DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Amendment
2. Acknowledgement is made of amendment filed on June 18, 2026, in which claim 1 is amended and rejection of claims 1-5 and 7 are traversed and claims 1-7 currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
4. Claim(s) 1-5 and 7 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Hoo et al. (US 3,958,234 A, hereinafter referred as “Hoo”) in view of Harley et al. (US 2012/0327042 A1, hereinafter referred as “Harley”), and in further view of Philipp et al. (US 2014/0015796 A1, hereinafter referred as “Philipp”).
Regarding claim 1, Hoo discloses a stylus (40) comprising:
a plurality of electrodes disposed in a tip of the stylus (40) (col. 6, lines 53-55 discloses in the circular tip area 42 of the stylus are three spaced capacitive sense plates 44A, 44B and 44C as shown in an enlarged view of the tip 42 in FIG. 6);
wherein the stylus (40) (col. 3, lines 36-37 discloses FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the hand-held stylus and associated circuitry of the invention) is operable to:
receive a first signal from a first electrode (44C) of the stylus (40) (Fig. 6 and col. 7, lines 42-45 discloses the waveform envelope on plate C is applied through conductor 56, a capacitance input network generally indicated 57, to the plus input of the differential amplifier 54);
receive a second signal from a second electrode (44A) of the stylus (40) (Fig. 6 and col. 7, lines 38-42 disclose the waveform envelope on plate A is applied (FIG. 6) through conductor 52, and capacitance input network generally indicated 53 to minus input of a conventional differential amplifier 54), the second signal being a reference signal and the second electrode (44A) being a reference electrode (Fig. 6 and col. 6, lines 9-12 discloses plate 44A used as reference electrode for inputting the reference signal to the minus terminal of both differential amplifiers 54 and 63 for common mode rejection); and
compare the first signal with the second signal (Fig. 6 and col. 6, lines 20-21 discloses of difference in magnitude of the voltages induced on plates A and C that is being sensed in differential amplifier 54).
Hoo doesn’t disclose communicate wirelessly with a device through a touch sensor of the device, and the second signal being a reference signal having a known signal value.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Harley discloses communicate wirelessly with a device through a touch sensor of the device (Fig. 1 and ¶0032 discloses the stylus can form a capacitance with one or more of the conductive rows 101 and/or columns 102 that can be detected by sensing circuitry (not shown). The stylus touch or hover can be represented in an image captured at the touch panel 120 and processed for input information regarding the stylus 110).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Hoo for the purpose of simulating natural pen like writing and drawing motion.
Hoo as modified doesn’t disclose second signal being a reference signal having a known signal value.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Philipp discloses second signal being a reference signal having a known signal value (¶0031 discloses the Y0 electrode serves as the conventional sense electrode of a capacitive touch and the Y1 electrode is an additional sense electrode provided for noise reference; ¶0034 discloses the Y1 electrode doesn’t receive appreciable signal from the drive electrodes because it is shielded therefrom by the Y0 electrode; and ¶0037-¶0038 discloses Sfinal = S0-S1, where S0 is the signal sample of Y0, S1 is the signal sample of Y1 and S1 = reference signal + noise component; thus the non-noise component or the reference signal component received by Y1 is a known reference value while it primarily registers noise).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Hoo for the purpose of subtracting a signal from a noise reference electrode that cancels common-mode noise and improves sensing accuracy (¶0015).
Regarding claim 2, Hoo discloses the stylus (40) of claim 1, wherein comparing the first signal with the second signal comprises subtracting the second signal from the first signal (Fig. 6 and col. 6, lines 20-21 discloses of difference in magnitude of the voltages induced on plates A and C that is being sensed in differential amplifier 54).
Regarding claim 3, Hoo discloses stylus (40) of claim 1, wherein the first signal and the second signal each contain noise having similar characteristics, and wherein comparing the first signal with the second signal comprises removing noise from the first signal (Fig. 6 and col. 6, lines 9-12 discloses plate 44A used as reference electrode for inputting the reference signal to the minus terminal of both differential amplifiers 54 and 63 for common mode noise rejection).
Regarding claim 4, Hoo discloses stylus (40) of claim 1, wherein the first electrode (44C) is located in the tip of the stylus (40) (col. 6, lines 53-55 discloses in the circular tip area 42 of the stylus are three spaced capacitive sense plates 44A, 44B and 44C as shown in an enlarged view of the tip 42 in FIG. 6).
Regarding claim 5, Hoo discloses stylus (40) of claim 1, wherein an operation amplifier (54) of the stylus (40) performs the step of comparing the first signal with the second signal (Fig. 6 and col. 7, lines 38-48 discloses differential charge amplifier compares signals from plates A and C of the tip of the stylus).
Regarding claim 7, Hoo discloses stylus (40) of claim 1, wherein the stylus (40) is further operable to multiply by a gain factor the result of the comparison of the first signal with the second signal (abstract discloses the signals being differentially amplified to give a detect signal of the stylus position on the display which has a high degree of resolution; and Fig. 6 and col. 7, lines 38-48 discloses differential charge amplifier compares signals from plates A and C of the tip of the stylus).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claim 6 is 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.
Response to Arguments
6. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-5 and 7 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PRIYANK J SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3732. The examiner can normally be reached on 10:00 - 6:00 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ghebretinsae, Temesghen can be reached on (571) 272-3017. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PRIYANK J SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626
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