DETAILED ACTION
In response to communications filed 28 July 2025, this is the first Office action of the merits. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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
Claims 7, 14 and 20 recites “using a graphical tree”. The claims do not recite functionality, but instead recites what are the graphical trees used for. Examiner suggests amending the claim to recite the functionality performed by the claimed method, instead of reciting what the claim elements are used for.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Step 1:
Claims 1-7 are recited as being directed to a “method”. Claims 8-14 are recited as being directed to a “system”. Claims 15-20 are recited as being directed to a “computer readable medium”. Thus claims 1-20 have been identified to be directed towards the appropriate statutory category. Below is further analysis related to step 2.
Regarding claim 1,
Step 2A: Prong One:
Claim 1 recites limitations:
identifying,… a child record among the plurality of hierarchical records, the child record is associated with a first parent record and a second parent record that are higher in hierarchy than the child record;
determining,… dimensions of a display device;
determining, based on the dimensions of the display device, a first x-y coordinate… for rendering a first shape representing the child record at a first hierarchical level;
determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions… a plurality of second x-y coordinates on the display device for rendering a second shape representing the first parent record of the child record and one or more first child shapes representing one or more first child records of the first parent record;
determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions… a plurality of third x-y coordinates… for rendering a third shape representing the second parent record of the child record and one or more second child shapes representing one or more second child records of the first parent record;
rendering,… the first shape at the first x-y coordinate, the second shape and the one or more first child shapes at the plurality of second x-y coordinates and the third shape and the one or more second child shapes at the plurality of third x-y coordinates, wherein the second shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more first child shapes, and wherein the third shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more second child shapes; and
… the first shape, the second shape, the one or more first child shapes, the third shape, and the one or more second child shapes to illustrate the child record, the first parent record, the one or more first child records, the second parent record, and the one or more second child records, respectively..
These claim limitations appear to be reciting a “Mental Process” including evaluation which may be performed in a human mind.
A human mind can evaluate to identify a child record having plurality of parent records. A human being can evaluate to determine dimensions of a display device. A human being can perform evaluation on a paper to determine first x-y coordinate to determine first shape representing the child record using a pen and a paper. A human mind can evaluate on a piece of paper to determine based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions of the display device, a plurality of second x-y coordinates for rendering a second shape representing the first parent record of the child record and one or more first child shapes representing one or more first child records of the first parent record. A human being can also evaluate on a piece of paper to determine based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions, a plurality of third x-y coordinates on the display device for rendering a third shape representing the second parent record of the child record and one or more second child shapes representing one or more second child records of the first parent record. A human being can also perform evaluation using a pen and a paper to render the first shape at the first x-y coordinate, the second shape and the one or more first child shapes at the plurality of second x-y coordinates and the third shape and the one or more second child shapes at the plurality of third x-y coordinates, wherein the second shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more first child shapes, and wherein the third shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more second child shapes. A human mind can evaluate to determine how shapes illustrate the first shape, the second shape, the one or more first child shapes, the third shape, and the one or more second child shapes to illustrate the child record, the first parent record, the one or more first child records, the second parent record, and the one or more second child records, respectively.
Step 2A: Prong Two:
The abstract idea does not appear to be integrated into a practical application with the recitation of the following claim language.
Claim 1 further recites limitations:
… by a computer device,…
… by the computer device,…
…. on a display device,…
…. of the display device,…
…. on the display device,…
…. by the computer device,…
These claim limitations appear to be to merely add the use of generic computer components which are merely executing the abstract idea within a computer device (see MPEP 2106.05(b)) and do not appear to integrate the abstract idea into a particular application.
Claim 1 further recites claim limitations:
displaying, by the computer device on the display device;
These claim limitations as a whole have been identified as insignificant extra-solution activity. Per MPEP 2106.05(g) “An example of post-solution activity is an element that is not integrated into the claim as a whole, e.g., a printer that is used to output a report of fraudulent transactions, which is recited in a claim to a computer programmed to analyze and manipulate information about credit card transactions in order to detect whether the transactions were fraudulent”. Similarly the claim limitations as a whole above appear to be displaying and do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Step 2B:
The abstract idea does not appear to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea with the recitation of the following claim language.
Claim 1 further recites limitations:
… by a computer device,…
… by the computer device,…
…. on a display device,…
…. of the display device,…
…. on the display device,…
…. by the computer device,…
These claim limitations appear to be to merely add the use of generic computer components which are merely executing the abstract idea within a computer device (see MPEP 2106.05(b)) and do not appear to amount to significantly more.
Claim 1 further recites claim limitations:
displaying, by the computer device on the display device;
These claim limitations as a whole have been identified as insignificant extra-solution activity. Per MPEP 2106.05(g) “An example of post-solution activity is an element that is not integrated into the claim as a whole, e.g., a printer that is used to output a report of fraudulent transactions, which is recited in a claim to a computer programmed to analyze and manipulate information about credit card transactions in order to detect whether the transactions were fraudulent”. Similarly the claim limitations as a whole above appear to be displaying and appear to be conventional computer technology. Also, MPEP 2106.05(d)(II) has identified “Presenting offers and gathering statistics” as conventional computer technology. Hence these claim limitations as a whole do not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Claims 8 and 15 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 1 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claims 3-7,
Step 2A and 2B:
Claim 3 further recites limitations:
drawing a first line between the first shape and the second shape; and
drawing a second line between the first shape and the third shape, wherein no line exists between the second shape and the third shape.
Claim 4 further recites limitations:
wherein the second shape is rendered at a sibling level of the third shape such that the first parent record is represented as a sibling of the second parent record
Claim 5 further recites limitations:
identifying,… among the plurality of hierarchical records, a list of records and a hierarchical relationship among the list of records.
Claim 6 further recites limitations:
wherein the child record is a descendant of the first parent record and the second parent record according to the hierarchical relationship among the list of records.
Claim 7 further recites limitations:
wherein the plurality of hierarchical records are graphically illustrated using a graphical tree.
These claim limitations appear to be reciting a “Mental Process” including evaluation which may be performed in a human mind.
A human being can apply evaluation to draw on a sheet of paper lines between the shapes. A human mind can evaluate to determine that the second shape is rendered at the sibling level where the first and second parent records are at the same level. A human being can evaluate to identify list of records with hierarchical relationships. A human mind can apply evaluation to determine that the child record is a descendant of plurality of parent records and the hierarchical records can be represented using a pen and a paper.
There are no additional claim limitations that integrate into a practical application or amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
Claims 10-14 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 3-7 in a system form respectively and are rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 17- 20 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 3-5 and 7 in a computer-readable medium form respectively and are rejected under the same rationale.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xie et al. (US 2018/0307737 A1, hereinafter “Xie”) in view of Feinsmith (US 2005/0182773 A1, hereinafter “Feinsmith”) further in view of Wigington et al. (US 2015/0278273 A1, hereinafter “Wigington”).
Regarding claim 1, Xie teaches
A method (see Xie, [0005] “method that facilitates generation and management of a hierarchical data structure”) for graphically illustrating (see Xie, [0093] “A graphical user interface may depict the data that is organized in table or spreadsheet in a hierarchical tree representation”) a plurality of hierarchical records, (see Xie, [0008] “In hierarchical data structures, data is stored as a record and represented as nodes in the hierarchical data structure”; [0043] “the table may be a relational table wherein each row represents a record that is represented as a node in the hierarchical tree”) the method comprising: (see Xie, [0005] “method that facilitates generation and management of a hierarchical data structure”).
identifying, (see Xie, [0076] “once Node B is identified, the data associated with Node B is analyzed to see if the data is dependent on the data associated with Node A”) by a computer device, (see Xie, [0028] “may be implemented in the context of any computer-implemented system”) a child record among the plurality of hierarchical records, the child record is associated with… (see Xie, [0076] “once Node B is identified, the data associated with Node B is analyzed to see if the data is dependent on the data associated with Node A”) that are higher in hierarchy than the child record; (see Xie, [0044]-[0045] “The parent Node ID will always be the same as the Root Node ID for the highest hierarchical data element, the root node… Node A has 3 children, namely, Node B, Node C and Node D. Thus, the Root Node ID for each of Node B, Node C and Node D equals A (representing Node A)”).
displaying, by the computer device on a display device, a tree structure (see Xie, [0030] “The nodes are connected to one another through links that represent the relationship between the nodes. The relationship between the nodes is a parent-child relationship”; [0028] “may be implemented in the context of any computer-implemented system”; [0093] “A graphical user interface may depict the data that is organized in table or spreadsheet in a hierarchical tree representation 701 and/or may also display a directory tree structure 702 representation of the data. The directory tree structure 702 displays the hierarchy of the data”).
Xie does not explicitly teach identifying a first parent record and a second parent record, determining, by the computer device, dimensions of a display device; determining, based on the dimensions of the display device, a first x-y coordinate on a display device for rendering a first shape representing the child record; determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimension of the display device, a plurality of second x-y coordinates on the display device for rendering a second shape representing the first parent record of the child record and one or more first child shapes representing one or more first child records of the first parent record; determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions of the display device, a plurality of third x-y coordinates on the display device for rendering a third shape representing the second parent record of the child record and one or more second child shapes representing one or more second child records of the first parent record; rendering, by the computer device, the first shape at the first x-y coordinate, the second shape and the one or more first child shapes at the plurality of second x-y coordinates and the third shape and the one or more second child shapes at the plurality of third x-y coordinates, wherein the second shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more first child shapes, and wherein the third shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more second child shapes; and the first shape, the second shape, the one or more first child shapes, the third shape, and the one or more second child shapes to illustrate the child record, the first parent record, the one or more first child records, the second parent record, and the one or more second child records, respectively.
However, Feinsmith discloses the concept of hierarchically organizing activity nodes and also teaches
identifying a first parent record and (see Feinsmith, [0524] “a primary parent identifying field [1236] for identifying the one primary parent ADO of the given ADO”) a second parent record of the child record; (see Feinsmith, [0532] “one or more secondary parent identifying fields [1237] for identifying, alone or in combination, the one or more secondary parent ADO's, if any, of the given ADO”).
based on the position node on a display device for rendering a first shape representing the child record; (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record).
based on the position on the display device for rendering a second shape representing the first parent record of the child record and one or more first child shapes representing one or more first child records of the first parent record; (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Personal 878 is interpreted as first parent record and 877 and 871b are interpreted as child records, 877 Golf and 871b Refinance House are plurality of child shapes).
based on the position on the display device for rendering a third shape representing the second parent record of the child record and (see Feinsmith, [0154] “The graphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert new activities into the graphically presented tree in visually cued locations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/child activity data object relationships as desired”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Work 874; 877 is interpreted as child record) one or more second child shapes representing one or more second child records of the first parent record; (see Feinsmith, [0128] “graphic depiction of a nodes and branches tree”; Fig. 8 – Soccer).
rendering, by the computer device, (see Feinsmith, [0270] “the node could be presented as a 2D circle, square, rectangle, hexagon or other 2D geometric shape or as a planarized projection of a 3D object such as sphere, cube, etc. [0582] “provided graphical icons that represent respective activity nodes can be selectively presented with different ones of the icon attributes group consisting of: shape {874 vs. 878}, size, color, boundary texturing, fill texturing, boundary dashing, boundary thickness, and flash pattern”; Fig. 1) the first shape at a specific level… (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record at first shape that is along a straight line with other children records such as Refinance House 871b and Soccer) the second shape at a specific level… (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 which is the first parent record via Friends) and the one or more first child shapes… (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf and 871b Refinance House are plurality of child shapes) and the third shape at a specific level… (see Feinsmith, [0154] “The graphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert new activities into the graphically presented tree in visually cued locations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/child activity data object relationships as desired”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Work 874 is interpreted as second parent record at third shape) and the one or more second child shapes… (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record along with other children records such as Refinance House 871b and Soccer) wherein the second shape… (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 which is the first parent record via Friends) the first shape and the one or more first child shapes, (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf and 871b Refinance House are plurality of child shapes) and wherein the third shape… (see Feinsmith, [0154] “The graphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert new activities into the graphically presented tree in visually cued locations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/child activity data object relationships as desired”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Work 874 is interpreted as second parent record at third shape) the first shape and (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is the first shape) the one or more second child shapes; and (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record along with other children records such as Refinance House 871b and Soccer).
… the first shape, (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record) the second shape, (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 which is the first parent record via Friends) the one or more first child shapes, (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf and 871b Refinance House are plurality of child shapes) the third shape, (see Feinsmith, [0154] “The graphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert new activities into the graphically presented tree in visually cued locations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/child activity data object relationships as desired”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Work 874 is interpreted as second parent record at third shape) and the one or more second child shapes to illustrate the child record, (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record along with other children records such as Refinance House 871b and Soccer) the first parent record, (see Feinsmith, [0524] “a primary parent identifying field [1236] for identifying the one primary parent ADO of the given ADO”; Fig. 8 – Personal 878 is interpreted as first parent record) the one or more first child records, (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Personal 878 is interpreted as first parent record and 877 and 871b are interpreted as child records, 877 Golf and 871b Refinance House are plurality of child shapes) the second parent record, and (see Feinsmith, [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 – first parent record via Friends; [0156] “Max may realize that his Golf activity 877 should be secondarily associated with his Work activity 874. Max can use a line-drawing drag operation or another operation for creating the secondary association between the Golf icon and the Work icon”; Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Work 874 – the second parent record) the one or more second child records, respectively (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record along with other children records such as Refinance House 871b and Soccer).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the functionality of first parent record, second parent record, display device for rendering first shape representing the child record, second shape representing the fist parent record of the child record representing one or more first child records of the first parent record, third shape representing third shape the second parent record of the child record, second child shapes representing one or more second child records, rendering first shape, second shape, first child shapes, third shape, second child shapes, drawing first line between first shape and second shape, drawing a second line between the first shape and third shape, shapes is rendered at a sibling level of the third shape such that the first parent record is represented as a sibling of the second parent record as being disclosed and taught by Feinsmith in the system taught by Xie to yield the predictable results of efficiently analyzing and presenting data based on user’s preferences (see Feinsmith, [0074] “The disclosed ACMAN System 105 can include mechanisms for helping each user to learn from others and develop more sophisticated understandings of matters and to incorporate representations of such more sophisticated understandings into their local, computer-held models (e.g., into tree structure 115 of FIG. 1). The disclosed ACMAN system 105 allows each user to determine his/her level of preferred resolution. Max may like to have very detailed expressions of all his ideas (see spreadsheet 116) while Adam prefers less detail. (Compare for example, Adam's spreadsheet at 126 versus Max's at 116.) A single, well chosen word or phrase is sufficient for Adam. The system 105 respects each user's preferences”).
The proposed combination of Xie and Feinsmith does not explicitly teach determining, by the computer device, dimensions of a display device; determining, based on the dimensions of the display device, a first x-y coordinate; determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions of the display device, a plurality of second x-y coordinates; determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions of the display device, a plurality of third x-y coordinates; the first x-y coordinate, the second shape at the plurality of second x-y coordinates and the third shape at the plurality of third x-y coordinates, wherein the second shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more first child shapes, and wherein the third shape is centered over the first shape and the one or more second child shapes.
However, Wigington discloses dynamic display of hierarchical data and also teaches
determining, by the computer device, dimensions of a display device; (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”).
determining, based on the dimensions of the display device, a first x-y coordinate (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0094] “The operations may include determining first coordinates on the display area”).
determining, based on the first x-y coordinate and the dimensions of the display device, a plurality of third x-y coordinates (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0098] “calculating first coordinates for the target node based on the select-and-drag operation, and determining second coordinates… may also include starting with a root, recursively determining third coordinates”).
the first x-y coordinate,… (see Wigington, [0094] “The operations may include determining first coordinates on the display area”; [0059]-[0060] “Process 1000 enables the system to draw the tree in the display area based on the (x,y) coordinates of any node in the tree…For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”) at the plurality of second x-y coordinates… (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0094] “determine second coordinates… in the display area using the tree spacing structure and the first coordinates”) at the plurality of third x-y coordinates, (see Wigington, [0100] “determining the third coordinates, determining whether a node has a descendent in the display area based on a focus child count spacing variable and a focus child relative percentage spacing variable in the tree spacing structure and coordinates for a parent of the node”) is centered over… (see Wigington, [0061] “The system may determine the coordinates of the target node (1005). If process 1000 is run for an initial time, the ( x,y) coordinates may be predetermined or defaulted… the (x,y) coordinates may be centered in the display area”) is centered over (see Wigington, [0061] “The system may determine the coordinates of the target node (1005). If process 1000 is run for an initial time, the ( x,y) coordinates may be predetermined or defaulted… the (x,y) coordinates may be centered in the display area”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the functionality of determining dimensions, first x-y coordinate, second x-y coordinates, third x-y coordinates, displaying in center as being disclosed and taught by Wigington in the system taught by the proposed combination of Xie and Feinsmith to yield the predictable results of improving the functioning of the system by resulting in faster display of the representations of the nodes (see Wigington, [0041] “the system may use dynamic loading of the tree spacing structure, so that an initial number of generations with tree spacing structure entries and additional entries are added when they begin to move into the display or in the background once an initial display is generated. Dynamic loading improves the perceived functioning of the system by resulting in faster display of the representations of the nodes at an initial load time”).
Claims 8 and 15 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 1 in a system (see Xie, [0028] “as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions or computer program code, or as a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein”) and computer-readable medium form (see Xie, [0028] “as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions or computer program code, or as a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein”) and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 2, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein the first x-y coordinate, (see Wigington, [0094] “The operations may include determining first coordinates on the display area”; [0059]-[0060] “Process 1000 enables the system to draw the tree in the display area based on the (x,y) coordinates of any node in the tree…For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”) the plurality of second x-y coordinates (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0094] “determine second coordinates… in the display area using the tree spacing structure and the first coordinates”) and the plurality of third x-y coordinates (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0098] “calculating first coordinates for the target node based on the select-and-drag operation, and determining second coordinates… may also include starting with a root, recursively determining third coordinates”) on a first display device having a first set of dimensions is different than (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree… If four representations fit across the viewing area then the x coordinate may range from 1 to 4. In some implementations, the focus line may be located at I (e.g., y=1 for a vertical focus line)... Actual screen coordinates may be determined based on the size of the representations and the relative coordinates. In the discussion below, the term coordinates refers to relative coordinates” – coordinates and dimensions are based on different sizes which are first and second display devices) the first x-y coordinate, (see Wigington, [0094] “The operations may include determining first coordinates on the display area”; [0059]-[0060] “Process 1000 enables the system to draw the tree in the display area based on the (x,y) coordinates of any node in the tree…For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”) the plurality of second x-y coordinates (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0094] “determine second coordinates… in the display area using the tree spacing structure and the first coordinates”) and the plurality of third x-y coordinates (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree”; [0098] “calculating first coordinates for the target node based on the select-and-drag operation, and determining second coordinates… may also include starting with a root, recursively determining third coordinates”) on a second display device having a second set of dimensions, (see Wigington, [0060] “For the purposes of drawing the tree, the (x,y) coordinates and the dimensions of the viewing area may be expressed in terms of the size of the representations used to depict the nodes in the tree… If four representations fit across the viewing area then the x coordinate may range from 1 to 4. In some implementations, the focus line may be located at I (e.g., y=1 for a vertical focus line)... Actual screen coordinates may be determined based on the size of the representations and the relative coordinates. In the discussion below, the term coordinates refers to relative coordinates” – coordinates and dimensions are based on different sizes which are first and second display devices) wherein the first display device has a different size than the second display device (see Wigington, [0100] “decreasing dimensions of the representations in response to a zoom out operation and displaying representations of nodes in the display area using coordinates determined based on the tree spacing structure and the decreased dimensions, wherein the decreased dimensions enable more representations to appear in the display area without recalculating the entire tree spacing structure… determining whether a node has a descendent in the display area based on a focus child count spacing variable and a focus child relative percentage spacing variable in the tree spacing structure and coordinates for a parent of the node”). The motivation for the proposed combination is maintained.
Claims 9 and 16 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 2 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 3, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein graphically connecting further comprises: drawing a first line between (see Feinsmith, [0182] “drawing links between the established set or sets and a corresponding one or more ADO's) the first shape and (see Feinsmith, [0210] “to position node 1220 as a primary child under a pre-established parent node”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – 877 Golf is a child record) the second shape; and (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 which is the first parent record via Friends).
drawing a second line between the first shape and the third shape, (see Feinsmith, [0156] “Max may realize that his Golf activity 877 should be secondarily associated with his Work activity 874. Max can use a line-drawing drag operation or another operation for creating the secondary association between the Golf icon and the Work icon”) wherein no line exists between the second shape and the third shape (see Feinsmith, Fig. 8 – there are no lines between Personal 878 and Work 874). The motivation for the proposed combination is maintained.
Claims 10 and 17 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 3 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 4, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein the second shape (see Feinsmith, [0270] “The user may also have preferences for the relative location of certain activity-node representing icons… the system may leave the icon in a relative position offset from the primary parent icon as last established by the user”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; [0156] “Since Golf is already a primary child of "Friends" – Fig. 8 – Golf 877 – the child record is connected to Personal 878 which is the first parent record via Friends) is rendered (see Feinsmith, [0270] “the node could be presented as a 2D circle, square, rectangle, hexagon or other 2D geometric shape or as a planarized projection of a 3D object such as sphere, cube, etc. [0582] “provided graphical icons that represent respective activity nodes can be selectively presented with different ones of the icon attributes group consisting of: shape {874 vs. 878}, size, color, boundary texturing, fill texturing, boundary dashing, boundary thickness, and flash pattern”) at a sibling level (see Feinsmith, Fig. 8 – Personal 878 and Work 874 do not share a parent child relationship and they share a sibling relationship since they are both at the same level) of the third shape (see Feinsmith, [0154] “The graphically-displayed tree structure allows Max to easily insert new activities into the graphically presented tree in visually cued locations. Max can establish both primary and secondary parent/child activity data object relationships as desired”; [0030] “showing another user interface presentation in accordance with the disclosure which simultaneously presents… expressions of hierarchically organized”; Fig. 8 – Work 874 is interpreted as second parent record at third shape) such that the first parent record (see Feinsmith, Fig. 8 – Personal 878 ) is represented as a sibling (see Feinsmith, Fig. 8 – 878 Personal and 874 Work do not share a parent child relationship and they share a sibling relationship since they are both at the same level) of the second parent record (see Feinsmith, Fig. 8 – Personal 878). The motivation for the proposed combination is maintained.
Claims 11 and 18 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 4 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 5, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein identifying (see Xie, [0076] “once Node B is identified, the data associated with Node B is analyzed to see if the data is dependent on the data associated with Node A”) the child record among the plurality of hierarchical records includes: (see Xie, [0076] “once Node B is identified, the data associated with Node B is analyzed to see if the data is dependent on the data associated with Node A”).
identifying, by the computer device among the plurality of hierarchical records, (see Xie, [0033]-[0038] “In a hierarchical tree representation, the root node is the very first or parent node. A root node is just like any node, in that it is part of a data structure, and represents a record which consists of one or more fields with links to other records and contains a data field; it simply happens to be the first node representing the first record… Properties of a hierarchical tree structure may be represented by the number of levels in a tree, the height of a tree and width of a tree… The number of levels within a tree is determined by determining the level of each node and identifying the node with the highest defined level. The level of a node may be defined by 1 + the number of connections between the node and the root”) a list of records and a hierarchical relationship among the list of records (see Xie, [0056] “a plurality of records are received from a client device. The records may include at least one attribute that defining a relationship with the other records. For example, a client may provide a list of employees for a company. The list of employees may include employees Jack, Jill and Fred. For each employee, the client may specify their role within company which defines the relations between other employees on the list. For instance, the client may include in the list that Jack is the CEO of the company, Jill is the sales manager of the company, and Fred is salesman”).
Claims 12 and 19 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 5 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 6, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein the child record is a descendant of the first parent record and the second parent record (see Feinsmith, [0524] “a primary parent identifying field [1236] for identifying the one primary parent ADO of the given ADO”; [0532] “one or more secondary parent identifying fields [1237] for identifying, alone or in combination, the one or more secondary parent ADO's, if any, of the given ADO”) according to the hierarchical relationship among the list of records (see Xie, [0056] “a plurality of records are received from a client device. The records may include at least one attribute that defining a relationship with the other records. For example, a client may provide a list of employees for a company. The list of employees may include employees Jack, Jill and Fred. For each employee, the client may specify their role within company which defines the relations between other employees on the list. For instance, the client may include in the list that Jack is the CEO of the company, Jill is the sales manager of the company, and Fred is salesman”; [0030] “The nodes are connected to one another through links that represent the relationship between the nodes. The relationship between the nodes is a parent-child relationship”).
Claim 13 incorporates substantively all the limitations of claim 6 in a system form and is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 7, the proposed combination of Xie, Feinsmith and Wigington teaches
wherein the plurality of hierarchical records (see Xie, [0008] “In hierarchical data structures, data is stored as a record and represented as nodes in the hierarchical data structure”; [0043] “the table may be a relational table wherein each row represents a record that is represented as a node in the hierarchical tree”) are graphically illustrated using a graphical tree (see Xie, [0093] “A graphical user interface may depict the data that is organized in table or spreadsheet in a hierarchical tree representation”).
Claims 14 and 20 incorporate substantively all the limitations of claim 7 in a system and computer-readable medium form and are rejected under the same rationale.
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Publication No. US-2016/0110374 A1 (Wetherall et al.) teaches that a record 102A has two parent associations, a primary association to a location in the second file structure 110 and a secondary association to an original location in the first file plan 104.
US Publication No. US-2008/0162494 A1 (Long et al.) teaches hierarchical data structures in different states.
Conclusion
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/VAISHALI SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2156
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