Ex Parte Tsuda et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jun 24, 2016

13080836 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 24, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/080,836 04/06/2011
26304 7590 06/28/2016
KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN LLP
575 MADISON A VENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10022-2585
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Munetaka Tsuda
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.
SCEK 24.710
(100809-00553
CONFIRMATION NO.
2655
EXAMINER
WILSON, NICHOLAS R
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2611
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
06/28/2016 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
nycuspto@kattenlaw.com
samson.helf gott@kattenlaw.com
hassan. shakir@kattenlaw.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte MUNETAKA TSUDA SHUJI HIRAMATSU,
SHIGERU ENOMOTO, and MOTOKI KOBAYASHI
Appeal2015-001892
Application 13/080,836
Technology Center 2600
Before JOSEPH L. DIXON, THU A. DANG, and KAMRAN JIV ANI,
Administrative Patent Judges.
DANG, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's
Final Rejection of claims 1 and 3-5. Claim 2 has been canceled. We have
jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b ).
We affirm.
A. INVENTION
According to Appellants, the invention relates to "an information
processing apparatus that displays a plurality of display regions on a screen"
(Spec. 1, 11. 6-7).
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Application 13/080,836
B. REPRESENTATIVE CLAIM
Claim 1 is exemplary:
1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:
a display for displaying a display target range, which is a part of
a first display region including display elements arranged
therein and extending along a first direction, so as to be
superimposed on a first background image associated with the
first display region,
wherein a length of the first display region is longer than
a length of the first background image; and
a scroll control section for controlling a scroll to move,
when an operation of specifying a direction along the first
direction is received from a user in a state in which the display
target range is displayed, the display elements on the first
background image in the first display region in accordance with
the specified direction without changing a display position of
the first background image;
wherein the display also displays, on the screen, a partial
range of a second display region extending along the first
direction so as to be superimposed on a second background
image associated with the second display region when an
operation of specifying a direction along a second direction
intersecting the first direction is received from the user in the
state in which the display target range is displayed,
wherein the display displaying a second display region
displays on the screen a predetermined range of the second
display region when the operation of specifying the direction
along the second direction is received from the user,
irrespective of whether or not the display elements are moved
by the scroll control section,
wherein the scroll control section moves a range in the
second display region that is displayed on the screen in
accordance with the specified direction without changing a
display position of the second background image when the
operation of specifying the direction along the first direction is
received from the user in a state in which the partial range of
the second display region is displayed, and
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wherein the display displaying a second display region
displays on the screen a range displayed most recently on the
screen as the predetermined range of the second display region
when the operation of specifying the direction along the second
direction is received from the user in a case where the partial
range of the second display region was displayed previously on
the screen.
C. REJECTION
1. Claims 1, 4, and 5 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as
being anticipated by MOTOROLA DROID (USER GUIDE, Manual
Number: 68000202474-A, 2009) (Herein after referred to as "DROID").
(Final Act. 6-23).
2. Claim 3 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by Siddiqui (US 6,940,488 B 1, issued Sept. 6, 2005). (Final Act.
24--27). Since the Examiner has not withdrawn the rejection, and Appellants
provide no arguments with respect thereto, we summarily sustain the
rejection of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
3. Claim 3 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second
paragraph as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and
distinctly claim the subject matter. (Final Act. 6). Since the Examiner has
not withdrawn the rejection, and Appellants provide no arguments with
respect thereto, we summarily sustain the rejection of claim 3 under 35
U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph.
II. ISSUES
The principal issues before us are whether the Examiner erred in
finding that DROID teaches the claimed "scroll control section for
controlling a scroll to move ... in a state in which the display target range is
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displayed, the display elements on the first background image in the first
display region in accordance with the specified direction without changing a
display position of the first background image" wherein "the display
displaying a second display region displays on the screen a range displayed
most recently on the screen ... " (claim 1 emphasis added).
III. FINDINGS OF FACT
The following Findings of Fact (FF) are shown by a preponderance of
the evidence.
DROID
1. DROID discloses a browsing and messaging device, wherein
"Quick start Home screen" Figure is reproduced below:
As the Figure shows, the home screen extends beyond what is seen on
the screen to give users room for adding shortcuts, widgets, and more,
wherein flicking the home screen left and right allows viewing of more
panels or add widgets or shortcuts (p. 6, Home screen).
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2. The user can put the current touchscreen to sleep by pressing
the Power button (p. 5, Touchscreen & keys). Then, to wake up and unlock
the screen, the user presses the Power button and then drag the lock icon to
the right (p. 41, Troubleshooting).
IV. ANALYSIS
Appellants contend that in DROID, "the shortcuts are not scrolled on
the screen as would be required by the claims" (App. Br. 8). Although
Appellants concede the Home Screen figure shows that "a user swipes to the
left" to display a left screen, "the user is simply viewing slightly more of the
same wallpaper," and thus, "Droid clearly does not disclose that different
background images are shown when a left/right flick is entered" (App. Br.
10). Appellants point out that, in DROID, "a user only chooses a single
wallpaper to be displayed on the background" (App. Br. 9). According to
Appellants, in DROID, "the newly displayed icons are scrolled in pages to
the left/right and the background is not changed" (App. Br. 11 ).
(id.).
Appellants also contend that the claim recites that:
when the second direction operation is received (e.g., to switch
back to the first display region or another display region), the
system always displays the previously displayed range of the
second display region when the user returns to the second
display region (i.e., the system preserves the predetermined
range shown in the second display region even when it is not
displayed).
Thus, Appellants contend that although the Examiner relies on
DROID's returning to the current state when the power button is pressed,
"this claimed feature clearly relates to an input of a second direction and not
what occurs when a user presses a power button" (id.).
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We consider all of Appellants' arguments and evidence presented, and
disagree with Appellants' contentions regarding the Examiner's rejections of
the claims.
As an initial matter of claim construction, we give the claim its
broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the Specification. See In
re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054 (Fed. Cir. 1997). However, "limitations are
not to be read into the claims from the specification." In re Van Geuns, 988
F.2d 1181, 1184 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (citations omitted).
Although Appellants contend that DROID's user is "simply viewing
slightly more of the same wallpaper," that DROID "clearly does not disclose
that different background images are shown when a left/right flick is
entered" (App. Br. 10), and that, in DROID, "a user only chooses a single
wallpaper to be displayed on the background" (App. Br. 9), such contentions
are not commensurate in scope with the specific recited language of
independent claim 1. That is, claim 1 does not require showing of "different
background images" or preclude using a "single" or "same" wallpaper (App.
Br. 9-10). Rather, independent claim 1 merely requires moving "display
elements on the first background image ... without changing a display
position of the first background image" (claim 1, emphasis added). As the
Examiner points out, "Claim 1 merely requires that the display elements (i.e.
shortcuts) be superimposed over the background image" (Ans. 21 ).
DROID discloses flicking the home screen left and right to view
different panels, widgets and/or shortcuts on the wallpaper (FF 1 ). Even
Appellants concede that DROID shows that "a user swipes to the left [or
right]" to display a different screen (App. Br. 10) with a single/same
wallpaper to be displayed on the background. In particular, Appellants
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concede that in DROID, "the newly displayed icons are scrolled in pages to
the left/right and the background is not changed" (App. Br. 11 ). That is,
DROID discloses displaying shortcuts (or panels or widgets) on a
background wallpaper, and scrolling between left and right screens, wherein
the scrolled screens being displayed are a part (i.e., a range) of the same (i.e.
unchanged) wallpaper (FF 1). Thus, we agree with the Examiner's reliance
on DROID for disclosing a scroll control section "for controlling a scroll to
move ... in a state in which the display target range is displayed, the display
elements on the first background image ... without changing a display
position of the first background image," as recited by claim 1.
Furthermore, we agree with the Examiner's finding that DROID also
discloses that "when the phone goes to sleep the user can unlock and return
to the previously display partial range" (Ans. 24). In particular, DROID
discloses that the user wakes up and unlocks the screen that is on sleep, by
pressing the Power button and then dragging the lock icon to the right (FF
2). Further, as Appellants concede, in DROID, "the user is simply viewing
slightly more of the same wallpaper" (App. Br. 10). Since the previously
display screen is a part of the same wallpaper, we agree with the Examiner's
finding that DROID's previous display screen is a "previously display
partial screen" (Ans. 24). Thus, we agree with the Examiner's reliance on
DROID for also disclosing "the display displaying a second display region
displays on the screen a range displayed most recently on the screen ... "as
recited in claim 1.
We note that Appellants introduce new arguments in the Reply Brief
(Reply Br. 2-3). However, it is inappropriate for Appellants to discuss for
the first time in a Reply Brief matters that could have been raised in the
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Appeal Brief. Because Appellants advance new arguments in the Reply
Brief without showing good cause, Appellants have waived such arguments.
See 37 C.F.R. § 41.41(b)(2).
On this record, we find no error in the Examiner's rejection of claim 1
and claims 4 and 5 falling therewith (App. Br. 7), as being anticipated by
DROID.
V. CONCLUSION AND DECISION
We affirm the Examiner's rejections of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, second paragraph; and of claims 1, and 3-5 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(l )(iv).
AFFIRMED
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