Elan Microelectronics Corporation v. Apple, Inc.

Filing 428

EXHIBITS 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 AND 8 TO THE DECLARATION OF DR. RAVIN BALAKRISHNAN IN SUPPORT OF APPLE INC.'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OF NONINFRINGEMENT filed byApple, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 3, # 2 Exhibit 4, # 3 Exhibit 5, # 4 Exhibit 6, # 5 Exhibit 7, # 6 Exhibit 8)(Greenblatt, Nathan) (Filed on 9/14/2011)

EXHIBIT 6

,~

I hereby certify that this correspondence is being
deposited with the United States Postal Service as
first class mai l, in an envelope addressed to:
Assistant Commissioner for Patents,
Washington, D.C. 20231, on April 6, 1998.
TOWNSEND and TOWNSEND and CREW LLP

Attorney Docket'No.

IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
In re application of:
STEPHEN J. BISSET ET AL.

Examiner: Paul Bell

Application No.: 08/608,116

Art Unit: 2775

Filed: February 28, 1996

AMENDMENT

For: MULTI-CONTACT SENSING
METHOD AND APPARATUS
Assistant Commissioner for Patents
Washington, D.C.
20231
Sir:
In response to the Office Action mailed December 5,
1997, please amend the above-referenced application as follows:
In the Claims
Please
amend claims ( '

/

li8,

ana/35, and add 4w claim,S

4~s1 as

follows:

A method for detecting the operative

'pIe fingers to a touch sensor involving the
-scanning
a signal correspondi

6

'/

c~el claims~ ~1~ (§-1~, and~O-~ Please

(Amended)

~\

/

scanning the touch

7

scanning

finger,
identify a minima

following the

8

identify a first maxima in

9

10

APEL0000533

in a signal corresponding to a

second maxima
following the

minima, and

352 CFH 0533

.--_.
PATENTr

STEPHEN J. BISSET ET AL.
Application No.: 08/608,116
Page 2

resence of two fin ers
in

second

maxima.
(Amended)

The method of claim 1 further

comprising the step of comparing a distance [from] between said
first maxima [to] and said second maxima to a predefined
threshold.
(Amended)
operative

A touch sensor for detecting the

of multiple fingers comprising:
scanning the touch sensor to identify a first

maxima in a

corresponding to a first finger;

means for scan 'ng the touch sensor to identify a
minima following the fi

[and]

to identify a

means for scanning
second maxima in a signal

onding to a second finger

following the minima, and
means for

an

two fin ers in res onse
second maxima.
(New)

The method of claim 1 further comprising

the step of determining if said first and second maxima are
within 5 centimeters, and only providing said indication of the
presence of two fingers if said first and second maxima are
within 5 centimeters.

I~
- A'( . ,(New)

The method of claim 1 further comprising

the step of calculating first and second centroids corresponding
to said first and second fingers.

[1

~.

(New)

The method of claim 1 wherein said first

and second maxima are required to be higher than a first
threshold, and said minima is required to be less than a second
threshold.

APEL0000534

352 CFH 0534

STEPHEN J. BISSET ET AL.
Application No.: 08/608,116
Page 3

~

~

1

(New)

PATENT

The sensor of claim,J-3'" further comprising

2

means for determining if said first and second maxima are within

3

5 centimeters, and only providing said indication of the presence

4

of two fingers if said first and second maxima are within 5

5~Ji ~

centimeters.

I~

'?

lW

~

(New)

The sensor of claim~further comprising

2

means for calculating first and second centroids corresponding to

3

said first and second fingers.

':;\
~.

1

(New)

The sensor of claim~ wherein said first

2

and second maxima are required to be higher than a first

3

threshold, and said minima is required to be less than a second

4

threshold.
REMARKS
Claims 1, 3-6, and 24-51 are pending in this
application.
Claims 2, and 15-17 were rejected under §112 as being
indefinite.

These claims have been cancelled.

The remaining claims are independent method and

.

apparatus claims 1 and 35, and claims dependent thereon.

These

claims are directed to the feature of the invention which detects
multiple fingers by detecting the multiple maxima in the profile
on the touchpad.

This distinguishes the prior art, which

calculates multiple fingers by detecting a rapid movement in the
total centroid.

This rapid movement of the prior art is due to

the centroid being calculated on the combination of the two
fingers;

~ith·the

result being that the centroid moves rapidly

when one finger is lifted.
Miller
Claims 1, 3-13, and 26-34 were rejected as being
obvious in view of Miller.

Miller nowhere suggests detecting two

fingers, and rather the Examiner is citing Miller as showing that'
it would generate the profile of two fingers if they were applied
to Miller, since a value is obtained for each line.

APEL0000535

Claims 1 and

352 CFH 0535

STEPHEN J. BISSET ET AL.
Application No.: 08/608,116
Page 4

PATENT

35 have been amended to further clarify the distinction of the

invention from Miller.

The present invention uniquely utilizes

the detection of two maxima to determine if 'two fingers are
present on the touchpad.

Nowhere does Miller suggest analyzing

profile information to obtain this result, or to use the result
to provide an indication of two fingers.
In fact, Synaptics, the Assignee of the Miller patent,
has also been issued Patent No. 5,543,591, enclosed with an IDS
submitted with this application.

That patent teaches away from

the method of the present invention for multiple fingers,' instead
calculating the rapid movement of the centroid as a second finger
is placed down on the touchpad and subsequently lifted, referred
to as a "zig-zag" movement.
53 of the '591 patent.)

(See, for example, column 40, line

A disadvantage of the system of the '591

patent, as described in column 31, lines 43-48, is that it is
"impossible to tell ... while the finger is still down" if two
fingers are present.

Rather, the determination of the presence

of two fingers is achievable from the rapid movement of the
centroid (zig-zag) when a finger is lifted or placed down.

Thus,

for example, if both fingers were placed down at the same time, '
the '591 patent method would not be able to tell that two fingers
were present, and would not be able to react to a movement of the
two fingers and subsequent lifting until after the second finger
has been lifted.
The present invention addresses this deficiency of the
'591 method by detecting two maxima in the profile information.

This allows the detection of two fingers being present even if
they are both placed down at the same time.

Such a method is not

shown or suggested by either of the Synaptics patents, ,which in
fact teach away from this method.
Dunthorn
Claims 2, 15-17, 20-22, and 24-25 were rejected as
being anticipated by Dunthorn.
been cancelled.

All of the rejected claims have

It is noted that Dunthorn, similarly to the '591

patent, determines the presence of multiple fingers from the

APEL0000536

352 CFH 0536

STEPHEN J. BISSET ET AL.
Application No.: 08/608,116
Page 5

PATENT

speed of movement of the centroid of the combination of multiple
fingers.
Greanias
Claims 2, 15, and 20 have been rejected as being
anticipated by Greanias.

These claims have been cancelled.

New claims 46-51 are method and apparatus dependent
claims.

Claims 46 and 49 are directed to the requirement that

the first and second maxima be within 5 centimeters of each other
to provide an indication of two fingers.

None of the cited

references teach such a feature, as described in the application
on page 9, line 2, for instance.
Claims 47 and 50 are directed to the embodiment where
first and second centroids are calculated from the first and
second maxima, as described in the application on page 13, lines
35-37, for instance.

None of the cited art show or suggest such

a feature.
Claims 48 and 51 are directed to the requirement that
the first and. second maxima must be higher than a first
threshold, and the minima be lower than a second threshold.

This

is described, for example, on page 8, line 39 - page 9, line 6.
In view of the foregoing, Applicants believe all claims
now pending in this application are in condition for allowance.
The issuance of a formal Notice .of Allowance at an early date is
respectfully requested.
If the Examiner believes a telephone conference would
expedite prosecution of this application, please telephone the
undersigned at [phone].
Respectfully submitted,

!pJ(,
Paul C. Haughey
Reg. No. 31, 836
TOWNSEND and TOWNSEND and CREW LLP
Two Embarcadero Center, 8th Floor
San Francisco, California 94111-3834
[phone]
Fax [phone]

APEL0000537

(j:I)ogitechl·IOOI.am2)

352 CFH 0537