Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for US Patent 9223487

Current Date: April 26, 2026
Patent Priority Date: September 28, 2011

To determine the obviousness of US Patent 9223487, we consider what a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) would have known and been motivated to combine prior to the patent's priority date.

Relevant Prior Art

1. Japanese Patent Application Publication Number 2001-356878 (JP '878): This reference, explicitly cited as prior art in US9223487, discloses an icon control method. In this method, a user touches a touch panel to "take a file icon between user's fingers," which is then recognized as selected for movement. The patent itself notes that this method requires "fine positional control of user's fingers" to interact with the periphery of a single icon. [cite: US9223487B2]

2. General Knowledge of Multi-Touch Gestures (e.g., pinch-to-zoom): Prior to the September 2011 priority date of US9223487, multi-touch displays and various multi-touch gestures were well-established and widely known in the art. The "pinch-to-zoom" gesture, where two fingers move closer together (or further apart) to scale or zoom content, was popularized by devices like the iPhone in 2007, but the underlying technology and concepts predate this significantly, with demonstrations of two-finger gestures for zooming and rotation as early as 2002 by Jun Rekimoto, and the canonical pinch-to-zoom gesture being demonstrated in 1985.

3. General Knowledge of Marquee Selection in Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs): The concept of selecting multiple objects by defining a rectangular area (often called "marquee selection" or "drag-and-select") has been a fundamental interaction paradigm in computer graphical user interfaces for decades, typically implemented with a mouse. This method allows users to easily select a group of items without needing to precisely click on each one individually.

Analysis of Independent Claims against Prior Art

The independent claims of US9223487 (Claims 1, 12, and 13) generally describe an electronic apparatus, method, and computer program, respectively, that include:

• Displaying objects on a touch-sensitive display.
• Detecting first and second user touch positions.
• Calculating the distance between these touch positions.
• Deciding if this distance decreases over time.
• If the distance decreases, setting a rectangular area on the display whose opposite corners coincide with the initial first and second touch positions.
• Selecting all objects contained within this rectangular area.

Obviousness Argument: Combination of JP '878, Pinch Gesture, and Marquee Selection

A PHOSITA, at the time of the invention (before September 2011), would have been motivated to combine the teachings of JP '878 with the general knowledge of multi-touch gestures and GUI selection techniques to arrive at the claimed invention.

1. Starting Point: Two-Finger Selection (JP '878): JP '878 already teaches using two fingers to select an object (a file icon). However, as acknowledged by US9223487, this method requires "fine positional control" and is implied to be for a single object. [cite: US9223487B2]

2. Motivation to Improve User Experience and Multi-Object Selection: The problem of requiring "fine positional control" for touch-based selection was a known challenge in the art. A PHOSITA would seek to simplify this interaction and enable easier selection of multiple objects, which JP '878 does not adequately address.

3. Incorporating the "Pinch" Gesture for a Selection Operation: The "pinch" gesture (where two fingers move closer together) was a well-known and intuitive multi-touch interaction for scaling or zooming content on touchscreens. Adapting this widely understood physical gesture to signify a "selection" or "enclosing" action would be an obvious design choice for a PHOSITA aiming to create an easier and more intuitive selection method on a touch panel. The act of bringing two fingers together naturally suggests gathering or selecting items within the encompassed space.

4. Applying Marquee Selection for Multi-Object Designation: To select multiple objects within the area defined by the two-finger gesture, a PHOSITA would readily turn to the well-established GUI paradigm of "marquee selection." This technique, commonly used with a mouse to draw a rectangle and select all contained items, provides a straightforward and efficient way to select groups of objects. It would be obvious to adapt this familiar concept to a touch-based interaction.

5. Defining the Selection Area using Initial Touch Positions: Once the decision is made to use a two-finger "decreasing distance" gesture for marquee selection, defining the rectangular area by the initial first and second touch positions is a logical and obvious implementation. This is analogous to how the starting point of a mouse drag defines one corner of a marquee selection box. The initial contact points provide clear and unambiguous anchors for the selection region, ensuring predictable user interaction.

Therefore, a PHOSITA, motivated to improve the ease and scope of selection on touch panels beyond the limitations of JP '878, would have found it obvious to combine:

• The two-finger interaction for selection from JP '878.
• The well-known "pinch" gesture (decreasing distance between touches) as a trigger, adapting it from its common use in scaling/zooming to a selection function.
• The established GUI concept of "marquee selection" to define a rectangular area for selecting multiple objects.
• Using the initial touch points to define the corners of this rectangular selection area, a straightforward design choice for defining a region based on touch input.

This combination addresses the problem statement in US9223487 by providing "easy operation" for selecting objects, including multiple objects, without requiring "fine positional control" over individual icon peripheries.