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 .
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, 3, 4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jain et al. (US 10788936)
In regard to claim 1, Jain et al. teach a touchpad and keyboard integrated device, comprising: a carrier board (fig. 1C element 122); a keyboard circuit disposed above the carrier board and comprising a plurality of button areas (element 116 switch layer and element 118 key switch); a plurality of buttons, wherein one of the buttons is correspondingly disposed in one of the button areas (element 114); and a flexible film touch panel covering the plurality of buttons and comprising a touch area (element 104, fig. 2B element 226, column 5 lines 40-44 and column 7 lines 20-25. Jain et al. describe a touch sensitive flexible fabric layer); wherein when a touch position occurs in the touch area, the flexible film touch panel generates a touch signal, and when the flexible film touch panel is pressed, one of the buttons below a pressed position causes an output signal to be generated in a corresponding button area (column 3 lines 51-64).
In regard to claim 3, Jain et al. teach wherein a charge change of the button corresponds to a deformation amount of the button (column 6 line 66-column 7 line 3).
In regard to claim 4, Jain et al. teach wherein the touch signal comprises position data of the touch position (column 9 lines 3-7).
In regard to claim 6, Jain et al. teach wherein the carrier board comprises a printed circuit board (column 5 lines 30 and 31).
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain et al. in view of Nakae et al. (US 2024/0322824).
In regard to claim 2, Jain et al. teach all the elements of claim 2 except wherein the buttons are composed of metal domes (Jain et al. teach dome switches (fig. 2B element 232) but not specifically a metal dome).
Nakae et al. teach a metal dome switch (paragraph 41).
The two are analogous art because they both deal with the same field of invention of input devices.
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. The rationale is as follows: Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. because with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. would work equally well in the apparatus of Jain et al. as it does separately. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize a metal dome switch would provide predictable results and provide advantages such as durability and cost.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain et al. in view of Wang et al. (US 11292236).
In regard to claim 5, Jain et al. teach all the elements of claim 5 except wherein a surface of the flexible film touch panel is provided with keyboard text (column 5 lines 36-39 state the fabric layer is the outer layer of the keyboard but doesn’t specifically teach the fabric layer having keyboard text).
Wang et al. teach wherein a surface of the flexible film touch panel is provided with keyboard text (column 6 lines 31 and 32. Wang et al. shows making key labels from the fabric layer).
The two are analogous art because they both deal with the same field of invention of input devices.
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the fabric layer having keyboard text as shown in Wang et al. The rationale is as follows: Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the fabric layer having keyboard text as shown in Wang et al. because providing the outer fabric layer with text would work equally as well in the apparatus of Jain et al. as it does in Wang et al. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the fabric layer containing text would provide predictable results and would allow the user with a familiar guide for using the keyboard.
Claim(s) 7, 8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain et al. in view of Chen (US 2025/0251817).
In regard to claim 7, Jain et al. teach a touchpad and keyboard integrated device, comprising: a carrier board (element 122); a keyboard circuit disposed above the carrier board and comprising a plurality of button areas (elements 116 and 118); a plurality of buttons, wherein one of the buttons is correspondingly disposed in one of the button areas (elements 114); a flexible film touch panel covering the plurality of buttons (element 104) and when the flexible film touch panel is pressed, one of the buttons below a pressed position causes an output signal to be generated in a corresponding button area (column 3 line 65-column 4 line 2) but does not teach an active stylus comprising a signal receiving and outputting portion communicatively connected to the flexible film touch panel; wherein the flexible film touch panel receives an active transmission signal output by the signal receiving and outputting portion to generate a position signal (Jain et al. teach a stylus in column 5 line 66 but not an active stylus).
Chen teaches an active stylus comprising a signal receiving and outputting portion communicatively connected to the flexible film touch panel (fig. 3); wherein the flexible film touch panel receives an active transmission signal output by the signal receiving and outputting portion to generate a position signal (paragraph 51).
The two are analogous art because they both deal with the same field of invention of input devices.
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the active stylus of Chen. The rationale is as follows: Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. with the active stylus of Chen because the active stylus of Chen would allow the user to use the input device while mimicking the function of using a pen or pencil.
In regard to claim 8, Jain et al. teach wherein when a touch position occurs in a touch area, the flexible film touch panel generates a touch signal (column 3 lines 51-64).
In regard to claim 10, Chen teaches wherein the position signal comprises tilt angle data and positioning data of the active stylus relative to the flexible film touch panel (paragraph 54).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jain et al. in view of Chen further considered with Nakae et al.
In regard to claim 9, Jain et al. and Chen teach all the elements of claim 9 except wherein the buttons are composed of metal domes (Jain et al. teach dome switches (fig. 2B element 232) but not specifically a metal dome).
Nakae et al. teach a metal dome switch (paragraph 41).
The three are analogous art because they all deal with the same field of invention of input devices.
Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. and Chen with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. The rationale is as follows: Before the effective filing date it would have been obvious to provide the apparatus of Jain et al. and Chen with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. because with the metal dome switch of Nakae et al. would work equally well in the apparatus of Jain et al. and Chen as it does separately. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize a metal dome switch would provide predictable results and provide advantages such as durability and cost.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH R HALEY whose telephone number is (571)272-0574. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am-5pm.
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/JOSEPH R HALEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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