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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant is reminded of the duty to disclose information material to patentability. See 37 CFR 1.56(e), which states “In any continuation-in-part application, the duty under this section includes the duty to disclose to the Office all information known to the person to be material to patentability, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section, which became available between the filing date of the prior application and the national … filing date of the continuation-in-part application”.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 01/13/2025. These drawings are not acceptable.
Drawing sheet numbers (1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.) do not conform to the standards set forth in 37 CFR 1.84(t), which requires (emphasis added) “These numbers, if present, must be placed in the middle of the top of the sheet, but not in the margin. ... The drawing sheet numbering must be clear and larger than the numbers used as reference characters to avoid confusion. The number of each sheet should be shown by two Arabic numerals placed on either side of an oblique line, with the first being the sheet number and the second being the total number of sheets of drawings, with no other marking.”
INFORMATION ON HOW TO EFFECT DRAWING CHANGES
Replacement Drawing Sheets
Drawing changes must be made by presenting replacement sheets which incorporate the desired changes and which comply with 37 CFR 1.84. An explanation of the changes made must be presented either in the drawing amendments section, or remarks, section of the amendment paper. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). A replacement sheet must include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of the amended drawing(s) must not be labeled as “amended.” If the changes to the drawing figure(s) are not accepted by the examiner, applicant will be notified of any required corrective action in the next Office action. No further drawing submission will be required, unless applicant is notified.
Identifying indicia, if provided, should include the title of the invention, inventor’s name, and application number, or docket number (if any) if an application number has not been assigned to the application. If this information is provided, it must be placed on the front of each sheet and within the top margin.
Annotated Drawing Sheets
A marked-up copy of any amended drawing figure, including annotations indicating the changes made, may be submitted or required by the examiner. The annotated drawing sheet(s) must be clearly labeled as “Annotated Sheet” and must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change(s) to the drawings.
Timing of Corrections
Applicant is required to submit acceptable corrected drawings within the time period set in the Office action. See 37 CFR 1.85(a). Failure to take corrective action within the set period will result in ABANDONMENT of the application.
If corrected drawings are required in a Notice of Allowability (PTOL-37), the new drawings MUST be filed within the THREE MONTH shortened statutory period set for reply in the “Notice of Allowability.” Extensions of time may NOT be obtained under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136 for filing the corrected drawings after the mailing of a Notice of Allowability.
Specification
The substitute specification filed 08/25/2024 has not been entered because it does not conform to 37 CFR 1.125(b) and (c) because:
The amendments to the SPEC include new matter. See 37 CFR 1.121(f), which states “No amendment may introduce new matter into the disclosure of an application.”
An allegedly clean copy includes mark-ups (see “[0055]”). Furthermore, said allegedly clean copy does not begin on a separate sheet; therefore, said allegedly clean copy is not “An accompanying clean version (without markings)” as required by 37 CFR 1.125(c).
35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, requires the specification to be written in “full, clear, concise, and exact terms.” The specification is replete with terms which are not clear, concise and exact. The specification should be revised carefully in order to comply with 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112. Examples of some unclear, inexact or verbose terms used in the specification are: “Classic”, “interactively and autonomously and might be heard”, “overall use”, “when house in the device and not in the touch surface, are not limited to design, and not limited to one or more”, “clicker buttons are programmed to the same measurements and code”, “change in actions of the buttons”, “not limited to locations”, “camera’s speakers”, “button (P) is not limited to type of button, (press button, toggle, soft key or sensor” without any “)”, “touch sensitive pad… to be used as a wireless mouse to the viewing element housing”, “snapping-in by the means of design”, and “any existing device … not limited to design or mating capabilities”.
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
The claims are objected to because of the following informalities: Prolific misspellings exist in the claims. See claim 1, for example, which recites “the users index finger”. See also claim 16, “clicker buttons functions can be adjusted; … button actions initiation tone” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Mark-up fails to conform to the standards set forth in 37 CFR 1.121(c)(2), which requires that amended claims “shall … be submitted with markings to indicate the changes that have been made relative to the immediate prior version of the claims. The text of any added subject matter must be shown by underlining the added text. The text of any deleted matter must be shown by strike-through except that double brackets placed before and after the deleted characters may be used to show deletion of five or fewer consecutive characters. The text of any deleted subject matter must be shown by being placed within double brackets if strike-through cannot be easily perceived.” Ambiguous mark-up creates uncertainty regarding the metes and bounds of each pending claim.
Applicant’s use of phrases such as "from example" and “may have” render the claims indefinite because it is unclear whether or not the limitation(s) following the phrases are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Similarly, it is unclear whether words appearing in single quotes (e.g., “'clicker buttons'” in claim 1) are somehow to be interpreted as having meanings different from their meanings when used without single quotes (e.g., “clicker button” in claim 1).
Although various embodiments are disclosed as alternatives, the claims appear to recite various embodiments combined with “and”, as though a single electronic device would be required to simultaneously incorporate features from each and every embodiment.
Claim 1 includes multiple periods. It is unclear where that claim ends.
Claim 6 is devoid of a period. The metes and bounds of claim 6 are therefore unclear.
The claim(s) are narrative in form and replete with indefinite language. The structure which goes to make up the device must be clearly and positively specified. The structure must be organized and correlated in such a manner as to present a complete operative device. The claim(s) must be in one sentence form only, and each claim must end with a period. Note the format of the claims in the patent(s) cited by the Examiner in parent SN 17803721.
Regarding claims 1-20: In the absence of a reasonably definite interpretation of a claim, it is improper to rely on speculative assumptions regarding the meaning of a claim and then base a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 on these assumptions (In re Steele, 305 F.2d 859,134 USPQ 292 (CCPA 1962)). See MPEP 2143.03.
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Julie Anne Watko whose telephone number is (571)272-7597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Tuesday 9AM-5PM, Wednesday 10:30AM-5PM, Thursday-Friday 9AM-5PM, and occasional Saturdays.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ke Xiao can be reached at 571-272-7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
JULIE ANNE WATKO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2627
/Julie Anne Watko/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
05/13/2025