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 .
This communication is responsive to the application filed 8/26/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending with claims 1, 8, and 15 as independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/5/2024 was filed after the mailing date of the application on 8/26/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-6 and 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meling et al. (US 2019/0220541, hereinafter as Meling) in view of Gilad et al. (US 2015/0186517, hereinafter as Gilad).
Claim 1. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of messages and a plurality of entities, wherein a subset of the plurality of messages was transmitted to a receiver by the plurality of entities; Meling discloses in [0049-0051] “The search function is configured to access the record of past emails and/or IMs having been sent from the first user 103a to a plurality of other users such as the second user 103b in the manner described above, and/or received by the first user 103b from other users such as the second user 103b in a similar, reciprocal manner.” (emphasis added) examiner note: the first user may receive a plurality of messages associated with a plurality of users or entities,
displaying the plurality of messages in a message view; Meling discloses in [0049-0051] “the stored communication, or at least the emails, are stored amongst a plurality of different folders. A list of these folders 214 may be displayed in the user interface 200… The list of folders 214 is typically included in the left-hand pane 202, whereas a sub-list of the emails in a selected one of the folders is displayed a right-hand pane 204, 206.” (emphasis added) examiner note: the plurality of messages may be displayed in panes 202, 204, and 206 as shown in fig. 2,
displaying a designated display region listing the plurality of entities; Meling discloses in [0049-0052] “the user interface 200 provided through the client 104a uses a mechanism referred to herein as “dynamic favourites” to allow people to effortlessly stay on top of the people or subjects that matter the most to them. This means that in addition to (or instead of) the flat list of all folders 214, the user interface 200 additionally (or alternatively) displays a separate list of a subset of the people, user groups and/or folders 212 the first user 103a interacts with. Thus these entities 212 are distinguished in the UI 200 from amongst the set of all those the user has interacted with in the past (which may or may not also be displayed separately in the main list 214).” (emphasis added) examiner note: folder 212 may display in display region 204 a list of people that the user frequently communicate with as shown in fig. 2,
detecting a selection of a selected entity from the plurality of entities based on a user interaction with the designated display region; Meling discloses in [0062] “If the first user 103a selects (e.g. clicks or touches) one of the entities in one of the lists 210, 212, 214, the search function will then filter down to only items matching the search term from that entity… when the first user 103a selects one of the people, groups or folders from the dynamic or user-selected favourties list(s) 212, 210, or indeed one of the folders from the main list 214, then a sub-list of the emails and/or IM messages found specifically in relation to that person, group or folder are displayed, preferably in a right-hand pane 204, 206, separately from the left-hand navigation pane 202 (where the lists and associated counts are displayed).” (emphasis added), and
displaying a sender-specific message list in response to the selection, the sender-specific message list including a first screen including a message list that displays messages from the selected entity and [a second screen including a subset of the messages from the selected entity, the subset of the messages surfaced by extracting content from the messages from the selected entity]. Meling discloses in [0062] “If the first user 103a selects (e.g. clicks or touches) one of the entities in one of the lists 210, 212, 214, the search function will then filter down to only items matching the search term from that entity… when the first user 103a selects one of the people, groups or folders from the dynamic or user-selected favourties list(s) 212, 210, or indeed one of the folders from the main list 214, then a sub-list of the emails and/or IM messages found specifically in relation to that person, group or folder are displayed, preferably in a right-hand pane 204, 206, separately from the left-hand navigation pane 202 (where the lists and associated counts are displayed).” (emphasis added) examiner note: message from the selected person may be displayed on the right-hand pane 204, 206 as the first screen.
Meling does not explicitly disclose a second screen including a subset of the messages from the selected entity, the subset of the messages surfaced by extracting content from the messages from the selected entity. However, Gilad, in an analogous art, teaches in [0076-0079] “responsive to a predefined user action in connection with the single cluster graphic, display of the single cluster graphic is expanded, by, while maintaining display of information representing the electronic messages in the message cluster, formatting for display content of a respective electronic message in the cluster in accordance with the display format that corresponds to the message category of the respective electronic message. For example, in response to the predefined user action (e.g., clicking on graphic 340) one of the four new messages relating to "Telecommunication" will be displayed in an expanded format in accordance with the electronic message display format of the new message as illustrated in FIG. 3H… FIG. 3H illustrates display of a first electronic message 346 within a message cluster 342. In some embodiments, viewing the contents of the first electronic message 346 within message cluster 342, as in FIG. 3H, moves the other messages displayed in the set of search results (e.g., pushes other messages up or down on user interface 300).” (emphasis added) examiner note: message 346 may extracted, in response to clicking on graphic 340, as a subset of the messages and displayed in the expanded format of display 300 such that the expanded display of display 300 may be a second screen.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Meling disclosure, the second area to display a subset of message, as taught by Gilad. One would be motivated to do so to display of electronic messages on a user interface in order to view the contents of the respective message cluster.
Claims 2, 9, and 16. The rejection of the method of claim 1 is incorporated, Meling does not explicitly disclose wherein displaying a designated display region listing the plurality of entities comprises displaying a carousel including icons associated with the plurality of entities. However, Gilad discloses in [0070] “messages are displayed with images (e.g., image 310) to better illustrate the content of the respective messages. For example, the message for the store "Toypalooza" shows an image of a dinosaur 310, because the message is advertising a sale on all dinosaur toys… FIG. 3C also illustrates a variety of types of messages that are displayed in a third display format. The third display format corresponding to the "Social" category 320, comprises updates 324, posts, shared links 330, photo albums and comments 332 and 328 by friends in one or more social networks that the user of the email application has subscribed to.” (emphasis added) examiner note: the carousel may include icons such as "Toypalooza" shows an image of a dinosaur 310 to better illustrate the content of the respective images as in fig. 3B.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Meling disclosure, the images associated with the entities, as taught by Gilad. One would be motivated to do so to display of electronic messages on a user interface in order to view the contents of the respective message cluster.
Claims 3, 10, and 17. The rejection of the method of claim 2 is incorporated, Meling does not explicitly disclose wherein the carousel comprises a scrollable carousel. However, Gilad discloses in [0075] “In FIG. 3E, it is shown that the search results for the search are displayed, namely several social network messages (e.g., message 338).” (emphasis added) examiner note: message 338 illustrate images for search results for “pics from Italy”, wherein the images may be displayed in scrollable carousel.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Meling disclosure, scrollable carousel, as taught by Gilad. One would be motivated to do so to display of electronic messages on a user interface in order to view the contents of the respective message cluster.
Claims 4, 11, and 18. The rejection of the method of claim 2 is incorporated, wherein the icons associated the plurality of entities each include a corresponding badge, the corresponding badge including a count of message associated with a corresponding entity. Meling discloses in [0053 and 0059] “the total number of emails and IM messages the first user 103a has communicated to and/or from the person or group in the predetermined time window… the first user 103a types the search term or terms only once, and presses enter only once or clicks or touches the search button only once, and in response this triggers the count of the number of search results to be displayed simultaneously in parallel for some or all of the favourites in the list(s)” (emphasis added) examiner note: the total number of emails received from corresponding sender may be displayed as search result count as shown in page 202 in fig. 2.
Claims 5, 12, and 19. The rejection of the method of claim 1 is incorporated, further claim 1 comprising identifying the plurality of entities based on one or more of interactions of the plurality of entities with the receiver or interactions of the receiver with the plurality of entities. Meling discloses in [0006] “the preferred entities are identified as preferred entities automatically based on one or more factors including at least a frequency of interaction between the first user and each of the entities, the entities with which the first user has a greater frequency of interaction being given a greater preference in said automated identification.” (emphasis added).
Claims 6, 13, and 20. The rejection of the method of claim 1 is incorporated, further claim 1 comprising: Meling does not explicitly disclose
displaying a filter bar designated display region, the filter bar designated display region including a plurality of buttons corresponding to a plurality of filters, each filter in the plurality of filters corresponding to a category of a sender;. However, Gilad discloses in [0070] “In this display format, in some embodiments, messages are displayed with images (e.g., image 310) to better illustrate the content of the respective messages. For example, the message for the store "Toypalooza" shows an image of a dinosaur 310, because the message is advertising a sale on all dinosaur toys. In some embodiments, the corresponding message image 310 is embedded in the content of the message. In some embodiments, the corresponding message image 310 is obtained from another source, such as an external server, or loaded from a website. (emphasis added) examiner note: figs. 3B, 3F, images such as Toypalooza, Shoe Heaven, or Telecommunications are displayed based on user selection of a "Promos" or promotional message category 306,
detecting a user interaction with a selected button in the filter bar designated display region; further, Gilad discloses in [0076] “in response to the predefined user action (e.g., clicking on graphic 340) one of the four new messages relating to "Telecommunication" will be displayed in an expanded format in accordance with the electronic message display format of the new message as illustrated in FIG. 3H.” (emphasis added), and
updating the message view to including only messages from a set of senders corresponding to a selected category associated with the selected button. also, Gilad discloses in [0078] “message cluster 342 is displayed in response to detecting a user input on another view of a message cluster, such as message cluster 340 in FIG. 3F, in order to view the contents of the respective message cluster. In some embodiments, viewing the contents of the message cluster 342, as in FIG. 3G, moves the other messages displayed in the set of search results (e.g., pushes other messages up or down on user interface 300).” (emphasis added) examiner note: in response to detecting interaction on graphical element 340, the view may be updated to include messages from one or more senders as shown in figs. 3F-3G.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Meling disclosure, the second area to display a subset of message, as taught by Gilad. One would be motivated to do so to display of electronic messages on a user interface in order to view the contents of the respective message cluster.
Claim 8. The claim is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to implement the method of claim 1, therefore, the claim is similarly rejected as claim 1.
Claim 15. The claim is directed towards a device to implement the method of claim 1, therefore, the claim is similarly rejected as claim 1. Furthermore, Meling discloses a processor; and a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon logic for execution by the processor, in [0030] “there is provided a computer system comprising storage (comprising one or more storage devices employing one or more storage media) and processing apparatus (comprising one or more processing units), wherein the storage stores code arranged to run on the processing apparatus and configured so as when thus run to perform operations in accordance with any of the above-mentioned methods or any other embodiments disclosed herein.” (emphasis added).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meling and Gilad as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Erez et al. (US 2016/0219004, hereinafter as Erez).
Claim 7. The rejection of the method of claim 1 is incorporated, Meling does not explicitly disclose wherein the sender-specific message list includes a button to visit a website of the selected entity and controls to manage messages associated with the selected entity. However, Erez, in an analogous art, discloses in [0042] “the received email message comprises a link. The system of the subject matter analyzes the link and the content in its destination and provides an indication related to the website the link has been generated from. The indication may be a logo of the website or the website's name or any other attribute located in the destination of the link (for example author name in case of the link to an article). For example, for a link that points to an article in CNN, the system will display the logo of CNN. Another example, if the link is a YouTube video, the system will display the logo of YouTube… the system of the subject matter may fetch metadata related to an image or a post which are a subject of the received email. The metadata may be a number of “Likes”, number of comments and the like.” (emphasis added) examiner note: the logo may be an image embedded link to a website. the metadata such as “likes”, “number of comments”, and the like may be controls associated with one or more senders (entities).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the Meling disclosure, the button link to the entity website, as taught by Erez. One would be motivated to do so to extraction of metadata and display of images from an email message.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AHAMED I NAZAR whose telephone number is (571)270-3174. The examiner can normally be reached 10 am to 7 pm Mon-Fri.
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/AHAMED I NAZAR/Examiner, Art Unit 2178 6/13/2026
/STEPHEN S HONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2178
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