Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for US Patent 7,992,773

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the claims of US Patent 7,992,773 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSA) at the patent's priority date of September 15, 2010. The core invention of US 7,992,773 relates to a method for a portable electronic device to detect and decode symbology associated with an object, send the decode string to both on-device applications and a remote server to receive respective amounts of information, combine this information, and display it.

Primary Claim for Analysis

For this analysis, we will focus on Claim 1 of US Patent 7,992,773:

A method for presenting information about an object on a portable electronic device, comprising:
detecting symbology associated with an object;
decoding the symbology to obtain a decode string;
sending the decode string to one or more visual detection applications for processing, wherein the one or more visual detection applications reside on the portable electronic device;
receiving a first amount of information about the object from the one or more visual detection applications;
sending the decode string to a remote server for processing;
receiving a second amount of information about the object from the remote server;
combining the first amount of information with the second amount of information to obtain cumulative information; and
displaying the cumulative information on a display device associated with the portable electronic device.

Identified Prior Art Combinations and Motivation to Combine

A strong combination of prior art references that would render Claim 1 obvious is:

1. US 2006/0002598 A1 to Leavitt et al. ("Leavitt")
2. US 6,766,057 B1 to Adkins et al. ("Adkins")

Discussion of Leavitt (US 2006/0002598 A1)

Leavitt, published January 5, 2006, discloses a method and apparatus for scanning a UPC (symbology) with a cell phone (portable electronic device) and comparing prices. Key elements disclosed by Leavitt include:

• Detecting symbology associated with an object: Leavitt describes using a cell phone camera to scan a UPC code on a product.
• Decoding the symbology to obtain a decode string: The UPC is decoded by the cell phone.
• Sending the decode string to a remote server for processing: Leavitt explicitly teaches sending the decoded UPC to a remote server to retrieve price information for comparison.
• Receiving a second amount of information about the object from the remote server: Price comparison results are received from the remote server.
• Displaying information on a display device associated with the portable electronic device: The price comparison results are displayed on the cell phone's display.
• Leavitt also mentions a "client application resident on the phone for enabling comparison shopping," indicating local application processing of the UPC.

While Leavitt covers many aspects of Claim 1, it primarily emphasizes the remote server for information retrieval and does not explicitly detail receiving a first amount of information specifically from an on-device visual detection application to be combined with remote information.

Discussion of Adkins (US 6,766,057 B1)

Adkins, granted July 20, 2004, discloses methods and systems for searching an image database using optical indicia. Key aspects relevant to this analysis include:

• Portable device with scanning capability: Adkins teaches scanning optical indicia (e.g., barcodes) with a "hand-held scanner/camera" on a "portable device."
• Local and remote information sources: Adkins explicitly states that the portable device "transmits the information to a local server or a remote server" and that "the portable device has local image searching capability."

Obviousness Argument: Leavitt in view of Adkins

A POSA in 2010, familiar with both Leavitt and Adkins, would have found it obvious to combine their teachings to arrive at Claim 1 of US 7,992,773.

1. Detecting symbology associated with an object & Decoding the symbology to obtain a decode string:

   • Leavitt teaches using a cell phone to scan and decode UPCs. Adkins teaches scanning and decoding optical indicia on a portable device. These steps are clearly disclosed and are a foundational aspect of both references.

2. Sending the decode string to one or more visual detection applications for processing, wherein the one or more visual detection applications reside on the portable electronic device & Receiving a first amount of information about the object from the one or more visual detection applications:

   • Leavitt mentions a "client application resident on the phone for enabling comparison shopping" that processes the UPC. A POSA would understand such an application to perform local processing.
   • Adkins explicitly teaches that "the portable device has local image searching capability." This "local image searching capability" would necessarily reside in one or more applications on the portable device and would process the decode string to retrieve information. Receiving a "first amount of information" from such a local application would be inherent to its function (e.g., retrieving cached product data, user-specific notes, or category information from a local database).

3. Sending the decode string to a remote server for processing & Receiving a second amount of information about the object from the remote server:

   • Leavitt clearly discloses sending the decoded UPC to a remote server for price comparison and receiving the comparison results. Adkins also teaches transmitting information to a "remote server." These steps are fully taught by Leavitt.

4. Combining the first amount of information with the second amount of information to obtain cumulative information & Displaying the cumulative information on a display device associated with the portable electronic device:

   • Leavitt demonstrates displaying information (price comparisons) on the portable device. Given that Adkins teaches the capability of obtaining information locally and Leavitt teaches obtaining information remotely, a POSA would have been motivated to combine these information streams. For instance, a user might want to see locally stored product reviews (from the local application, as per Adkins's local searching) alongside real-time prices fetched from a remote server (as per Leavitt). Combining and displaying this "cumulative information" provides a more comprehensive and useful presentation to the user, a common goal in user interface design and mobile application development at the time.

Motivation to Combine

A POSA in 2010 would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Leavitt and Adkins for several reasons:

• Enhanced User Experience: Combining local and remote information would provide a more complete and useful dataset to the user. For example, a local application could quickly display basic product details or user-specific preferences (as suggested by Adkins's local searching capability) while a remote query for competitive pricing or detailed specifications is performed (as in Leavitt).
• Improved Performance and Efficiency: Local information processing, as taught by Adkins, could reduce reliance on network connectivity, improve response times for frequently accessed data, and decrease data transfer costs, all desirable features for portable electronic devices in 2010.
• Industry Trends: The patent itself mentions "e-commerce applications" and specific scanning applications like "Shop Savvy" in its background, which at the time were known to leverage both local device capabilities (e.g., scan history, user settings) and remote server access (e.g., live price feeds, inventory checks). This indicates that the concept of combining local and remote data for mobile scanning applications was a known and desired approach in the art.

Therefore, it would have been obvious for a POSA, seeking to improve a mobile barcode scanning and information retrieval system like that of Leavitt, to incorporate the local information processing capabilities described by Adkins to provide a more robust, efficient, and user-friendly solution, thereby arriving at the claimed invention of US 7,992,773.