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 § 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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kamata et al., US PGPUB 20170364259, hereinafter referencing as Kamata in view of Gradi, US PGPUB 20180328876.
As to claim 1, Kamata discloses an input apparatus comprising: a skin having an operation surface (e.g., base material 11, fig. 5);
a first electrode arranged on a back side of the operation surface (e.g., conductive layer 12, fig. 5);
a plurality of second electrodes arranged facing the first electrode (e.g., electrodes 211 and 221, fig. 5);
an elastic member arranged between the skin and the plurality of second electrodes (e.g., As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, when the operation member 10 is pressed by the finger F or the like of the user, and a distance in the Z-axis direction between the conductive layer 12 of the operation member 10 and the drive electrodes 211 becomes shorter from D1 to D2);
a processor connected to the plurality of second electrodes (e.g., processing circuit 330, fig. 6); and
a memory storing instructions ([0061] The control circuit 340 is provided with a CPU, MPU, or a control circuit such as an IC for a specific use, and a memory such as a ROM and a ROM),
wherein the skin and the elastic member are elastically deformable by a pressing operation performed on the operation surface by an operation body ([0072] The distance between the conductive layer 12 of the operation member 10 and the drive electrodes 211 in the Z-axis direction becomes shorter by the shift amount of the operation member 10, with the result that the change amount of the capacitance of the capacitive element C from the initial capacitance is increased), and
the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to execute: selecting at least one second electrode from among the plurality of second electrodes as a driving electrode (e.g., driving electrodes 211, fig. 5),
selecting at least one second electrode adjacent to the second electrode selected as the driving electrode, from among the plurality of second electrodes, as a detecting electrode (e.g., detection electrodes 221, fig. 5), and
switching a combination of the second electrodes selected from among the plurality of second electrodes as the driving electrode and the detecting electrode, and detecting an output of the detecting electrode in a plurality of the combinations ([0055] A change amount of the capacitance can be detected from the detection voltage obtained through the detection electrodes 221 as change information of the capacitance of the capacitive element C in the controller 300).
Kamata does not specifically disclose the detection electrodes and driving electrodes are arranged to be adjacent to each other.
However, in the same endeavor, Gradi discloses the detection electrodes and driving electrodes are arranged to be adjacent to each other (e.g., electrodes 14 and 16, fig. 3, wherein the drive and sense electrodes 14, 16 typically would be deposited directly onto the substrate 12 and disposed on a substrate in a side-by-side relationship).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Kamata to further include the arrangement of detecting and sensing electrodes as disclosed by Gradi, in order to activate desired function effectively.
As to claim 11, Kamata discloses an output detection method in an input apparatus, the input apparatus including: a skin having an operation surface (e.g., base material 11, fig. 5);
a first electrode arranged on a back side of the operation surface (e.g., conductive layer 12, fig. 5);
a plurality of second electrodes arranged facing the first electrode (e.g., electrodes 211 and 221, fig. 5);
an elastic member arranged between the skin and the plurality of second electrodes (e.g., As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, when the operation member 10 is pressed by the finger F or the like of the user, and a distance in the Z-axis direction between the conductive layer 12 of the operation member 10 and the drive electrodes 211 becomes shorter from D1 to D2);
a processor connected to the plurality of second electrodes (e.g., processing circuit 330, fig. 6); and
a memory storing instructions, when executed, cause the processor to execute the output detection method ([0061] The control circuit 340 is provided with a CPU, MPU, or a control circuit such as an IC for a specific use, and a memory such as a ROM and a ROM),
wherein the skin and the elastic member are elastically deformable by a pressing operation performed on the operation surface by an operator ([0072] The distance between the conductive layer 12 of the operation member 10 and the drive electrodes 211 in the Z-axis direction becomes shorter by the shift amount of the operation member 10, with the result that the change amount of the capacitance of the capacitive element C from the initial capacitance is increased),
the output detection method comprising: selecting at least one second electrode from among the plurality of second electrodes as a driving electrode (e.g., driving electrodes 211, fig. 5),
selecting at least one second electrode adjacent to the second electrode selected as the driving electrode, from among the plurality of second electrodes, as a detecting electrode (e.g., detection electrodes 221, fig. 5), and
switching a combination of the second electrodes selected from among the plurality of second electrodes as the driving electrode and the detecting electrode, and detecting an output of the detecting electrode in a plurality of the combinations ([0055] A change amount of the capacitance can be detected from the detection voltage obtained through the detection electrodes 221 as change information of the capacitance of the capacitive element C in the controller 300).
Kamata does not specifically disclose the detection electrodes and driving electrodes are arranged to be adjacent to each other.
However, in the same endeavor, Gradi discloses the detection electrodes and driving electrodes are arranged to be adjacent to each other (e.g., electrodes 14 and 16, fig. 3, wherein the drive and sense electrodes 14, 16 typically would be deposited directly onto the substrate 12 and disposed on a substrate in a side-by-side relationship).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Kamata to further include the arrangement of detecting and sensing electrodes as disclosed by Gradi, in order to activate desired function effectively.
As to claim 2, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the first electrode is a floating electrode.
As to claim 3, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses a boundary between adjacent second electrodes among the plurality of second electrodes is linear in a plan view (Gradi, e.g., the arrangement of electrodes 14 and 16, fig. 3A).
As to claim 4, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to execute switching the combination of the second electrodes selected as the driving electrode and the detecting electrode multiple times such that each of the plurality of second electrodes is selected as the detecting electrode at least once (Kamata, [0073] The control circuit 340 compares the change amount with the keying determination threshold value, determines that the effective keying operation is generated when the change amount is larger than the keying determination threshold value, and generates a key code assigned to the operated key area 10a).
As to claim 5, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 4. The combination further discloses the plurality of second electrodes have a plurality of boundaries between adjacent second electrodes, and the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to execute switching the combination of the second electrodes selected as the driving electrode and the detecting electrode multiple times such that each of the plurality of boundaries is located between the driving electrode and the detecting electrode at least once (Kamata, [0170] a control circuit that adjusts a parameter of a processing relating to the keying operation of the keyboard module on a basis of information relating to a pressure detected by the sensor device for each of the key areas).
As to claim 6, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 4. The combination further discloses the instructions, when executed, cause the processor to execute maintaining at least one second electrode among the plurality of second electrodes that is not selected as the driving electrode or the detecting electrode, at a constant potential (Kamata, [0060] The detection signal processing circuit 330 amplifies a detection signal of the detection electrode 221 selected by the switch circuit 320, and performs A/D conversion to supply the signal to the control circuit 340).
As to claim 7, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the skin and the first electrode are formed of a transparent material (Gradi, [0016] Any or all of the first electrode 14, the second electrode 16, and the shield electrode 20 could be opaque, optically transparent or translucent).
As to claim 8, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the elastic member is thicker than the skin (Kamata, as shown in fig. 4, item 32 is thicker than the base material 11).
As to claim 9, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 1. The combination further discloses the plurality of second electrodes are arranged in an annular, lattice, or honeycomb shape in a plan view (Kamata, [0054] The plurality of drive electrodes 211 and the plurality of detection electrodes 221 are arranged so as to intersect each other in a lattice pattern).
As to claim 10, the combination of Kamata and Gradi discloses the input apparatus according to claim 9. The combination further discloses the plurality of second electrodes are equally divided into N portions (N is an integer of 3 or more) in a plan view (as shown in fig. 3, the keys on the keyboard module 100 are more than 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hashida, US PGPUB 20180095562 discloses first and second substrates are disposed to face each other and allowed to approach each other. A plurality of first electrodes are formed on the first substrate. A plurality of second electrodes are formed on the second substrate and face the respective first electrodes. A facing electrode pair is constituted by each of the first electrodes and a corresponding one of the second electrodes. A switching unit causes each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes to be connected to a driving unit or a detecting unit and switches between a first detection state in which a distance change between each of the first electrodes and a corresponding one of the second electrodes is detected and a second detection state in which the coordinates of a position that an operating body approaches or touches are determined in accordance with detection outputs from the facing electrode pairs.
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/SAHLU OKEBATO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625 1/22/2026