Appeal 2007-0145
Application 10/183,797
DISCUSSION
Claim interpretation
We interpret a "window" to be a viewing area on a screen that
contains an application or part of an application. Windows can be displayed
to take up the full screen or tiled as in Appellants' Figure 3. A "window"
environment requires an operating system (OS), such as Microsoft Windows
OS or the Apple MacIntosh OS, to provide for multiple windows; however,
the term "window" does not imply Microsoft Windows. Only one window
at a time is "active" (i.e., being worked in). We find that ordinary computer
users were familiar with windows in, at least, the Microsoft Windows OS
environment at the time that this application was filed (in 2002).
A "protected window" refers to an active window that is to be
inactivated after a predetermined period of time in which there is no detected
activity (Specification ¶ 0032). Although the Specification discloses that a
window may be protected because it displays secret or sensitive information,
this is not claimed. The claims do not require that the "protected window" is
one of plural windows displayed on the monitor screen.
The limitation "inactivating the protected window" means that an
"active" window (i.e., one that is being worked in) is made "inactive."
Although the Specification describes that "inactivating" involves concealing
the contents of the protected window in some manner, such as by
minimizing the protected window, closing the protected window, or
changing the protected window to a default window (Specification ¶ 0014),
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