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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/8/2025 has been entered.
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, 12-15, and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon (US 2021/0141481) in view of Soundararajan (US 2015/0334219) and Bae (US 2021/0082330).
Regarding claims 1, 19, and 24, Jeon teaches A method, comprising:
displaying, with a display of an electronic device during operation of the display in a lock power mode (lock state Figs. 6-7), an image frame from a series of image frames generated prior to operation of the display in the lock power mode (Figs. 6B-6D shows images of what can be displayed prior to entering a lock mode, which include element 151 and icons at bottom of screen [0186]);
receiving, with the electronic device while displaying the image frame during the operation of the display in the lock power mode(Figs. 6-7 shows images of what can be displayed prior to entering a lock mode, which include element 151 and icons at bottom of screen), a user input corresponding to a specific function of the electronic device ([0186-0187][0196]); activating, responsive to receiving the user input and without further user input, the specific function of the electronic device; and replacing the image frame on the display with a user interface associated with the specific function when the specific function is activated ([0197-0203][0273][0276-0277] Figs. 6-7). Although Jeon teaches the system operates in a lock state, and it is well known that a lock state can be a low power state, Jeon does not explicitly teach the lock state is a low power mode.
However in the same field of recognizing user input for application activation, Soundararajan teaches a lock state is a low power state ([0120]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the device as taught by Jeon with the method as taught by Soundararajan. This combination would allow users faster access during emergency situations as taught by Jeon. Although the combination teaches the limitations as discussed above, they do not explicitly teach generating a series of image frames prior to operation of a display of an electronic device in a low power mode; storing the series of images frames in memory of the electronic device prior to the operation of the display in the low power mode, and displaying in the low power mode, an image frame from the series of image frames stored in memory prior to the operation of the display in low power mode.
However in the field of operating a device in low power mode, Bae teaches a method where a low power mode is executed by first processor entering an inactive state [0064], where he generates a series of image frames prior to operation of a display of an electronic device in a low power mode ([0143] first framed data and second frame data]; storing the series of images frames in memory of the electronic device prior to the operation of the display in the low power mode ([0143] teaches that second frame data is stored in memory while first frame data is still being generated), and displaying in the low power mode, an image frame from the series of image frames stored in memory prior to the operation of the display in low power mode ([0143][0145][0149] teaches second frame data is used to display the images) .
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the device as taught by Jeon with the method as taught by Soundararajan and the method of displaying images using stored image data as taught by Bae. This combination would allow users faster access during emergency situations as taught by Jeon.
Regarding claims 2 and 20, Jeon teaches wherein the image frame includes an indication of a current time and a complication, wherein the specific function comprises an application associated with the complication, and wherein the user input comprises a touch input at a location of the complication in the image frame(Figs. 6-7 shows images of what can be displayed prior to entering a lock mode, which include element 151 and icons at bottom of screen).
Regarding claim 3, Jeon teaches wherein activating the specific function of the electronic device comprises providing an instruction to a processor of the electronic device, while displaying the image frame, to activate the application ([0187] controller 187 executes an application corresponding to notification image 616).
Regarding claim 4, Jeon teaches wherein providing the instruction to the processor of the electronic device, while displaying the image frame, to activate the application, comprises continuing to display the image frame without modification of a brightness of the display during the activation of the application (Figs. 7A-7B continues to show image frame of 151 while activating application of fingerprint recognition 618).
Regarding claim 5, Jeon teaches wherein replacing the image frame with the user interface comprises displaying a user interface of the application with the processor of the electronic device ([0180]).
Regarding claims 12 and 21, Jeon teaches wherein the user input comprises a swipe on the display, and wherein the specific function comprises an application associated with the swipe ([0065-0067]).
Regarding claim 13, Jeon teaches wherein activating the specific function of the electronic device comprises providing an instruction to a processor of the electronic device, while displaying the image frame, to activate the application (Figs. 7A-7B continue showing image frame of 151 while activating fingerprint recognition 618).
Regarding claims 14 and 22, Jeon teaches wherein replacing the image frame on the display with the user interface associated with the specific function when the specific function is activated comprises, while displaying a portion of the image frame without modifying a brightness of the portion of the image frame, progressively displaying an increasing portion of the user interface, increasing in a direction of the swipe ([0065-0067] teach the system can recognize different types of touch input including a swipe touch. Fig. 6-7 show how a touch on an area of the lock screen can allow an application to launch, Fig. 7A shows how an application progressively replaces a screen. Therefore it is understood that any touch input including a swipe would allow the application to replace the lock screen).
Regarding claim 15, Jeon teaches wherein displaying the image frame during operation of the display in the lock power mode comprises displaying the image frame during a lock power mode of a processor of the electronic device in which the processor runs a media player application ([0031]) and Soundararajan teaches a lock state is a low power state ([0120]).
Regarding claim 23, Jeon teaches wherein the image frame comprises an image of a clock displaying a time corresponding to a current time, wherein the image frame was generated and stored prior to the current time (Figs. 6-7 show how the clock is shown during a lock screen of the device).
Claims 6-11 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon (US 2021/0141481) in view of Soundararajan (US 2015/0334219) Bae (US 2021/0082330) and Kwak (US 2021/0303127).
Regarding claim 6, Jeon in view of Soundararajan teach the limitations as discussed above but fail to teach displaying the image frame comprises displaying the image frame with display circuitry of the electronic device that is separate from the processor of the electronic device.
However in the field of operating a device in a power saving mode Kwak teaches displaying the image frame comprises displaying the image frame with display circuitry of the electronic device that is separate from the processor of the electronic device ([0059-0062] teaches DDI display driver can be used to drive the display device while being in communication with the processor 450 and touch controller 430.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the device as taught by Jeon with the method as taught by Soundararajan, the method of displaying images using stored image data as taught by Bae and the method of displaying an image as taught by Kwak. This combination would allow users faster access during emergency situations as taught by Jeon.
Regarding claim 7, Kwak teaches wherein a processor and the display circuitry are configured to share access to the memory (Fig. 3-4 [0058-0059]).
Regarding claim 8, Kwak teaches accessing the series of image frames with the display circuitry while operating the display in the low power mode, using a memory map for the display circuitry that has been arranged by the processor ([0070]).
Regarding claim 9, Kwak teaches prior to displaying the image frame with the display circuitry, detecting, with the display circuitry, a low power state of the processor ([0060-0061] teaches the processor may operate in an inactive state and not be involved with the DDI and the touch controller will communicate a user input to the DDI.).
Regarding claim 10, Kwak teaches managing, with the display circuitry during the low power state of the processor (inactive), power consumption by the display ([0059-0060] frame rate).
Regarding claim 11, Kwak teaches wherein managing the power consumption by the display comprises controlling a frame rate of the display during display of the image frame based on a power budget for the display during the operation in the low power mode for the display ([0059-0060] frame rate changes bases on active or inactive state).
Regarding claim 16, Jeon in view of Soundararajan teach the limitations as discussed above and Jeon further teaches the processor being configured to rung applications for the electronic device([0042-0043]) but fail to teach wherein displaying the image frame during operation of the display in the low power mode comprises displaying the image frame while a processor of the electronic device is inactive.
However in the field of operating a device in a power saving mode Kwak teaches wherein displaying the image frame during operation of the display in the low power mode comprises displaying the image frame while a processor of the electronic device is inactive([0060-0061] teaches the processor may operate in an inactive state and not be involved with the DDI).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the device as taught by Jeon with the method as taught by Soundararajan and the method of displaying an image as taught by Kwak. This combination would allow users faster access during emergency situations as taught by Jeon.
Regarding claim 17, Jeon teaches wherein the user input comprises a press of a button of the electronic device([0058] teaches the user input can be different inputs including a button located on the housing of the device.), and wherein activating the specific function comprises providing, without further user input to the electronic device, an instruction to the processor of the electronic device to execute a function corresponding to the button ([0197-0203][0273][0276-0277] Figs. 6-7) and Kwak teaches instructing a processor to wake and execute a function based on user input (0072]) .
Claim 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon (US 2021/0141481) in view of Soundararajan (US 2015/0334219) Bae (US 2021/0082330) and Shedletsky (US 2017/00010751).
Regarding claim 18, Jeon in view Soundararajan teach the limitations discussed above but fail to teach wherein the electronic device comprises a smartwatch, wherein the user input comprises a rotation of a crown of the smartwatch, and wherein activating the specific function comprises providing, without further user input to the electronic device, an instruction to the processor of the electronic device to wake up and execute a function corresponding to the rotation of the crown.
However in the field of interacting with electronic device, Shedletsky teach wherein the electronic device comprises a smartwatch, wherein the user input comprises a rotation of a crown of the smartwatch, and wherein activating the specific function comprises providing, without further user input to the electronic device, an instruction to the processor of the electronic device to wake up and execute a function corresponding to the rotation of the crown (Fig. 11 shows the method where the system will determine if the watch crown rotation has exceeded a threshold amount and if so the device will execute the function of activating display and device functions accordingly without further input from the user).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the device as taught by Jeon with the method as taught by Soundararajan, the method of displaying images using stored image data as taught by Bae, and the device as taught by Kwak. This combination would allow users faster access during emergency situations as taught by Jeon.
Conclusion
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/ANDRE L MATTHEWS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621