the process of adding columns to a Microsoft Word document from 2009. At 37 seconds, the user can select the columns control at the top, at 38 seconds a number of column thumbnails are shown that depicts the number of columns the user can add to the document. At 40 seconds, the user’s cursor is moved over the thumbnails which highlights as the cursor moves, indicating how many columns will be added to the document once selected. At 1:06 to 1:12, the edit mark/input cursor can be seen near the line that reads “in the 1930s.” in the document.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Ehow that a method for document processing with selecting columns would include the ability to add columns to the document. With Mansfield and Ehow disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Ehow demonstrating how to create columns in the document, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting columns would include the ability to add columns to the document in order to add columns to a document in a document processor that is allowing the selection of said columns. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
Regarding claim 4, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Ehow teach the method of claim 3, further comprising at least one of the following: displaying the selected column thumbnails in a first style and displaying unselected column thumbnails in a second style in the column creation interface; selecting one of the column thumbnails by default in the column creation interface; or displaying a number of the selected column thumbnails in the column creation interface. More specifically, at 37 seconds, the user can select the columns control at the top, at 38 seconds a number of column thumbnails are shown that depicts the number of columns the user can add to the document. At 40 seconds, the user’s cursor is moved over the thumbnails which highlights as the cursor moves, indicating how many columns will be added to the document once selected. At 1:06 to 1:12, the edit mark/input cursor can be seen near the line that reads “in the 1930s.” in the document (Ehow).
Regarding claim 19, this claim recites the terminal that performs the steps of the method of claim 3, therefore, the same rationale of rejection is applicable.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz, and further in view of Hill (US 2014/0189482 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz teach the method of claim 7, however, may not explicitly teach every aspect of wherein the in response to a second operation event on the second control, adding a new column area to a side of the existing column area comprises: in response to a triggering operation on the second control, hiding the second control and displaying a third control, and in response to a triggering operation on the third control, adding the new column area to a side of the column area; wherein a display area of the second control is smaller than a display area of the third control.
Hill discloses a document processing such as Microsoft Word where users can add a column to a document by first interacting with (second) control 434, and then triggering a (third) control 438, which is slightly bigger than the second control 434 (Hill, [0086], Figures 14A to 14B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Hill that a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include a confirmation control. With Mansfield, Swartz, and Hill disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Swartz and Hill demonstrating how to add columns in the document, and with Hill additionally disclosing a control for confirming the addition of a column being slightly larger than the control for initiating the addition, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include a confirmation control in order to provide a user with an opportunity to decide if adding the column is intended. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
Claim(s) 11, 13 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz, and further in view of Easterly (US 2017/0235706 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz teach the method of claim 1, however, may not explicitly teach every aspect of wherein the in response to a column area creation event, creating the column area within the document area comprises: in response to dragging a first content block to a lateral side of a second content block in the document area, creating a column area carrying the first content block and a column area carrying the second content block; wherein the content block is a unit carrying document content.
Esterly discloses a document layout editing system where a user can drag content block 206 (Figure 2A or 2B) to the left side of content 222 (Figure 2J), where a new left column and new right column will be created (Esterly, [0063]). The content block is construable as the claimed snapshot. Figures 2B-2K depict the potential repositioning of the snapshot and subsequently the column. Esterly discloses a document layout editing system where a user can drag content block 206 (Figure 2B) to the left side of content 222 (Figure 2J), where a new left column and new right column will be created (Esterly, [0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Esterly that a method for document processing with selecting columns would include dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column. With Mansfield, Samadani, Swartz, and Esterly disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Esterly additionally disclosing dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting columns would include dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column in order to provide a user with a visual option for adjusting the positioning of columns in a document editor. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
Regarding claim 21, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz teach the method of claim 1, however, may not explicitly teach every aspect of further comprising further comprising: in response to an operation event on the column area, displaying a snapshot of the column area on which the operation event is performed, and in response to a drag operation on the snapshot, adjusting a position of the column area based on a position to which the snapshot is dragged.
Esterly discloses a document layout editing system where a user can drag content block 206 (Figure 2A or 2B) to the left side of content 222 (Figure 2J), where a new left column and new right column will be created (Esterly, [0063]). The content block is construable as the claimed snapshot. Figures 2B-2K depict the potential repositioning of the snapshot and subsequently the column. Esterly discloses a document layout editing system where a user can drag content block 206 (Figure 2B) to the left side of content 222 (Figure 2J), where a new left column and new right column will be created (Esterly, [0063]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Esterly that a method for document processing with selecting columns would include dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column. With Mansfield, Samadani, Swartz, and Esterly disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Esterly additionally disclosing dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting columns would include dragging a snapshot representing the column area to different positions to reposition the column in order to provide a user with a visual option for adjusting the positioning of columns in a document editor. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
Regarding claim 13, Mansfield, Samadani, Swartz and Esterly teach the method of claim 21, wherein, before adjusting the position of the column area, if a or both sides of the column area have a first adjacent column area, after adjusting the position of the column area, adjusting a position and/or size of the first adjacent column area; and/or if a or both sides of the position where the column area is adjusted have a second adjacent column area, after adjusting the position of the column area, adjusting the position and/or size of the first adjacent column area. More specifically, Figures 2B-2K depict the potential repositioning of the snapshot and subsequently the column. the adjacent columns adjust their positioning based on the adjusting of the position of column content/snapshot 208 (Esterly, Figures 2B-2K).
Claim(s) 22-25, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz, and further in view of Didrickson et al. (US 2022/0036311 A1, filed 7/30/2020, hereinafter “Didrickson”).
Regarding claim 22, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz teach the method of claim 1, including that an add column instruction places the added column adjacent to the column where the instruction was received (at least Swartz, Figures 4-5; Samadani, col 13, lines 64-66). However, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz may not explicitly teach every aspect of
wherein creating the column area within the document area comprises:
in response to inputting a predetermined character, displaying an option menu, and in response to an operation event on a column option in the option menu, creating the column area; or, in response to inputting a predetermined character and column text information, searching for a column option which matches the column text information in an option menu and displaying a searched column option, and in response to an operation event on the column option, creating the column area.
Didrickson discloses a document editing interface wherein typing a specific character(s) will initiate the display of an option menu for inserting components into the document including a column-based table object (Didrickson, Figures 8 to 9). As the user enters characters of the name of a component, the selectable items displayed in the pop-up menu change to include only those that match or prefix match the characters entered (Didrickson, [0117]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention given the teachings of Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Didrickson that a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include using a predetermined character sequence to invoke a menu of options for adding columns which is searched as the user types characters of the column command. With Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Didrickson disclosing columns being part of a document, and with Samadani, Swarts, and Didrickson demonstrating how to add column-based objects to the document, with Swarts disclosing the new column is added adjacent to the column at the position that received the add-column instruction, and with Didrickson additionally disclosing using a predetermined character sequence to invoke a menu of options for adding column-based objects as well as searching for specific commands with a sequence of characters, one of ordinary skill in the art of implementing a method for document processing with selecting and adding columns would include using a predetermined character sequence to invoke a menu of options for adding columns which is searched as the user types characters of the column command in order to provide a user with a shortcut to add columns without removing hands from a keyboard. One would therefore be motivated to combine these teachings as in doing so would create this method for document processing with selecting columns.
Regarding claim 23, Mansfield, Samadani, and Swartz with Didrickson teach the method of claim 22, wherein if the predetermined character is input in an existing column area, the column area is added to a side of the existing column area where the predetermined character is located, and the column area is a column area which is created in response to the column area creation event. More specifically, a new column is added adjacent to the column where a character sequence for adding the column is received (Samadani, col 13, lines 64-66; col 15, lines 31-39; col 20, lines 11-18).
Regarding claims 24 and 25, these claims recite the terminal that performs the steps of the method of claims 22 and 23, therefore, the same rationale of rejection is applicable.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider these references fully when responding to this action.
Bendig (US 2017/0139884 A1) – newly added columns contain textual prompts for input (Figure 4A).
Convertino (US 2017/0185668 A1) – selected column is distinguished from other areas.
Park (US20140289602 A1) – mechanism for adding columns.
Silvis (US 9,817,566 B1) - mechanism for adding columns.
Swett (US 2010/0299587 A1) - selected column is distinguished from other areas.
Cudich (US 2009/0013245 A1) – new columns created by dragging content to position.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK F RIEGLER whose telephone number is (571)270-3625. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30am-6:00pm, ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kieu Vu can be reached at (571) 272-4057. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PATRICK F RIEGLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2171