Ex Parte Gustafsson et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 13, 2018

13427118 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 13, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/427,118 03/22/2012 57726 7590 09/17/2018 MILLER, MATTHIAS & HULL LLP ONE NORTH FRANKLIN STREET SUITE 2350 CHICAGO, IL 60606 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Fredrik BR Gustafsson 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. 60053/50000 4243 EXAMINER MCLOONE, PETER D ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2692 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/17/2018 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): bmatthias@millermatthiashull.com ynunez@millermatthiashull.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte FREDRIK BR GUSTAFSSON and NIKLAS T. WAHLSTROM Appeal2018-003714 Application 13/427, 118 Technology Center 2600 Before ERIC S. FRAHM, JOHNNY A. KUMAR, and MATTHEW J. McNEILL, Administrative Patent Judges. KUMAR, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal2018-003714 Application 13/427,118 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants 1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. Â§ I34(a) from the Examiner's final rejection of claims 1-20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6(b ). We REVERSE. Illustrative Claim Independent claim 1 illustrates the invention as follows, with disputed elements highlighted in italics: 1. A system for allowing a user to interact with a computer in at least 5 degrees of freedom, the system comprising: a computing device; a visual screen associated with and controlled by the computing device; two or more vector magnetometers associated with the computing device; a user-borne device comprising one or more permanent magnets, wherein manipulation of the user-borne device by a user is tracked by the computing device via measurement of a magnetic field associated with the one or more permanent magnets by the two or more vector magnetometers that are stationary with respect to the computing device to generate pose information associated with the user-borne device, the pose information including a position and orientation of the user- borne device, wherein each vector magnetometer detects a field associated with all of the one or more permanent magnets. App. Br., Claims Appendix, 2. Rejections on Appeal Claims 1-5, 9, and 10 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. Â§ I02(e) as being anticipated by Olsson (US 2012/0256821 Al, published Oct. 11, 2012). Final Act. 2--4. 1 Appellants identify Stylaero AB as the real party in interest. App. Br. 2. 2 Appeal2018-003714 Application 13/427,118 Claims 6 and 18 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a) as being unpatentable over Olsson in view ofWallance (US 2006/0061354 Al, published Mar. 23, 2006). Final Act. 4--5. Claims 7, 19, and 20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a) as being unpatentable over Olsson in view of Joseph (US 2010/0174506 Al, published July 8, 2010). Final Act. 5-7. Claims 8, 11-13, and 17 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a) as being unpatentable over Olsson in view of Sharma (US 2004/0012574 Al, published Jan. 22, 2004). Final Act. 7-9. Claims 14--16 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. Â§ I03(a) as being unpatentable over Olsson in view of Takahashi (US 2012/0065917 Al, published Mar. 15, 2012). Final Act. 10-11. ANALYSIS In the Briefs, Appellants assert, among other things, the claimed elements in independent claim 1 "measurement of a magnetic field associated with the one or more permanent magnets by the two or more vector magnetometers ... wherein each vector magnetometer detects a field associated with all of the one or more permanent magnets" (hereinafter "the disputed limitation") is not taught by Olsson. See App. Br. 6; Reply Br. 1-3. We agree. Appellants argue: The Olsson reference teaches a device that is fundamentally different than that recited in claim 1. Claim 1 makes clear that each sensor is able to detect the fields of all magnets. See Pending Claim 1 (" ... each vector magnetometer detects a field associated with all of the one or more permanent magnets.") So claim 1 expressly rules out a one-to-one pairing 3 Appeal2018-003714 Application 13/427,118 of detectors and magnets, since in a one-to-one pairing, each vector magnetometer would detect only one of the permanent magnets, not ( as expressly required by claim 1) "all of the ... permanent magnets." And such an excluded one-to-one pairing is exactly what the cited reference teaches; in Olsson's system, each magnet is matched one-to-one with a specific magnetic sensor such that the magnetic field of each permanent magnet is substantially independent of influence of any other magnetic sensors [0132]. App. Br. 6 (emphasis ours, Appellants' emphasis omitted). We agree with Appellants as our interpretation of the disclosure of Olsson coincides with that of Appellants. The Examiner interprets claim 1 to allow a one-to-one pairing between the claimed vector magnetometer and permanent magnets. Ans. 2. However, the Examiner has not established, and we do not readily find, where the cited portions of Olsson discloses two or more vector magnetometers that detect "all of the one or more permanent magnets." To affirm the Examiner on this record would require considerable speculation on our part. We decline to engage in speculation. Accordingly, we cannot sustain the Examiner's rejection of independent claim 1. Since we reverse the rejection of independent claim 1 on appeal, we also reverse the rejection of the dependent claims. CONCLUSION The Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1-5, 9, and 10 under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 102(e) and claims 6-8 and 11-20 under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a). 4 Appeal2018-003714 Application 13/427,118 DECISION The Examiner's rejections of claims 1-20 are reversed. REVERSED 5