Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on September 04, 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
2. Applicant's response, filed September 04, 2026 is respectfully acknowledged and has been fully considered. The following rejections and/or objections are either reiterated or newly applied. They constitute the complete set presently being applied to the instant application.
Claims 1, 9, 15, and 18 are amended.
Claims 1-19 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "a digital signal processor" in line 10. It is unclear if this is the same digital signal processor previously defined in line 6, or it is another, second digital signal processor, whether the digital signals are compensated in a particular one or both of these processors, etc. Examiner assumes only the digital signal processor of lines 6-9 is present for examination purposes. Further depending claims not mentioned inherit the deficiencies of their respective base claims and are rejected [objected to] under similar rationale.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "said common mode noises" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further depending claims not mentioned inherit the deficiencies of their respective base claims and are rejected [objected to] under similar rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 4, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application 20220261104 A1, hereinafter “Liu”).
Regarding Claim 1 (Currently Amended), Lim teaches a touch sensing circuit, comprising:
a plurality of analog front-end circuits, generating a plurality of output signals according to a plurality of sensing signals (par 0030 Fig 2 the analog front end 13 includes at least a plurality of analog front-end circuits comprising a plurality of amplification units 131 and a plurality of filters 132, par 0031-0033 generating a plurality of output signals Siaf according to a plurality of sensing signals Si).
However, Lim appears not to expressly teach
a noise processing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and determining an average noise according to all of said output signals generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits; and
a compensation circuit, coupled to said noise processing, and compensating said output signals according to said average noise; and
an analog-to-digital converter, converting said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit for generating a plurality of digital signals, wherein
said compensation circuit compensates said output signals with said average noise before said output signals are converted by said analog-to-digital converter.
Liu teaches
a noise processing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and determining an average noise according to all of said output signals generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits (par 0047 Fig 2 amplifier 240, coupled to all of the N analog front end circuits [comprised of N capacitive sensor electrodes and their N charge integrators] may amplify (e.g., scale) each spatial-common-mode [noise]-processed signal (i.e., spatial-common-mode-processed signal 1—spatial-common-mode-processed signal N) by a factor of −A/N, where N is the number (i.e., cardinality) of spatial-common-mode-processed signals (i. e., number of channels), and where A is a gain value; par 0072 the spatial common mode estimate is or approximates an average noise over all of the resulting output signals 1-N [ciVout1- ciVoutN] generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits); and
a compensation circuit, coupled to said noise processing, and compensating said output signals according to said average noise (par 0073 Fig 2 feedback loop 278, the amplifier 240, and the charge integrators 1-N act as a common mode noise suppression circuit; each charge integrator may integrate a difference between one of the resulting output signals 1-N [ciVout1- ciVoutN] and the feedback signal 275. Because the feedback signal includes the spatial common mode estimate [average noise], the spatial common mode portion of each channel signal is mitigated/ compensated according to said average noise); and
an analog-to-digital converter, converting said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit for generating a plurality of digital signals (par 0049 Fig 2 N analog-to-digital converters 284 within controller 280 convert said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit into digital signals), wherein
said compensation circuit compensates said output signals with said average noise before said output signals are converted by said analog-to-digital converter (par 0073 Fig 2 because the feedback signal includes the spatial common mode estimate [average noise], the spatial common mode portion of each channel signal is mitigated/ compensated according to said average noise before said output signals are converted by said analog-to-digital converter).
Lim and Liu are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the compensated digital signals of Liu. The motivation would have been in order to provide that the spatial common mode portion of each channel signal is mitigated/ compensated according to said average noise before said output signals are converted by said analog-to-digital converter (Liu par 0073).
Regarding Claim 4 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 1, wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
a summing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal (Liu par 0071 Fig 2 a summing circuit comprising current conveyors 220 and a single coupled summing resistor, coupled to the N analog front end circuits [comprised of N capacitive sensor electrodes and their N charge integrators], and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal);
an averaging circuit, coupled to said summing circuit, and averaging said noise summation signal for determining said average noise (Liu par 0071 Fig 2 the feedback signal generated by amplifier 240 may be implemented with multiple current conveyors and a single coupled summing resistor 260 includes a spatial common mode estimate; the spatial common mode estimate is or approximates an average over the resulting signals 1-N).
Lim and Liu are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the noise processing circuit of Liu. The motivation would have been in order to provide a touch sensor device capable of effective noise removal by extracting and quantifying only the noise component from a signal containing noise and subtracting the extracted noise amount from the sensing signal.
Regarding Claim 15 (Currently Amended), Lim teaches a touch sensing circuit, comprising:
a plurality of analog front-end circuits, generating a plurality of output signals according to a plurality of sensing signals (par 0030 Fig 2 the analog front end 13 includes at least a plurality of analog front-end circuits comprising a plurality of amplification units 131 and a plurality of filters 132, par 0031-0033 generating a plurality of output signals Siaf according to a plurality of sensing signals Si);
a digital signal processor, coupled to said analog-to-digital converter, adjusting a threshold value according to said digital signals (par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system).
However, Lim appears not to expressly teach
a noise processing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and determining an average noise according to all of said common-mode noises generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits; and
a compensation circuit, coupled to said noise processing circuit, and compensating said output signals according to said average noise;
an analog-to-digital converter, converting said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit for generating a plurality of digital signals.
Liu teaches
a noise processing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and determining an average noise according to all of said output signals generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits (par 0047 Fig 2 amplifier 240, coupled to all of the N analog front end circuits [comprised of N capacitive sensor electrodes and their N charge integrators] may amplify (e.g., scale) each spatial-common-mode [noise]-processed signal (i.e., spatial-common-mode-processed signal 1—spatial-common-mode-processed signal N) by a factor of −A/N, where N is the number (i.e., cardinality) of spatial-common-mode-processed signals (i. e., number of channels), and where A is a gain value; par 0072 the spatial common mode estimate is or approximates an average noise over all of the resulting output signals 1-N [ciVout1- ciVoutN] generated by all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits); and
a compensation circuit, coupled to said noise processing, and compensating said output signals according to said average noise (par 0073 Fig 2 feedback loop 278, the amplifier 240, and the charge integrators 1-N act as a common mode noise suppression circuit; each charge integrator may integrate a difference between one of the resulting output signals 1-N [ciVout1- ciVoutN] and the feedback signal 275. Because the feedback signal includes the spatial common mode estimate [average noise], the spatial common mode portion of each channel signal is mitigated/ compensated according to said average noise); and
an analog-to-digital converter, converting said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit for generating a plurality of digital signals (par 0049 Fig 2 N analog-to-digital converters 284 within controller 280 convert said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit into digital signals).
Lim and Liu are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the compensated digital signals of Liu. The motivation would have been in order to provide that the spatial common mode portion of each channel signal is mitigated/ compensated according to said average noise before said output signals are converted by said analog-to-digital converter (Liu par 0073).
Claims 9-13, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Reed et al. (U.S. Patent 10928955 B1, hereinafter “Reed”).
Regarding Claim 9 (Currently Amended), Lim teaches a touch sensing circuit, comprising:
a plurality of analog front-end circuits, generating a plurality of output signals according to a plurality of sensing signals (par 0030 Fig 2 the analog front end 13 includes at least a plurality of analog front-end circuits comprising a plurality of amplification units 131 and a plurality of filters 132, par 0031-0033 generating a plurality of output signals Siaf according to a plurality of sensing signals Si); and
an analog-to-digital converter, converting said output signals for generating a plurality of digital signals (par 0025 Fig 2 the analog output signals are converted to the digital signal by the ADC circuit 14 for the post-processing of the digital back end 15);
a digital signal processor, coupled to said analog-to-digital converter (par 0027 Fig 2 the processing unit 15/151 coupled to analog-to-digital converter 14).
However, Lim appears not to expressly teach
generating an average noise according to all of said digital signals corresponding to all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits and
compensating said digital signals according to said average noise.
Reed teaches
generating an average noise according to all of said digital signals corresponding to all of said plurality of analog front-end circuits (Reed col 3 lines 19-25 the noise characteristic can be determined by averaging background touch digital signals corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the masked touch image to determine a noise offset that can be subtracted from each touch digital signal corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the unmasked touch image), and
compensating said digital signals according to said average noise (Reed col 3 lines 25-27 the determining and subtracting of the noise characteristic can be repeated iteratively within a window of time and/or until one or more noise criteria are met).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row.
Regarding Claim 10 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 9, wherein said digital signal processor
sums said digital signals for generating a digital summation signal (Reed col 12 lines 41-63 a noise offset can be computed for a first respective row of the touch image by computing an average of the touch signals in the masked touch image for the respective row. For example, the touch signals of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image can be summed and divided by the number of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image), and
averages said digital summation signal for determining said average noise (Reed col 12 lines 41-63 a noise offset [average noise] can be computed for a first respective row of the touch image by computing an average of the touch signals in the masked touch image for the respective row. For example, the touch signals of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image can be summed and divided by the number of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the signal noise averaging of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Regarding Claim 11 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 9, wherein
said digital signal processor further adjusts said compensated digital signals (Reed col 12 lines 41-63 Fig 7 the determining and removing of the noise characteristic [by subtracting the noise average from the digital signals] can be applied to [each of the touch nodes in each of the] rows and each of the columns in the touch image for each iteration of 705; col 16 lines 57-59 compensation can be applied to the touch nodes before removing structured noise), and
generates a touch signal according to said adjusted digital signals (Reed col 13 lines 63-65 Fig 7 process 700 can iteratively remove noise from the touch image until satisfaction of one or more noise criteria) and a threshold value (col 15 lines 34-36 Fig 8 touch nodes can be identified as corresponding to “touch” when their touch signal exceeds a threshold).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Regarding Claim 12 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 11, wherein
said digital signal processor determines an adjusting value according to said compensated digital signals (Reed col 16 lines 57-59 compensation can be applied to the touch nodes before removing structured noise; col 3 lines 19-25 the noise characteristic can be determined by averaging background touch signals corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the masked touch image to determine a noise offset that can be subtracted from each touch signal corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the unmasked touch image), and
adjusts said compensated digital signals according to said adjusting value (Reed col 3 lines 25-27 the determining and subtracting of the noise characteristic can be repeated iteratively within a window of time and/or until one or more noise criteria are met).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Regarding Claim 13 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 9, wherein
said digital signal processor
adjusts a threshold value (Reed col 14 line 60-67 the signal threshold for identifying a touch node corresponding to a touch can be set based on a maximum signal detected in a touch image (in the frame which the noise suppression algorithm is to be applied to the touch image). In such examples, the maximum signal among the touch nodes in the touch image can be found, and the threshold can be set to a percentage (e.g., 50%, 60%) of the maximum signal in the touch image (e.g., as shown by threshold 806), and
generates a touch signal according to said compensated digital signals (Reed col 13 lines 63-65 Fig 7 process 700 can iteratively remove noise from the touch image until satisfaction of one or more noise criteria) and said adjusted threshold value (Reed col 15 lines 34-36 Fig 8 touch nodes can be identified as corresponding to “touch” when their touch signal exceeds a threshold).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Claim 18 essentially presents the limitations of Claim 9 with slight wording changes, and therefore Claim 18 is rejected with a rationale similar to Claim 9, mutatis mutandis.
Regarding Claim 19 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 18, wherein said digital signal processor
sums said digital signals for generating a digital summation signal (Reed col 12 lines 41-63 a noise offset can be computed for a first respective row of the touch image by computing an average of the touch signals in the masked touch image for the respective row. For example, the touch signals of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image can be summed and divided by the number of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image), and
averages said digital summation signal for determining said average noise (Reed col 12 lines 41-63 a noise offset [average noise] can be computed for a first respective row of the touch image by computing an average of the touch signals in the masked touch image for the respective row. For example, the touch signals of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image can be summed and divided by the number of “background” touch nodes in the respective row in the masked touch image).
Lim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim with the inclusion of the signal noise averaging of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Claims 2, 3, 5, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application 20220261104 A1, hereinafter “Liu”) and Kim et al. (Korea Patent Application Publication KR102059845B1, hereinafter “Kim’).
Regarding Claim 2 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 1, wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
an averaging circuit, coupled to said filtering circuit, and averaging said noise summation signal for determining said average noise (Liu par 0049 Fig 2 N analog-to-digital converters 284 within controller 280 convert said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit into digital signals; the averaging circuit portion may be coupled to a filtering circuit portion of or after the AFE, par 0078).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach
wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
a summing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal;
a filtering circuit, coupled to said summing circuit, and filtering said output summation signal for generating a noise summation signal.
Kim teaches wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
a summing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal; a filtering circuit, coupled to said summing circuit, and filtering said output summation signal for generating a noise summation signal (par 0057 Fig 2 summing module 322 sums the signal (C) output from the first sensor 21 and the signal (D) output from the second sensor, so that signals other than noise are removed and the amplified noise (E) is removed. Extract (see (b) and (c) of Figure 7). The signal (C) output from the first sensor 21 includes a sensing signal (C1) and noise (C2), and the signal (D) output from the second sensor 22 includes a sensing signal (D1) and noise (D2), and the sensing signals C1 and C2 have opposite phases, so when the signals C and D are added by the summing module 322, the sensing signals C1 and D1 are canceled [filtering circuit] out and [noise is] amplified twice. The noise (E) is extracted. Since the noise (E) output by the summation module 322 is amplified compared to the original noise, the adjustment module 323 attenuates the noise (E) to 1/2 and outputs the adjusted noise (F). (see (d) in Figure 7). The noise (F) [noise summation signal] output by the control module 323 is used by the noise removal unit 33 to remove noise from the sensing signal).
Lim Liu and Kim are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu with the inclusion of the noise processing circuit of Kim. The motivation would have been in order to provide a touch sensor device capable of effective noise removal by extracting and quantifying only the noise component from a signal containing noise and subtracting the extracted noise amount from the sensing signal (Kim par 0012).
Regarding Claim 3 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 1, further comprising:
a digital signal processor, coupled to said analog-to-digital converter (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system)
and generating a touch signal according to said digital signals (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach the digital signal processor generating a touch signal according to said digital signals and a threshold value.
Kim teaches a digital signal processor generating a touch signal according to said digital signals and a threshold value (par 0059 when the cumulative sum value is smaller than the reference value [threshold], the signal output to the touch sensor and from which the noise has been removed is used to calculate a physical quantity using the touch sensor).
Lim Liu and Kim are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu with the inclusion of the threshold of Kim. The motivation would have been in order to provide a threshold at which the noise extraction unit and the noise removal unit can operate normally (Kim par 0021).
Regarding Claim 5 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 4, further comprising:
a digital signal processor, coupled to said analog-to-digital converter (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system), adjusting said digital signals (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system), and
generating a touch signal according to said digital signals (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach the digital signal processor generating a touch signal according to said digital signals and a threshold value.
Kim teaches a digital signal processor generating a touch signal according to said digital signals and a threshold value (par 0059 when the cumulative sum value is smaller than the reference value [threshold], the signal output to the touch sensor and from which the noise has been removed is used to calculate a physical quantity using the touch sensor).
Lim Liu and Kim are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/ Liu with the inclusion of the threshold of Kim. The motivation would have been in order to provide a threshold at which the noise extraction unit and the noise removal unit can operate normally (Kim par 0021).
Regarding Claim 16 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 15, wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
an averaging circuit, coupled to said filtering circuit, and averaging said noise summation signal for determining said average noise (Liu par 0049 Fig 2 N analog-to-digital converters 284 within controller 280 convert said output signals compensated by said compensation circuit into digital signals; the averaging circuit portion may be coupled to a filtering circuit portion of or after the AFE, par 0078).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach
a summing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal;
a filtering circuit, coupled to said summing circuit, and filtering said output summation signal for generating a noise summation signal.
Kim teaches wherein said noise processing circuit comprises:
a summing circuit, coupled to said analog front-end circuits, and summing said output signals for generating an output summation signal; a filtering circuit, coupled to said summing circuit, and filtering said output summation signal for generating a noise summation signal (par 0057 Fig 2 summing module 322 sums the signal (C) output from the first sensor 21 and the signal (D) output from the second sensor, so that signals other than noise are removed and the amplified noise (E) is removed. Extract (see (b) and (c) of Figure 7). The signal (C) output from the first sensor 21 includes a sensing signal (C1) and noise (C2), and the signal (D) output from the second sensor 22 includes a sensing signal (D1) and noise (D2), and the sensing signals C1 and C2 have opposite phases, so when the signals C and D are added by the summing module 322, the sensing signals C1 and D1 are canceled [filtering circuit] out and [noise is] amplified twice. The noise (E) is extracted. Since the noise (E) output by the summation module 322 is amplified compared to the original noise, the adjustment module 323 attenuates the noise (E) to 1/2 and outputs the adjusted noise (F). (see (d) in Figure 7). The noise (F) [noise summation signal] output by the control module 323 is used by the noise removal unit 33 to remove noise from the sensing signal).
Lim Liu and Kim are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu with the inclusion of the noise processing circuit of Kim. The motivation would have been in order to provide a touch sensor device capable of effective noise removal by extracting and quantifying only the noise component from a signal containing noise and subtracting the extracted noise amount from the sensing signal (Kim par 0012).
Claim 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application 20220261104 A1, hereinafter “Liu”) and further in view of Kim et al. (Korea Patent Application Publication KR102059845B1, hereinafter “Kim”) and Reed et al. (U.S. Patent 10928955 B1, hereinafter “Reed”).
Regarding Claim 6 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 5. However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach wherein
said digital signal processor
determines an adjusting value according to said digital signals and
adjusts said digital signals according to said adjusting value.
Reed teaches
said digital signal processor
determines an adjusting value according to said digital signals (Reed col 3 lines 19-25 the noise characteristic can be determined by averaging background touch signals corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the masked touch image to determine a noise offset that can be subtracted from each touch signal corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the unmasked touch image) and
adjusts said digital signals according to said adjusting value (Reed col 3 lines 25-27 the determining and subtracting of the noise characteristic can be repeated iteratively within a window of time and/or until one or more noise criteria are met).
Lim Liu Kim and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu/Kim with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application 20220261104 A1, hereinafter “Liu”) and further in view of Reed et al. (U.S. Patent 10928955 B1, hereinafter “Reed”).
Regarding Claim 7 (Previously Presented), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 4, further comprising:
a digital signal processor, coupled to said analog-to-digital converter (Lim par 0034 the processing unit 151 identifies that an SNR value of the obtained digital signal [from the coupled A/D] is smaller than a threshold, the frequency scanning interval is entered, wherein the threshold may be determined according to the durable noise of the system).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach
adjusting a threshold value, and
generating a touch signal according to said digital signals and said adjusted threshold value.
Reed teaches a digital signal processor adjusting a threshold value (col 14 line 60 – 67 the signal threshold for identifying a touch node corresponding to a touch can be set based on a maximum signal detected in a touch image (in the frame which the noise suppression algorithm is to be applied to the touch image). In such examples, the maximum signal among the touch nodes in the touch image can be found, and the threshold can be set to a percentage (e.g., 50%, 60%) of the maximum signal in the touch image (e.g., as shown by threshold 806), and
generating a touch signal according to said digital signals (col 13 lines 63-65 Fig 7 process 700 can iteratively remove noise from the touch image until satisfaction of one or more noise criteria) and said adjusted threshold value (col 15 lines 34-36 Fig 8 touch nodes can be identified as corresponding to “touch” when their touch signal exceeds a threshold).
Lim Liu and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Regarding Claim 17 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 15. However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach wherein
said digital signal processor generates a touch signal according to said digital signals and said adjusted threshold value.
Reed teaches wherein said digital signal processor generates a touch signal according to said digital signals (col 13 lines 63-65 Fig 7 process 700 can iteratively remove noise from the touch image until satisfaction of one or more noise criteria) and said adjusted threshold value (col 15 lines 34-36 Fig 8 touch nodes can be identified as corresponding to “touch” when their touch signal exceeds a threshold).
Lim Liu and Reed are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu with the inclusion of the adjusted compensated digital signals of Reed. The motivation would have been in order to provide an average noise offset for the respective row that can then be subtracted from touch signals at each touch node of the respective row in the (unmasked) touch image (Reed col 12 lines 41-63).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Liu et al. (U.S. Patent Application 20220261104 A1, hereinafter “Liu”) and further in view of Reed et al. (U.S. Patent 10928955 B1, hereinafter “Reed”) and Kent (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20080062151 A1).
Regarding Claim 8 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 7. However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach wherein
said digital signal processor
determines an adjusting value according to said digital signals and
adjusts said threshold value according to said adjusting value.
Kent teaches wherein
said digital signal processor
determines an adjusting value according to said digital signals (par 0267 determining a noise or signal instability level in a given region) and
adjusts said threshold value according to said adjusting value (par 0267 determining a noise or signal instability level in a given region, and setting the threshold above an average noise or instability level for that region).
Lim Liu Reed and Kent are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Liu/Reed with the inclusion of the threshold adjustment of Kent. The motivation would have been in order to provide an adaptive threshold, in which the threshold varies based on actual sets of received data, thus allowing increased sensitivity and rejection of artifacts of limited amplitude (Kent par 0027).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim (U.S. Patent Application 20160132147 A1) in view of Reed et al. (U.S. Patent 10928955 B1, hereinafter “Reed”) and further in view of and Kent (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20080062151 A1).
Regarding Claim 14 (Original), Lim as modified teaches the touch sensing circuit of claim 13, wherein
said digital signal processor determines an adjusting value according to said compensated digital signals (Reed col 16 lines 57-59 compensation can be applied to the touch nodes before removing structured noise; col 3 lines 19-25 the noise characteristic can be determined by averaging background touch signals corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the masked touch image to determine a noise offset that can be subtracted from each touch signal corresponding to touch nodes in a respective row or column of the unmasked touch image).
However, Lim as modified appears not to expressly teach
adjusts said threshold value according to said adjusting value.
Kent teaches adjusts said threshold value according to said adjusting value (par 0267 determining a noise or signal instability level in a given region, and setting the threshold above an average noise or instability level for that region).
Lim Reed and Kent are analogous art as they each pertain to touch sensing circuits. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the touch sensing circuit of Lim/Reed with the inclusion of the threshold adjustment of Kent. The motivation would have been in order to provide an adaptive threshold, in which the threshold varies based on actual sets of received data, thus allowing increased sensitivity and rejection of artifacts of limited amplitude (Kent par 0027).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed September 04, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 9, 15, and 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
As such, the rejections of Claims 1, 9, 15, and 18 are maintained, as are the rejections of claims dependent on Claims 1, 9, 15, and 18.
Conclusion
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/MARK EDWARDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624
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