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 .
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2014/0176495 to Vlasov.
As to claim 1, Vlasov discloses a detection method of a pen signal that is an alternating current signal sent from a pen, the method comprising: transmitting to the pen a transmission request signal (e.g. 301) requesting transmission of the pen signal (e.g. 321, 322) in synchronization with a first detection period (303) (Fig. 3B, Pars. 68, 70, 73) and transmission of a pen signal (321, 322) (Figs. 3A, 3B, Pars. 70, 73-74) whose phase is inverted with respect to the pen signal transmitted in synchronization with the first detection period (303)(See Figs. 3A, 3B; Par. 81), in synchronization with a second detection period (304) that is a period after the first detection period (303) ends (Fig. 3B, Pars. 73-74); and acquiring the pen signal (321, 322) based on a first received signal (307 or 313 and 314) received from the pen in the first detection period (303) and a second received signal (308 or 313 and 314) received from the pen in the second detection period (304) (Fig. 3B, Pars. 73-74).
As to claims 12 and 13, see claim 1 rejection above.
As to claim 2, Vlasov discloses deriving a position of the pen based on the pen signal acquired by the acquiring for each of a plurality of sensor electrodes (116) (Fig. 3A, Pars. 8, 62, 64).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0176495 to Vlasov and US 2015/0022476 to Fujioka et al. (Fujioka).
As to claim 3, Vlasov does not expressly disclose display noise is periodically generated by a display, and the first detection period and the second detection period are synchronized with a generation cycle of the display noise.
Fujioka discloses display noise is periodically generated by a display (Figs. 3-4, 6, Pars. 80, 99-101), and the first detection period and the second detection period are synchronized with a generation cycle of the display noise (Figs. 3-4, 6, Pars. 80, 99-101).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Vlasov with the teaching of Fujioka to achieve high detection accuracy as suggested by Fujioka (Par. 102).
As to claim 4, Vlasov as modified discloses the display noise is horizontal synchronization (HSYNC) noise (Fujioka’s Figs. 3-4, 6, Pars. 80, 99-101), and the first detection period and the second detection period are each a period having a time length that is a natural number multiple of a cycle of a horizontal synchronization pulse generated in the display (Fujioka’s Figs. 3-4, 6, Pars. 80, 99-101). See claim 3 motivation above.
As to claim 5, Vlasov as modified discloses the first detection period and the second detection period are set such that phases of the display noise in the respective first and second detection periods substantially match each other (Fujioka’s Figs. 3-4, 6, Pars. 80, 99-101). See claim 3 motivation above.
Claim(s) 6 and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0176495 to Vlasov and US 2022/0155938 to Hirai.
As to claim 6, Vlasov as modified does not expressly disclose the acquiring includes combining the first received signal and the second received signal with each other.
Hirai discloses the acquiring includes combining the first received signal and the second received signal with each other (Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Vlasov with the teaching of Hirai to suppress noise thereby provide an improved touch detection as suggested by Hirai (Par. 80).
As to claim 8, see claim 6 rejection and motivation above. Vlasov as modified further discloses the acquiring includes subtracting the second received signal from the first received signal using an analog circuit or a digital circuit (Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80)
As to claim 9, Vlasov as modified discloses acquiring the first received signal by performing a detection process of a signal arriving at a reception electrode in the first detection period (Vlasov’s Par. 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80); and acquiring the second received signal by performing a detection process of a signal arriving at the reception electrode in the second detection period such that a polarity of the second received signal is inverted as compared with the first received signal. (Vlasov’s Par. 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80). See claim 6 motivation above.
As to claim 10, Vlasov as modified discloses: the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the second detection period is a process of performing frequency analysis of the signal arriving at the reception electrode (Vlasov’s Pars. 8, 62, 64, 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80) in a state where a phase of a base vector is inverted as compared with the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the first detection period (Vlasov’s Pars. 8, 62, 64, 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80). See claim 6 motivation above.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0176495 to Vlasov and US 2022/0155938 to Hirai; in view of US 2013/0106798 to Sundara-Rajan et al. (Sundara).
As to claim 7, Vlasov as modified does not expressly disclose the pen signal is represented as is S(t), noise is represented as N(t), the first received signal is represented as N(t) + S(t), and the second received signal is represented as N(t) - S(t), and the combining includes acquiring the pen signal by a method equivalent to (N(t) + S(t)) - (N(t) - S(t)).
However, Vlasov discloses the pen signal is represented as is S(t), noise is represented as N(t), the first received signal is represented as N(t) + S(t), and the second received signal is represented as N(t) - S(t), (see claim 10, e.g. comparing first signal-to-noise ratio value with a second signal-to-noise ratio value, which are received by the stylus at two different times). Hirai discloses combining the first received signal and the second received signal with each other (Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80).
Sundara discloses the pen signal is represented as is S(t), noise is represented as N(t), the first received signal is represented as N(t) + S(t), and the second received signal is represented as N(t) - S(t), and the combining includes acquiring the pen signal by a method equivalent to (N(t) + S(t)) - (N(t) - S(t)) (Figs. 5-6, Pars. 41-43, e.g. differential sensing may be employed by comparing at least two signals received and subtracting the signal received. Since Vlasov teaches the second received signal is an inverse of the first signal (see Vlasov’s Figs. 3A, 3B; Par. 81) thereby second signal is (-N(t)+S(t)) = (S(t)-N(t)).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Vlasov as modified with the teaching of Sundara to acquire the pen signal by a method equivalent to (N(t) + S(t)) - (N(t) - S(t)). The motivation is to remove the unwanted effects of noise as suggested by Sundara (Par. 43).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0176495 to Vlasov and US 2022/0155938 to Hirai; in view of US 2014/0028577 A1 to Krah et al. (Krah).
As to claim 11, Vlasov as modified discloses the transmission request signal requests the pen to start transmitting the pen signal at a timing delayed by half a cycle (516) of a signal of the pen signal from a start timing of the second detection period (Fig. 5B, Par. 92, e.g. 516 shows a lag by half a cycle of 511 in period 515), the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the second detection period is a process of performing frequency analysis of the signal arriving at the reception electrode (Vlasov’s Pars. 8, 62, 64, 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80) in a state where a phase of a base vector is inverted as compared with the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the first detection period (Vlasov’s Pars. 8, 62, 64, 81, Hirai’s Fig. 7, Pars. 79-80). See claim 6 motivation above.
Vlasov as modified does not expressly disclose a signal of the pen signal is a carrier signal, and a phase of a base vector is delayed by half a cycle of the carrier signal of the pen signal as compared with the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the first detection period.
Krah discloses a signal of the pen signal is a carrier a pen signal (Fig. 9B, Par. 112), a phase of a base vector (digital 1) is delayed by half a cycle of the carrier signal (digital 0) of the pen signal as compared with the detection process of the signal arriving at the reception electrode in the first detection period (Fig. 9B, Par. 112, e.g. the carrier wave such as sine wave (330) may, during a predetermined time period, have a first portion with a first phase (digital 0), and a second portion with a second phase (digital 1) that is shifted (e.g., either 90.degree. or 180.degree.) from the first phase).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Vlasov with the teaching of Krah to accommodate different amount of data transmission as suggested by Krah (Par. 113).
Conclusion
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/JARURAT SUTEERAWONGSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2621
/LUNYI LAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2621