Appeal No. 1998-0872
Application No. 08/438,479 Page 18
addition, Smart discloses that the color of the icon indicates
the severity of the object, such as green for satisfactory, red
for emergency, blue for offline, etc. From Smart's reference to
the use of color such as red for emergency and green for
satisfactory, we find that Smart additionally teaches that the
use of color of an icon can also represent the actual open or
closed condition of an object such as a door opened as a breach
of the security of a building monitored by the system. We agree
with appellant that coloring icons does not represent a pictorial
representation. We consider a pictorial representation to be an
actual image and not a color. In addition, in view of Smart's
use of color as a representation of open/closed position of an
object such as a door, we consider representations of color to
illustrate the actual open/closed position of a door to be
equally illustrative as a pictorial representation, and consider
it to have been obvious to an artisan that a pictorial
representation of an icon be utilized, in view of the teachings
of Smart. We agree with the examiner (answer, page 16) that
there is a correlation between color and pictorial
representations. Accordingly, the rejection of claim 105 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 is therefore affirmed.
We turn next to the rejection of claims 106 and 107
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