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 .
Claim Interpretation
During patent examination, pending claims must be “given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification.” MPEP 2111; See also, MPEP 2173.02. Limitations appearing in the specification but not recited in the claim are not read into the claim. In re Prater, 415 F.2d 1393, 1404-05, 162 USPQ 541, 550-551 (CCPA 1969). See also, In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319, 321-22, 13 USPQ2d 1320, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (“During patent examination the pending claims must be interpreted as broadly as their terms reasonably allow”). The reason is simply that during patent prosecution when claims can be amended, ambiguities should be recognized, scope and breadth of language explored, and clarification imposed. An essential purpose of patent examination is to fashion claims that are precise, clear, correct, and unambiguous. Only in this way can uncertainties of claim scope be removed, as much as possible, during the administrative process.
The Examiner respectfully requests of the Applicant in preparing responses, to consider fully the entirety of the reference(s) as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. It is noted, REFERENCES ARE RELEVANT AS PRIOR ART FOR ALL THEY CONTAIN.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0327615 A1 to Watari.
With regard to claim 1, Watari discloses:
1. A computer comprising:
a touch panel display configured to display a plurality of objects and a cursor configured to follow a finger (see, Fig. 3, and detailed description, including, the obtainment unit 31 may obtain operational point coordinates continuously following a slide operation (also called "swiping" or "dragging", for example). The slide operation is an operation in which a user moves a finger from a position to another position on the touch panel while keeping contact on the touch panel, para. 0046); and
an execution unit configured to execute processing corresponding to the object pointed by the cursor (see, detailed description, including, enable operations using the cursor (called, for example, the "cursor operation mode"). Note that the cursor may not be displayed on the screen of the display device in a usual operational state. In that case the display device 1 receives a predetermined operation as input from the user for enabling operations using the cursor, and transitions into the cursor operation mode when detecting the input of the predetermined operation, para. 0047) wherein
a relative position of the cursor with reference to the finger is changed so that the cursor is located ahead in a moving direction of the finger (see, detailed description, including, once transitioned into the cursor operation mode, the input control unit 32 controls the cursor so that it is positioned at a relative position with respect to the touch position as a reference position where the relative position has been stored in the storage unit 35 or the like, para. 0048).
With regard to claim 2, Watari discloses:
2. The computer according to claim 1, wherein
a distance between the finger and the cursor is constant (see, detailed description, including, Note that component values of a relative position are kept unchanged unless a relative position change operation is executed, para. 0064).
With regard to claim 3, Watari discloses:
3. The computer according to claim 2, wherein
when the cursor reaches an end portion of a moving range of the cursor, the cursor is not displayed (see, detailed description, including, the input control unit 32 of the display device 1 executes an end procedure of the cursor operation mode (Step S15). At Step S15, the input control unit 32 may not display the cursor on the touch panel if the cursor is not set to be used, for example, in usual operational states, but not limited to that, para. 0099).
With regard to claim 4, Watari discloses:
4. The computer according to claim 2, wherein
the cursor is displayed at an intersection of a line extending in the moving direction of the finger and a circle centered on a touch position with the finger (see, Fig. 5, and detailed description, and is interpreted in an (x, y) plane, including, it may be represented by orthogonal coordinates with which a relative position can be specified as (x, y) assuming that the touch position is at (0, 0). Directly following the above definition, the relative position is specified by the relative distance (for example, x.sup.2+y.sup.2) and the relative direction (for example, angle .theta.) para. 0063).
With regard to claim 5, Watari discloses:
5. The computer according to claim 2, wherein
the cursor jumps to a new relative position of the cursor with reference to the finger in response to a change in the moving direction of the finger (see, Figs. 7A-7C, and detailed description, wherein the change in operation is interpreted as displayed in a fast re-display or jump, If the user wants to perform a change operation of the relative position "b", the user touches the touch panel 40 using another finger B, which is different from the finger A. Note that it is preferable that the finger B touches the cursor 41 displayed on the touch panel 40 or a neighboring position around the cursor 41 as illustrated in FIG. 7B, but is not limited to these. The display device 1 obtains the touch positions of the fingers A and B, para. 0077).
With regard to claim 6, Watari discloses:
6. The computer according to claim 1, wherein
the cursor has a shape of an arrow, and a direction of the arrow coincides with the moving direction of the finger (see, detailed description, including, the storage unit 35 may store information about the shape, color, size, and the like of the currently used cursor, and the information about multiple cursor icons (images) among which the user can make a selection of an icon, para. 0052; and the change unit 34 changes the relative positions of the cursor position relative to a touch position based on the predetermined operation made by the user, para. 0051).
With regard to claim 7, claim7 (a method claim) recites substantially similar limitations to claim 1 (a device claim) and is therefore rejected using the same art and rationale set forth above.
With regard to claim 8, claim 8 (a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium claim) recites substantially similar limitations to claim 1 (a method claim) and is therefore rejected using the same art and rationale set forth above.
A sampling of the prior art made of record and not relied upon and considered pertinent to Applicants’ disclosure includes: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0224723 A1, that discusses, The electronic apparatus (100) has a touch detection unit that is configured to detect a touch operation on a touch panel (70). A selection unit is configured to select positions on a display unit through a touch operation on the touch panel. A control unit is configured to control the selection unit. The control unit controls the selection unit to select positions from among positions of the selective candidates on the display unit existing in a direction of the touch position movement, based on a touch position movement up to a second timing after the first timing.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM D. TITCOMB whose telephone number is (571)270-5190. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (M-F).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen C. Hong can be reached at 571-272-4124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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WILLIAM D. TITCOMB
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2178
/WILLIAM D TITCOMB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2178 8-5-2026
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