DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1-7 and 9-20 are pending.
3. This office action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed 03/03/2026 in response to PTO Office Action mailed 12/08/2025. The Applicant’s remarks and amendments to the claims and/or the specification were considered with the results that follow.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended independent claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection in which the Examiner has cited previously presented prior art, Chang et al. (US Pub. No. 2011/0185009 A1 hereinafter “Chang” – IDS Submission), as necessitated by the amended independent claims disclosing wherein a connection between the main control device and the slave device is established.
5. Applicant’s argument with respect to amended independent claims has been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments are summarized as:
1) Chang in view of Jiangsu does not read on the features of "determining, by the main control device, whether a control target device of the input device is the slave device", as recited in claim 1.
2) Chang in view of Suzhou does not read on the features of "when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into a transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol" in the currently presented claim 1.
As per argument 1, in response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, Jiangsu discloses the ability for the detection unit 101 to determine whether the target device is a slave device (par. [0036]) which is what is indicated by the claim limitation.
As per argument 2, in response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, the Examiner views the teachings of Suzhou (par. [n0028]) disclosing the ability of the analog switch 11 allowing the exchange of data through the serial bus 21 using a communication protocol belonging to I3C or SMBUS and implies that a conversion to one of the two different types of communication protocols are performed to implement the claimed limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1-7, 10-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. (US Pub. No. 2011/0185009 A1 hereinafter “Chang” – IDS Submission) in view of Jiangsu Micron Electronic Tech (CN 110851379 hereinafter “Jiangsu” - IDS Submission), further in view of Suzhou Inspur Intelligent Tech (CN 114780462 hereinafter “Suzhou” - IDS Submission)
Referring to claim 1, Chang discloses a method for switching an input device adapted to a system for switching the input device (Chang – Fig. 4 shows the method. Fig. 2C shows a system for switching the input device. Par. [0026] discloses the input device as the function device 23-2 may include a human interface device (HID) such as a keyboard, monitor or mouse.) comprising a main control device (Chang – Fig. 2C, switch device 23-1) and a slave device (Chang – Fig. 2C, first computing device 21), wherein a connection between the main control device and the slave device is established (Chang – Fig. 4 & par. [0055] disclose at step 42, the resource sharing device may be coupled with a first computing device.), wherein the method comprises:
connecting the main control device to the input device (Chang – Fig. 2C, switch device 23-1 connecting functional device 23-2) and detecting input information of the input device (Chang – Par. [0037] discloses the control signal may be initiated by the user, or generated by the first AP module 26-1 when a predetermined key or a predetermined combination of keys on the keyboard are entered.);
detecting, by the main control device, a transmission protocol between the main control device and the slave device (Chang – Par. [0040, 0043] discloses based on the set of codes, the device information may be generated in a format consistent with the protocol type of the second interface 24-2. Based on the set of codes, the device information may be generated in a format consistent with the protocol type of the first interface 24-1.);
transmitting the transmission packet from the main control device to the slave device (Chang – Par. [0041, 0044] disclose the first computing device 21 may then transmit or receive packets based on the protocol in a type, packet format or size described in the device information. The second computing device 22 may then transmit or receive packets based on the protocol in a type, packet format or size described in the device information.); and
parsing, by the slave device, the transmission packet to obtain the input information to perform an input operation according to the input information (Chang – See par. [0041, 0044]).
Chang fails to explicitly disclose determining, by the main control device, whether a control target device of the input device is the slave device; and when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into a transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol.
Jiangsu discloses determining, by the main control device, whether a control target device of the input device is the slave device (Jiangsu – See par. [0036] disclosing detecting whether the USB is connected to the master or slave device through the detection unit, and the control unit switches to different working modes according to the detection signal and matches the corresponding communication protocol.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Jiangsu’s teachings with Chang’s techniques for the benefit of providing a USB master-slave state switching circuit (Jiangsu – Par. [0007]).
Chang and Jiangsu fail to explicitly disclose when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into a transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol.
Suzhou discloses when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into a transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol (Suzhou – See par. [n0028]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Suzhou’s teachings with Chang and Jiangsu’s techniques for the benefit of providing a communication link switching control circuit, a communication link and a server whose serial bus is compatible with I3C bus and SMBUS ensuring the data transmission requirements of various devices (Suzhou – Par. [n0003).
Referring to claim 2, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 1, wherein connecting the main control device to the input device and detecting the input information of the input device comprises: retrieving, by the main control device, an input event of the input device by using a system event hook program, wherein the input event comprises the input information (Chang – Par. [0037] discloses the control signal may be initiated by the user, or generated by the first AP module 26-1 when a predetermined key or a predetermined combination of keys on the keyboard are entered.).
Referring to claim 3, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 1, wherein connecting the main control device to the input device and detecting the input information of the input device comprises: retrieving, by the main control device, the input information of the input device through a driving program (Chang – Par. [0037] discloses the control signal may be initiated by the user, or generated by the first AP module 26-1 when a predetermined key or a predetermined combination of keys on the keyboard are entered.).
Referring to claim 4, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 1, wherein when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into the transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol comprises: when the transmission protocol conforms to a general specification, converting, by the main control device, the input information into a data format conforming to the general specification to generate the transmission packet; and inputting, by the main control device, the transmission packet to a driving program supporting the general specification (Chang – See par. [0032, 0040-0044]).
Referring to claim 5, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 4, wherein parsing, by the slave device, the transmission packet to obtain the input information to perform the input operation according to the input information comprises: obtaining, by the slave device, the transmission packet according to another driving program, and performing the input operation according to the input information conforming to the general specification in the transmission packet (Chang – See par. [0032, 0040-0044]).
Referring to claim 6, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 1, wherein when the control target device of the input device is the slave device, converting, by the main control device, the input information into the transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol comprises: converting, by the main control device, the input information conforming to a first data format into the input information conforming to a second data format to generate the transmission packet conforming to the transmission protocol (Chang – See par. [0032, 0040-0044]).
Referring to claim 7, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose method for switching the input device according to claim 6, wherein parsing, by the slave device, the transmission packet to obtain the input information to perform the input operation according to the input information comprises: converting, by the slave device, the input information conforming to the second data format into the input information conforming to a third data format, and performing the input operation according to the input information conforming to the third data format (Chang – See par. [0032, 0040-0044]).
Referring to claim 10, Chang, Jiangsu and Suzhou disclose the method for switching the input device according to claim 1, wherein determining, by the main control device, whether the control target device of the input device is the slave device comprises: identifying, by the main control device, the control target device of the input device according to user attention information (Suzhou – See par. [0028]).
Referring to claim 11, note the rejections of claim 1 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 12, note the rejections of claim 2 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 13, note the rejections of claim 3 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 14, note the rejections of claim 4 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 15, note the rejections of claim 5 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 16, note the rejections of claim 6 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 17, note the rejections of claim 7 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 18, note the rejections of claim 8 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 20, note the rejections of claim 10 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claim 9 is allowed.
The examiner finds that the prior art of record taken alone or in combination fails to teach and/or fairly suggest “identifying, by the main control device, the slave device as the control target device according to the corresponding positional relationship between a switching input operation of the input device and the slave device comprising: identifying, by the main control device, the slave device as the control target device according to the switching input operation of the input device and the corresponding positional relationship between the slave device and another slave device, wherein the slave device is one of a plurality of first electronic devices forming a first group, and the another slave device is one of a plurality of second electronic devices forming a second group.”, in combination with other recited limitations in independent claim 9.
9. Claim 19 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The examiner finds that the prior art of record taken alone or in combination fails to teach and/or fairly suggest “wherein the main control device identifies the slave device as the control target device according to the switching input operation of the input device and the corresponding positional relationship between the slave device and another slave device, wherein the slave device is one of a plurality of first electronic devices forming a first group, and the another slave device is one of a plurality of second electronic devices forming a second group.”, in combination with other recited limitations in dependent claim 19.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAYTON LEWIS-TAYLOR whose telephone number is (571)270-7754. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday, 8AM TO 4PM, EASTERN TIME.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Idriss Alrobaye, can be reached on 571-270-1023. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAYTON LEWIS-TAYLOR/
Examiner, Art Unit 2181
/Farley Abad/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2181