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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou (US PGPub 2024/0329758) in view of Blaszczak et al. (US 9,612,671) and Han (WO 2022/174760).
Regarding claim 1, Chou discloses a stylus ([0013], “a pen tip assembly, which can be beneficial in improving the tilt sensitivity of a stylus”), comprising:
a stylus body (fig. 1, second connector 203);
a stylus core (fig. 1, first connector 201);
a tip assembly (fig. 1, first assembly 100);
a mounting housing (fig. 1, insulation member 202), wherein the mounting housing is an insulated housing ([0020], insulation member 202) and comprises a first end surface and a first mounting hole, and the first mounting hole penetrates through the housing from the first end surface (fig. 1, hole (not labeled) located in the insulation member 202); and
a tip (fig. 1, first assembly 100), the tip comprises a writing surface and a second end surface that are disposed opposite to each other (fig. 1, element 102 and 101), the writing surface is a convex arc surface (fig. 1, connection between 101 and 102), and the second end surface is disposed facing the first end surface and is connected to the first end surface (fig. 1, element 101 connected to element 203), wherein:
the tip blocks the first mounting hole (fig. 1),
the stylus core is disposed in the stylus body (fig. 1 shows element 201 within element 203), the mounting housing of the tip assembly is connected to the stylus body (fig. 1, shows element 202 connected to element 203), the tip is electrically connected to the stylus core ([0015], “The first connector 201 can be configured to transmit a first electrical signal to the first electrode 101”), and
the stylus core is configured to generate an electrical signal ([0015], “The first connector 201 can be configured to transmit a first electrical signal to the first electrode 101”), and the stylus is an input apparatus of an electronic device ([0013], “a pen tip assembly, which can be beneficial in improving the tilt sensitivity of a stylus, reducing abnormal writing, and ensuring a user completes a writing task smoothly”; [0015], “When the stylus sends two electrical signals supporting the tilt function to the touch screen, ...the two signals can be detected by the touch screen...”).
While Chou discloses the insulation layer can be made of non-conductive rubber or other materials ([0019]), it has been known to have a tip made of conductive plastic. In a similar field of endeavor of pen input devices, Blaszczak discloses wherein the tip is made of conductive plastic (column 6, lines 63-66, “One example of a coating material is a polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal, polyacetal and polyformaldehyde. POM is a thermoplastic that allows for good stiffness, low friction and good wear resistance”).
In view of the teachings of Chou and Blaszczak, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the tip Chou out of thermoplastic as taught by Blaszczak, for the purpose of using a known material which has known advantages of good stiffness, low friction and good wear resistance.
While the combination of Chou and Blaszczak teaches a hard or soft tip (Chou: [0019]), it would have been known to have the hardness of the tip less than a hardness of the mounting housing. In a similar field of endeavor of pen input devices, Han discloses a hardness of the tip is less than a hardness of the mounting housing (page 3, paragraph 9, “the hardness of the end of the stylus tip 100 away from the writing end is greater than that of the writing end”).
In view of the teachings of Chou, Blaszczak and Han, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the hardness as taught by Han within the system of Chou and Blaszczak, where a softer tip is known to cause less unintended damage to a display screen.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein both the first end surface and the second end surface define a plane, and the first end surface and the second end surface are in contact with each other (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 connected to element 202).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein both the first end surface and the second end surface define a plane, and the first end surface and the second end surface are bonded to each other (Chou: [0031], “As shown in FIG. 5, the insulation shell forms an insulation layer 102 covering the first electrode 101 and the second electrode 103. The insulation shell can be attached to the outer surface of the electrode body 500 in various methods. For example, the insulation shell can be pre-prepared with rubber. Then, the electrode body 500 can be inserted into the insulation shell in step S3. The insulation shell and the electrode body 500 can be fixedly connected through glue. For another example, the electrode body 500 can be placed in a mold with a chamber. Then, the insulation shell can be formed between the outer surface of the electrode body 500 and the inner wall of the chamber using injection molding”).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the first end surface and the second end surface each comprise a plane segment and a curved surface segment, and the first end surface and the second end surface are engaged with each other through the plane segments and the curved surface segments (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 and element 201 connected via a curved surface).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein both the first end surface and the second end surface are curved surfaces, the first end surface is a concave curved surface, and the second end surface is a convex curved surface connected to and fitting the concave curved surface (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 and element 201 connected via a curved surface).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein both the first end surface and the second end surface are curved surfaces, the first end surface is a convex curved surface, and the second end surface is a concave curved surface connected to and fitting the convex curved surface (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 and element 201 connected via a curved surface where the curved connection would have been obvious to place the notch on the other element).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein both the first end surface and the second end surface are curved surfaces, the first end surface is a first wave-shaped curved surface, and the second end surface is a second wave-shaped curved surface fitting the first wave-shaped curved surface (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 and element 201 connected via a curved surface).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the tip comprises a writing part (Chou: fig. 1, insulation layer 102) and a connection part (Chou: fig. 1, first electrode 101), the connection part is connected to the writing part (Chou: fig. 1, element 102 connected to element 101), the connection part penetrates through the first mounting hole and is electrically connected to a stylus core of the stylus (Chou: fig. 1), and the writing part is disposed outside the mounting housing (Chou: fig. 1, element 102 outside of hole in 202).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the connection part comprises a connection pillar (Chou: fig. 2 shows a pillar), and the connection pillar and the first mounting hole are in interference fit, are bonded to each other, or are in threaded connection (Chou: fig. 2, shows a threaded connection).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the connection part comprises a connection pillar (Chou: element 101 is a pillar) and a positioning member connected to the connection pillar (Chou: fig. 1, end of element 101), and the positioning member is connected to a partial housing of the mounting housing (Chou: fig. 1, end of element 101 connected to 202).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the positioning member is a positioning sheet (Chou: fig. 1, end of element 101), the positioning sheet is fastened to an end of the connection pillar that is distal from the writing part (Chou: fig. 1, end of element 101 that is away from element 102), the positioning sheet is disposed outside the first mounting hole (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 is outside element 202), and a radial size of the positioning sheet is greater than a diameter of the first mounting hole (Chou: fig. 1, element 101 has a larger diameter than the hole in 202).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the positioning member is a positioning ring, the positioning ring is an annular protrusion that protrudes outward from a part of a circumferential side surface of the connection pillar, an annular groove that matches the annular protrusion is defined by an inner wall of the first mounting hole, and the annular protrusion is disposed in the annular groove (Chou: fig. 2, shows a threaded connection).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the connection part comprises a cylindrical structure (Chou: fig. 2 shows a cylinder).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein the connection part comprises a truncated cone structure, and an outer diameter of a connection pillar gradually decreases in a direction from the writing part to the connection part (Chou: fig. 2 shows a cone shape).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein a Shore hardness of the tip is 75A to 95A, a conductivity of the tip is 102.5 Ω to 107.9 Ω, and a damping force of the tip is 0.5 N to 1.5 N (Blaszczak: column 6, lines 63-column 7, lines 4, “One example of a coating material is a polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal, polyacetal and polyformaldehyde. POM is a thermoplastic that allows for good stiffness, low friction and good wear resistance. Other materials such as nylon, PBT, polyurethane, or the like may also be used. These materials may be mixed with other materials, for example with conductive fillers such as carbon fiber, carbon black, stainless steel fiber, metal coated particulates, etc. to improve the electrical performance of the coating material”, where these materials would be known to have these features).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses wherein a material for forming the tip comprises a base material and a conductive agent, and a mass proportion of the conductive agent in the tip is 10 wt% to 30 wt% (Blaszczak: column 8, lines 7-16, “In one example the coating material is between about 5-30% by weight of aramid fibers, between about 10-30% by weight of PTFE, and the remainder TPE. In another example, the coating material is between about 1-20% by weight of aramid fibers, between about 5-25% by weight of PTFE, and the remainder TPE. In another example the coating material is about 10% by weight of aramid fibers, about 15% by weight of PTFE, and the remainder TPE. As a substitute for the aramid fibers, polyolefin fibers may also be used”); and
the base material comprises at least one of a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer, or polyformaldehyde, and the conductive agent comprises at least one of polyethylene terephthalate conductive fiber, carbon fiber, super conductive carbon black, a carbon nanotube, and indium tin oxide (Blaszczak: column 6, lines 63-column 7, lines 4, “One example of a coating material is a polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal, polyacetal and polyformaldehyde. POM is a thermoplastic that allows for good stiffness, low friction and good wear resistance. Other materials such as nylon, PBT, polyurethane, or the like may also be used. These materials may be mixed with other materials, for example with conductive fillers such as carbon fiber, carbon black, stainless steel fiber, metal coated particulates, etc. to improve the electrical performance of the coating material”).
Claims 18 and 19 are within the scope of claims 15 and 16 respectively and are therefore interpreted and rejected based on similar reasoning.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han further discloses a tip assembly (Chou: fig. 1, first assembly 100), wherein the tip assembly is useable in a stylus (Chou: [0013], “a pen tip assembly, which can be beneficial in improving the tilt sensitivity of a stylus”), and the stylus is an input apparatus of an electronic device (Chou: [0013], “a pen tip assembly, which can be beneficial in improving the tilt sensitivity of a stylus, reducing abnormal writing, and ensuring a user completes a writing task smoothly), and comprises the tip assembly of claim 1 and is therefore interpreted and rejected based on similar reasoning.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou, Blaszczak and Han further in view of Park et al. (US PGPub 2017/0097696).
Regarding claim 17, while the combination of Chou, Blaszczak and Han discloses connecting the tip and the mounting housing, fusion-bonding is a known type of attachment. In a similar field of endeavor of pen input devices, Park discloses wherein a connection surface between the tip and the mounting housing is a fusion-bonding surface ([0032], “The conductive tip 110 may be made of a dielectric material formed with conductive rubber or a metal material or the conductive tip 110 may be formed with a method in which a dielectric material is mounted, attached, bonded, or fusion-bonded in a plastic tip to enclose the plastic tip”).
In view of the teachings of Chou, Blaszczak, Han, and Park it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use fusion-bonding as taught by Park within the stylus of Chou, Blaszczak and Han, for the purpose using a known type of attachment which has a known advantage of durability.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wierenga (US PGPub 2018/0188833) discloses materials for a conductive touchscreen interface 295 (table 1).
Barel (US PGPub 2022/0334661) discloses a schematic illustration of a stylus with replaceable nib portion in a removed state and an inserted state (fig. 1).
Wasser et al. (US 11,474,622) discloses an assembled stylus (fig. 1).
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/EJF/
/BENJAMIN C LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2629
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