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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/11/2024 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
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakamura et al. (US 2011/0164053 A1) in view of Boyagian et al. (US 2020/0233567 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nakamura discloses a display apparatus for a vehicle (e.g. Fig. 2: 3), the display apparatus comprising:
a display (e.g. Fig. 9) comprising a first region (e.g. Fig. 9: AV region & navigation region) in which provided content is to be displayed and a second region (e.g. Figs. 9 & 17-19: link icons on the navigation region) in which a link icon linking to the content is to be displayed;
a touch sensor (e.g. Fig. 2: touch panel 21);
a display control unit (e.g. Fig. 2: 22) configured to execute display control that controls a display mode of the display; and
a storage (e.g. Fig. 2 & [0073-0076]: data are stored in memory 17) configured to store information comprising data on the display mode of the display,
wherein the display control unit is configured to execute the display control to cause a display area of the second region to become smaller than a display area of the first region (e.g. Figs. 9 & 17-19: link icons are smaller than the AV region and navigation region), and execute, when the touch sensor detects an operation made by an occupant in the vehicle on the link icon displayed on the display, the display control to make expansion of a rendering region of the second region, based on the operation made by the occupant, to or below an upper limit of a range where the display area of the second region is kept smaller than the display area of the first region (e.g. Figs. 17-19: link icon is enlarged by kept smaller than the entire screen), while continuing to execute the display control in the first region (e.g. Figs. 17-19: display of the link icon superimposes on the screen, but the display contents of the AV region and the navigation region continue to show).
Nakamura fails to disclose, but Boyagian teaches the operation is a swipe operation and the enlargement of the link icon is based on a completion position of the swiping operation made by the occupant (e.g. Figs. 11-13 & [0047, 0053, 0054]: swipe on an icon to activate the functions).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Nakamura with the teachings of Boyagian to utilize swiping as an activation command to enlarge or diminish a link icon since Boyagian teaches swiping gesture on a touch screen to control command is well-known in the art. Replacing the touch command with a swiping gesture command is merely simple substitutions of one known method with another, and utilizing a well-known technique on a well-known device is routine skill in the art and would have yielded only predictable results to one skilled in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Nakamura discloses the display control unit is configured to cause additional information supplementing information provided by the link icon to be displayed, in accordance with the expansion of the rendering region of the second region (e.g. Figs. 17-19).
Regarding claim 3, Nakamura discloses the display control unit is configured to enlarge a display size of the link icon or a display size of the additional information, in accordance with the expansion of the rendering region of the second region (e.g. Figs. 17-19).
Regarding claim 4, Nakamura discloses the link icon comprises a functionality setting icon, and the display control unit is configured to cause a setting screen to be displayed in the second region when the functionality setting icon is tapped by the occupant after the expansion of the rendering region of the second region (e.g. Figs. 17-19).
Regarding claim 5, Nakamura discloses a display apparatus for a vehicle (e.g. Fig. 2: 3), the display apparatus comprising:
a display (e.g. Fig. 9) comprising a first region in which provided content is to be displayed (e.g. Fig. 9: AV region & navigation region) and a second region (e.g. Figs. 9 & 17-19: link icons on the navigation region) in which a link icon linking to the content is to be displayed;
a touch sensor (e.g. Fig. 2: touch panel 21);
one or more processors (e.g. Fig. 2: 22) configured to execute display control that controls a display mode of the display; and
one or more memories (e.g. Fig. 2 & [0073-0076]: data are stored in memory 17) communicably coupled to the one or more processors and configured to store information comprising data on the display mode of the display,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the display control to cause a display area of the second region to become smaller than a display area of the first region (e.g. Figs. 9 & 17-19: link icons are smaller than the AV region and navigation region), and execute, when the touch sensor detects an operation made by an occupant in the vehicle on the link icon displayed on the display, the display control to make expansion of a rendering region of the second region, based on a completion of the operation made by the occupant, to or below an upper limit of a range where the display area of the second region is kept smaller than the display area of the first region (e.g. Figs. 17-19: link icon is enlarged by kept smaller than the entire screen), while continuing to execute the display control in the first region e.g. Figs. 17-19: display of the link icon superimposes on the screen, but the display contents of the AV region and the navigation region continue to show).
Nakamura fails to disclose, but Boyagian teaches the operation is a swipe operation and the enlargement of the link icon is based on a completion position of the swiping operation made by the occupant (e.g. Figs. 11-13 & [0047, 0053, 0054]: swipe on an icon to activate the functions).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Nakamura with the teachings of Boyagian to utilize swiping as an activation command to enlarge or diminish a link icon since Boyagian teaches swiping gesture on a touch screen to control command is well-known in the art. Replacing the touch command with a swiping gesture command is merely simple substitutions of one known method with another, and utilizing a well-known technique on a well-known device is routine skill in the art and would have yielded only predictable results to one skilled in the art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAM WAN MA whose telephone number is (571) 270-3693. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm.
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/KAM WAN MA/Examiner, Art Unit 2688