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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
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.
Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 12, 14-15, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jordan (US Patent No. 11,204,667) in view of Vaze (US Patent No. 11,320,934) and Royzen (US Patent No.11,550,428).
With reference to claims 1 and 15, Jordan discloses an electronic device (200) (see column 5, lines 30-35; Fig. 2) comprising:
a display layer (230) (see column 5, lines 36-55; Fig. 2);
a sensor layer (232) disposed on the display layer (230) and including a plurality of first electrodes (TX) and a plurality of second electrodes (RX) crossing the plurality of first electrodes (TX) (see column 5, lines 36-39, 56-column 6, line 6; Fig. 2); and
a sensor driver (266) configured to drive the sensor layer and including a signal generation circuit configured to transmit a transfer signal to the plurality of first electrodes (TX), an input detection circuit (266) configured to receive a sensing signal from the plurality of second electrodes (RX), and a sensor control circuit (520) (see column 6, lines 35-53; Fig. 2),
wherein the input detection circuit (266) is configured to:
receive a first sensing signal from one electrode (RX) among the plurality of second electrodes (see column 3, line 46-column 4, line 25, column 9, lines 27-37; Fig. 5), and
wherein the sensor control circuit (520) includes:
a non-ideal element estimator (520) configured to output a noise signal based on the second sensing signal and the third sensing signal (see column 9, lines 14-24; Fig. 5),
a calculator (530) configured to output an output signal by adding or subtracting the first sensing signal and the noise signal (see column 9, lines 25-36; Fig. 5), and
a converter (540) configured to output a coordinate signal by converting the output signal into a digital signal (see column 10, lines 9-19; Fig. 5).
While disclosing multiple RX electrodes being held at a reference voltage (see column 3, line 46-column 4, line 25, column 9, lines 27-37; Fig. 5), Jordan fails to specifically disclose the input detection circuit receives second and third sensing signals as recited.
Vaze discloses an electronic device (see Figs. 1) comprising: a display layer (see column 5, line 52- column 6, line 5; Figs. 1), a sensor layer, a sensor driver, and an input detection circuit configured to receive a sensing signal from the plurality of second electrodes and a sensor control circuit (see column 7, lines 5-59; Figs. 2, 4A-B); wherein, upon receiving a first sensing signal from an input electrode (710) among the plurality of second electrodes due to an external input applied to the sensor layer (see column 13, lines 17-48; Fig. 7), the input detection circuit is configured to: receive a second sensing signal from a first reference electrode (730) among the plurality of second electrodes different from the input electrode (710), and a third sensing signal from a second other reference electrode (730) among the plurality of second electrodes different from the input electrode (710) (see column 13, line 49-column 14, line 19; Fig. 7).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of touch electrodes for receiving sensing signal similar to that which is taught by Vaze to be carried out in a display device similar to that which is taught by Jordan to thereby measure and remove noise on the touch electrodes of the touch scan region (see Vaze; column 13, line 65-column 14, line 5).
While disclosing the non-ideal element estimator, calculator, and converter, Jordan and Vaze fails to be specific disclosure of an analog signal as recited.
Royzen discloses a computer system (100) configured to receive touch interactions at a digitizer (104) on a display screen (102) (see column 4, lines 25-43, column 5, lines 8-35; Figs. 1-2) comprising; a non-ideal element estimator (110) configured to generate an analog noise signal (see column 5, line 54-62; Figs. 1-2); a calculator (114) configured to generate a corrected analog signal by adding or subtracting, in an analog domain, the first sensing signal and the analog noise signal (see column 7, lines 4-28; Figs. 1-2); and a converter (114) configured to output a corrected analog signal into a digital signal (see column 7, lines 4-28; Figs. 1-2).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of processing analog noise signals similar to that which is taught by Royzen to be carried out in a system similar to that which is taught by Jordan and Vaze to thereby reduce noise affecting the signal (see Royzen; column 4, lines 21-24).
With reference to claim 2, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1, wherein Jordan further discloses wherein each of the first sensing signal, the second sensing signal, the third sensing signal, the noise signal, and the output signal is a charge-domain signal that is an analog signal, and wherein the coordinate signal is a voltage-domain signal that is a digital signal (see column 10, lines 9-19).
With reference to claim 4, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1, wherein Jordan further discloses wherein the non-ideal element (520) estimator simultaneously receives the second sensing signal and the third sensing signal (in teaching the circuit receives noise similarly to the received display noise; see column 3, line 46-column 4, line 25, column 9, lines 17-37; Fig. 5).
With reference to claims 6 and 18, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1 or 15, wherein Jordan further discloses wherein the non-ideal element estimator (520) is connected to the calculator (530), and wherein the calculator (530) is connected to the input detection circuit (510), the non-ideal element estimator (520), and the converter (550) (see Fig. 5).
With reference to claims 12 and 20, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1 or 15, wherein Jordan further discloses further comprising: a display driver (262) configured to drive the display layer (see column 6, lines 19-34; Fig. 2), wherein the display driver generates a vertical synchronization signal and a horizontal synchronization signal (in teaching display device and display driver; see column 6, lines 19-34; Figs. 1-2), wherein the sensor control circuit receives the vertical synchronization signal and the horizontal synchronization signal, and wherein the non-ideal element estimator outputs the noise signal by further using the vertical synchronization signal and the horizontal synchronization signal (see column 9, lines 3-12, 54-column 10, line 8).
With reference to claim 14, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1, wherein Jordan further discloses wherein, when the sensor driver (266) detects the second sensing signal and the third sensing signal (see column 6, lines 35-44), the signal generation circuit provides a voltage to the plurality of first electrodes (see column 6, lines 35-44).
Claims 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen as applied to claim 1 or 15 above, and further in view of Shieh et al. (US Patent Publication No. 2014/0139284; hereinafter Shieh).
With reference to claims 3 and 16, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1 or 15, however fails to disclose the usage of a charge pump as recited.
Shieh discloses a noise cancellation circuit wherein the calculator (51) includes a charge pump (52) (see paragraphs 28-30; Fig. 4).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of a charge pump similar to that which is taught by Shieh to be carried out in the device similar to that which is taught by Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen to thereby provide an alternative configuration for reduce or eliminate noise (see Shieh; paragraph 31).
Claims 5, 7-11, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen as applied to claim 1 or 15 above, and further in view of Chan et al. (US Patent Publication No. 2012/0169662; hereinafter Chan).
With reference to claims 5 and 17, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1 or 15, however fails to disclose the usage of a cache memory as recited.
Chan discloses a touch sensing apparatus having a sensor control circuit (1), wherein the sensor control circuit (1) further includes a cache memory (40), and wherein the cache memory stores the noise signal (see paragraphs 24, 27; Figs. 1-2).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of a cache memory similar to that which is taught by Chan to be carried out in a device similar to that which is taught by Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen to thereby store data output from the electrodes (see Chan; paragraph 30).
With reference to claims 7 and 19, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 1 or 15, however fails to disclose a repeater as recited.
Chan further discloses wherein the sensor control circuit (1) further includes a repeater (50) connected between the calculator (50) (in teaching adding switches) and the converter (70) (see paragraphs 23-25, 31-34; Figs. 1-2).
With reference to claim 8, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen disclose the electronic device of claim 7, however fails to disclose a repeater as recited.
Chan further discloses wherein the repeater (50) includes an operational amplifier (A1) and a capacitor (C1-C3), which are connected in series with each other (see paragraphs 31-33; Fig. 2).
With reference to claim 9, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen discloses the electronic device of claim 1, however fails to disclose a charge amplifier as recited.
Chan further discloses wherein the sensor control circuit (1) further includes a charge amplifier (see paragraph 29) connected between the calculator (50) and the converter (70) (see paragraphs 31-35).
With reference to claims 10-11, Jordan, Vaze, Royzen, and Chan disclose the electronic device of claim 9, however fail to disclose the structure of the amplifier as recited.
The examiner finds that the usage of a charge amplifier having a single-ended or open loop structure well known and common for usage as an alternative configuration to perform amplification of signals to be processed. The specification fails to limit the recited structure has a function that is invention to the disclosed invention, therefore the examiner finds that the structure is well known in the state of the art.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of a charge amplifier having a single-ended structure or an open loop structure similar to that which is well-known in the art in the device similar to that which is taught by Jordan, Vaze, Royzen and Chan to thereby provide an alternative configuration of the amplifier.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ku (US Patent Publication No. 2017/0068350).
With reference to claim 13, Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen discloses the electronic device of claim 1, however fails to disclose multiplying as recited.
Ku further discloses multiplying a sensing signal (Dsm) by a predetermined first ratio (Rm) and another sensing signal (Dsm+1) by a predetermined second ratio (Rm+1) (see paragraphs 72-75, 85-91; Figs. 1-4).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of a calculation process similar to that which is taught by Ku to be carried out in a system similar to that which is taught by Jordan, Vaze, and Royzen to thereby minimize the influence of noise (see Ku; paragraph 27).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
LEE et al. (US2023/0134287) discloses a touch controller including a noise detection circuit that provides a first and second reference voltage for detecting display noise of a first and second electrode lines (see abstract, paragraphs 56-76; Figs. 1-17).
Conclusion
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/ADE/Examiner, Art Unit 2625
/WILLIAM BODDIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2625