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 .
This Office Action has been issued in response to Applicant’s Communication of application S/N 18/933,466 filed on October 31, 2024. Claims 1 to 20 are currently pending with the application.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202210684720.9, filed on 06/16/20
22, and relationship to 371 PCT/CN2023/079126, filed on 03/01/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 9, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li, (CN 105892919) Published on Aug. 24, 2016 in view of Xu, (CN 114237399) Published on Mar, 03, 2022.
As per Claims 1, 18 and 20, Li teaches A vibration signal encoding processing method, performed by a computer device, comprising:
obtaining a plurality of control elements in a target device, ( Li pag.4. para.2 teaches a touch-screen keyboard having multiple virtual keys/control elements. Li describes that “usually a 9 virtual keys on the touch screen of T9 keyboard, which are numbers from 1 to 9.” Li further teaches that “the digital keys and the letter or symbol corresponding to each other.”)
and determining layout information of the plurality of control elements in the target device according to a device position of any control element of the plurality of control elements in the target device; (Li pag.5 para.5 teaches that the virtual keys are arranged as a T9 keyboard and that the position of a key is determined by software. Li states: “key itself is virtual, identifying a touch coordinate by software, calculating the coordinate position of the key value, and according to the key value conversion on the corresponding vibration.”
Li also teaches pag4. Para.11 different vibration directions corresponding to different key positions, including: “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” “5 key front side front vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
and determining orientation indication information of any control element based on the layout information, (Li, page.4 para.7-8 teaches determining orientation information from the key layout. Li states that “before each input, an identification vibration are different for each key defined direction.” Li further teaches that “when the finger of the user slides on each key pressed key at a defined identification vibration direction but no input, user by sensing the vibration be known for identifying which key is pressed.”
Li, page.4, para.11 expressly identifies relative orientations for the T9 keys, including “upper, lower, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right with respect to the direction of the touch screen.”)
and the orientation indication information indicating a relative position of the corresponding control element; (Li page.4, par.11 teaches that key vibration directions are based on relative positions on the touch screen. Li states that “the upper, lower, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right with respect to the direction of the touch screen.”
Li further teaches specific key-to-position mappings, including “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
and performing vibration signal encoding on each of the plurality of control elements based on the scenario indication information and the orientation indication information to obtain vibration signal encoding information corresponding to each of the plurality of control elements, (Li, page.4, para.7 teaches assigning a distinct vibration direction to each key: “before each input, an identification vibration are different for each key defined direction.” Li, page.5 para.6 further teaches software conversion from key position/value to vibration: “key itself is virtual, identifying a touch coordinate by software, calculating the coordinate position of the key value, and according to the key value conversion on the corresponding vibration.”)
the vibration signal encoding information indicating a vibration mode of a vibration motor of the computer device; (Li, page.5 para.5 teaches that “the touch screen provided with three drive motors to respectively drive the polarization direction are different.” Li further teaches “controlling which one or more which direction motor and corresponding to the vibration” and gives the example: “front side left vibration = motor vibration forward to left vibration motor.”)
Li does not expressly teach determining scenario indication information corresponding to the plurality of control elements according to an expression form used by the target device to perform content output based on the plurality of control elements; the expression form comprising a digit form, a letter form, and a character form, the scenario indication information indicating an expression form of output content of a corresponding control element and the orientation indication information indicating a relative position of the corresponding control element;
On the other hand, Xu teaches determining scenario indication information corresponding to the plurality of control elements according to an expression form used by the target device to perform content output based on the plurality of control elements, (Xu teaches determining category/scenario information for interface elements. Xu states: “in response to the first touch operation for the user interface, determining the category of the target interface element currently touched and the target interface user interface.” Xu further teaches “according to the corresponding relation between the category of the target interface element and the preset interface element and the vibration signal, determining the target vibration signal corresponding to the target interface element.”)
the expression form comprising a digit form, a letter form, and a character form, the scenario indication information indicating an expression form of output content of a corresponding control element; (Xu, page.6 para.5 also teaches interface elements including “letter key, a number key, input method switching key, character display, editable area.” Xu, page.6 para.7 teaches that vibration effects may prompt the category or function of the interface element, stating that “the target vibration effect is used for prompting the category of the target interface element and/or the function interface element.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of the cited references and modify the invention as taught by Li, by including the teachings of Xu relating to assigning vibration signals to interface elements based on category/function and coding, so that a user could identify both the expression form and relative position of a control element by vibration, improving tactile recognition and usability, including for visually impaired users.
As per Claim 2, the combination of Li and Xu teaches the vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 1, wherein the scenario indication information is a prefix waveform (Xu, page.10 para.5 teaches that vibration effects are determined according to interface-element category/function. Xu states: “according to the corresponding relation between the category of the target interface element and the preset interface element and the vibration signal, determining the target vibration signal corresponding to the target interface element.”
Xu, page.6, para.5 further teaches that interface elements include different types such as “letter key, a number key, input method switching key, character display.” Xu also teaches that the vibration effect is used for “prompting the category of the target interface element and/or the function interface element.”)
and the orientation indication information is a suffix waveform; (Li teaches position/orientation-based vibration information. Li, page.6, para.22 states: “before each input, an identification vibration are different for each key defined direction.” Li further teaches key-direction mappings, including “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
and wherein the performing comprises:
combining the prefix waveform and the suffix waveform to generate one or more combined waveforms, (Xu, page.9 para.1 teaches that vibration signals may be composed of multiple waveform portions. Xu states: “a vibration signal can be composed of a plurality of waveforms.” Xu further teaches that the vibration signal “can be encoded by a plurality of waveform in the vibration signal, so as to set a vibration effect for each key position.”)
wherein one combined waveform is associated with one control element, and the combined waveform associated with the control element is used as a vibration waveform of the corresponding control element; (Li. Page.6 para.22 teaches that a key’s defined vibration is output when the user touches or slides on the key: “when the finger of the user slides on each key pressed key at a defined identification vibration direction without input, user by sensing the identifying vibration to know which key.”)
As per Claim 3, the combination of Li and Xu teaches the vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 2, wherein a quantity of prefix waveforms is at least one, and a quantity of suffix waveforms is at least one; and combining the prefix waveform and the suffix waveform comprises: selecting a target prefix waveform from the at least one prefix waveform, (Xu, page.10 para.5 teaches that vibration effects are determined according to interface-element category/function. Xu states: “according to the corresponding relation between the category of the target interface element and the preset interface element and the vibration signal, determining the target vibration signal corresponding to the target interface element.”
Xu, page.6, para.5 further teaches that interface elements include different types such as “letter key, a number key, input method switching key, character display.” Xu also teaches that the vibration effect is used for “prompting the category of the target interface element and/or the function interface element.”)
and selecting a target suffix waveform from the at least one suffix waveform, the target prefix waveform being a prefix waveform that matches the expression form used by the target device to perform content output, and the target suffix waveform being a suffix waveform that matches position information of the control element; (Li teaches position/orientation-based vibration information. Li, page.6, para.22 states: “before each input, an identification vibration are different for each key defined direction.” Li further teaches key-direction mappings, including “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
and combining the target prefix waveform and the target suffix waveform to generate a target combined waveform; (Xu, page.9 para.1 teaches that vibration signals may be composed of multiple waveform portions. Xu states: “a vibration signal can be composed of a plurality of waveforms.” Xu further teaches that the vibration signal “can be encoded by a plurality of waveform in the vibration signal, so as to set a vibration effect for each key position.”)
As per Claim 4, The combination of Li and Xu teaches the vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 3, wherein the layout information indicates that the plurality of control elements are in a grid layout in the target device; and the selecting comprises: determining a control element that is located at a central position of a grid among the plurality of control elements in the grid layout as an anchor element, wherein a control element that is not located at the central position of the grid is a non-anchor element; (Li, paga.4 para.2 teaches a T9 keyboard having nine virtual keys. Li states: “usually a 9 virtual keys on the touch screen of T9 keyboard, which are numbers from 1 to 9.” This T9 keyboard is a grid layout.
Li, page.5, para.1 specifically discusses the center key, stating: “on the mechanical keyboard, usually as a small dot on the ‘5’ key, when a touch to dots, other keys can be positioned to realize touch typing.”)
and selecting the target suffix waveform from the at least one suffix waveform based on an orientation relationship between the anchor element and the non-anchor element.; (Li, page.4, para.16-22 teaches selecting key vibrations based on the relative direction of each key. Li identifies directions including “upper, lower, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right with respect to the direction of the touch screen.”
Li further teaches key-direction mappings such as “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” “5 key front side front vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
As per Claim 7, The combination of Li and Xu teaches the vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 4, wherein the combining the target prefix waveform and the target suffix waveform to generate a target combined waveform comprises: based on a target control element that generates the vibration waveform being the non-anchor element, (Li, page.4, para.16-22 teaches selecting key vibrations based on the relative direction of each key. Li identifies directions including “upper, lower, left, right, upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right with respect to the direction of the touch screen.”
Li further teaches key-direction mappings such as “1 key front side left upper vibration,” “2 key forward side vibration,” “3 key front side upper right vibration,” “4 key front side left vibration,” “5 key front side front vibration,” and “6 key front side right vibration.”)
combining the target prefix waveform and the target suffix waveform based on a second time interval to generate the target combined waveform of the target control element; (Xu, page.9 para.1 teaches that vibration signals may be composed of multiple waveform portions. Xu states: “a vibration signal can be composed of a plurality of waveforms.” Xu further teaches that the vibration signal “can be encoded by a plurality of waveform in the vibration signal, so as to set a vibration effect for each key position.”)
As per Claim 9, the combination of Li and Xu teaches the vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 4, wherein the selecting the target prefix waveform from the at least one prefix waveform comprises: selecting, from the at least one prefix waveform, a prefix waveform that matches the expression form used by the target device to perform content output as the target prefix waveform; (Li, page.4, para.1 teaches that the touch-screen T9 keyboard includes number keys and that the number keys correspond to letters or symbols. Li states: “usually a 9 virtual keys on the touch screen of T9 keyboard, which are numbers from 1 to 9.” Li further states: “the digital keys and the letter or symbol corresponding to each other.”)
(Xu, page.10 para.7 teaches selecting vibration signals according to interface-element category/function. Xu states: “according to the corresponding relation between the category of the target interface element and the preset interface element and the vibration signal, determining the target vibration signal corresponding to the target interface element.”
Xu also identifies expression-form-related interface elements, including “letter key, a number key, input method switching key, character display.”)
As per Claim 17, the combination of Li and Xu teaches vibration signal encoding processing method according to claim 2, further comprising: obtaining a reference control element required for generating target content corresponding to a target control element, (Li, page.4 para.2 teaches that the keys of the T9 keyboard are used to generate target input content. Li states that “the digital keys and the letter or symbol corresponding to each other, and by continuous pressing switching key value of letters or symbols are different according to different input method.”
Li provides an example of generating target content, stating: “on the T9 keyboard for Chinese Pinyin input ‘hello’ (nihao).” Li then describes selecting keys to input letters, including “continuously beating for 2 times on the 6 key … input n is successful,” and “continuously knocking 4 key 3 times … input i is successful.”)
and a vibration waveform corresponding to the reference control element; (Li, page.6, para.9 teaches that each key has a corresponding vibration. Li states that “a feedback vibration are different for each key defined direction.” Li further teaches that “a key corresponding to the input value to the defined feedback vibration direction, the user feels the vibration for feedback to know the input value is correct.”)
and outputting a vibration according to the vibration waveform corresponding to the reference control element during outputting the target content; (Li, page.8 claim 5 teaches outputting vibration feedback after input. Li states: “after each input, a feedback vibration are different for each key-press defining direction, and keys corresponding to the inputted input value at a defined feedback vibration direction.” Li further teaches that “user by feel the vibration for feedback to know the input value is correct.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 8, and 10-16 are 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.
Conclusion
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/SHERIEF BADAWI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2169
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