DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
1. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/19/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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, 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.
2. Claims 1-7, 9-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Levy et al. (US Pub. No. US2019/0042504) in view of Wright (US Patent No. US6,976,105) and further in view of Chen et al. (US Pub. No. US20100060571)
As per claim 1, Levy discloses a method performed by a Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller (fig.2, USB manager 204), the method comprising:
retrieving a plurality of descriptors (paragraph 31, line 9, configuration descriptors from the USB device 108) from a plurality of USB devices (fig.2, USB devices 108) coupled to the USB controller, wherein each of USB device is associated with at least one descriptor (paragraph 33, lines 8-9, an entry in the USB configuration data includes some or all of the device descriptor, the configuration descriptor, one or more interface descriptors, and one or more endpoint descriptors); and
outputting a first address associated with the first virtual USB device to a computing device. (paragraph 30, lines 18-20, the addresses assigned to the USB devices 108 by the virtual enumeration manager 206 during the virtual enumeration process)
Levy discloses all limitations as the above but does not explicitly disclose “generating a first virtual USB device based at least in part on modifying the at least one descriptor.” However, Wright discloses this (Col.8, lines 10-23, once configuration information is received from the new downstream device, the concentrator combines the configuration information from the attached downstream devices into a single virtual meta-peripheral device. The host may then initiate an enumeration process, upon receiving the combined configuration information, the enumeration process allows the host to obtain information about the single virtual meta-peripheral device and configure the concentrator into normal operating mode.)
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wright with the teaching of Levy so as to abstract complexity and enable programmatic, efficient, or cost-effective solutions and so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
Levy in view of Wright disclose all the limitations as the above but do not explicitly disclose “wherein a plurality of USB devices are human interface device (HID); modifying at least one descriptors to produce a report descriptor that is associated with a plurality of the human interface devices;” However, Chen discloses this, (paragraph 25, HID (human interface device) descriptors are modified as appropriate, and the device is reported to the operating system of the computer 16. The calibrated touch screen coordinate data (after edge calibration) is passed to the operating system of the computer 16, and the operating system obtains the exact locations of the touched points).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Chen with the teaching of Levy in view of Wright so as to provide a simulatively-touch method for improving the convenience of use of touch control devices, efficient, or cost-effective solutions and so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
As per claims 13 and 20, Levy discloses a Universal Serial Bus (USB) controller (fig.2, USB manager 204) comprising:
a processing system (fig.1, processor 110); and
a memory (fig.1, memory 112) storing instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the USB controller to: retrieve a plurality of descriptors from a plurality of USB devices (fig.2, USB devices 108) coupled to the USB controller (paragraph 31, line 9, configuration descriptors from the USB device 108), wherein each USB devices is associated with at least one descriptor (paragraph 33, lines 8-9, an entry in the USB configuration data 212 may include some or all of the device descriptor, the configuration descriptor, one or more interface descriptors, and one or more endpoint descriptors.);
generate a first virtual USB device based at least in part on modifying the at least one descriptor (paragraph 30, lines 21-22, If there is a change in the USB topology and/or configuration data, the virtual enumeration manager 206 change the configuration of the USB devices 108 on the host compute device); and
output a first address associated with the first virtual USB device to a computing device. (paragraph 30, lines 18-20, the addresses assigned to the USB devices 108 by the virtual enumeration manager 206 during the virtual enumeration process)
Levy discloses all limitations as the above but does not explicitly disclose “generate a first virtual USB device based at least in part on modifying the at least one descriptor.” However, Wright discloses this (Col.8, lines 10-23, once configuration information is received from the new downstream device, the concentrator combines the configuration information from the attached downstream devices into a single virtual meta-peripheral device. The host may then initiate an enumeration process, upon receiving the combined configuration information, the enumeration process allows the host to obtain information about the single virtual meta-peripheral device and configure the concentrator into normal operating mode.)
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wright with the teaching of Levy so as to abstract complexity and enable programmatic, efficient, or cost-effective solutions and so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
Levy in view of Wright disclose all the limitations as the above but do not explicitly disclose “wherein a plurality of USB devices are human interface device (HID); modifying at least one descriptors to produce a report descriptor that is associated with a plurality of the human interface devices;” However, Chen discloses this, (paragraph 25, HID (human interface device) descriptors are modified as appropriate, and the device is reported to the operating system of the computer 16. The calibrated touch screen coordinate data (after edge calibration) is passed to the operating system of the computer 16, and the operating system obtains the exact locations of the touched points).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Chen with the teaching of Levy in view of Wright so as to provide a simulatively-touch method for improving the convenience of use of touch control devices, efficient, or cost-effective solutions and so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
As per claims 2 and 14, Levy discloses wherein the first virtual USB device is associated with each of the plurality of USB devices. (paragraph 30, lines 18-20, the addresses assigned to the USB devices 108 by the virtual enumeration manager 206 during the virtual enumeration process)
As per claims 3 and 15, Levy discloses wherein the modifying of the at least one descriptor comprises renumbering the at least one descriptor. (paragraph 39, lines 11-12, configuration and update the USB configuration data 310 accordingly as well as update the host compute device 102 of any changes.)
As per claims 4 and 16, Levy discloses wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an interface descriptor. (paragraph 31, line 10, et interface descriptors from the USB device 108)
As per claims 5 and 17, Levy discloses wherein the at least one descriptor comprises an endpoint descriptor. (paragraph 44, line 6, the endpoint descriptor)
As per claim 6, Levy discloses the method further comprising: detecting that a first USB device of the plurality of USB devices is decoupled from the USB controller and that one or more second USB devices of the plurality of USB devices are still coupled to the USB controller (paragraph 42, lines 7-9, the USB manager determine which USB devices 108 are connected to the MAUSB device 106 and perform a full enumeration of the USB devices 108 using the stored USB configuration data 310 when the MAUSB device 106 is turned on);and
outputting a second address associated with the second virtual USB device to the computing device (paragraph 30, lines 18-20, the addresses assigned to the USB devices 108 by the virtual enumeration manager 206 during the virtual enumeration process).
modifying at least one descriptor of the plurality of descriptors associated with the one or more second USB devices still coupled to the USB controller (paragraph 39, lines 10-12, identify any changes or configuration of the USB devices 108 from the last known configuration and update the USB configuration data 310 accordingly as well as update the host compute device 102 of any changes); and
generating a second virtual USB device based at least in part on modifying the at least one descriptor of the plurality of descriptors associated with the one or more second USB devices still coupled to the USB controller. However, Wright discloses this (Col.8, lines 10-23, once configuration information is received from the new downstream device, the concentrator combines the configuration information from the attached downstream devices into a single virtual meta-peripheral device. The host may then initiate an enumeration process, upon receiving the combined configuration information, the enumeration process allows the host to obtain information about the single virtual meta-peripheral device and configure the concentrator into normal operating mode.)
As per claim 7, Levy discloses wherein the retrieving of the plurality of descriptors from the plurality of USB devices comprises enumerating each of the plurality of USB devices. (paragraph 19, lines 1-3, the MAUSB device 106 may perform an enumeration of the USB devices 108, which may also be based on the USB configuration data.)
As per claim 9, Levy discloses wherein the modified report descriptor includes a plurality of report identifiers (IDs) (paragraph 47, lines 5-6, the MAUSB device 106 reports the presence of a new USB device 108 to the host compute device 102), and wherein each of the one or more first USB devices comprising a HID is associated with at least one report ID of the plurality of report IDs. (paragraph 53, lines 10-11, the host compute device 102 may infer the USB configuration data to use based on an identification of the MAUSB device 106, such as a serial number or media access control (MAC) address of the MAUSB device 106.)
As per claim 10, Levy discloses wherein the plurality of report IDs is sequentially numbered. (paragraph 53, lines 10-11, the host compute device 102 may infer the USB configuration data to use based on an identification of the MAUSB device 106, such as a serial number or media access control (MAC) address of the MAUSB device 106.)
As per claim 11, Levy discloses wherein the USB controller comprises a media agnostic USB (MA-USB) device. (paragraph 115, lines 1-3, the host compute device comprising an MAUSB session manager to establish a media agnostic USB (MAUSB) session with an MAUSB device.)
As per claims 12 and 18, Levy discloses wherein one or more USB devices of the plurality of USB devices are coupled to the USB controller via a wireless communication channel. (paragraph 17, lines 6-8, a host compute device 102 may establish a wireless link with a MAUSB device 106 and subsequently establish a MAUSB session with the MAUSB device 106.)
As per claim 19, Levy discloses wherein the USB controller comprises a dongle or a thin client. (paragraph 32, lines 5-6, the USB manager 306 may present the USB devices 108 as connected and ready to send and receive data to clients on the host compute device 102)
As per claim 21, Huang discloses wherein the report descriptor carries information about respective structure of one or more reports transmitted by or received by the HID. (paragraph 63, the report descriptor of a non-touch event outputted by the keyboard or the mouse is needed to be modified to be a report descriptor corresponding to a HID of a touch panel connector)
Response to Amendment
3. Applicant's amendment filed on 5/19/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Iverson et al. [Pub. No. US10120054400] discloses The virtual host can send a standard USB request to the new virtual address of the virtual device to obtain the device descriptor of the virtual device.
Yeh [Pub. No. US2009/0019192) discloses at paragraph 14, modifying the contents of configuration descriptor and device descriptor from the first USB specification to a second USB specification; and changing the access speed of Virtual Storage between the server and the computer to the second USB specification.
HUANG [Pub. No US 20240275668] discloses paragraph 239 reads a basic descriptor set After successful enumeration, the networked device sends the printer's descriptor set to the server. The server generates a virtual USB device on the local computer based on the received descriptor set by virtualizing bus or other methods.
An [Pub. No. US20180260351] discloses After reading the USB device descriptor, guest operating system 222 generates a set of identifiers for virtual USB peripheral controller 215.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIM T HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-3635 or via e-mail addressed to [kim.huynh3@uspto.gov]. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7.00AM- 4:00PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tsai Henry can be reached at (571)272-4176 or via e-mail addressed to [Henry.Tsai@USPTO.GOV].
The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are (571)273-8300 for regular communications and After Final communications. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (571)272-2100.
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/K. T. H./
Examiner, Art Unit 2184
/HENRY TSAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2184
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