Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 26, 20202019002206 (P.T.A.B. May. 26, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/633,927 02/27/2015 Grigori Zaitsev RPS920140118USNP(710.383) 6722 58127 7590 05/26/2020 FERENCE & ASSOCIATES LLC 409 BROAD STREET PITTSBURGH, PA 15143 EXAMINER AZARI, SEPEHR ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2621 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/26/2020 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte GRIGORI ZAITSEV, RUSSELL SPEIGHT VANBLON, JOSHUA NEIL NOVAK, and JIANBANG ZHANG ____________ Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 Technology Center 2600 ____________ Before CAROLYN D. THOMAS, JASON V. MORGAN, and SCOTT RAEVSKY, Administrative Patent Judges. THOMAS, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 appeals from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–20. We have jurisdiction over the appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We AFFIRM. 1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies the real party in interest as Lenovo (Singapore) PTE LTD. Appeal Br. 3. Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 2 The present invention relates generally to accepting a pen input, determining a modifier key characteristic of the pen input, and executing a modifier key function associated with the pen input. See Spec. ¶ 3. Claim 1 is illustrative: 1. A method, comprising: accepting, at an input surface, a single pen input at an on- screen keyboard location, wherein the single pen input comprises input at a single non-modifier soft key of the on-screen keyboard and wherein the single non-modifier soft key corresponds to a non- modifier key default function; determining, using a processor of an electronic device, a control key characteristic of the single pen input, wherein the control key characteristic does not comprise input at a modifier key and wherein the control key characteristic identifies a modification to the non-modifier key default function associated with the soft key of the on-screen keyboard; and executing, using the processor, a modified key function for the soft key that is different from the non-modifier key default function associated with the soft key based on the single pen input and the control key characteristic. Appellant appeals the following rejections: R1. Claims 1–6, 11–16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Gough (US 5,603,053, Feb. 11, 1997), Akkarakaran (US 2014/0329593 A1, Nov. 6, 2014), and Nurmi (US 2009/0167702 A1, July 2, 2009); R2. Claims 7, 8, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Gough, Akkarakaran, and Nurmi, and Park (US 2013/0050141 A1, Feb. 28, 2013); and R3. Claims 9, 10, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Gough, Akkarakaran, and Nurmi, Park, and Cox, Jr. Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 3 (US 6,462,760 B1, Oct. 8, 2002). We review the appealed rejections for error based upon the issues identified by Appellant, and in light of the arguments and evidence produced thereon. Ex parte Frye, 94 USPQ2d 1072, 1075 (BPAI 2010) (precedential). ANALYSIS Issue 1: Did the Examiner provide an articulated reasoning with the requisite rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness? The Examiner concludes that combining the teachings of Gough and Akkarakaran “would provide a user with simple means of producing text output using an on-screen keyboard that functions indistinguishably from a physical keyboard.” Final Act. 5–6 (citing Gough 7:5–10). Appellant contends that “neither Gough nor Akkarakaran supports the conclusion that the combination of the teachings would ‘provide a user with simple means of producing text output using an on-screen keyboard that functions indistinguishably from a physical keyboard.’ . . . such a motivation is completely irrelevant.” Appeal Br. 15. Appellant also contends that “one skilled in the art would not combine the teachings of Akkarakaran with Gough because those combined teachings would not result in the claimed limitations” (id. at 16), and “even if the references could be combined, there must be a reasonable expectation that the combination would be successful.” Id. at 18. We disagree with Appellant. As an initial point, we note that although “[t]he motivation need not be found in the references sought to be combined, but may be found in any number of sources, including common knowledge, the prior art as a whole, Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 4 or the nature of the problem itself” (KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 421 (2007), the Examiner found the rationale for combining in Gough. See Final Act. 6 (citing Gough 7:5–10) ( “Selection of the keys of the keyboard image 60 by stylus 38 produces text output directly to a chosen location of an active application program, i.e., the keyboard image 60 is indistinguishable from a physical keyboard as far as the application program is concerned.”). As such, we find unavailing Appellant’s contention that Gough does not support the Examiner’s motivation, given that such a motivation stems directly from Gough’s disclosure. Secondly, Appellant fails to explain why the combined teachings “would not result in the claimed limitations” (Appeal Br. 16). For instance, the Examiner relies upon Gough to teach a single pen input, for a single non- modifier soft key) at an on-screen keyboard location (Final Act. 4–5, citing Gough 5:24–40, 7:5–14) (“Selection of the keys of the keyboard image 60 by stylus 38 produces text output directly to a chosen location of an active application program, i.e., the keyboard image 60 is indistinguishable from a physical keyboard.”); the Examiner relies on Akkarakaran to teach a virtual keyboard providing lower case alphabet characters as a default (Final Act. 5, citing Akkarakaran ¶ 42) (“Fig. 3A illustrates an on-screen GUI 300 comprising a default virtual keyboard 310 including lower case alphabet characters.”); and the Examiner relies on Nurmi to teach control key characteristics that do not comprise input at a modifier key (Final Act. 6, citing Nurmi ¶ 58) (“the software could be programmed to input text, such as pressing a virtual keyboard on a touch screen, wherein a first sensed angle of the stylus could give a normal lower case letter, a second sensed angle of the stylus at the same location could give a capital letter”). Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 5 Appellant’s arguments not only fail to rebut these specific teachings, but Appellant’s arguments also do not take into account what the collective teachings of the prior art would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art and are therefore ineffective to rebut the Examiner’s prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425 (CCPA 1981) (“The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art.”) (citations omitted). This reasoning is applicable here. Finally, Appellant’s aforementioned contention that “there must be a reasonable expectation that the combination would be successful” (Appeal Br. 18) is conclusory and fails to rebut the Examiner’s findings, which persuasively demonstrate that there would have been a reasonable expectation of success (Final Act. 4–6). Mere attorney arguments and conclusory statements that are unsupported by factual evidence are entitled to little probative value. In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1470 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Because the Examiner has found actual teachings in the prior art and has provided an appropriate rationale for the combination, we find that the Examiner has provided sufficient motivation for modifying Gough with the teachings of Akkarakaran and Nurmi. Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 6 Issue 2: Did the Examiner err in finding that Nurmi cures the deficiencies of Gough and Akkarakaran by teaching a control key characteristic of the single pen input, as set forth in claim 1? Appellant contends that “Nurmi fails to overcome the deficiencies of Gough and Akkarakaran at least because Nurmi merely teaches a system that changes the way that information is shown on the screen based upon the way that a stylus is used with respect to the screen. . . . depending on the angle of the stylus with respect to the screen.” Appeal Br. 21. Appellant further contends that “Nurmi has no teachings related to an on-screen keyboard containing soft keys and modification of soft key functions based upon control key characteristics.” Id. We disagree with Appellant. As noted supra, Nurmi teaches “a virtual keyboard on a touch screen, wherein a first sensed angle of the stylus could give a normal lower case letter, [and] a second sensed angle of the stylus at the same location could give a capital letter.” Nurmi ¶ 58. Here, the Examiner concludes, and we agree, that “Nurmi teaches in ¶ 58 that such a modified function may be provided simply by changing an angle of the stylus while providing a single input on a non-modifier key (alphabet key) without the need for a modifier key such as Shift or Control . . . thereby making it faster and easier for the user to input such modified inputs.” Ans. 11–12. As a result, we find unavailing Appellant’s contention that “Nurmi has no teachings related to . . . soft keys and modification of soft key functions based upon control key characteristics,” given the aforementioned disclosure in Nurmi. Accordingly, we sustain the Examiner’s rejection of claim 1. Appellant’s arguments regarding the Examiner’s rejection of independent Appeal 2019-002206 Application 14/633,927 7 claim 11 and 20 rely on the same arguments as for claim 1, and Appellant does not argue separate patentability for the dependent claims. We, therefore, also sustain the Examiner’s rejection of claims 2–20. CONCLUSION Appellant fails to demonstrated that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1–20 as being unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over at least Gough, Akkarakaran, and Nurmi. As a result, the Examiner’s rejections of claims 1–20 is affirmed. In summary: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed 1–6, 11–16, 20 103 Gough, Akkarakaran, Nurmi 1–6, 11–16, 20 7, 8, 17, 18 103 Gough, Akkarakaran, Nurmi, Park 7, 8, 17, 18 9, 10, 19 103 Gough, Akkarakaran, Nurmi, Park, Cox 9, 10, 19 Overall Outcome 1–20 No period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). AFFIRMED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation