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
Examiner acknowledges receipt of Applicant’s amendments and arguments filed 05/12/2026. The arguments set forth are addressed herein below.
Claims 1-25 are now pending.
AIA Notice
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 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.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0197079 aA1 to Seibert et al. (Seibert) in view of U.S. Patent 7,311,526 to Rohrbach et al. (Rohrbach).
Regarding Claim 1., Seibert discloses an attachment removably attachable to a game controller (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, ¶¶ [0052]-[0054] depicts bridge 20 that is a separate body that detachably couples to the controller(s) by engagement of the attachment structures), comprising:
at least one recess configured to receive a protrusion that projects from a controller side surface of the game controller and is insertable into a game-device recess of a game device (figs. 1A, 2A-2B, and ¶¶ [0051]-[0054] depicts and discloses depict a side perspective view of the game controller and bridge to illustrate an example embodiment of an attachment structure to couple the game controllers to an information handling system and bridge);
a first magnet configured to attract at least one of a first button and a second button located at an insertion surface of the protrusion of the game controller and a second magnet configured to attract at least the other of the first button and the second button, the first magnet and the second magnet being located along a longitudinal direction of the recess (figs. 2A, 2B, ¶¶ [0052]-[0054] discloses magnets 69 spaced along the attachment structure to magnetically align/retain the controller … discloses to help ensure proper alignment of attachment structure, one or more magnets are embedded in each of opposing sides of attachment structure to attract for proper sliding alignment and/or repel if an improper alignment is attempted … A second magnet may also be included in bridge with an opposite polarity of the second magnet of game controller so that the attraction and repel interactions are reinforced along the length of attachment structure); and
a terminal located between the first magnet and the second magnet in the longitudinal direction of the recess and configured to connect to a controller terminal of the game controller (figs. 2A, 2B, ¶¶ [0045], [0051]-[0052] depicts the connector pad 66 with wired/wired interface that aligns with the controller’s wired interface to communicate).
However it does not explicitly disclose the “the terminal (i.e. pad) located between the first magnet and the second magnet in the longitudinal direction of the recess and configured to connect to a controller terminal of the game controller”.
Rohrbach discloses a magnetic connector for an electronic device in which the electrical contacts are aligned and retained by one or more magnetic elements (Col. 6:61-Col. 7:60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of Rohrbach with the system of Seibert as selecting the “between” magnets position is the obvious rearrangement of a part that does not modify the operation of the device.
Regarding Claim 2, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 1, wherein the terminal protrudes from a bottom surface of the recess (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B depicts attachment structure has opposing lips that define a rail with plural opposing slots. Within a cavity defined by the opposing lips, a pogo pin connector exposes plural pogo pins that provide a wired interface to processing components disposed within game controller).
Regarding Claim 3, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 2, wherein the terminal is configured to extend into a hole located at an insertion surface of the protrusion of the game controller (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B depicts attachment structure to couple the game controllers).
Regarding Claim 4, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 2, wherein the terminal is surrounded by an inner peripheral surface of the recess (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 5, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 2, wherein the first magnet and the second magnet are covered by the bottom surface of the recess (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 6, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 5, further comprising a body, wherein the recess is recessed into a first side of the body, and the first magnet and the second magnet are located on a second side of the body opposite the first side (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 7, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 6, wherein one or more magnet recesses are recessed into the second side of the body, and the first magnet and the second magnet are located in one or more of the magnet recesses (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 8, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 1, wherein the at least one recess comprises a plurality of recesses each configured to receive a respective game controller (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 9, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of recesses comprise four of the recesses (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 10, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of recesses comprise a first recess and a second recess, each extending in the same longitudinal direction, each of the first recess and the second recess is configured to receive the protrusion of corresponding ones of a first game controller and a second game controller in opposite longitudinal orientations, and the attachment is a charging station (Seibert, figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054] and figs. 10, 14A-14B paras. [0066]).
Regarding Claim 11, Seibert in view of Rohrbach discloses the attachment according to claim 10, wherein the first recess is configured to receive the first game controller, and the second recess is configured to receive the second game controller, the first game controller and the second game controller having different button arrangements (Seibert, figs. 1A, 2A-5, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 12, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 10, further comprising an external-connection connector configured to be connected to an external supply of electric power (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0066], [0072]).
Regarding Claim 13, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 12, further comprising a body, wherein the first recess and the second recess are recessed into a first side of the body, the body comprises a second side opposite the first side of the body and configured to support the attachment on a surface, and the external-connection connector is located on an outer peripheral surface of the attachment between the first side of the body and the second side of the body (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 14, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of recesses comprise a first recess and a second recess adjacent to the first recess, each of the first recess and the second recess is configured to receive the protrusion of corresponding ones of a first game controller and a second game controller in opposite longitudinal orientations(figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]), and the attachment is a charging station (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 15, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 14, wherein the first recess is configured to receive the first game controller, and the second recess is configured to receive the second game controller, the first game controller and the second game controller having different button arrangements (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0045], [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 16, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 14, further comprising an external-connection connector configured to be connected to an external supply of electric power (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0066], [0072]).
Regarding Claim 17, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 16, further comprising a body, wherein the first recess and the second recess are recessed into a first side of the body (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0052]-[0054]), the body comprises a second side opposite the first side of the body and configured to support the attachment on a surface, and the external-connection connector is located on an outer peripheral surface of the attachment between the first side of the body and the second side of the body (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 18, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 14, wherein the first recess and the second recess extend in the same longitudinal direction (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 19, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 18, further comprising a body, wherein the first recess and the second recess are located on an upper surface of the body, and the attachment is configured to be placed with a lower surface of the body facing downward (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 20, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 19, wherein the lower surface, a bottom surface of the first recess, and a bottom surface of the second recess are parallel (figs. 1B, 2A-2B, paras. [0052]-[0054]).
Regarding Claim 21, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 8, further comprising a body, wherein the plurality of recesses are located on an upper surface of the body, and the attachment is configured to be placed with a lower surface of the body facing downward (figs. 1B, 2A-2B).
Regarding Claim 22, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 21, wherein the lower surface and each bottom surface of the plurality of recesses have parallel longitudinal axes (figs. 1B, 2A-2B).
Regarding Claim 23, Seibert discloses the attachment according to claim 8, wherein a gap between adjacent ones of the plurality of recesses is shorter than a length of each of the plurality of recesses (figs. 1B, 2A-2B).
Regarding Claim 24, Seibert discloses a game accessory system comprising:
the attachment according to claim 1 (figs. 1B, 2A-2B); and
the game controller configured to be removably attached to the attachment (figs. 1B, 2A-2B).
Regarding Claim 25, Seibert discloses the game accessory system according to claim 24, wherein the insertion surface is spaced from the controller side surface, and the controller terminal is located between the first button and the second button in a longitudinal direction of the protrusion (see figs. 2A-2B that depicts the attachment structure with the controller terminal).
Response to Arguments/Remarks
Applicant’s arguments filed 05/12/2026 have been fully considered.
Applicant’s observation regarding Seibert’s express disclosure that “Claim 1 recites, inter alia, "a terminal located between the first magnet and the second magnet in the longitudinal direction of the recess" and that Seibert fails to disclose at least this feature is persuasive. Thus, the 102 anticipation rejection is withdrawn for that reason.
Conclusion
Claims 1-25 are examined above.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure and is provided in the Notice of References cited.
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/S.N.H/Examiner, Art Unit 3715
/XUAN M THAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3715
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