Ex Parte GERVAIS et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jul 23, 2018

13164182 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 23, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
13/164,182 06/20/2011
95000 7590 07/25/2018
MILES & STOCKBRIDGE P.C.
Immersion Corporation
17 51 Pinnacle Drive
Suite 1500
Tysons Corner, VA 22102-3833
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Eric GERVAIS
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
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
T9047-19365US01 1342
EXAMINER
MATHEWS, CRYSTAL
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2623
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
07/25/2018 ELECTRONIC
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.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
Ipdocketing@MilesStockbridge.com
eofficeaction@appcoll.com
awahba@milesstockbridge.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte ERIC GERVAIS and ROBERT HEUBEL
Appeal2016-006138
Application 13/164, 182
Technology Center 2600
Before ELENI MANTIS MERCADER, KRISTEN L. DROESCH, and
JOHN P. PINKERTON, Administrative Patent Judges.
MANTIS MERCADER, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a rejection of claims
1, 3, 5-8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, and 23. We have jurisdiction under 35
U.S.C. § 6(b ).
We reverse.
Appeal2016-006138
Application 13/164, 182
CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER
The claims are directed to haptic theme framework. Claim 1,
reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter:
1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having
instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor,
cause the processor to provide a haptic theme framework, the
providing comprising:
creating one or more haptic effect definitions;
storing each haptic effect definition of the one or more
haptic effect definitions within an effect file;
creating a mapping that maps the one or more haptic effect
definitions to one or more user interface events, wherein the
mapping is described according to a mapping language;
storing the mapping within a mapping file;
packaging the mapping file and the one or more effect files
within a haptic theme, wherein the haptic theme comprises the
mapping file, the one or more effect files, and a software layer
file that provides a communication protocol between the haptic
theme and an operating system of a device to output a haptic
effect in response to a user interface event based on the mapping
file and the at least one effect file;
dynamically aggregating a plurality of haptic themes
comprising the haptic theme; wherein the dynamically
aggregating further comprises dynamically updating the
aggregation of the plurality of haptic themes where one or more
haptic themes are added or deleted;
selecting the haptic theme from the plurality of haptic
themes as an active haptic theme;
creating a haptic theme component from the haptic theme,
wherein the haptic theme component comprises at least one
effect file of the one or more effect files and the mapping file,
and wherein the creating the haptic theme component comprises
packaging the at least one effect file and the mapping file within
the haptic theme component;
transmitting the haptic theme component to the device;
capturing one or more physical properties over a sensing
protocol;
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Appeal2016-006138
Application 13/164, 182
analyzing the one or more physical properties and creating
one or more haptic parameters based on the one or more physical
properties;
converting the one or more haptic parameters to a new
haptic effect definition; and
creating a new haptic theme comprising a new effect file
that comprises the new haptic effect definition and a new
mapping file that comprises a new mapping that maps the new
haptic effect definition to a user interface event.
REFERENCES
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on
appeal is:
Grant
Malmberg
AlHusseini
US 2006/0288137 Al Dec. 12, 2006
US 2008/0204266 Al Aug. 28, 2008
US 2010/0011300 Al Jan. 14, 2010
REJECTION
Claims 1, 3, 5-8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, and 23 stand rejected
under 35 U.S.C § I03(a) as being unpatentable over AlHusseini in view of
Grant and further in view of Malmberg.
OPINION
Appellants argue that the combination of AlHusseini and Grant does
not teach or suggest the claim 1 limitation of "the haptic theme comprises
... a software layer file providing a communication protocol between the
haptic theme and an operating system of a device" (App. Br. 8).
The Examiner finds that the software layer instruction is taught by
Grant's "control signal" (Final Act. 9). We note that claim 1 recites
"software layer file ... provid[ing] a communication protocol." The
Examiner does not address this limitation in the Final Action. See Final Act.
2--4. The Examiner then essentially asserts in the Answer that Malmberg
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Application 13/164, 182
necessarily teaches such a protocol because the Operating System recognizes
and executes xml files (Ans. 22). However, even assuming arguendo that
this is correct, the Examiner does not explain how this finding ties into the
haptic theme having such a software layer file as part of the "packaging" and
providing a communication protocol as required by claim 1.
We agree with Appellants that the Specification discloses that the
software layer file "allows haptic theme 310 to communicate, using source
code, to the OS of device 300, to indicate which haptic effect is defined for
which UI event" (App. Br. 8 citing para. 34).
On the record before us, although the Grant reference is a close call
(see e.g. Fig. 2 of Grant and para. 26 cited in Final Act. 8-9), the Examiner
has not provided sufficient evidence to support the finding that Grant, either
alone or in combination, teaches or suggests the limitation of "packaging the
mapping file and the one or more effect files within a haptic theme, wherein
the haptic theme comprises ... a software layer file ... provid[ing] a
communication protocol between the haptic theme and an operating system
of a device."
Accordingly, we reverse the Examiner's rejection of claim 1 and for
the same reasons the rejection of claims 3, 5-8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21,
and 23.
DECISION
The Examiner's rejection of claims 1, 3, 5-8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19,
21, and 23 is reversed.
REVERSED
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