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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claims 3-4, 13, 15-18, 20, 22-23 are cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites “combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state” in line 3-4 there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 2 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 2 recites “wherein sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image comprises: sending the initialization-image combination" in lines 1-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for being directly or indirectly dependent on claim 1.
Claim 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for being directly or indirectly dependent on claim 2.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 12 includes limitation “separating the application-interface-image combination to obtain an application interface image for each display screen; and determining the application interface image for each first display screen from the application interface image for each display screen.” Claim 12 is dependent on claim 11 where claim 11 also includes limitation ‘obtaining an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and controlling each first display screen to display the application interface image”; it is not specifically clear if it is referring to same application interface image or different ones.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 14 recites “combine an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state” in line 3-4 there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites “combine an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state” in line 3-4 there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for being directly or indirectly dependent on claim 19.
Claim 21 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 21 recites “wherein in terms of sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image" in lines 1-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for being directly or indirectly dependent on claim 21.
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 26 includes limitation “separate the application-interface-image combination to obtain an application interface image for each display screen; and determining the application interface image for each first display screen from the application interface image for each display screen.” Claim 26 is dependent on claim 25 where claim 25 also includes limitation ‘obtain an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and control each first display screen to display the application interface image”; it is not specifically clear if it is referring to same application interface image or different ones.
Applicant is requested to review each claim for potential issues that may raise 112(b) rejections.
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) 1, 5-10, 14, 19, 21, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Liu et al (US Pub 2019/0065133) in view of CAO et al (US Pub 2022/0019398), Todoroki (US Pub 2013/0155326) and Tsuji et al (US Pub 2010/0082965).
With respect to claim 1, Liu discloses an image display method, (par 0002; discloses present disclosure relates to the technical field of display control technology, and in particularly, to a display apparatus and a display control method) performed by a terminal device (fig. 1A; display data sensing device 120) and comprising: sending initialization images to a plurality of display screens according to the initialization-image combination in response to startup of the terminal device, (par 0067; discloses The detecting module 6202 generates the testing image according to the basic information provided by the information extracting module 6201, the testing image carries information corresponding to locations of the pixels in the display panel 610, for example, the testing image can be partitioned into a plurality of sub portions which are arranged in an order according to the predetermined third topology, each portion corresponds to a corresponding sub display panel D. After generating the testing image, the detecting module 6202 can trigger the switching module 6203 to connect the detecting module 6202 to the display channel of the display panel 610, so that the testing image generated by the detecting module 6202 is provided to the plurality of sub display panels D of the display panel 610 through the display channel. par 0068; discloses the switching module 6203 can be made to switch to the detecting module 6202 at the time when the display apparatus 600 starts up, and to switch to the display data sending device 630 when the debugging on the entire display apparatus is completed) wherein the plurality of display screens are from at least two electronic systems (fig. 1A; display panel 110; par 0037; discloses the display panel 110 comprises 9 sub display panels D11, D12, D13, D21, D22, D23, D31, D32 and D33 (which are collectively referred to as sub display panels D) arranged in a 3 by 3 array, the sub display panels D are connected by a display channel (indicated by arrow lines shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B)); and controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image (par 0077; discloses the display data can be partitioned according to the dividing method referring to FIG. 4A, and then the partitioned display data can be sequenced according to an order of E11, E21, E31, E32, E22, E12, E13, E23 and E33. This makes the dividing and the sequencing methods of the display data of the display panel consistent with the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels and the connecting form of the display channel, so that the entire display panel can display correctly);
Liu doesn’t expressly disclose each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen; controlling each display screen to simultaneously display a corresponding initialization image;
In the same field of endeavor, CAO discloses tiled display system and control method (see abstract); CAO discloses each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen (fig. 10; discloses block diagram for each display device 10; par 0061; discloses a second processor, a second memory, a second communication device, and a frame buffer memory. Explanations of the second processor, the second memory, and the second communication device may refer to the above explanations of the first processor, the first memory, and the first communication device, so they will not be repeated here; par 0058; discloses he first processor may be one or more of general central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or integrated circuit which is used to control program execution of some embodiments of the present disclosure. A CPU may be a single-CPU or a multi-CPU. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (for example, computer program instructions); see par 0059 as well); controlling each display screen to simultaneously display a corresponding initialization image (par 0053; discloses displaying the initial image simultaneously on a plurality of displays);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu to incorporate the teachings of CAO to simultaneously display the divided images on the plurality of displays such that a large image is accurately displayed to the user without any delay or lag;
Liu as modified by CAO don’t expressly disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination;
In the same field of endeavor, Todoroki discloses system and method for displaying images across plurality of display (see abstract); Todoroki disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination (par 0036 discloses the image selecting/combining unit 50 serves to selectively combine the program images among a plurality of program images outputted from the video decoder 34. The program images selectively combined by the image selecting/combining unit 50 are individually outputted to the output controlling unit 60 or 70. As shown in FIG. 2, the image selecting/combining unit 50 is equipped with an image allotter 51, image downsizers 52 and 53, and image composers 54 and 55; par 0052; discloses If the program images from the respective broadcast receiving units 10 and 20 are all displayed as main-screens on the respective monitors 102 and 112, the idle-state establishing unit 97 controls the broadcast receiving unit 10 (20) corresponding to the monitor 102 (112) viewed by a user, to halt receiving the program image, and control the monitor 102 (112) to display the program image from the broadcast receiving unit 20 (10) as a main-screen; par 0048; discloses The idle-state detecting unit 94 serves to detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20, which is not receiving broadcast wave (i.e. program images), that is, detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20 in an idle-state);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO to incorporate the teachings of Todoroki to combine images to generate combined image in order to generate images for displaying across plurality of display without interrupting the user from viewing the program;
Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki don’t expressly disclose controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems;
In the same field of endeavor, Tsuji discloses electronic apparatus and control method (see abstract); Tsuji discloses controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems (par 0031; discloses The processing to be executed by the BIOS 171 also include a processing for displaying logo images representing a manufacturer name (PC MANUFACTURER) and a product name (XYZ Computer New Model) for the computer 1 shown in FIG. 6 before the starting operation of the operating system. The images to be displayed at this time are stored as the logo image data 173 in a region in the BIOS-ROM 17);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki to incorporate the teachings of Tsuji to display initialization images across the plurality of display before the startup of the operating system in order to obtain a device capable of causing an image displayed on a display device with a higher resolution even before an operation of an operating system is started.
With respect to claim 2, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image comprises: sending the initialization-image combination; and separating the initialization-image combination to obtain the corresponding initialization image for each display screen (Liu; par 0019; discloses the step of generating the testing image according to the basic information comprises: generating the testing image according to the resolution of the display panel and dividing the testing image into a plurality of sub portions according to the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels, wherein each of the plurality of sub portion corresponds to a respective one of the sub display panels).
With respect to claim 5, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein separating the initial image to obtain the initialization image for each display screen comprises wherein separating the initial image to obtain the initialization image for each display screen comprises; separating each frame in the initial image according to a preset separation rule to obtain the initialization image for each display screen, wherein the preset separation rule is set according to a scenario requirement, a business requirement, or experience (Liu; par 0050; discloses if the resolution of the display panel 210 is 3840*2160, then m and n can be 3840 and 2160, respectively, that is, each data element e in the matrix corresponds to a pixel in the display panel 210. Certainly, the values of m and n can also be obtained by scaling the resolution of the display panel 210 by a same factor. The data of the testing image is partitioned into a plurality of submatrices according to the resolution of the display panel 210 and the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels D, each submatrix corresponds to one sub display panel D, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4B, the resolution of each sub display panel is 1280*720. For example, for the display panel 210 with 3840*2160-pixel resolution, if the resolution of each of the 9 sub display panels forming the 3 by 3 array is the same and is all 1280*720, then the 3840*2160-pixel testing image can be partitioned into 9 submatrices E11, E12, E13, E21, E22, E23, E31, E32 and E33 (which are collectively referred to as submatrices E) which form a 3 by 3 matrix and correspond to the sub display panels D11, D12, D13, D21, D22, D23, D31, D32 and D33, respectively).
With respect to claim 6, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein the initial image is a single independent frame, or any frame in an image sequence, or an image sequence, and the image sequence is a collection of a plurality of frames arranged in sequential order (Liu; par 0038; discloses the display data sending device 120 partitions display data, such as image data and video data, according to each sub display panel D, and sequences the partitioned display data following the same sequential order for use by the corresponding sub display panels D to display).
With respect to claim 7, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image comprises: determining an initialization image for each display screen from the initial image; and sending the initialization image for each display screen to the respective display screen (Liu; par 0053; discloses the information extracting module 2201 can extract the basic information of the display panel 210 through the information channel, the basic information is, for example, the resolution of the display panel 210, the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels, etc. The detecting module 2202 generates the testing image according to the basic information provided by the information extracting module 2201, and transfers the testing image to the plurality of sub display panels D of the display panel 210 through the display channel. The testing image carries information corresponding to locations of the pixels on the display panel 210, for example, the testing image can be partitioned into a plurality of sub portions which are arranged in an order according to the predetermined third topology, each portion corresponds to a corresponding sub display panel D).
With respect to claim 8, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein determining the initialization image for each display screen from the initial image comprises: determining the initialization image for each display screen from an image sequence (Liu; par 0038; discloses the display data sending device 120 partitions display data, such as image data and video data, according to each sub display panel D, and sequences the partitioned display data following the same sequential order for use by the corresponding sub display panels D to display).
With respect to claim 9, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein sending the initialization image for each display screen to the respective display screen comprises: sending the initialization image for each display screen to the respective display screen through a direct connection port between the terminal device and each display screen in response to presence of the direct connection port between the terminal device and each display screen (Liu; par 0066; discloses The switching module 6203 is configured to switchably connect the detecting module 6202 or the display data sending module 630 to the display channel of the display panel 610, specifically, to connect the detecting module 6202 (such as the image generating unit 2202-1 in the detecting module 6202) to the display channel of the display panel 610 at detecting phase and to connect the display data sending device 630 to the display channel of the display panel 610 at displaying phase).
With respect to claim 10, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image comprises: sending the initial image through a direct connection port between the terminal device and the plurality of display screens in response to the presence of the direct connection port; (Liu; par 0066; discloses The switching module 6203 is configured to switchably connect the detecting module 6202 or the display data sending module 630 to the display channel of the display panel 610, specifically, to connect the detecting module 6202 (such as the image generating unit 2202-1 in the detecting module 6202) to the display channel of the display panel 610 at detecting phase and to connect the display data sending device 630 to the display channel of the display panel 610 at displaying phase) and separating the initial image to obtain the initialization image for each display screen (Liu; par 0019; discloses the step of generating the testing image according to the basic information comprises: generating the testing image according to the resolution of the display panel and dividing the testing image into a plurality of sub portions according to the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels, wherein each of the plurality of sub portion corresponds to a respective one of the sub display panels).
With respect to claim 14, Liu discloses a terminal device, (fig. 1A; display data sending device 120) configured to; send initialization images to a plurality of display screens according to an initialization-image combination in response to startup of the terminal device, (par 0067; discloses The detecting module 6202 generates the testing image according to the basic information provided by the information extracting module 6201, the testing image carries information corresponding to locations of the pixels in the display panel 610, for example, the testing image can be partitioned into a plurality of sub portions which are arranged in an order according to the predetermined third topology, each portion corresponds to a corresponding sub display panel D. After generating the testing image, the detecting module 6202 can trigger the switching module 6203 to connect the detecting module 6202 to the display channel of the display panel 610, so that the testing image generated by the detecting module 6202 is provided to the plurality of sub display panels D of the display panel 610 through the display channel. par 0068; discloses the switching module 6203 can be made to switch to the detecting module 6202 at the time when the display apparatus 600 starts up, and to switch to the display data sending device 630 when the debugging on the entire display apparatus is completed) wherein the plurality of display screens are from at least two electronic systems; (fig. 1A; display panel 110; par 0037; discloses the display panel 110 comprises 9 sub display panels D11, D12, D13, D21, D22, D23, D31, D32 and D33 (which are collectively referred to as sub display panels D) arranged in a 3 by 3 array, the sub display panels D are connected by a display channel (indicated by arrow lines shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B)); and control each display screen to simultaneously display a corresponding initialization image (par 0077; discloses the display data can be partitioned according to the dividing method referring to FIG. 4A, and then the partitioned display data can be sequenced according to an order of E11, E21, E31, E32, E22, E12, E13, E23 and E33. This makes the dividing and the sequencing methods of the display data of the display panel consistent with the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels and the connecting form of the display channel, so that the entire display panel can display correctly);
Liu doesn’t expressly disclose the terminal device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is connected to the memory, and the memory is configured to store a computer program, the computer program comprises program instructions, each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen; and the processor is configured to control each display screen to simultaneously display the image;
In the same field of endeavor, CAO discloses tiled display system and control method (see abstract); CAO discloses the terminal device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is connected to the memory, and the memory is configured to store a computer program, the computer program comprises program instructions, (fig. 10; discloses control device 2 include processor 21, memory 22; see par 0266; par 0281; discloses the present disclosure further provides a non-stationary computer readable storage medium, and the non-stationary computer readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed, the image processing methods of the control device 2 as shown in FIG. 2, 4, 5, 6A or 6B are performed); each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen (fig. 10; discloses block diagram for each display device 10; par 0061; discloses a second processor, a second memory, a second communication device, and a frame buffer memory. Explanations of the second processor, the second memory, and the second communication device may refer to the above explanations of the first processor, the first memory, and the first communication device, so they will not be repeated here; par 0058; discloses he first processor may be one or more of general central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or integrated circuit which is used to control program execution of some embodiments of the present disclosure. A CPU may be a single-CPU or a multi-CPU. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (for example, computer program instructions); see par 0059 as well); and the processor is configured to control each display screen to simultaneously display the image (par 0053; discloses displaying the initial image simultaneously on a plurality of displays);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu to incorporate the teachings of CAO to use a processor to simultaneously display the divided images on the plurality of displays such that a large image is accurately displayed to the user without any delay or lag;
Liu as modified by CAO don’t expressly disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination;
In the same field of endeavor, Todoroki discloses system and method for displaying images across plurality of display (see abstract); Todoroki disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination (par 0036 discloses the image selecting/combining unit 50 serves to selectively combine the program images among a plurality of program images outputted from the video decoder 34. The program images selectively combined by the image selecting/combining unit 50 are individually outputted to the output controlling unit 60 or 70. As shown in FIG. 2, the image selecting/combining unit 50 is equipped with an image allotter 51, image downsizers 52 and 53, and image composers 54 and 55; par 0052; discloses If the program images from the respective broadcast receiving units 10 and 20 are all displayed as main-screens on the respective monitors 102 and 112, the idle-state establishing unit 97 controls the broadcast receiving unit 10 (20) corresponding to the monitor 102 (112) viewed by a user, to halt receiving the program image, and control the monitor 102 (112) to display the program image from the broadcast receiving unit 20 (10) as a main-screen; par 0048; discloses The idle-state detecting unit 94 serves to detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20, which is not receiving broadcast wave (i.e. program images), that is, detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20 in an idle-state);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO to incorporate the teachings of Todoroki to combine images to generate combined image in order to generate images for displaying across plurality of display without interrupting the user from viewing the program;
Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki don’t expressly disclose controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems;
In the same field of endeavor, Tsuji discloses electronic apparatus and control method (see abstract); Tsuji discloses controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems (par 0031; discloses The processing to be executed by the BIOS 171 also include a processing for displaying logo images representing a manufacturer name (PC MANUFACTURER) and a product name (XYZ Computer New Model) for the computer 1 shown in FIG. 6 before the starting operation of the operating system. The images to be displayed at this time are stored as the logo image data 173 in a region in the BIOS-ROM 17);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki to incorporate the teachings of Tsuji to display initialization images across the plurality of display before the startup of the operating system in order to obtain a device capable of causing an image displayed on a display device with a higher resolution even before an operation of an operating system is started.
With respect to claim 19, Liu discloses system and method for sending initialization images to a plurality of display screens according to an initialization-image combination in response to startup of a terminal device, (par 0067; discloses The detecting module 6202 generates the testing image according to the basic information provided by the information extracting module 6201, the testing image carries information corresponding to locations of the pixels in the display panel 610, for example, the testing image can be partitioned into a plurality of sub portions which are arranged in an order according to the predetermined third topology, each portion corresponds to a corresponding sub display panel D. After generating the testing image, the detecting module 6202 can trigger the switching module 6203 to connect the detecting module 6202 to the display channel of the display panel 610, so that the testing image generated by the detecting module 6202 is provided to the plurality of sub display panels D of the display panel 610 through the display channel. par 0068; discloses the switching module 6203 can be made to switch to the detecting module 6202 at the time when the display apparatus 600 starts up, and to switch to the display data sending device 630 when the debugging on the entire display apparatus is completed) wherein the plurality of display screens are from at least two electronic systems (fig. 1A; display panel 110; par 0037; discloses the display panel 110 comprises 9 sub display panels D11, D12, D13, D21, D22, D23, D31, D32 and D33 (which are collectively referred to as sub display panels D) arranged in a 3 by 3 array, the sub display panels D are connected by a display channel (indicated by arrow lines shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B)); and controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image (par 0077; discloses the display data can be partitioned according to the dividing method referring to FIG. 4A, and then the partitioned display data can be sequenced according to an order of E11, E21, E31, E32, E22, E12, E13, E23 and E33. This makes the dividing and the sequencing methods of the display data of the display panel consistent with the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels and the connecting form of the display channel, so that the entire display panel can display correctly);
Liu doesn’t expressly disclose a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, the computer program includes program instructions which, when executed by a processor of a terminal device, cause the processor to control each display screen to simultaneously display the image; each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen;
In the same field of endeavor, CAO discloses tiled display system and control method (see abstract); CAO discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, the computer program includes program instructions which, when executed by a processor, (par 0281; discloses the present disclosure further provides a non-stationary computer readable storage medium, and the non-stationary computer readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed, the image processing methods of the control device 2 as shown in FIG. 2, 4, 5, 6A or 6B are performed) cause the processor to control each display screen to simultaneously display the image (par 0053; discloses displaying the initial image simultaneously on a plurality of displays); each electronic system of the at least two electronic systems comprises an operating system and at least one display screen (fig. 10; discloses block diagram for each display device 10; par 0061; discloses a second processor, a second memory, a second communication device, and a frame buffer memory. Explanations of the second processor, the second memory, and the second communication device may refer to the above explanations of the first processor, the first memory, and the first communication device, so they will not be repeated here; par 0058; discloses he first processor may be one or more of general central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or integrated circuit which is used to control program execution of some embodiments of the present disclosure. A CPU may be a single-CPU or a multi-CPU. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (for example, computer program instructions); see par 0059 as well);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu to incorporate the teachings of CAO to perform the method via non-transitory computer readable storage medium to simultaneously display the divided images on the plurality of displays such that a large image is accurately displayed to the user without any delay or lag. The modification would allow one to use the method via different mediums;
Liu as modified by CAO don’t expressly disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination; wherein the initialization-image combination is obtained by combining the initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state,
In the same field of endeavor, Todoroki discloses system and method for displaying images across plurality of display (see abstract); Todoroki disclose combining an initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, to obtain an initialization-image combination; wherein the initialization-image combination is obtained by combining the initialization image for each display in response to the terminal device being in an offline state, (par 0036 discloses the image selecting/combining unit 50 serves to selectively combine the program images among a plurality of program images outputted from the video decoder 34. The program images selectively combined by the image selecting/combining unit 50 are individually outputted to the output controlling unit 60 or 70. As shown in FIG. 2, the image selecting/combining unit 50 is equipped with an image allotter 51, image downsizers 52 and 53, and image composers 54 and 55; par 0052; discloses If the program images from the respective broadcast receiving units 10 and 20 are all displayed as main-screens on the respective monitors 102 and 112, the idle-state establishing unit 97 controls the broadcast receiving unit 10 (20) corresponding to the monitor 102 (112) viewed by a user, to halt receiving the program image, and control the monitor 102 (112) to display the program image from the broadcast receiving unit 20 (10) as a main-screen; par 0048; discloses The idle-state detecting unit 94 serves to detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20, which is not receiving broadcast wave (i.e. program images), that is, detect the broadcast receiving unit 10 or 20 in an idle-state);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO to incorporate the teachings of Todoroki to combine images to generate combined image in order to generate images for displaying across plurality of display without interrupting the user from viewing the program;
Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki don’t expressly disclose controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems;
In the same field of endeavor, Tsuji discloses electronic apparatus and control method (see abstract); Tsuji discloses controlling each display screen to display a corresponding initialization image, before startup of operating systems of the at least two electronic systems (par 0031; discloses The processing to be executed by the BIOS 171 also include a processing for displaying logo images representing a manufacturer name (PC MANUFACTURER) and a product name (XYZ Computer New Model) for the computer 1 shown in FIG. 6 before the starting operation of the operating system. The images to be displayed at this time are stored as the logo image data 173 in a region in the BIOS-ROM 17);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO and Todoroki to incorporate the teachings of Tsuji to display initialization images across the plurality of display before the startup of the operating system in order to obtain a device capable of causing an image displayed on a display device with a higher resolution even before an operation of an operating system is started.
With respect to claim 21, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein in terms of sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image, the processor is configured to invoke the program instructions to: send the initialization-image combination; and separate the initialization-image combination to obtain the corresponding initialization image for each display screen (Liu; par 0019; discloses the step of generating the testing image according to the basic information comprises: generating the testing image according to the resolution of the display panel and dividing the testing image into a plurality of sub portions according to the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels, wherein each of the plurality of sub portion corresponds to a respective one of the sub display panels).
With respect to claim 24, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji discloses wherein in terms of sending the initialization images to the plurality of display screens according to the initial image, the computer program includes program instructions which cause the processor to: determine an initialization image for each display screen from the initial image; and send the initialization image for each display screen to the respective display screen (Liu; par 0053; discloses the information extracting module 2201 can extract the basic information of the display panel 210 through the information channel, the basic information is, for example, the resolution of the display panel 210, the resolution of each of the plurality of sub display panels, etc. The detecting module 2202 generates the testing image according to the basic information provided by the information extracting module 2201, and transfers the testing image to the plurality of sub display panels D of the display panel 210 through the display channel. The testing image carries information corresponding to locations of the pixels on the display panel 210, for example, the testing image can be partitioned into a plurality of sub portions which are arranged in an order according to the predetermined third topology, each portion corresponds to a corresponding sub display panel D).
Claim(s) 11-12, 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Liu et al (US Pub 2019/0065133) in view of CAO et al (US Pub 2022/0019398), Todoroki (US Pub 2013/0155326), Tsuji et al (US Pub 2010/0082965) and HONG et al (US Pub 2016/0098240).
With respect to claim 11, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji don’t expressly disclose wherein the at least two electronic systems comprise a first electronic system, the first electronic system comprises a first operating system and at least one first display screen, and the plurality of display screens comprise the at least one first display screen, and the method further comprises: obtaining an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and controlling each first display screen to display the application interface image;
In the same field of endeavor, HONG discloses display system and control method (see abstract); HONG discloses wherein the at least two electronic systems comprise a first electronic system, (par 0041; discloses the display apparatuses may be TVs having different functions. In addition, FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary embodiment where all of the plurality of display apparatuses 100-1 to 100-5 are realized as TVs, but this is only an example. The display apparatuses may be realized as various electronic apparatuses including a display such as mobile phone, plasma display panel (PDP), personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet personal computer (PC), home theater, digital camera, camcorder, notebook PC,; par 0126; discloses in exemplary embodiments, one or more units of the above-described apparatuses and devices can include circuitry, a processor, a microprocessor, etc., and may execute a computer program stored in a computer-readable medium) the first electronic system comprises a first operating system and at least one first display screen, and the plurality of display screens comprise the at least one first display screen, (par 0047; discloses the display apparatus 100 includes an interface 110, a communicator 120, a display 130 and a controller 140) and the method further comprises: obtaining an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and controlling each first display screen to display the application interface image (par 0057; discloses the display 130 may display various user interfaces (UIs). In particular, the display 130 may be connected to other display apparatuses, and display a UI to receive input of a user command to reproduce image contents; par 0060; discloses if a connection request is received from at least one other display apparatus through the communicator 120, the controller 140 may control the display 130 to reproduce the image contents, and control the communicator 120 to transmit a reproduction command to the at least one other display apparatus);
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji to incorporate the teachings of HONG to use plurality of electronic devices as display panels where the master device controls the slave device in order to allow users to use different electronic devices to form and display large images using the plurality of electronic devices.
With respect to claim 12, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki, Tsuji and HONG further discloses wherein obtaining the application interface image for each first display screen comprises: obtaining an application-interface-image combination; separating the application-interface-image combination to obtain an application interface image for each display screen; and determining the application interface image for each first display screen from the application interface image for each display screen (HONG; par 0057; discloses the display 130 may display various user interfaces (UIs). In particular, the display 130 may be connected to other display apparatuses, and display a UI to receive input of a user command to reproduce image contents; par 0044; discloses The master display 100-5 may divide the entire image into 16 sub-images and reproduce one of the 16-images according to the synchronization time information which is shared with the slave displays 100-6 to 100-20. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 1C, a plurality of displays 100-21 to 100-25 may display different image contents associated with each other, and thereby realize a large display screen 3000).
With respect to claim 25, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji don’t expressly disclose wherein the at least two electronic systems comprise a first electronic system, the first electronic system comprises a first operating system and at least one first display screen, and the plurality of display screens comprise the at least one first display screen, and the computer program includes program instructions which further cause the processor to: obtain an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and control each first display screen to display the application interface image;
In the same field of endeavor, HONG discloses display system and control method (see abstract); HONG discloses wherein the at least two electronic systems comprise a first electronic system, (par 0041; discloses the display apparatuses may be TVs having different functions. In addition, FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary embodiment where all of the plurality of display apparatuses 100-1 to 100-5 are realized as TVs, but this is only an example. The display apparatuses may be realized as various electronic apparatuses including a display such as mobile phone, plasma display panel (PDP), personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet personal computer (PC), home theater, digital camera, camcorder, notebook PC,; par 0126; discloses in exemplary embodiments, one or more units of the above-described apparatuses and devices can include circuitry, a processor, a microprocessor, etc., and may execute a computer program stored in a computer-readable medium) the first electronic system comprises a first operating system and at least one first display screen, and the plurality of display screens comprise the at least one first display screen, (par 0047; discloses the display apparatus 100 includes an interface 110, a communicator 120, a display 130 and a controller 140) and the computer program includes program instructions which further cause the processor to: obtain an application interface image for each first display screen in response to startup of the first operating system; and control each first display screen to display the application interface image (par 0057; discloses the display 130 may display various user interfaces (UIs). In particular, the display 130 may be connected to other display apparatuses, and display a UI to receive input of a user command to reproduce image contents; par 0060; discloses if a connection request is received from at least one other display apparatus through the communicator 120, the controller 140 may control the display 130 to reproduce the image contents, and control the communicator 120 to transmit a reproduction command to the at least one other display apparatus);
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO to incorporate the teachings of HONG to use plurality of electronic devices as display panels where the master device controls the slave device in order to allow users to use different electronic devices to form and display large images using the plurality of electronic devices.
With respect to claim 26, Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji wherein in terms of obtaining the application interface image for each first display screen, the computer program includes program instructions which further cause the processor to: obtain an application-interface-image combination; separate the application-interface-image combination to obtain the application interface image for each display screen; and determine the application interface image for each first display screen from the application interface image for each display screen;
In the same field of endeavor, HONG discloses display system and control method (see abstract); HONG discloses wherein in terms of obtaining the application interface image for each first display screen, the computer program includes program instructions which further cause the processor to: obtain an application-interface-image combination; separate the application-interface-image combination to obtain an application interface image for each display screen; and determine the application interface image for each first display screen from the application interface image for each display screen (HONG; par 0057; discloses the display 130 may display various user interfaces (UIs). In particular, the display 130 may be connected to other display apparatuses, and display a UI to receive input of a user command to reproduce image contents; par 0044; discloses The master display 100-5 may divide the entire image into 16 sub-images and reproduce one of the 16-images according to the synchronization time information which is shared with the slave displays 100-6 to 100-20. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 1C, a plurality of displays 100-21 to 100-25 may display different image contents associated with each other, and thereby realize a large display screen 3000);
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention disclosed by Liu as modified by CAO, Todoroki and Tsuji to incorporate the teachings of HONG to use plurality of electronic devices as display panels where the master device controls the slave device to display application interface across plurality of displays in order to allow users to display application interface as large images using the plurality of electronic devices.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 14, 19 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to new references being used in the current rejection.
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.
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/SUJIT SHAH/Examiner, Art Unit 2624