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 .
Claims in Consideration
Claims 1-25 are canceled.
Claims 26-45, are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/21/2026 was filed before the second office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Responsive to the applicant’s amendments, the previous objections have been removed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 4/2/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of independent claim(s) under 35 USC 102 to Karunamuni have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, wherein Dellinger was added to cure the deficiencies of Karunamuni.
Claim Rejections Notes
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.
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.
Claim(s) 26-45, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karunamuni et al. (US 20180335939 A1, published: 11/22/2018), in view of Dellinger et al. (US 20180373415 A1, published: 12/27/2018).
Claim 26. (Currently Amended): Karunamuni teaches an electronic device, comprising:
a touchscreen comprising a touch sensor and a display (FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating portable multifunction device 100 with touch-sensitive display system 112 [Karunamuni, 0061]);
one or more processors (one or more processing units (CPUs) 120 [Karunamuni, 0061]); and
a memory with instructions stored thereon (memory 102 [Karunamuni, 0061]), wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors enable to the electronic device to perform:
displaying a first dock bar in a launcher (FIGS. 5F1-5F8 illustrate an example of displaying a dock and then a control panel (e.g., in an application-switcher user interface) [Karunamuni, 0316]), wherein the first dock bar comprises a first card of a first application service, wherein the first card comprises service content of the first application service (displaying a home screen user interface that includes a plurality of application launch icons that correspond to a plurality of applications [Karunamuni, 0008]. User interfaces for the user interface selection process include representations of multiple user interfaces for applications (e.g., recently opened applications, a currently displayed application, and a system control panel) associated with the electronic device displayed as a virtual stack of cards (e.g., the “stack”), where each card in the stack represents a user interface for a different application. The cards are also referred to herein as “application views,” [Karunamuni, 0212, FIGs. 5A1-5A77]); and
in response to an operation of selecting the first card in the first dock bar by a user, enabling the first application service, and displaying a display interface corresponding to the first application service (in response to an input on an application launch icon in dock 5854, device 100 dismisses the application-switcher user interface 5856 and displays the corresponding application [Karunamuni, 0317]).
Karunamuni does not teach wherein the first dock bar and a sub-screen interface of the launcher are displayed simultaneously, and displays data provided by the first application service in the first card in the first dock bar, and wherein the first card has a size, in the first dock bar, that is larger than a size of an application icon configured to be displayed in the first dock bar.
However, Dellinger teaches wherein the first dock bar and a sub-screen interface of the launcher are displayed simultaneously, and displays data provided by the first application service in the first card in the first dock bar, and wherein the first card has a size, in the first dock bar, that is larger than a size of an application icon configured to be displayed in the first dock bar (FIGS. 7A-7B show a sequence in which a preview interface is displayed over a home screen in response to detecting selection of an application icon within a dock region. FIG. 7A also illustrates detecting a contact 711 (e.g., a tap/selection gesture) at a location that corresponds to the application icon 706a within the dock region 704. FIG. 7B illustrates displaying a preview interface 710 for the file browser application that corresponds to the application icon 706a in response to detecting the selection of the application icon 706a in FIG. 7A that satisfies the content preview criterion [Dellinger, 0223, FIG. 7B]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated in these figures, the card 710 is displayed as issuing from the dock bar, wherein the card is larger (in height) than the dock bar).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the parts listing menu selection invention of Karunamuni to include the dock bar with a sub-screen features of Dellinger.
One would have been motivated to make this modification to differentiate the previews and/or notecards that are displayed in response to selecting a dock icon. Such would better emphasize said previews/notecards in light of the background dock bar.
Claim 27: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 26. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the first dock bar further comprises an application icon of a second application (displaying a home screen user interface that includes a plurality of application launch icons that correspond to a plurality of applications [Karunamuni, 0008]).
Claim 28. (Currently Amended): The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 26, wherein: the first dock bar comprises N cards that are in a one-to-one correspondence with N application services; the N application services comprise the first application service; the N cards comprise the first card; and N is an integer greater than 0 ([Karunamuni, FIG. 4A]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated each card/icon of the dock corresponds to applications).
Claim 29. (Currently Amended): The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 28. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: receiving a switching operation entered by the user on the first dock bar, and in response to the switching operation, switching the N cards in the first dock bar to M application icons, wherein M is an integer greater than 0 ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A20]; Examiner's Note: wherein dragging a dock icon/card up, will switch to the application. In this case, the application has 5 sub-cards displayed. This is functionally equivalent).
Claim 30: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 28. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: receiving an expanding operation entered by the user on the first dock bar, and in response to the expanding operation, switching the first dock bar to a second dock bar, wherein the second dock bar is an expanded form of the first dock bar, the second dock bar comprises a second card of the first application service, and content of the second card and content of the first card have an intersection ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A21]; Examiner's Note: wherein second dock is a recent apps screen as illustrated).
Claim 31: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein: the first card is a card of a sub-service in the first application service, and the second card is an expanded card comprising a plurality of sub-services in the first application service; or the content of the first card is a subset of the content of the second card ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A20]; Examiner's Note: wherein dragging a dock icon/card up, will switch to the application. This is functionally equivalent).
Claim 32: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the second dock bar further comprises N-1 expanded cards that are in a one-to-one correspondence with N-1 application services that exclude the first application service and that are in the N application services ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A21]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated).
Claim 33: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the second dock bar further comprises M application icons (in addition to application launch icons, other affordances, such as folder icons, web clippings, and document icons can also be dragged from the home screen user interface or other user interfaces (e.g., a drive or network storage space) and dropped into the dock [Karunamuni, 0598]; Examiner's Note: wherein folders, having additional icons within, can be docked to the dock, and when launched comprise M application icons).
Claim 34: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 28. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: receiving a preset operation entered by the user on the first card in the first dock bar; and in response to the preset operation, displaying a preset first setting interface, wherein the first setting interface is used to prompt the user to select a card that represents the first application service, for display in the first dock bar (FIGS. 5A1-5A8 illustrate an example embodiment where the electronic device navigates to an application-switcher user interface because an input invokes the user interface selection process and directs movement of cards in the stack beyond a first movement threshold (and, optionally, below a second movement threshold) [Karunamuni, 0215]).
Claim 35: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after switching the first dock bar to the second dock bar: receiving a preset operation entered by the user on the second card in the second dock bar, and in response to the preset operation, displaying a preset first setting interface, wherein the first setting interface is used to prompt the user to select a card that represents the first application service, for display in the first dock bar (in addition to application launch icons, other affordances, such as folder icons, web clippings, and document icons can also be dragged from the home screen user interface or other user interfaces (e.g., a drive or network storage space) and dropped into the dock [Karunamuni, 0598]; Examiner's Note: wherein folders, having additional icons within, can be docked to the dock, and when launched comprise cards to launch an application).
Claim 36: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 34, wherein: the first setting interface comprises cards of sub-services in the first application service; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after the displaying the preset first setting interface, in response to an operation of selecting a third card in the first setting interface by the user, displaying the third card in the first dock bar, and skipping displaying the first card in the first dock bar (Examiner's Note: this is merely a repeating of prior claims, extended to further levels. If you can display a first or second card, then it is obvious that a third can be displayed, etc.).
Claim 37: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 34, wherein: the first setting interface comprises cards of sub-services in the first application service; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after the displaying the preset first setting interface, in response to an operation of selecting a third card and the first card in the first setting interface by the user, selecting, by the electronic device, one of the third card and the first card for display in the first dock bar (Examiner's Note: this is merely a repeating of prior claims, extended to further levels).
Claim 38: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 28. Karunamuni further teaches wherein a fourth card of a second application service is displayed in an area other than the first dock bar in the launcher; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after the displaying the first dock bar in the launcher, receiving a dragging operation of moving the fourth card to the first dock bar by the user, in response to the dragging operation, adding a first placeholder box to the first dock bar, after detecting that the fourth card is released by the user, adding a card of the second application service to the first placeholder box, wherein the card of the second application service is the same as or different from the fourth card (the dock (e.g., dock 5854, FIG. 5F5) includes (1436) a plurality of application launch icons including at least one of: (1) a first application-launch icon that is moved, by a user, from a home screen user interface of the device to the dock (e.g., an application launch icon that is dragged by the user from the home screen and dropped onto the dock), (2) a second application launch icon for a recently open application on the device (e.g., an application that is just closed by the user), and (3) a third application launch icon for an application that is recommended by the device based on predetermined criteria [Karunamuni, 0598]).
Claim 39: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein: a fourth card of a second application service is displayed in an area other than the first dock bar in the launcher; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after the displaying the first dock bar in the launcher, receiving a dragging operation of moving the fourth card to the first dock bar by the user, in response to the dragging operation, switching the first dock bar to the second dock bar, and adding a second placeholder box to the second dock bar; and after detecting that the fourth card is released by the user, adding a card of the second application service to the second placeholder box, wherein the card of the second application service is the same as or different from the fourth card ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A21]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated).
Claim 40: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 38, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after adding the card of the second application service to the first placeholder box, or after adding the card of the second application service to a second placeholder box: displaying a preset second setting interface, wherein the second setting interface is used to prompt the user to select a card that represents the second application service, for display in the first dock bar (Examiner's Note: this is merely a repeating of prior claims, extended to further levels).
Claim 41: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 28. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: receiving a dragging operation of moving the first card in the first dock bar to the launcher by the user; and in response to the dragging operation, adding a card of the first application service to the launcher, wherein the card of the first application service is the same as or different from the first card (the dock (e.g., dock 5854, FIG. 5F5) includes (1436) a plurality of application launch icons including at least one of: (1) a first application-launch icon that is moved, by a user, from a home screen user interface of the device to the dock (e.g., an application launch icon that is dragged by the user from the home screen and dropped onto the dock), (2) a second application launch icon for a recently open application on the device (e.g., an application that is just closed by the user), and (3) a third application launch icon for an application that is recommended by the device based on predetermined criteria [Karunamuni, 0598]).
Claim 42: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after switching the first dock bar to the second dock bar: receiving a dragging operation of moving the second card in the second dock bar to the launcher by the user, and in response to the dragging operation, adding a card of the first application service to the launcher, wherein the card of the first application service is the same as or different from the second card ([Karunamuni, FIG. 5A21]; Examiner's Note: as illustrated).
Claim 43: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: displaying a recommended card in the first dock bar, wherein an add button is set on the recommended card, and in response to detecting that the user selects the add button, adding the recommended card to the first dock bar (the device displays (1402), on the display, a first user interface (e.g., user interface 5850, FIG. 5F1) that includes one or more applications (e.g., the first user interface is a user interface of an application, such as user interface 5850 in FIG. 5F1, or a split user interface that includes user interfaces of two or more applications) displayed without displaying a dock (e.g., an application dock for selecting an application launch icon from a plurality of application launch icons to switch from displaying the first user interface to displaying a user interface of another application, or to add the user interface of another application to the first user interface in a split screen format on the display) [Karunamuni, 0583]).
Claim 44: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 43. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: after the displaying the recommended card in the first dock bar: in response to the expanding operation entered by the user on the first dock bar, switching the first dock bar to the second dock bar, wherein the second dock bar comprises an expanded card of the recommended card, and an add button is set on the expanded card; and in response to detecting that the user selects the add button, adding the recommended card to the first dock bar, and adding the expanded card to the second dock bar (the device displays (1402), on the display, a first user interface (e.g., user interface 5850, FIG. 5F1) that includes one or more applications (e.g., the first user interface is a user interface of an application, such as user interface 5850 in FIG. 5F1, or a split user interface that includes user interfaces of two or more applications) displayed without displaying a dock (e.g., an application dock for selecting an application launch icon from a plurality of application launch icons to switch from displaying the first user interface to displaying a user interface of another application, or to add the user interface of another application to the first user interface in a split screen format on the display) [Karunamuni, 0583]).
Claim 45: The combination of Karunamuni, and Dellinger, teaches the electronic device according to claim 30. Karunamuni further teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further enable the electronic device to perform: before the displaying the first dock bar in the launcher: in response to displaying the first dock bar for a first time, displaying K recommended cards in the first dock bar, wherein an add button is set on each of the K recommended cards, and K is an integer greater than 1, and in response to detecting that the user selects an add button of a first recommended card, adding the first recommended card to the first dock bar, wherein the first recommended card is one of the K recommended cards (dock 5854 is a container that includes one or more application launch icons (e.g., a predefined set of application launch icons, application launch icons for one or more recently open applications on the device, application launch icons that are recommended by the device based on predetermined criteria, a combination of two or more of the above, etc.) [Karunamuni, 0316]).
Additional References
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following include docked icons/cards to access corresponding applications:
Louch et al. (US 20110296337 A1, published: 12/1/2011)
Rigney et al. (US 20210248135 A1, published: 8/12/2021)
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SETH A SILVERMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur, 8AM-4PM MST.
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.
/Seth A Silverman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2172
Prosecution Insights