DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4, 8-10, 12-15 and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. See the rejection below in view of Chang.
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) 1-4, 8-10, 12-15 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Pub. 2010/0315335 A1 to Villar et al (“Villar”) in view of US Patent No. 5,298,919 to Chang.
As to claim 1, Villar discloses a multi-input interface device (See Fig. 7), comprising:
a housing (101);
a first sensor unit (110) positioned within the housing and comprising a first optical sensor; and
a second sensor unit (707) positioned within the housing and comprising a second optical sensor;
wherein the first optical sensor is configured to detect a translational movement of the housing in a plane relative to a surface supporting a bottom surface of the housing (¶ 0030, “x and y displacement in the plane of the surface”); and
wherein the second optical sensor is configured to detect a rotational movement (¶ 0064, 0077-0078), and
an interface module (109) configured to translate data indicative of the translational movement and data indicative of the rotational movement into a set of movements for information displayed on a display screen of a display device (¶ 0030-0032, 0060-0080; Villar discloses translating translational and rotational movements into a set of movements to be displayed into movements that are depicted in Fig. 6-9.).
Villar fails to disclose a second optical sensor configured to detect rotational movement of the housing about an axis perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing.
Chang discloses a second optical sensor configured to detect rotational movement of the housing about an axis perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing (col. 11, lines 45-50, “measuring rotational movement of the housing about an axis perpendicular to the x-y plane”).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Villar with the teachings of Chang of a sensor configured to detect rotational movement of the housing about an axis perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing, as suggested by Chang thereby similarly using known configurations of sensors for detecting rotational movement about an axis perpendicular to a surface in the device of Villar.
As to claim 2, Villar discloses wherein a portion of the first sensor unit is open on the bottom surface of the housing (See Fig. 7, 110; ¶ 0030).
As to claim 3, Villar discloses further comprising:
an additional housing separate from the housing (See Fig. 7, 702);
a third sensor unit positioned within the additional housing and comprising an additional sensor (See Fig. 7, 708; Villar discloses a button 708 that can be actuated by a user.).
As to claim 4, Villar discloses wherein the additional sensor is one of: an optical sensor, an infrared sensor, a mechanical sensor (See Fig. 7, 708; ¶ 0066), a gyroscopic sensor, an electro-magnetic induction sensor, an accelerometer, a thermal sensor, a pressure sensor, or a capacitive sensor.
As to claim 8, Villar discloses an input device (See Fig. 7, 708) configured for actuation by a user of the multi-input interface device (¶ 0066).
As to claim 9, Villar discloses wherein the interface module is further configured to translate the data indicative of the translational movement and the data indicative of the rotational movement into an operation (¶ 0030-0032, 0054, 0060-0080; Villar discloses translating translational and rotational movements into a set of movements to be displayed into movements that are depicted in Fig. 6-9.).
As to claim 10, Villar discloses further comprising:
an input device (Fig. 7, 708) configured for actuation by a user of the multi-input interface device (¶ 0066);
wherein the interface module translates the data indicative of translational movement, the data indicative of the rotational movement, and a signal resulting from the actuation of the input device into the operation (¶ 0030-0032, 0054, 0060-0080; Villar discloses translating translational and rotational movements into a set of movements to be displayed into movements that are depicted in Fig. 6-9.).
As to claim 12, the same rejection or discussion is used as in the rejection of claim 1.
As to claim 13, the same rejection or discussion is used as in the rejection of claim 2.
As to claim 14, the same rejection or discussion is used as in the rejection of claim 3.
As to claim 15, the same rejection or discussion is used as in the rejection of claim 4.
As to claim 19, the same rejection or discussion is used as in the rejection of claim 10.
Conclusion
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/NICHOLAS J LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624