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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 14, 2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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) 1-6, 8-13, 15-18, 20-22 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goodix (CN 217386333U—hereinafter “Goodix”).
Please note that all citations below pertain to the Machine Translation of Goodix.
As to Claim 1, Goodix teaches a haptic feedback module (Fig. 4 at 10), comprising:
a touch control module (Fig. 4 at 108 and up) having a touch control face (Fig. 4 at 102/101);
at least one pressure-sensitive detector (Fig. 4 at 105c) disposed on one side of the touch control module facing away from the touch control face, and used for detecting pressure information of a touch control body on the touch control face (Pg. 9, ¶ 41); and
at least one actuator (Fig. 4 at 103) disposed on at least one side of the touch control module, and used for driving the touch control module to generate vibration in response to a driving signal, so as to form haptic feedback on the touch control face (Pg. 8, ¶ 38).
As to Claim 2, Goodix teaches that the at least one pressure-sensitive detector comprises at least one of: a first pressure-sensitive detector, wherein an orthographic projection of the first pressure-sensitive detector on the touch control face is disposed close to a geometric center of the touch control face (note: this claim uses the alternative term “at least one of” and has chosen not to address this limitation as the alternative limitation has been met below); a second pressure-sensitive detector, wherein an orthographic projection of the second pressure-sensitive detector on the touch control face is disposed close to an edge of the touch control face (Fig. 4, note 105c and Pg. 9, ¶ 41); and a third pressure-sensitive detector, wherein a shape of the touch control face is a polygonal shape (Fig. 4 at 101), and an orthographic projection of the third pressure-sensitive detector on the touch control face is disposed close to an interior angle of the polygonal shape (Fig. 4, note 105c and Pg. 9, ¶ 41).
As to Claim 3, Goodix teaches a plurality of pressure-sensitive detectors (Fig. 1 at 105c), wherein the plurality of pressure-sensitive detectors comprise a first detector group (Fig. 4 at left side of 105) and a second detector group (Fig. 4 at right side of 105), and an orthographic projection of the first detector group on the touch control face and an orthographic projection of the second detector group on the touch control face are respectively disposed close to opposite edges of the touch control face (See Fig. 4 at 105c and Pg. 9, ¶’s 40-41).
As to Claim 4, Goodix teaches a plurality of pressure-sensitive detectors (Fig. 4 at 105c), wherein an orthographic projection of the plurality of pressure-sensitive detectors on the touch control face are symmetrically disposed with respect to a geometric center of the touch control face (See Fig. 4 at 105c and Pg. 9, ¶’s 40-41).
As to Claim 5, Goodix teaches a module outer bezel (Fig. 4 at 107) comprising a bottom plate (Fig. 4 at 104), wherein the bottom plate is located on one side of the touch control module (Fig. 4 at 108 and up) facing away from the touch control face (Fig. 4 at 102/101 and Pg. 12, ¶ 52-53).
As to Claim 6, Goodix teaches that the pressure-sensitive detector (Fig. 4 at 105c) is located on one side of the touch control module close to the bottom plate (Fig. 4 at 104); wherein the pressure-sensitive detector comprises a first surface (top-side of 105c) and a second surface (bottom-side of 105c) which are disposed opposite to each other, the first surface is connected to the touch control module (Fig. 4 at 108 and Pg. 13, ¶ 61), the second surface is located on one side of the first surface away from the touch control module (bottom-side of 105c), and the haptic feedback module further comprises: at least one cantilever beam comprising a first cantilever beam (Fig. 4 at 105b), wherein one end of the first cantilever beam is connected to the second surface (Fig. 4, 105b connected to bottom-side of 105c) and the other end of the first cantilever beam is connected to the bottom plate (Pgs. 10-11, ¶ 46-48).
As to Claim 9, Goodix teaches that shape of a longitudinal cross section of the cantilever beam comprises at least one of: an H shape, a Z shape, a three-sided box shape, an I shape, an L shape, a T shape, and a rectangular shape (See Fig. 2 at 105b/105d), and the longitudinal cross section of the cantilever beam is perpendicular to the touch control face (Fig. 2 at 105d).
As to Claim 10, Goodix teaches that the first cantilever beam comprises: a first cantilever (Figs. 3-4 at 105), a first connecting face (105b), and a second connecting face (105e); the first cantilever (105) is located between the first connecting face (105b) and the second connecting face (105e), the first connecting face and the second surface are parallel to each other and are connected to each other (105b and bottom-side of 105c), the second connecting face and the bottom plate are parallel to each other and are connected to each other (105e and 104), and an extension direction of the first cantilever and a plane where the bottom plate is located intersect with each other (Fig. 3 at 105d and Pg. 10, ¶ 44).
As to Claim 12, Goodix teaches a shape of an orthographic projection of the pressure-sensitive detector on the touch control face comprises at least one of: a circular shape, an elliptical shape, a polygonal shape, a fan shape, an annular shape, and an irregular pattern (Fig. 4 at 105c).
As to Claim 29, Goodix teaches a haptic feedback apparatus (Fig. 8 at 100 and Pg. 3, ¶ 1 and Pg. 6, ¶ 21), comprising: the haptic feedback module according to claim 1 (See claim 1), wherein the touch control module comprises at least one of: a touch control circuit (Pg. 9, ¶’s 39 and 41), a display panel (Pg. 9, ¶ 41), and a backlight module; and a driving component respectively connected to the touch control module (Pg. 9, ¶’s 39 and 41), the pressure-sensitive detector, and the actuator, and used for driving the display panel to display an image (Pg. 9, ¶ 41), and outputting a driving signal to the actuator according to touch control information of a touch control body on the touch control module (Pg. 8, ¶ 38), and pressure information of the touch control body on the touch control module detected by the pressure-sensitive detector (Pg. 9, ¶ 41), so that the actuator drives the touch control module to vibrate in response to the driving signal (Pg. 8, ¶ 38), so as to form the haptic feedback on the touch control face, wherein the touch control information comprises at least one of: a touch control position, a touch control time, and a touch control action (Pg. 8, ¶ 37 and Pg. 9, ¶ 42).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 11, 13, 15-18 and 20-22 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Hwang et al. U.S. Patent 10,691,206 (Figs. 1A-1B)
Tao et al. U.S. Patent 12,566,506 (Same Applicants – Fig. 6)
Bernstein USPGPUB 2011/0141052 (Figs. 2, 3 & 18)
Togashi USPGPUB 2019/0107889 (Figs. 2, 6, 12 & 16)
Basehore et al. USPGPUB 2019/0187792 (Figs. 2-5)
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RODNEY AMADIZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7762. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Thurs; 9AM - 5PM EST.
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, Patrick Edouard can be reached at 571-272-7603. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RODNEY AMADIZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2622
Prosecution Insights