US 10108277

Here is a concise summary of US patent 10108277:

• Title: Pointer, position detection apparatus and position detection method
• Assignee: Wacom Co Ltd
• Inventors: Yasuo Oda, Sadao Yamamoto, Yoshihisa Sugiyama
• Filing Date: February 18, 2016
• Issue Date: October 23, 2018
• Abstract: The patent describes an electrostatic coupling type position detection apparatus designed to detect not only the pointer's position but also other information such as pressure or side switch activation. The pointer transmits two codes, with the time difference between them corresponding to the pressure applied to the pen tip. The position detector performs a correlation matching operation between signals received from its conductors and correlation calculation codes corresponding to the two transmitted codes. This allows the apparatus to detect the pointer's position based on at least one of the codes, and to detect the applied pressure based on the time difference between the two codes from the correlation matching operation result.

Independent Claims Overview

To provide a plain-language overview of each independent claim, I will access the full patent text on Google Patents.

As of April 26, 2026, no litigation specifically involving US patent 10108277 is known based on the conducted searches.

Proceedings overview

One AIA trial proceeding has been filed against US patent 10108277, resulting in a discretionary denial of institution. The patent's claims remain untested by this IPR, giving a patent owner a strong defensive posture.

IPR2025-01596 — SHENZHEN QIANFENYI INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. v. Wacom Co Ltd

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-09-30
• Status: Discretionary Denial (The PTAB declined to institute the review, meaning the IPR trial did not proceed to the merits).
• Judge panel: Administrative Patent Judges Jennifer B. Lim, Brian S. Range, and Michael L. Spaulding.
• Petition grounds: The petition challenged claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 10,108,277 as unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102 and 103 based on various combinations of prior art, including JP 2007-310557 (Kato), US 2005/0134567 A1 (Takashima), US 2005/0073501 A1 (Hayashi), and US 2005/0035930 A1 (Shimizu).
• Institution decision: Denied on 2026-03-06. The Board exercised its discretion to deny institution under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) based on the factors outlined in Fintiv, finding that the co-pending district court litigation weighed against institution. The Board found the factors to be neutral to slightly favoring institution, but ultimately decided that the petitioner failed to meet its burden of persuasion that institution was warranted.
• Final Written Decision: Not issued, as institution was denied.
• Settlement / termination: The proceeding was terminated by the denial of institution; no settlement was reported.
• Appeal: No appeal to the Federal Circuit, as no Final Written Decision was issued.
• Defensive value: The patent owner successfully prevented the institution of this IPR. Claims 1-20 were not subjected to a merits-based review by the PTAB. This means that if the claims were challenged in this petition in a district court, the patent owner would have the benefit of a clean slate on these grounds. Future petitioners would need to present new, compelling prior art or arguments to overcome the discretionary denial if a co-pending district court litigation exists.

Strategic summary

All claims (1-20) of US10108277 remain untested by the PTAB on their merits, as the sole IPR filed, IPR2025-01596, was denied institution on discretionary grounds under Fintiv. Consequently, there are no claims canceled or sustained by the PTAB. This leaves the patent owner in a strong position, as the patent has not been narrowed through PTAB review.

The estoppel landscape is favorable for a defendant in some ways and challenging in others. While SHENZHEN QIANFENYI INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. and its privies are estopped from raising the specific grounds that were raised or reasonably could have been raised in IPR2025-01596, the discretionary denial means that the merits of the patentability challenges were not adjudicated. Therefore, a new defendant not in privy with the petitioner could potentially bring similar (or different) prior art challenges. The denial based on Fintiv factors, rather than a failure to show a reasonable likelihood of prevailing, suggests that the underlying merits of the petition's patentability arguments were not the primary reason for non-institution.

A pattern signal observed here is the patent owner's success in leveraging discretionary denial arguments (likely Fintiv). The petitioner, SHENZHEN QIANFENYI INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., appears to be a defendant in co-pending district court litigation, which played a role in the discretionary denial. This indicates that the patent owner is actively asserting the patent and strategically using PTAB rules to its advantage. The filing of IPR2025-01596 by "Unified Patents PTAB Data" suggests a defensive aggregator is involved in challenging the patent.

Recommended next steps

For a defendant facing assertion of US10108277, the denial of IPR2025-01596 means the claims were not invalidated. The institution decision is crucial: it explicitly states the reasons for discretionary denial. Review the "Decision Denying Institution of Inter Partes Review" for IPR2025-01596 (available on the USPTO PTAB E2E portal at https://e2e.uspto.gov/ptab/IPR2025-01596) to understand the Board's application of Fintiv factors. This will inform whether a similar Fintiv challenge would be successful if another IPR were to be filed while district court litigation is pending. Consider the specific prior art presented in IPR2025-01596 (Kato, Takashima, Hayashi, Shimizu) and assess if stronger or different prior art could be identified, or if the Fintiv factors could be mitigated in a new petition. The absence of any claims canceled means a defendant would need to undertake a new validity challenge if they wish to attack the patent's claims at the PTAB.

Since IPR2025-01596 was denied institution, there are no active PTAB proceedings on the merits for US10108277. The patent remains active, and its claims are formally intact.

• https://e2e.uspto.gov/ptab/IPR2025-01596
• https://patents.google.com/patent/US10108277/en

Inventors

• Yasuo Oda (Wacom Co Ltd)
• Sadao Yamamoto (Wacom Co Ltd)
• Yoshihisa Sugiyama (Wacom Co Ltd)

All inventors were presumably employed by Wacom Co Ltd, the original assignee, at the time of filing, as is common practice. No unusual patterns are immediately evident.

Original assignee

Wacom Co Ltd. Wacom is a global company known for producing interactive pen displays, pen tablets, and styluses, products which embody the claims of US10108277, particularly those related to pointer and position detection using electrostatic coupling. Wacom Co Ltd is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2018-06-25 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-12 — Reel 042217/0400
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Wacom Co., Ltd.
  • Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
  • Correspondent: DANIEL E. MCNAMARA, CHRISTENSEN O'CONNOR JOHNSON KINDNESS, 1201 THIRD AVENUE, SUITE 3600, SEATTLE, WA 98101.
  • Context: Internal corporate record keeping or clarification of ownership within the same entity.

The USPTO Assignment Center shows only one recorded assignment for US10108277, an internal transfer from Wacom Co., Ltd. to Wacom Co., Ltd.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10108277
    2010 : Priority date
    2016 : Application filed by Wacom
    2018 : Internal assignment at Wacom
         : Patent granted to Wacom
    2024 : US litigation filed
    2025 : IPR case filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The only recorded assignment is an internal transfer within Wacom Co., Ltd., an operating company.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Wacom Co., Ltd. is the current assignee and is not recognized as a patent assertion entity (NPE).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. Only one assignment record exists, handled by DANIEL E. MCNAMARA, CHRISTENSEN O'CONNOR JOHNSON KINDNESS. There is insufficient data to determine if this correspondent recurs in this chain or other tracked patents as an NPE signal.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only one recorded internal assignment, not multiple consecutive transfers.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The internal assignment was recorded in October 2018, significantly preceding the first US litigation identified in 2024. Wacom remains the assignee in the recorded litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Wacom Co., Ltd. is an active, operating company, and there is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While litigation is present, there is no evidence of Wacom transferring the patent to an NPE for assertion on its behalf. Wacom remains the direct assignee.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is still held by Wacom Co., Ltd., not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent US10108277 is currently owned by its original assignee, Wacom Co Ltd, a recognized operating company in the field of digital pens and tablets. The only recorded assignment (Reel 042217/0400, recorded 2018-10-12) is an internal transfer within Wacom. The recent litigation history suggests direct assertion by Wacom, an operating company, rather than via an NPE.

Verification: USPTO Assignment Center Search for US10108277

The most relevant prior art specifically identified in US patent 10108277 is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535. As the provided full patent text for US10108277 does not include a comprehensive "References Cited" section, and direct search for "Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535" did not yield full citation details and abstracts directly from patent databases, the analysis of this prior art is grounded on the description provided within US10108277B2 itself.

Prior Art Reference: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535

• Full Citation: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 (also commonly referred to as JP H08-050535 A).

• Publication/Filing Date: The "H8" in the patent number format typically indicates Heisei year 8 in the Japanese calendar, which corresponds to 1996. A precise publication or filing date is not directly available from the provided text or search results.

• Brief Description: According to US10108277B2, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 describes a conventional electrostatic coupling type position detection apparatus. This apparatus includes a pointer (e.g., in the form of a pen) with an integrated circuit (IC) and a position detector with a sensor section comprising a group of conductors. A predetermined signal is transmitted from the pointer to the conductor group of the sensor section. The position detector then specifies the reception position of this transmission signal to detect the position pointed to by the pointer [cite: The provided patent text of US10108277B2, "BACKGROUND ART"].
  However, US10108277B2 identifies a problem with this conventional apparatus: it can only detect the pointer's position and cannot detect "information other than the position information such as, for example, the pointer's pressure information (i.e., how much pressure is applied to the pointer tip by a surface of the sensor section) or pen down information, which indicates that the pointer is in contact with the position detector." Additionally, it has a problem detecting "a plurality of different pointers, such as a pointer in the form of a pen and a finger as a pointer, at the same time" [cite: The provided patent text of US10108277B2, "SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION"].

• Which Claim(s) it Potentially Anticipates Under 35 U.S.C. § 102:
  Under 35 U.S.C. § 102, a prior art reference anticipates a claim if it discloses every limitation of that claim, either explicitly or inherently. Based on the description of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 provided within US10108277B2, the Japanese patent discloses the fundamental components and function of an electrostatic coupling type position detection system for determining a pointer's position. This includes:

  • A pointer having a transmission signal production section.
  • A sensor section with conductors disposed in a predetermined pattern configured to receive a signal.
  • A mechanism to detect the position pointed to by the pointer based on the received signal.

  However, all independent claims (Claims 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18) of US10108277B2 introduce a distinguishing feature: the use of two codes (or a single code produced with controlled timing) where a time difference between these codes is associated with pressure applied to the pointer, and the system detects this pressure based on this time difference. This is explicitly stated in US10108277B2 as an improvement over the conventional apparatus, which "cannot detect information other than the position information such as, for example, the pointer's pressure information." [cite: The provided patent text of US10108277B2, "SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION"]

  Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 does not anticipate any of the claims (1-18) of US10108277B2 in their entirety under 35 U.S.C. § 102, because it lacks the core inventive step of detecting non-positional information (like pressure) by associating it with a time difference between transmitted codes, as described and claimed in US10108277B2. The Japanese patent serves as background art establishing the known state of electrostatic position detection that only provides positional data.

The US patent 10108277 aims to solve problems associated with conventional electrostatic coupling position detection apparatuses, specifically their inability to detect information beyond a pointer's position (e.g., pressure, pen down status, rotational position, inclination) or to simultaneously detect multiple types of pointers, such as a pen and a finger. The invention proposes using codes with correlation matching operations to transmit and detect this additional information.

A person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) in the field of pointing devices and signal processing, as of the priority date of February 5, 2010, would have been motivated to combine existing electrostatic coupling position detection technology with established signal processing and data encoding techniques to overcome the identified limitations.

Combination of Prior Art References and Motivation for Combination:

1. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 (or similar conventional electrostatic coupling position detector) + General Knowledge of Encoding and Decoding Information using Codes and Correlation Matching:
   • Prior Art 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535 is explicitly cited in US10108277 as an example of a conventional electrostatic coupling position detection apparatus that can detect the pointer's position. This reference establishes the baseline technology for electrostatic position sensing.
   • General Knowledge: By the priority date, methods for embedding various types of information into electrical signals and extracting that information using code-based correlation matching were well-known in communication and signal processing. The patent itself mentions the use of "spread codes including an M sequence, a gold code sequence or the like or orthogonal codes such as, for example, the Hadamard code or the Walsh code" and states that "identification sensitivity of code patterns can be increased based on a correlation matching operation process upon reception". This indicates that these code types and the benefits of correlation matching were part of common technical knowledge.
   • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA, recognizing the limitations of basic electrostatic position detectors as described in the background of US10108277, would be motivated to enhance these systems to provide richer user input. The objective would be to transmit additional data (e.g., pressure, pen down, pointer type) without significantly altering the fundamental electrostatic coupling mechanism.
     • Pressure Detection: Integrating a variable capacitor (or similar pressure-sensitive element, such as a variable inductor or resistor) whose capacitance changes with pen pressure with a code production circuit that varies the time difference between two transmitted codes based on this capacitance would be an obvious design choice. By transmitting these two codes (which can be the same or different patterns) and detecting the time difference between their correlation peaks at the receiver, the pressure could be derived. This directly applies known methods of time-encoding information to the electrostatic signal.
     • Pen Down/Hovering Detection: Using a mechanical switch linked to the pen tip (e.g., switch 101 in FIG. 11) to switch between transmitting a first code (pen down) and a second code (hovering) would be an obvious way to signal the pen's state. The position detector could then use correlation matching to identify which code is received, thereby determining the pen's state.
     • Side Switch Detection: Similarly, signaling the activation of a side switch (e.g., side switch 113 in FIG. 12A) by inverting a code signal or transmitting a distinct third code from a separate electrode piece would be a straightforward application of encoding device state information.
     • Rotational Position and Inclination Detection: Employing multiple electrically divided electrode pieces on the pointer (e.g., 211a, 211b, 211c, 211d in FIG. 19) and supplying different codes or time-shifted codes to these pieces would be an obvious extension. By analyzing the differential reception signal levels of these codes across multiple reception conductors (e.g., X1, X2, X3, Y1, Y2, Y3), the pointer's rotational position and inclination could be deduced. This leverages the spatial distribution of encoded signals to infer orientation.
     • Simultaneous Multi-Pointer Detection (Pen and Finger): For a POSITA, distinguishing between different input types like a pen and a finger on the same surface would suggest employing distinct identifiers. Transmitting unique spread codes for a pen (e.g., C1, C2) and for touch input (e.g., C3 from the position detector's own spread code production section 231) and using correlation matching to identify these codes would be an obvious approach. Alternatively, implementing time-division multiplexing to alternately enable pen tablet and touch panel functions (as shown in FIG. 23) represents a known method for handling multiple input modes on a shared sensing surface.
     • Modulation Techniques (PSK, FSK): The patent notes that "Predetermined modulation may be applied to spread codes" and specifically describes PSK (Phase Shift Keying) and FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) modulation. These are well-known techniques in communication systems for improving signal-to-noise ratio, increasing frequency range, and reducing detection errors. Applying such known modulation schemes to the transmitted codes would be an obvious engineering choice for a POSITA aiming to enhance the robustness and accuracy of the communication link between the pointer and the detector.

Conclusion:
The claims of US10108277, which involve extending the functionality of an electrostatic coupling position detection apparatus to include detection of pressure, pen down, side switch operations, rotational position, inclination, and simultaneous multi-pointer detection, would be obvious to a POSITA. This is because the underlying mechanisms for achieving these additional functionalities—namely, encoding information into signals via time differences, distinct code patterns, spatial distribution, or modulation, and then decoding this information using correlation matching—were well-established signal processing and communication techniques by the priority date. Combining these known techniques with a conventional electrostatic position detection system (such as that described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-50535) to address the known limitations of such systems would constitute an obvious combination of known elements to achieve predictable results.