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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claims 140-141, 143-148, and 151-153 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Geahgan (US 2013/0016527 A1).
Claim 140, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses an optical sensing system (140; Fig. 1B) operative with an optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B; Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses an optical stylus 120), the optical sensing system (120; Fig. 1B) comprising:
an array (Fig. 8) of light emitting devices (Paragraph [0046]; wherein discloses “using non-visible light emitting LEDs to generate position-unique signals”), each light emitting device (82; Fig. 8; Paragraph [0052]) configured for emitting light at a particular modulation frequency (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6; wherein figure shows signals being applied with different frequency; Paragraph [0060]; wherein further discloses “other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) such that light at a plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) is emitted from the array of light emitting devices(82; Fig. 8; Paragraph [0052]), wherein the plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) is selected to be detectable (Paragraph [0035]) by the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B; 50; Fig. 2); and
a processor (58; Fig. 2; Paragraph [0034]) programmed to receive light detection data (Fig. 2) corresponding to the plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) and determine a location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “which are processed by an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) at the optical sensing system using the light detection data (Fig. 2).
Claim 141, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) includes a light detecting device (54; Fig. 2; Paragraph [0034]) configured to receive modulated light (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) at the plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0060]; wherein further discloses “other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”), and the processor (58; Fig. 2) is programmed to receive the light detection data (Paragraph [0034]), from the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B), generated based on the modulated light (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) received at the light detecting device (54; Fig. 2) at each modulation frequency of the plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0060]; wherein further discloses “other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”), and the processor (58; Fig. 2) is programmed to receive the light detection data (Paragraph [0034]).
Claim 143, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to:
determine a frequency (Fig. 6; Paragraph [0049]) response of the light detection data (54; Fig. 2);
derive a plurality of amplitudes (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) from the frequency response including an amplitude at each of the plurality of modulation frequencies (Fig. 6; Paragraph [0050]); and
determine the location (A or B; Fig. 4) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) from the plurality of amplitudes (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) derived from the frequency response at the plurality of modulation frequencies (Fig. 6; Paragraph [0050]).
Claim 144, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to use a map of locations (A-F; Fig. 8) of a plurality of light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) of the array of light emitting devices (Fig. 8) and the plurality of modulation frequencies (Fig. 6) of the plurality of light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) to determine the location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B).
Claim 145, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to determine the location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) by using the map (A-F; Fig. 8) to associate the amplitudes (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) at the plurality of modulation frequencies (Fig. 6) with the locations of the plurality of light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8).
Claim 146, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to linearize (Signal at A and Signal at B: Fig. 5A and 5B) the amplitudes (Paragraph [0050]) at the plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LF; Fig. 5A and 5B) with a distance (Fig. 4) from a light emitting device (310A-310D; Fig. 4) of the array of light emitting devices (310A-310D; Fig. 4).
Claim 147, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to use a map of locations (A-F; Fig. 8) of a plurality of groups of a plurality of light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) of the array of light emitting devices (80; Fig. 8) and an arrangement of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) within each of the groups (A-F; Fig. 8) to determine the location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B).
Claim 148, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to:
derive phase information (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) at each of the plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6) from the frequency response (Fig. 6); and
determine the location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) from the plurality of amplitudes (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) and the phase information (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) at the plurality of modulation frequencies (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6).
Claim 151, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the light detection data (54; Fig. 2) includes amplitude and frequency information (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”).
Claim 152, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) are configured to emit light with near-infrared wavelengths (Paragraph [0045]; wherein discloses “Infra-red (IR) LEDs may also or instead be used as emitters 310A-310D, which may be preferable for Embodiments A, B, and C. IR emitters used with Embodiment A may, in some embodiments, have a wavelength greater than 900 nM”).
Claim 153, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) are configured to emit light with wavelengths between 980 nm and 1 micron (Paragraph [0045]; wherein discloses “Infra-red (IR) LEDs may also or instead be used as emitters 310A-310D, which may be preferable for Embodiments A, B, and C. IR emitters used with Embodiment A may, in some embodiments, have a wavelength greater than 900 nM”; wherein a wavelength greater than 900 nM covers wavelengths between 980 nm and 1 micron).
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 156 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choo et al (US 2018/0151656 A1) in view of Sauer et al (US 2020/0033979 A1).
Claim 156, Choo (Fig. 1-20) discloses an integrated touch screen (Fig. 3; Paragraph [0049]) for performing display operations (Paragraph [0049]; wherein discloses a display mode) and optical object sensing (Paragraph [0049]; wherein discloses a sensor mode), comprising:
an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (P; Fig. 3) configured as light detectors (Fig. 9; Paragraph [0079]);
at least one analog front end (AFE) including at least one amplifier (20; Fig. 9; wherein figure shows amplifier connected to light sensor to output an analog signal) couplable to the array of light detectors (P; Fig. 1).
Choo does not expressly disclose a plurality of demodulators coupled to the at least one AFE, at least some of the plurality of demodulators configured in a first configuration to demodulate signals received from the light detectors at a plurality of demodulation frequencies;
wherein the plurality of demodulation frequencies corresponds to modulation frequencies of a plurality of styluses.
Sauer (1A-15) discloses a plurality of demodulators (Demod; Fig. 6A) coupled to the at least one AFE (602; Fig. 6A), at least some of the plurality of demodulators (Demod; Fig. 6A) configured in a first configuration to demodulate signals received from the light detectors (ITO; Fig. 5B) at a plurality of demodulation frequencies (Paragraph [0091]; wherein discloses “The aggregated touch data can then be demodulated by digital or analog processing circuitry of the touch controller integrated circuit using multiple demodulation signals including in-phase and quadrature-phase signals having a plurality of different frequencies”);
wherein the plurality of demodulation frequencies (Demod; Fig. 6A) corresponds to modulation frequencies of a plurality of styluses (Vstim; Fig. 8A).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Choo’s integrated touch screen by applying a detection circuit, as taught by Sauer, so to use an integrated touch screen with a detection circuit for providing the touch chiplets can be configured to simultaneously sense the touch nodes electrodes of each of the regions in a spectral analysis mode (Paragraph [0008]).
Claims 142, 149, 154-155, 157 and 159 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geahgan (US 2013/0016527 A1) in view of Lewty et al (US 2020/0225778 A1).
Claim 142, Geahgan discloses the optical sensing system of claim 141.
Geahgan does not expressly disclose wherein the light detection data is received from the optical stylus via a wireless communication protocol between the optical stylus and the optical sensing system.
Lewty (Fig. 1-6) discloses wherein the light detection data (38; Fig. 3; Paragraph [0017]) is received from the optical stylus (10; Fig. 2) via a wireless communication protocol (Paragraph [0026]) between the optical stylus (10; Fig. 2) and the optical sensing system (24; Fig. 2).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan’s optical sensing system by applying a wireless communication, as taught by Lewty, so to use an optical sensing system with a wireless communication for providing continuous coverage of the visible light spectrum (and, if desired, portions of the infrared light spectrum and/or ultraviolet light spectrum) (Paragraph [0032]).
Claim 149, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) is further programmed to:
determine a second frequency (UR; Fig. 6; wherein different than UL or LL) response of the second light detection data (Signal at B; Fig. 5A and 5B);
derive a second plurality of amplitudes (Signal at B; Fig. 5A and 5B) from the second frequency response (UR; Fig. 6) including an amplitude at each of the second plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “Also, other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”); and
determine the location (B; Fig. 4) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) from the second plurality of amplitudes (Signal at B; Fig. 5A and 5B) derived from the second frequency (UR; Fig. 6) response at the second plurality of modulation frequencies (Fig. 6).
Geahgan does not expressly disclose wherein the optical stylus includes a second light detecting device configured to receive second modulated light at a second plurality of modulation frequencies, and the processor is programmed to receive second light detection data, from the optical stylus, generated based on the second modulated light received at the second light detecting device at each modulation frequency of the second plurality of modulation frequencies.
Lewty (Fig. 1-6) discloses wherein the optical stylus (10; Fig. 3) includes a second light detecting device (54D’; Fig. 3) configured to receive second modulated light (54E’; Fig. 3) at a second plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0057]), and the processor (24; Fig. 2; Paragraph [0025) is programmed to receive (38; Fig. 2) second light detection data (54D’; Fig. 3), from the optical stylus (10; Fig. 2), generated based on the second modulated light (54E’; Fig. 3) received at the second light detecting device (54D’; Fig. 3) at each modulation frequency of the second plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0057]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan’s optical sensing system by applying multiple photodetectors, as taught by Lewty, so to use an optical sensing system with multiple photodetectors for providing continuous coverage of the visible light spectrum (and, if desired, portions of the infrared light spectrum and/or ultraviolet light spectrum) (Paragraph [0032]).
Claim 154, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the processor (58; Fig. 2) is further programmed to:
construct a stylus image (Paragraph [0034]) by associating detected intensity (Paragraph [0034]; wherein discloses “where detector 54 is a 2D image detector such as a CCD, processor 58 measures a two dimensional map of intensities of display light 55”) and/or phase information (Paragraph [0050]) derived from the light detection data (54; Fig. 2) with the array of light emitting devices (82; Fig. 8) based on a mapping of the plurality of modulation frequencies and phases (Paragraph [0050]) to emitter locations (A-F; Fig. 8).
Geahgan does not expressly disclose grass-cutting the stylus image to remove values in the stylus image with illumination intensity values indicative of noise.
Lewty (Fig. 1-6) discloses grass-cutting the stylus image to remove values in the stylus image with illumination intensity values indicative of noise (Paragraph [0057]; wherein discloses “To help reduce the impact of background noise (e.g., stray ambient light noise), the illumination that is produced by light emitter 54E may be modulated in accordance with a predetermined pattern. For example, light from light emitter 54E may be modulated in accordance with an alternating-current modulation scheme (e.g., at a given frequency or at multiple frequencies), may be modulated in accordance with a predetermined pattern of on and off periods specified by a digital bit sequence, etc. Control circuitry in device 10 may, as an example, direct light emitter 54E to emit light at an intensity that is modulated at frequency f and may remove corresponding signals from detector 54D that are not associated with frequency f.”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan’s optical sensing system by applying multiple photodetectors, as taught by Lewty, so to use an optical sensing system with multiple photodetectors for providing continuous coverage of the visible light spectrum (and, if desired, portions of the infrared light spectrum and/or ultraviolet light spectrum) (Paragraph [0032]).
Claim 155, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein the processor (58; Fig. 2) is further programmed to:
determine the location (A or B; Fig. 4) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) using a centroiding algorithm applied to the stylus image (Paragraph [0034]).
Claim 157, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses an optical sensing system (140; Fig. 1B) operative with an optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B; Fig. 2) for performing stylus sensing (54; Fig. 2), comprising:
a light detecting device (54; Fig. 2) configured to capture an illumination energy profile (55; Fig. 2) of an illumination pattern (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6); and
one or more processors (58; Fig. 2; Paragraph [0034]) programmed to determine one or more of stylus location (Paragraph [0030]; wherein discloses “which are processed by an optical stylus processor that may also be included within optical stylus 120, to determine the position of the optical sensor upon display 110”), tilt, orientation and rotation from the illumination energy profile (55; Fig. 2) of the illumination pattern (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 6).
Geahgan does not expressly disclose a plurality of light detecting devices.
Lewty (Fig. 1-6) discloses a plurality of light detecting devices (54D’; Fig. 3; Paragraph [0032]; wherein discloses “light detector 54D may have multiple photodetectors 54D′ each of which gathers and measures light in a different band of wavelengths”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan’s optical sensing system by applying multiple photodetectors, as taught by Lewty, so to use an optical sensing system with multiple photodetectors for providing continuous coverage of the visible light spectrum (and, if desired, portions of the infrared light spectrum and/or ultraviolet light spectrum) (Paragraph [0032]).
Claim 159, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses wherein a quantity of the light detecting devices (54; Fig. 2) is a function of a feature density (Signal at B and Signal at A; Fig. 5A and 5B) of the illumination pattern (UL, UR, LL, and LR; Fig. 5A and 5B).
Claim 158 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geahgan (US 2013/0016527 A1) in view of Lewty et al (US 2020/0225778 A1) as applied to claim 157 above, and further in view of Owen (US 5,900,943).
Claim 158, Geahgan in view of Lewty discloses the optical sensing system of claim 157.
Geahgan in view of Lewty does not expressly disclose further comprising a lock-in amplifier communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of light detecting devices to filter out ambient light that is separate from the illumination pattern.
Owen (Fig. 1-7) discloses further comprising a lock-in amplifier (91, 93, and 95; Fig. 4) communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of light detecting devices (97; Fig. 4) to filter out ambient light (Col. 7, Lines 6-31; wherein discloses “Use of sinusoidal intensity modulation and lock-in amplifiers are simply one modulation scheme which can be used to filter ambient light”) that is separate from the illumination pattern (71; Fig. 4).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan in view of Lewty’s optical sensing system by applying a lock-in amplifier, as taught by Owen, so to use a optical sensing system with a lock-in amplifier for providing a system for page identification by optical characteristics (Col. 2, Lines 3-13).
Claim 150 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geahgan (US 2013/0016527 A1) in view of Mumford (US 6,377,249 B1).
Claim 150, Geahgan (Fig. 1A-8) discloses the processor (58; Fig. 2) further programmed to determine a position (A or B; Fig. 4) of the optical stylus (120; Fig. 1B) Fig. 1) by tracking a plurality of amplitudes at the plurality of modulation frequencies (Paragraph [0050]; wherein discloses “other modulation methods may be used, including amplitude modulation, frequency or phase modulation, variations of pulse coding, or sine waves with fixed frequency and amplitude or varying frequency and/or amplitude, and variations in wavelength of light emitted from different emitters”) at one or more light detecting devices (54; Fig. 2) over time (Signal at A and Signal at B; Fig. 5A and 5B).
Geahgan does not expressly disclose the processor further programmed to determine an axial rotation of the optical stylus by tracking a plurality of amplitudes at the plurality of modulation frequencies at one or more light detecting devices over time.
Mumford (Fig. 1-26) discloses the processor (16; Fig. 1) further programmed to determine an axial rotation (Col. 14, Lines 15-39) of the optical stylus (20; Fig. 1) by tracking one or more light detecting devices (23; Fig. 1) over time (14; Fig. 1).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Geahgan’s optical sensing system by applying axial rotation sensing, as taught by Mumford, so to use an optical sensing system with axial rotation sensing for providing a light pen device that provides a more natural method of interacting with a computerized device (Col. 2, Lines 57-60).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM J SNYDER whose telephone number is (571)270-3460. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm.
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/Adam J Snyder/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2623 08/19/2026
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