Elan Microelectronics Corporation v. Apple, Inc.

Filing 86

Declaration of Derek C. Walter in Support Apple's of Opening Claim Construction Brief re 85 filed by Apple, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J, # 11 Exhibit K, # 12 Exhibit L, # 13 Exhibit M, # 14 Exhibit N, # 15 Exhibit O, # 16 Exhibit P, # 17 Exhibit Q, # 18 Exhibit R, # 19 Exhibit S, # 20 Exhibit T, # 21 Exhibit U, # 22 Exhibit V) (Powers, Matthew) (Filed on 5/7/2010) Modified on 5/10/2010 (bw, COURT STAFF).

EXHIBIT O

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I hereby c e r t i f y t h a t t h i s correspondence i s being d e p o s i t e d with the United S t a t e s Postal S e r v i c e as f i r s t c l a s s mai l, in an envelope addressed t o : A s s i s t a n t Commissioner for P a t e n t s , Washington, D.C. 20231, on April 6, 1998. TOWNSEND and TOWNSEND and CREW LLP

By~~
In re application of: STEPHEN J . B I S S E T ET A L . Application No.: 08/608,116 Filed: February 28, 1996 F o r : MULTI-CONTACT SENSING METHOD AND APPARATUS

Attorney Docket'No.

IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK O F F I C E

Examiner: Paul Bell Art Unit: 2775 AMENDMENT

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 ( ' / / '/

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c ~ e l c l a i m s ~ ~ l ~ (§-1~, a n d ~ O - ~ P l e a s e
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and add 4 w claim,s

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follows:

(Amended)

A method for detecting the operative

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'pIe fingers to a touch sensor involving the -scanning a signal correspondi i d e n t i f y a f i r s t maxima in

7
8 9

to a first finger, identify a minima scanning the touch following the scanning second maxima following the

in a signal corresponding to a minima, and

10

APEL0000533

352 CFH 0533

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STEPHEN J . B I S S E T ET AL. Application No.: 08/608,116 Page 2 PATENTr

resence of two fin ers in maxima. second

(Amended) operative

A touch sensor for detecting the

ing of multiple fingers comprising: scanning the touch sensor to identify a first corresponding to a first finger;

maxima i n a

means for scan 'ng the touch sensor to i d e n t i f y a minima following the f i means for scanning second maxima in a signal following the minima, and means for second maxima. (New) The method of claim 1 further comprising rovidin an resence of two fin ers in res onse to identify a to a second finger

the step of determining i f said f i r s t and second maxima are within 5 centimeters, and only providing said indication of the presence of two fingers i f said f i r s t and second maxima are within 5 centimeters. - ~, . ,(New)

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The method of claim 1 fu:t;'ther comprising

the step of calculating f i r s t and second centroids corresponding to said f i r s t and second fingers.
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(New)

The method of claim 1 wherein s a i d f i r s t

and second maxima are required t o be higher than a f i r s t threshold, and said minima i s required to be less than a second threshold.

APELtl000534

352 CFH 0534

STEPHEN J . B I S S E T ET A L . Application No.: 08/608,116 Page 3
1 2

PATENT

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(New)

The sensor of claim,J-3'" f u r t h e r comprising

means for determining i f said f i r s t and second maxima are within
5 centimeters, and only providing said indication of the presence

3
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of two fingers i f said f i r s t and second maxima are within 5 centimeters.
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(New)

T h e s e n s o r o f claim~further c o m p r i s i n g

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means for calculating f i r s t and second centroids corresponding to said f i r s t and second fingers.

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(New)

The s e n s o r o f claim~ w h e r e i n s a i d f i r s t

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and second maxima are required to be higher than a f i r s t threshold, and said minima i s required to be less than a second 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.

3
4

.

These

claims are directed to the feature of the invention which detects multiple fingers by detecting the multiple maxima i n the p r o f i l e on the touchpad. total centroid. fingers; This distinguishes the prior art, which This rapid movement of the p r i o r a r t i s due to r e s u l t being that the centroid moves rapidly c a l c u l a t e s multiple fingers by detecting a rapid movement i n the the centroid being calculated on the combination of the two
~ith·the

when one finger i s l i f t e d . 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 i s citing Miller as showing t h a t ' i t would generate the p r o f i l e of two fingers i f they were applied to Miller, since a value is obtained for each line. Claims 1 and

APELD000535

352 CFH 0535

STEPHEN J . B I S S E T ET AL. Application No.: 08/608,116 Page 4

PATENT

35 have been amended to further c l a r i f y the d i s t i n c t i o n of the

invention from Miller. present on the touchpad.

The present invention uniquely u t i l i z e s Nowhere does Miller suggest analyzing

the d e t e c t i o n of two maxima t o determine i f 'two fingers are 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 a l s o been i s s u e d Patent No. 5,543,591, enclosed with an IDS submitted with this application. That patent teaches away from instead the method of the present invention for multiple fingers,

c a l c u l a t i n g the rapid movement of the centroid as a second finger i $ placed down on the touchpad and subsequently l i f t e d , r e f e r r e d to as a "zig-zag" movement.
53 of the '591 p a t e n t . )

(See, for example, column 40, line

A disadvantage of the system of the '591

patent, as described in column 31, lines 43-48, i s that i t i s " i m p o s s i b l e t o t e l l . . . w h i l e t h e f i n g e r i s s t i l l d o w n II i f t w o fingers are present. Rather, the determination of the presence Thus, of two fingers i s achievable from the rapid movement of the c e n t r o i d (zig-zag) when a finger i s l i f t e d o r placed down. f o r example, i f both f i n g e r s were placed down a t the same time, the '591 patent method would not be able to t e l l that two fingers were present, and would not be able to react to a movement of the two fingers and subsequent l i f t i n g until a f t e r the second finger has been lifted. The present invention addresses t h i s deficiency of the
'591 method by detecting two maxima i n the p r o f i l e information.

This allows the detection of two fingers being present even i f they a r e both placed down a t the same time. f a c t teach away from t h i s 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 I t is noted that Dunthorn, similarly to the '591 Such a method i s not shown or suggested by e i t h e r of the Synaptics patents, .which in

patent, determines the presence of multiple fingers from the

APEL~000536

i·

352 CFH 0536

STEPHEN J . B I S S E T 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 r e j e c t e d as being anticipated by Gre'anias. claims. These claims have been cancelled. New c l a i m s 4 6 - 5 1 a r e m e t h o d a n d a p p a r a t u s d e p e n d e n t Claims 46 and 49 are d i r e c t e d t o the requirement t h a t None of the c i t e d the f i r s t and second maxima be within 5 centimeters of each other to provide an indication of two fingers. on page 9, line 2, for instance. Claims 47 and 50 a r e d i r e c t e d t o t h e embodiment where f i r s t and second centroids are calculated from the f i r s t and second maxima, as described in the application on page 13, l i n e s 35-37, for instance. a feature. Claims 48 and 51 a r e d i r e c t e d t o t h e requirement t h a t the f i r s t and, second maxima must be higher than a f i r s t threshold, and the minima be lower than a second threshold. This i s described, for example, on page 8, l i n e 39 - page 9, l i n e 6. In view of the foregoing, Applicants believe a l l claims now pending i n t h i s a p p l i c a t i o n a r e i n c o n d i t i o n f o r allowance. The issuance of a formal Notice of Allowance a t an early date i s respectfully requested. I f the Examiner believes a telephone conference would expedite prosecution of this application, please telephone the undersigned a t [phone]. Respectfully submitted, None of the c i t e d a r t show o r suggest such references teach such a feature, as described in the application

Paul C. Haughey Reg. No. 31, 836 TOWNSEND a n d TOWNSEND a n d CREW LLP Two E m b a r c a d e r o C e n t e r , 8 t h F l o o r San Francisco, California 94111-3834 [phone] Fax [phone]

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APEL0000537

352 CFH 0537