Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, Species III, Claims 8-10, 12, 13, 15, 17-20 in the reply filed on 7/30/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 8-10, 12-13, 15, 17, 18, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ligtenberg (US 10871828 B2, hereinafter Ligtenberg)
Claim 8. Ligtenberg teaches an electronics device housing comprising:
a body panel (1350, 1358, fig 13K) having external surfaces including a top surface (1359) and a bottom surface (1361) with an edge (1360, fig 13K) between the top surface and the bottom surface; a cap layer (1338) affixed to the body panel; and
a covering (1336) enclosing external surfaces of the body panel such that the covering has no visible or tactile seams (col 47 lines 10-17 recite ‘ends of the cover 1336 and membrane 1338 that are adjacent to or define the openings may be received in the recess 1360. This may help produce a seamless appearance to the keyboard, as there may be no visible gap around the perimeter of the keycaps and into the interior area of the keyboard. Moreover, the additional interlocking structure may help prevent ingress of contaminants’), wherein the covering is a flexible fabric covering (col 43 line 7 recites ‘a cover 1336 (e.g., a fabric cover’, col 43 lines 62-64 recite ‘cover 1336 and the membrane 1338 may be configured to deform, deflect, stretch’) adhered to the body panel and covering the edge continuously from the bottom surface to the top surface (fig 13K),
wherein there is no visible or tactile seam between the covering and the cap layer (col 47 lines 10-17 recite ‘ends of the cover 1336 and membrane 1338 that are adjacent to or define the openings may be received in the recess 1360. This may help produce a seamless appearance to the keyboard, as there may be no visible gap around the perimeter of the keycaps and into the interior area of the keyboard. Moreover, the additional interlocking structure may help prevent ingress of contaminants’).
Claim 9. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the fabric covering covers the bottom surface and the edge (fig 13K).
Claim 10. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the cap layer compresses the covering into a seal on the edge between the top surface and the bottom surface (col 47 lines 10-17 recite ‘ends of the cover 1336 and membrane 1338 that are adjacent to or define the openings may be received in the recess 1360. This may help produce a seamless appearance to the keyboard, as there may be no visible gap around the perimeter of the keycaps and into the interior area of the keyboard. Moreover, the additional interlocking structure may help prevent ingress of contaminants’).
Claim 12. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the cap layer is inset into the body panel such that the cap layer does not extend beyond an edge surface of the body panel (fig 13E).
Claim 13. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the cap layer includes at least one of a display, a keyset, a touch pad, and an additional body panel (1338 includes an additional body panel since it ‘is formed of a material that has sufficient dimensional stability and/or stiffness to provide physical support to the cover 1336’, col 45 lines 35-37, and it also includes a keyset since 1358 are keycaps, see fig 13K).
Claim 15. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the edge is a first edge, and
the body panel further includes a second edge (since keys are approximately square shaped), a third edge, and a fourth edge (since keys are approximately square shaped), and
wherein the covering is further positioned on and covering the second edge, the third edge, and the fourth edge to cover all of an outer surface of the body panel (col 47 lines 43-45 recite ‘Also, the membrane 1338 and/or the cover 1336 may be adhered or otherwise secured to the keycap 1358 within the recess’).
Claim 17. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the edge is a first edge and the covering is continuous across the bottom surface to a second edge of the body panel opposite the first edge, and the covering wraps around the second edge to a second seal (fig 13K shows that 1336 covers two seals 1360).
Claim 18. Ligtenberg teaches the electronics device housing of claim 8, wherein the flexible fabric covering visually hides components beneath the flexible fabric covering to provide an appearance of a continuous outer surface while covering the components (claim 1 recites ‘a flexible fabric cover covering a gap between the key and an adjacent key’, also col 41 lines 17-20 recite ‘Where the cover is a fabric cover, the fabric may be organic materials, synthetic materials, woven materials, knit materials, composite materials, coated fabrics, sealed fabrics, watertight fabrics, multi-layer fabrics, or the like.’).
Claim 20. Ligtenberg teaches an electronic device housing comprising:
a body panel (1350, 1358, fig 13K);
a cap layer (1338) affixed to the body panel; and
a flexible fabric covering (1336, col 43 line 7 recites ‘a cover 1336 (e.g., a fabric cover’, col 43 lines 62-64 recite ‘cover 1336 and the membrane 1338 may be configured to deform, deflect, stretch’) enclosing external surfaces of body panel such that the flexible fabric covering has no visible or tactile seams (col 47 lines 10-17 recite ‘ends of the cover 1336 and membrane 1338 that are adjacent to or define the openings may be received in the recess 1360. This may help produce a seamless appearance to the keyboard, as there may be no visible gap around the perimeter of the keycaps and into the interior area of the keyboard. Moreover, the additional interlocking structure may help prevent ingress of contaminants’).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ligtenberg
Claim 19. Ligtenburg figs 13 teach the electronics device housing of claim 18, but fail to specifically teach the flexible fabric covering is radiotransparent and the components include and RF window such that the flexible fabric covering visually hides the RF window beneath the flexible fabric covering to provide the appearance of a continuous outer surface while allowing RF signals to pass through the RF window and the flexible fabric covering.
Ligtenberg figs 37 teach the flexible fabric covering is radiotransparent and the components include and RF window (col 90 lines 39-45 recite ‘The receiver 3720 may be positioned below the top case 3706. Because the top case 3706 may be continuous (e.g., having no openings beneath the keycap 3702), there may be no physical or wired connection between the receiver 3720 and the transmitter 3718. Accordingly, the transmitter 3718 and receiver 3720 may communicate wirelessly through the material of the top case 3706’)
The combination of figs 13, 37 teach:
the flexible fabric covering visually hides the RF window beneath the flexible fabric covering to provide the appearance of a continuous outer surface (figs 13A, 13E, 13K) while allowing RF signals to pass through the RF window and the flexible fabric covering (col 10 lines 62-66 recite ‘The device 100 may include any appropriate communication system for transferring data between the display portion 102 and the base portion 104, such as wired or wireless communications systems’, col 89 lines 52-56 recite ‘FIGS. 37A-37B depict partial cross-sectional views of an example computing device 3700, showing another example system for detecting key makes through a top case. The cross-sectional views may correspond to a view of a computing device along section J-J in FIG. 13A’, while fig 13A shows that figs 37 are compatible with fig 13K). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the wireless capabilities as taught by Ligtenberg figs 37 into the device of Ligtenberg figs 13. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Ligtenberg figs 13 in the above manner for the purpose of protecting against contaminants.
Examiner Notes
Examiner cites particular elements, columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS R BURTNER whose telephone number is (571)272-0966. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/DOUGLAS R BURTNER/Examiner, Art Unit 2841 /ROCKSHANA D CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841