DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “second signal lines”, the “i-th” rows/lines, the “M” and “M/2” lines must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. For example, a more descriptive title could be, “Display Panel and Display Apparatus with Signal Lines Having Equal Resistance or Capacitance”.
35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, requires the specification to be written in “full, clear, concise, and exact terms.” The specification is replete with terms which are not clear, concise and exact. The specification should be revised carefully in order to comply with 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112.
Examples of some unclear, inexact or verbose terms used in the specification are: “second signal lines”, “second signal line”, “M first scan output lines”, “i-th first scan output line”, “i-th first scan signal line”, etc.
In other words, the specification discloses “second signal lines” but does not indicate which reference numeral(s) in the drawings would correspond to such “second signal lines”. Furthermore, various “i-th” lines are disclosed in the specification, however, there are no elements in the current drawings that appear to correspond to “i-th” lines. Therefore, it is not possible to determine what elements in the figures would correspond to the “second signal lines” or to any of the “i-th” lines.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 2, in the second to last line, the examiner suggests changing “the second signal line is electrically connected…” to read “the corresponding second signal line is electrically connected…”, otherwise, it may not be clear whether or not “the second signal line” refers to “a corresponding second signal line” in line 13 of claim 1; and
Claims 3-19 inherit the objection to claim 2.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-19 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1:
The limitations drawn to “second signal lines” and “a corresponding second signal line” renders the claim indefinite because the specification does not clarify what lines (or elements) in the drawings are referenced by “second signal lines”.
For examples, element 22 (in Fig. 6 of the current drawings) is disclosed as “a second signal connection line”; however, this element 22 does not appear to be the “second signal line” in claim 1; furthermore, claim 11 requires a “second signal connection line” that would map to element 22 (in Fig. 6).
For the purpose of examination, “second signal lines” and “a corresponding signal line” is considered to be any signal line(s) in a display panel.
Regarding claims 2, 3, 13 and 18:
The limitations drawn “i-th” signal lines or “i-th” row render these claims indefinite because the drawings do not show “i-th” lines or rows that would map to the descriptions in the specification. In other words, none of the figures show i-th lines or rows such that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to determine what “i-th” lines/rows are in comparison the disclosed/shown “j-th” lines/rows.
For the purpose of examination, it is not possible to determine where and how “i-th” lines/rows are incorporated; accordingly, claim 2 and all claims depending therefrom cannot be further examined in any meaningful manner because it is not possible to determine how i-th lines/row differ from the disclosed j-th lines/rows.
Regarding claims 4-12, 14-17, 19 and 28:
These claims depend from at least indefinite claim 1; accordingly, they are also indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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Claim(s) 1 and 28 (all as interpreted) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshida et al. (US 2012/0229712 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 28 (as interpreted):
Yoshida discloses a display panel, comprising:
a substrate [0014] and a drive circuit layer (e.g., Fig. 4 and [0020]) disposed on
the substrate, wherein:
the substrate comprises a display region 600 (Figs. 3-4 and [0083]and a non-display region (outside of region “600” in Figs. 3-4), the drive circuit layer comprises: a plurality of pixel drive circuits P(n, m) (Fig. 2 and [0085]) disposed in the display region and a plurality of first scan signal lines GLn (Fig. 2 and [0085]) disposed in the display region and the non-display region (Figs. 3-4), the first scan signal lines are extended at least partially in a first direction (horizontal in Figs. 3-4), the pixel drive circuits P(n, m) are electrically connected with the first scan signal lines GLn (Fig. 2), and the first scan signal lines (e.g., Gln+1 in Fig. 2) connected with adjacent rows of pixel drive circuits are electrically isolated (Fig. 4);
the drive circuit layer further comprises first signal lines (see “first signal lines” in Fig. 4 above) located in the non-display region and second signal lines (see “second signal lines” in Fig. 4 above) corresponding to the first signal lines, the first signal lines are electrically connected with the first scan signal lines (see “scan signal lines” in Fig. 4 above) and configured to provide a signal to the first scan signal line, an orthographic projection of a first signal line on the substrate is at least partially overlapped with an orthographic projection of a corresponding second signal line on the substrate (e.g., see “overlap” in Fig. 4 above); and
a resistance of the first signal lines electrically connected to adjacent first scan signal lines are substantially equal (i.e., Yoshida discloses equalizing resistance of intercircuit lines, [0105]) and/or a capacitance value between the first signal lines electrically
connected to adjacent first scan signal lines and corresponding second signal lines are
substantially equal; and
re claim 28, a display apparatus (Fig. 1), comprising: the display panel of claim 1.
Therefore, Yoshida anticipates claims 1 and 28 (both as interpreted)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references listed on the attached PTO-892 disclose display panels with signal lines having some similarity to that of the current invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEX H MALSAWMA whose telephone number is (571)272-1903. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (4-12 Hours, between 5:30AM-10PM).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, N. Drew Richards can be reached at 571-272-1736. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEX H MALSAWMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2892