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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-6, in the reply filed on 01/26/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected groups, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 01/26/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because:
Solid black shading is not permitted. See 37 CFR 1.84(m).
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should 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 an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito et al (US 20170185173 A1).
As recited in independent claim 1, Ito et al show an electromagnetic induction pen 1 comprising: a first resonance circuit 11 including an inductance element 11L and a capacitance element 11C; a changing element 12C connected to the first resonance circuit 11, wherein the changing element 12C, in operation, changes a resonance frequency (“a writing pressure applied to the position indicator in response to an act of a user is reflected on the resonance frequency” [0021]) of a second resonance circuit 12 including the changing element 12C and the first resonance circuit 11 based on a behavior of a user (“a writing pressure applied to the position indicator in response to an act of a user” [0021]); and a toggle circuit 12SW that, in operation, switches between (“driving the switch circuit 12SW for changeover” [0055]) sending out a reference alternating magnetic field (see upper portion of Fig. 4, for example) by using the first resonance circuit 11 and sending out a modulated alternating magnetic field (see lower portion of Fig. 4, for example) by using the second resonance circuit 12.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2: The prior art of record neither shows nor suggests a sending-out stop period in which neither the reference alternating magnetic field nor the modulated alternating magnetic field is sent out is provided between sending out of the reference alternating magnetic field and sending out of the modulated alternating magnetic field.
Regarding claim 3: The prior art of record neither shows nor suggests the toggle circuit, in operation, switches between sending out of the reference alternating magnetic field and sending out of the modulated alternating magnetic field in response to passage of a predetermined time or more since an alternating magnetic field ceases to be received from a position detecting device.
Regarding claim 4 and its dependent claims 5-6: the toggle circuit, in operation, repeats sending out of the reference alternating magnetic field and sending out of the modulated alternating magnetic field in a predetermined pattern after a predetermined timing detected within the electromagnetic induction pen.
Conclusion
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.
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
03/23/2026
Prosecution Insights