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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment of claims 1 and 17 filed on June 9, 2026 has been entered and considered by examiner.
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) 1, 5-7, 9, 13 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al (U.S. Patent No. 11,379,075; already of record) in view of Kim et al (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2014/0022193; already of record) and in view of Xu et al (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2023/0134189).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses an electronic device (100), (fig. 1, col. 3, lines 43-50), comprising:
a control chip (170), (fig. 3, col. 5, lines 46-50), configured to
receive a detection signal from a touch sensing device (130), (i.e. step S101, contact area of a touch input on the touch module is detected), (figs. 3-4, col. 8, lines 11-12),
identify a first type (stylus touch) and a second type (finger touch) of an object (touch input source) on a sensing surface of the touch sensing device (130) according to the detection signal, wherein the first type (stylus touch) is a contact area of the object on the sensing surface being smaller than a first area threshold (i.e. steps S103, when the contact area is smaller than a second threshold area), and the second type (finger touch) is the contact area being larger than a second area threshold (i.e. steps S102, when the contact area is greater than a first threshold area), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23 and col. 8, lines 13-19), and
in response to the object changing from the first type (stylus touch) to the second type (finger touch), identify a first object (stylus) leaving the sensing surface of the touch sensing device (i.e. after the user no longer uses the stylus as a touch input source, the stylus would be leaving the touch module 130) and a second object (finger) directly touching the sensing surface of the touch sensing device (i.e. when the user uses a finger as the touch input source instead of the stylus), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23).
However, Lee does not mention wherein the object does not leave the sensing surface of the touch sensing device between changing from the first type to the second type.
In a similar field of endeavor, Kim teaches wherein the object (touch input being a touch pen 200 and finger 300) does not leave the sensing surface of the touch sensing device (i.e. surface of touch panel 145) between changing from the first type (pen touch) to the second type (finger tap), (i.e. fig. 13 shows that the touch pen 200 is used with the finger 300, hence the touch pen 200 does not leave the sensing surface of the touch panel 145 when using both the pen touch and the finger tap), [0086-0089].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee, by specifically providing the pen touch with the finger touch functions, as taught by Kim, for the purpose of having an easier execution of a variety of functions by distinguishing between a pen touch area via a touch pen and a hand touch area via a fingertip or hand, [0008].
However, Lee in view of Kim does not mention to reset the object as an initial contact on the sensing surface.
In a similar field of endeavor, Xu teaches to reset (refresh rate) the object (hand touch) as an initial contact on the sensing surface (i.e. after receiving the up event, the dynamic refresh rate adjustment module determines that it is detected that the touch operation leaves, and starts a countdown timer whose preset duration is 5 seconds), [0269].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee in view of Kim, by specifically providing the refresh rate adjustment module that determines that it is detected that the touch operation leaves and starts a countdown timer, as taught by Xu, for the purpose of refreshing the touch operation.
Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses wherein the first object (stylus) has the first type (stylus touch) and the second object (finger) has the second type (finger touch), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23 and col. 8, lines 13-19).
Regarding claim 6, Kim discloses wherein the control chip (160), (fig. 4, [0071]), is configured to
send a first report packet (pen input event) indicating the first object (stylus) leaving the sensing surface (i.e. when the stylus 200 is at a hover state, hence leaving the sensing surface of touch panel 145), (fig. 11, [0086-0087]),
send a second report packet (touch input event) indicating the second object (finger 300) directly touching sensing surface (i.e. touching the surface of touch panel 145), (fig. 11, [0086-0087]), and
the first report packet and the second report packet are sent at a same report time (i.e. step 611 shows that pen input event and touch input even are collected), (fig. 6, [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee, by specifically providing the pen touch with the finger touch functions, as taught by Kim, for the purpose of having an easier execution of a variety of functions by distinguishing between a pen touch area via a touch pen and a hand touch area via a fingertip or hand, [0008].
Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses wherein the control chip (170) is configured to
send a first report packet indicating the first object (stylus) leaving the sensing surface (i.e. when the control module does not detect the second report rate in step S105, hence the stylus is not in use), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 33-43),
send a second report packet indicating the second object (finger) directly touching sensing surface (i.e. step S104 detecting the touch input at a first report rate), (fig. 4, col. 8, lines 20-22), and
the first report packet and the second report packet are sent at different report times (i.e. the second report rate and the first report rate are sent at different times because the stylus and the finger are used at different times), (fig. 4, col. 8, lines 20-26).
Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses wherein the first object (stylus) and the second object (finger) have different ID codes (i.e. second report rate is different from the first report rate), (fig. 4, col. 8, lines 20-26).
Regarding claim 13, Lee discloses wherein the control chip (170) is configured to send two successive report packets (i.e. second report rate and first report rate) to indicate the first object leaving the sensing surface (i.e. when the stylus is no longer used and is not detected in step S101) and the second object (finger) directly touching sensing surface (i.e. step S104, detecting the touch input at a first report rate), (fig. 4, col. 8, lines 1-27).
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses wherein the second area threshold (first threshold area) is larger than the first area threshold (second threshold area), (i.e. the second threshold area is smaller than the first threshold area), (fig. 4, col. 8, lines 13-19).
Claim(s) 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Chang et al (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2020/0026407; already of record) and in view of Xu.
Regarding claim 17, Lee discloses an electronic device (100), (fig. 1, col. 3, lines 43-50), comprising:
a control chip (170), (fig. 3, col. 5, lines 46-50), configured to
receive a detection signal from a touch sensing device (130), (i.e. step S101, contact area of a touch input on the touch module is detected), (figs. 3-4, col. 8, lines 11-12),
identify a first type (stylus touch) and a second type (finger touch) of an object (touch input source) on a sensing surface of the touch sensing device (130) according to the detection signal, wherein the first type (stylus touch) is a contact area of the object on the sensing surface being smaller than a first area threshold (i.e. steps S103, when the contact area is smaller than a second threshold area), and the second type (finger touch) is the contact area being larger than a second area threshold (i.e. steps S102, when the contact area is greater than a first threshold area), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23 and col. 8, lines 13-19), and
in response to the object being identified as the second type (finger touch) for the first time (i.e. when detecting the contact area of the touch input being greater than a first threshold area, steps S101 and S102), indicate a first object (stylus) leaving the sensing surface of the touch sensing device (i.e. after the user no longer uses the stylus as a touch input source, the stylus would be leaving the touch module 130) and a second object (finger) directly touching the sensing surface of the touch sensing device (i.e. when the user uses a finger as the touch input source instead of the stylus), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23).
However, Lee does not mention wherein the object does not actually leave the sensing surface upon indicating the first object leaving the sensing surface.
In a similar field of endeavor, Chang teaches wherein the object does not actually leave the sensing surface upon indicating the first object leaving the sensing surface (i.e. after the type of the touching object is determined as a finger in Step 14, the flow goes to Step 16 which informs the operating system that the touching object has left the touch pad. Please note that the touching object does not actually leave the touch pad during the entire process. The purpose of Step 16 is to make the operating system believe the touching object has left the touch pad), (fig. 1, [0020-0021]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee, by specifically providing the method of making the system believe that the touching object has left the touch pad, as taught by Chang, for the purpose of identifying type of touching objects to improve user experience, [0006].
However, Lee in view of Kim does not mention to reset the object as an initial contact on the sensing surface.
In a similar field of endeavor, Xu teaches to reset (refresh rate) the object (hand touch) as an initial contact on the sensing surface (i.e. after receiving the up event, the dynamic refresh rate adjustment module determines that it is detected that the touch operation leaves, and starts a countdown timer whose preset duration is 5 seconds), [0269].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee in view of Kim, by specifically providing the refresh rate adjustment module that determines that it is detected that the touch operation leaves and starts a countdown timer, as taught by Xu, for the purpose of refreshing the touch operation.
Regarding claim 18, Lee discloses wherein the first object (stylus) has the first type (stylus touch), and the second object (finger) has the second type (finger touch), (fig. 4, col. 6, lines 8-23).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 8, 10-12 and 14-15 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.
Claims 19-20 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
In view of amendment, the reference of Xu has been added for new grounds 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LONG D PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5573. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9am-5pm EST.
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/LONG D PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2623
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