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 office action is in response to application 18936087 filed on November 4, 2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
As required by M.P.E.P. 609(C), the applicant’s submissions of the Information Disclosure Statements dated December 2, 2024, May 12, 2025, September 23, 2025, May 18, 2026, and July 28, 2026 are acknowledged by the examiner and the cited references have been considered in the examination of the claims now pending. As required by M.P.E.P 609, a copy of the PTOL-1449 initialed and dated by the examiner is attached to the office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-4, 9-10, and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (US20230418446A1) in further view of Needham (US20140095600A1).
Regarding claim 1, Peng teaches a method, comprising:
receiving a first instruction at a first device (determining that the screenshot operation is received, in response to detecting a preset touch operation performed on the screen)([0046]);
capturing a first user interface of the first device as a first screenshot image in response to the first instruction … in response to the first instruction … triggers capturing of a second user interface … (At block S110, in response to a screenshot operation, a screenshot of each of multiple display windows displayed on a screen is acquired separately)([0053]; screenshots of multiple displayed interface are captured in response to user input); and
displaying the first screenshot image and the second screenshot image on the first user interface (a screenshot 13 of the separate window A and a screenshot 14 of the separate window as illustrated in FIG. 2 (2) ... At block S130: displaying the first screenshot and the second screenshot)([0056] and [0069]; Figure 2(2) – displaying captured screenshots is shown).
Peng differs from the claim in that Peng fails to teach sending instruction to a second device associated with the first device to trigger capturing of the second screenshot image of the second user interface (i.e., sending instruction to connected devices to capture screenshots of the connected devices) and the first device receiving screenshots of the connected devices.
However, sending instruction to connected devices to capture screenshots of the connected devices, wherein an initiating screenshot device receives screenshots of the connected devices is taught by Needham (a user of one of the participating devices 300 a-c initiates a multiple-device screen capture possibly through operation of its controls 320 ... one of the participating devices 300 a-c serving as the initiating device is caused to operate the interface 390 to signal the others of the participating devices 300 a-c to coordinate the timing ... Following the time-coordinated triggering of screen captures by all three of the participating devices 300 a-c ... transmit their respective ones of the image data 348 a-c to the others of the participating devices 300 a-c … Following this exchange of captured imagery … create separate versions of the aggregated image data 848 from the image data 348 a-c for subsequent visual presentation)([0060-0062]).
The examiner notes Peng and Needham teach capturing screenshots. As such, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng to include the sending and the receiving of Needham such that an instruction is sent to a second device associated with a first device to trigger capturing of a second screenshot image of a second user interface, wherein the first device receives the second screenshot. One would be motivated to make such a combination to provide the advantage of capturing a user’s simultaneous use of multiple devices.
Regarding claim 2, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, wherein displaying the first screenshot image and the second screenshot image on the first user interface comprises:
displaying, on the first user interface, a screenshot display window, a first switching identifier associated with the first screenshot image, and a second switching identifier associated with the second screenshot image; displaying the first screenshot image in the screenshot display window in response to a received tap operation for the first switching identifier; and displaying the second screenshot image in the screenshot display window in response to a received tap operation for the second switching identifier (Peng - determining thumbnails of the first screenshots and the at least one second screenshot, and displaying the thumbnails in the thumbnail display area; and in response to a switching operation for a screenshot corresponding to a thumbnail selected from the displayed thumbnails, zooming in and displaying the first screenshot or the second screenshot corresponding to the switching operation ... thumbnail display area and the zoom-in display area may be distributed in an up-down direction. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8 (1), FIG. 8 (2) and FIG. 8 (3))([0043] and [0073]; Figures 8(1), 8(2), and 8(3) - displaying selectors (i.e., thumbnails) associated with screenshots, such that selection a thumbnail results in displaying an associated screenshot is shown).
Regarding claim 3, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, wherein displaying the first screenshot image and the second screenshot image on the first user interface comprises:
displaying the first screenshot image on the first user interface at a first priority; and displaying the second screenshot image on the first user interface at a second priority, wherein the first priority is higher than the second priority (Peng - determining display priorities of the first screenshots and the at least one second screenshot; and displaying the first screenshots and the at least one second screenshot ... in a descending order of the display priorities)([0044]).
Regarding claim 4, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
performing, in response to a target operation that is received at the first device, the target operation on at least one of the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image (Peng - while the screenshots are displayed ... various editing operations may be performed on the screenshots displayed .. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 12 , the zoom-in display area may include two editing areas)([0075] and [0077]; Figure 12 – displaying selectable edit operations is shown).
Regarding claim 9, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 4, wherein performing the target operation on the at least one of the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image comprises:
storing the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image in the first device in response to a tap operation that is received in an area of the first user interface other than an area in which the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image is displayed (Peng - At block S140, in response to a selection operation for a target screenshot of the screenshots displayed in the preview mode, the target screenshot is saved)([0078]).
Regarding claim 10, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 4, wherein performing the target operation on the at least one of the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image comprises:
editing the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image in response to a tap operation that is received in an area of the first user interface in which the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image is displayed (Peng - display interface may also be provided with various editing operation controls, such as cutting, mirroring, text adding, watermark adding, sharing, deleting controls and other operation controls ... At block S330, it is determined whether a screenshot editing operation is received within a preset duration. When the screenshot editing operation is received within the preset duration, it proceeds to block S340 and block S350)([0075] and [0113]).
Regarding claim 12, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the first device being associated with the second device indicates at least one of the following: an account for logging in to the first device is associated with an account for logging in to the second device, a network in which the first device is located is associated with a network in which the second device is located, or a distance between the first device and the second device is less than a threshold distance (Needham - As depicted, the computing devices 100, 300 a-c and 500 exchange signals concerning a multiple-device screen capture through a network 999. In various embodiments, the network 999 may be a single network possibly limited to extending within a single building or other relatively limited area)([0019]).
Regarding claim 13, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
disabling a screen capture function of one or more of the first device or the second device based on a screen capture disabling setting (Needham - Which of the participating devices 300 a-c are to participate are determined, at least partially, based on indications received via the network 999 of the user responses to the presented requests for agreement)([0060]; devices disable screen capturing if they do not agree).
Regarding claim 14, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
displaying, on the first user interface of the first device based on a screen capture selection setting, a screenshot of one or more devices selected from the first device and the second device (Needham - Which of the others of the participating devices 300 a-c are to be signaled to present such a request may be provided through user operation of the controls 320 of one of the participating devices 300 a-c, or may be retrieved from the selection data 542 … Following this exchange of captured imagery … create separate versions of the aggregated image data 848 from the image data 348 a-c for subsequent visual presentation)([0060] and [0062]; screenshots of selected devices are shown).
Regarding claim 15, Peng-Needham teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the first instruction comprises at least one of the following:
an operation of simultaneously pressing a power button and a volume button of the first device, a three-finger swipe-down operation, an operation of capturing a screen by opening a control center, an operation of capturing a screen by using a voice assistant, an operation of knocking a screen with a knuckle, or an operation of capturing a screen with a stylus (Peng - The screenshot operation may be triggered after the electronic device detects that a physical key on the electronic device is pressed by a user, for example, it may be triggered upon detecting that a combination of keys (for example, a power key plus a volume key))([0054]).
Regarding device claims 16-19, the claims generally correspond to method claims 1-4, respectively, and recite similar features in device form; therefore, the claims are rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding medium claim 20, the claims generally correspond to method claim 1, and recite similar features in medium form; therefore, the claim is rejected under similar rationale.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng, Needham, and in further view of Jon et al. (US20190147026A1).
Regarding claim 7, Peng-Needham teach the method as applied above, wherein the first interface is an application interface (Needham - the user interfaces of one or more of the computing devices 100 and 300 a-c may comprise a web browser, email client … the participating devices 300 a-c are computing devices that are all associated with a single user employing all three of them in a common task, such as accessing a single email account associated with that user)([0044] and [0048]). Peng-Needham differs from the claim in that Peng-Needham fails to teach inserting screenshot at a target location on the application interface.
However, inserting a screenshot at a target location on an application interface is taught by Jon (FIG. 5Z illustrates displaying a thumbnail representation 5158 of a screenshot image 5168 ... FIGS. 5Z-5AA show a sequence in which the thumbnail representation of the screenshot image is dragged-and-dropped into one of the regions ... associated with the messaging interface 5150 and drops the thumbnail representation 5158 of the screenshot image 5168 into the message input field 5152)([0197-0198]; Figure 5Z – inserting a screenshot into a target location of a messaging application is shown).
The examiner notes Peng, Needham, and Jon teach capturing screenshots. As such, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng-Needham to include the inserting of Jon such that a screenshot is inserted into a target location on an application interface. One would be motivated to make such a combination to provide the advantage of allowing a user to share screenshots.
Regarding claim 8, Peng-Needham-Jon teach the method according to claim 7, wherein inserting the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image at the target location on the application interface comprises:
displaying, on the application interface in response to a drag operation that is received for the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image, an animation of moving the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image with the drag operation; and inserting the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image at the target location on the application interface in response to a release operation that is received at the target location for the first screenshot image or the second screenshot image (Jon - FIG. 5Z illustrates displaying a thumbnail representation 5158 of a screenshot image 5168 ... FIGS. 5Z-5AA show a sequence in which the thumbnail representation of the screenshot image is dragged-and-dropped into one of the regions ... associated with the messaging interface 5150 and drops the thumbnail representation 5158 of the screenshot image 5168 into the message input field 5152)([0197-0198]; Figure 5Z – displaying a moving animation when inserting a screenshot into a target location of a messaging application is shown).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng, Needham, and in further view of Lu et al. (US20180088764A1).
Regarding claim 11, Peng-Needham teach the method as applied above, wherein screenshots of devices are captured (Needham - signals the participating devices 300 a-c through the network 999 to perform a multiple-device screen capture)([0020]). Peng-Needham differs from the claim in that Peng-Needham fails to teach dragging a screenshot on a home (i.e., terminal) screen to an application identifier (i.e., icon) on the screen.
However, dragging a screenshot on a terminal screen to an application icon on the screen is taught by Lu (In step 201, when the screenshot operation instruction is detected, or captured by the terminal, a screenshot of the current displayed page is taken ... In step 202, a preview image corresponding to the screenshot image is generated ... In step 205, if a dragging operation with respect to the displayed preview image by the user is detected ... In step 206, when it is detected that the preview image is dragged to an icon of a target application among the icons of the displayed applications ... Referring to FIG. 4B to 4D, FIG. 4B to 4D are schematic diagrams showing that a preview image is dragged to a target application among the applications displayed on a terminal)([0075], [0077], [0097], [0099], and [0106]).
The examiner notes Peng, Needham, and Lu teach capturing screenshots. As such, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Peng-Needham to include the dragging of Lu such that a screenshot is dragged on a home screen to an application identifier on the screen. One would be motivated to make such a combination to provide the advantage of allowing sharing of screenshots to applications.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c) to consider the reference fully when responding to this action. The document cited therein and enumerated below teaches a method and apparatus for capturing device screenshots.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Yongjia Pan whose telephone number is (571)270-1177. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott Baderman can be reached at 571-272-3644. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YONGJIA PAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
