DETAILED ACTION
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 1-5, 10-11 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hart (US 8,010,900) in view of Cisler (US 8,495,024).
Referring to claims 1 and 16, Hart discloses:
a time series information display device (fig. 1, system 100) that displays time series information (fig. 5, snapshots 502) along a time axis (fig. 5, timeline 504) on a display screen (fig. 4, display) having an image (fig. 5, snapshots 502) of a three-dimensional space (fig. 5, snapshot 502 including documents/images/photos 406 along timeline 504) with the time axis in a depth direction (fig. 5, navigation control 506a/506b) using perspective,
wherein the time series information includes time series information with different time units (fig. 5, snapshot along timeline 504 by month/day/hour),
the time series information display device comprising:
a space display unit (figs. 4-5, display device) that displays an image (fig. 5, current snapshot view 520) of the three-dimensional space generated by assigning a plurality of different types of scales (fig. 18, timeline 1404 in scales of months and days) for sizes of the time units along the time axis; and
a time series information display unit (fig. 18, interface 1400) that displays time series information in units of time corresponding to a time point (fig. 16, time 1602) designated on the time axis of the three-dimensional space, and
the space display unit displays an image (fig. 5, snapshot 520) of the three-dimensional space in which a start position (fig. 5, data display 516 today) of assigning the plurality of different types of scale for sizes of the time units (fig. 5, daily and monthly) to the time axis is:
set on a front side (fig. 5, date display 516 today/now) in the depth direction of the time axis for scales of [small]time units (fig. 5, timeline 504, today’s snapshots between now-today appeared finer), and
set at a position on a back side (fig. 5, such as May 2007) in the depth direction of the time axis for scales of [large] time units (fig. 5, monthly snapshots).
Cisler further discloses smaller time unit (8:46-56, hourly snapshots for current day) and larger time unit (8:46-56, daily, weekly and monthly snapshots as they reach further past, i.e., larger than hourly).
Hart and Cisler are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor in file system snapshots. At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, having the teaching of Hart and Cisler before him or her to modify the snapshot time units of Hart to include the hourly/daily/weekly/monthly snapshots of Cisler, thereafter those recent snapshots are hourly, and those non-recent snapshots are stored in daily/weekly/monthly. The suggestion and/or motivation for doing so would be obtaining the advantage of more efficient snapshot storage utilization as suggested by Cisler. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Hart with Cisler to obtain the invention as specified in the instant application claims.
As to claim 2, Hart discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the space display unit displays the image of the three-dimensional space (fig. 5, snapshots along timeline 504), which is generated by assigning the plurality of different types of scales for sizes of the time units (fig. 5, monthly, daily and hourly) along the time axis, in a range on the time axis corresponding to a time zone (fig. 5, timeline 504) in which the time series information with the different time units are present.
As to claim 3, Hart discloses the device of claim 2, wherein the space display unit displays the image of the three-dimensional space in which the plurality of types of scales are separately assigned to a plurality of non-overlapping ranges (fig. 18, date display 1602 not overlapped) in such a manner that a scale of a type corresponding to a shortest time unit (fig. 5, now-today) is assigned to a frontmost range (fig. 5, today 516) in the depth direction and a scale of a type corresponding to a longest time unit (fig. 5, monthly timeline 504) is assigned to a deepest range in the depth direction.
As to claims 4 and 17, Hart discloses the device of claim 1,
wherein the three-dimensional space has one plane (fig. 5, snapshots 520 extending navigation control 506a/506b directions) extending in the depth direction, and
the time series information display unit displays a rectangular window (fig. 5, snapshot 520) with a side in contact with the one plane at a position of a time point (fig. 18, time display 1602) designated on the time axis of the three-dimensional space, and displays the time series information in the [rectangular] window (fig. 5, display snapshot 520).
As to claims 5 and 18, Hart discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the time series information display unit displays a time point designated on the time axis of the three-dimensional space in an identifiable manner and displays a windows (fig. 5, display 500) in a region including an inside/outside of the three-dimensional space (fig. current snapshots 520 and other snapshot 520), and displays the time series information in the window (fig. 5, display current snapshot 520).
As to claims 10 and 19, Hart discloses the device of claim 1, wherein, when the time series information includes information related to orientation (fig. 5, navigation 506a/506b), the time series information displays unit displays orientation information indicating which direction on the display screen is which orientation, and displays a figure (fig. 5, snapshot 520) corresponding to the information related to the orientation of the time series information in accordance with the orientation information.
As to claims 11, 14-15 and 20, Hart discloses the device of claim 1,
wherein the time series information display device is mounted in a mobile terminal (3:65-4:6, computer, mobile phone), and
the time series information display unit displays the time series information using a cross-reality image (fig. 4, desktop background) including a surrounding environment (fig. 4, desktop icons) at a location where the mobile terminal is located.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 and 12-13 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 claim feature of “the three-dimensional space is a rectangular tube including five surfaces of a bottom surface, both side surfaces rising from both ends of the bottom surface, a top surface connecting upper ends of both the side surfaces to each other and facing the bottom surface, and an end surface with a rectangular shape whose four sides are in contact with four surfaces of the bottom surface, both the side surfaces, and the top surface at an end position of the time axis, and the time series information unit displays …” as required in dependent claims 6-9,
the claim feature of “information regarding a phenomenon that occurs in the surrounding environment at the location where the mobile terminal is present, and the time series information display unit displays the cross-reality image including a user’s avatar, and displays an avatar expressing a state affected by the phenomenon indicated by the time series information” as required in dependent claim 12, and
the claim feature of “when any time point is not designated on the time axis of the three-dimensional space, the time series information display unit sets a plurality of windows at positions of a plurality of time points, and displays a plurality of pieces of time series information corresponding to the plurality of time points in each window using a cross-reality image whose transparency is set to be more than 0% and less than 100%, and when …” as required in dependent claim 13.
None of the prior art on record found disclosing above limitations.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to examiner Cheng-Yuan Tseng whose telephone number is (571)272-9772, and fax number is (571)273-9772. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 09:00 to 17:30 Eastern Time. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alicia Harrington can be reached on (571)272-2330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at (866)217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call (800)786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or (571)272-1000.
/CHENG YUAN TSENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2615