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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/16/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. - An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AlA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
Claim limitations “driving transistor configured to”, “data driver configured to”, “sensing driver configured to”, and “timing controller configured to”” have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses/they use a generic placeholder “configured to” coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Claim elements in this application that use the word “configured to” are presumed to invoke 35 U.S.C.112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Similarly, claim elements that do not use the word “configured to” are presumed not to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Since the claim limitation(s) invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claims 1, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, and 14 have been interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AlA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 ef seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 12/16/2025 with respect to claims 1-25 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection in view of Kim et al. (US 2021/0248943).
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 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashimoto (US 11,164,494 hereinafter Hashimoto) in view of Kim et al. (US 2021/0248943 hereinafter Kim).
Referring to claim 1, Hashimoto discloses a display device (FIG. 1A; a schematic diagram of a display device 1), comprising:
a display panel including a first pixel (Fig. 1A; pixel circuits 10) and a sensor pixel (Fig. 1A; current monitor 11), the first pixel (Fig. 1A; pixel circuits 10) including a light emitting element (Fig. 1A; D1) and a driving transistor (Fig. 1A; Td) configured to control a first current flowing through the light emitting element (Col. 4 lines 33-41; Referring to FIG. 1A, in detail, the driving transistor Td has a first end receiving a first reference voltage VDD, a second end coupled to the node Nf, a control end coupled to the fourth transistor Tsd. The first transistor Te has a first end coupled to the node Nf, a second end coupled to the light emitting unit D1… and Col. 4 lines 42-46; the light emitting unit D1 is driven by the driving transistor Td according to the data voltage Vd stored in the capacitor Cs.), and the sensor pixel (Fig. 1A; current monitor 11) including a plurality of sensor transistors (Fig. 1A; the current monitor 11 includes a first sensing transistor Tsv, a second sensing transistor Tsi);
a data driver (Fig. 1A; data driver 12) configured to,
supply a first data signal to the first pixel through a first data line (Col. 4 lines 33-41; A data driver 12 is coupled to the data line DL for providing a data voltage Vd to the pixel circuit 10.),
wherein the plurality of sensor transistors (Fig. 3A; transistors Tsi and Tsv) are electrically connected in parallel to each other (Fig. 3A shows that the transistors Tsi and Tsv are connected in parallel to each other) and are commonly electrically connected to the sensor data line (Fig. 3A shows that the transistors Tsi and Tsv connected to common DL data line, and also in Fig. 2 shows that the transistors Tsi and Tsv connected to common sensing line SL), and
the plurality of sensor transistors (Fig. 3A; transistors Tsi and Tsv) and the driving transistor (Fig. 3A; driving transistor Td) include a substantially same characteristic (Col. 5 lines 14-23; In one embodiment, the driving transistor Td, the first transistor Te, the fourth transistor Tsd, and the switch transistor Tss are P-type metal-oxide-silicon (PMOS) transistors. The first sensing transistor Tsv and the second sensing transistor Tsi are PMOS transistors. Thus, the driving transistor Td in the pixel circuit 10 and sensing transistors Tsv and Tsi in the current monitor 11 are PMOS transistors characteristic).
However, Hashimoto does not explicitly discloses a data driver configured to supply a first data signal to the first pixel through a first data line and provide a sensor data signal to the sensor pixel through a sensor data line different form the first data line; and
a sensing driver configured to obtain sensing information on a second current flowing through the sensor pixel.
In an analogous art, Kim discloses a data driver configured to supply a first data signal to the first pixel through a first data line and provide a sensor data signal to the sensor pixel through a sensor data line (Kim- [0069]; The data driver 300 may be supplied with the data driving control signal DCS from the timing controller 600. In the sensing period, the data driver 300 may supply, to the pixel unit 100, a data signal (e.g., a sensing data signal) for pixel characteristic detection. In the display period, the data driver 300 may supply a data signal for image display to the pixel unit 100, based on the compensated image data CDATA.); and
a sensing driver (Kim- Fig. 1; sensing circuit 400) configured to obtain sensing information on a second current flowing through the sensor pixel (Kim- [0070]; The sensing circuit 400 may generate a compensation value for compensating for a characteristic value of the pixels PX, based on sensing values provided from the sensing lines SSL1 to SSLm. In an embodiment, the sensing circuit 400 may detect and compensate for a change in threshold voltage of the driving transistor included in the pixel PX, a change in mobility of the driving transistor, a change in characteristic of the light emitting device included in the pixel PX, and the like, for example.).
Kim discloses the claimed invention except for “a sensor data line different form the first data line”. However, Kim discloses (Kim- [0009]; a data driver which supplies one of an image data signal and a sensing data signal to the data lines…. and [0069]; The data driver 300 may be supplied with the data driving control signal DCS from the timing controller 600. In the sensing period, the data driver 300 may supply, to the pixel unit 100, a data signal (e.g., a sensing data signal) for pixel characteristic detection. In the display period, the data driver 300 may supply a data signal for image display to the pixel unit 100, based on the compensated image data CDATA…). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include “a sensor data line different form the first data line” as an alternative of (Kim-[0009]; supplying one of an image data signal and a sensing data signal to the data lines) in order to reduce the number of signal lines in the display.
Referring to claim 3, Hashimoto discloses wherein the sensor pixel (Hashimoto- Fig. 1A; shows that current monitor 11) does not include a light emitting element (Hashimoto-Fig. 1A; shows that current monitor 11 as “sensor pixel” does not include a light emitting element).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashimoto (US 11,164,494 hereinafter Hashimoto) in view of Kim et al. (US 2021/0248943 hereinafter Kim), and HAN et al. (US 2016/0098961 hereinafter HAN).
Referring to claim 6, Hashimoto in view of Kim as applied above does not specifically disclose further comprising: a timing controller configured to,
predict a deterioration characteristic of the first pixel based on the sensing information to obtain a predicted deterioration characteristic of the first pixel, and
compensates for image data based on the predicted deterioration characteristic to obtain compensated image data,
wherein the data driver is configured to generate the first data signal based on the compensated image data.
In an analogous art, Han discloses further comprising: a timing controller (Han- Fig. 3; 140) configured to,
predict a deterioration characteristic of the first pixel based on the sensing information to obtain a predicted deterioration characteristic of the first pixel, and compensates for image data based on the predicted deterioration characteristic to obtain compensated image data (Han- [0051]; For the sensing mode, the timing controller 140 drives the gate driver 120 and the data driver 130 in the sensing mode. Under the control of the timing controller 140, a sense signal is generated in the gate driver 120. Also, the timing controller 140 controls an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the data driver 130 so as to sense a change of threshold voltage and mobility in a driving TFT (DT) for each pixel…, ([0013]; After sensing the threshold voltage and mobility of the driving TFT (DT), the data current is converted into compensation data corresponding to the change of threshold voltage and mobility of the driving TFT of the pixel (P) through the use of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) based on the sensing result value…, and [0045]; Referring to FIG. 3, the organic light emitting display device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include an OLED panel 110 and a driving circuit. The driving circuit may include a gate driver 120, a data driver 130, a timing controller 140, and a memory 150 with compensation data stored therein.), wherein the data driver (Fig. 3; 130) is configured to generate the first data signal based on the compensated image data ([0063]; The plurality of data lines (DL) intersect with the plurality of gate lines (GL) and the plurality of sense signal lines (SL), and the plurality of data lines (DL) are formed in parallel to the driving power line (PL). That is, the plurality of data lines (DL) are formed in the second direction (for example, vertical direction) of the OLED panel 110. In this case, the data voltage (Vdata) of negative (−) polarity is supplied from the data driver 130 of the driving circuit to the data line (DL). The data voltage (Vdata) includes a compensation voltage corresponding to the change of threshold voltage and mobility of the driving TFT (DT) for the corresponding pixel (P).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the technique of HAN to the system of Hashimoto in view of Kim in order to improve an aperture ratio of the pixel, and also to reduce the number of channels in the data driver, thereby reducing a manufacturing cost of the organic light emitting display device.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashimoto (US 11,164,494 hereinafter Hashimoto) in view of Kim et al. (US 2021/0248943 hereinafter Kim), HAN et al. (US 2016/0098961 hereinafter HAN), and LEE et al. (US 2020/0111455 hereinafter LEE).
Referring to claim 22, Hashimoto in view of Kim, and HAN as applied above does not specifically disclose wherein the deterioration characteristic of the first pixel corresponds to an accumulated stress over a lifetime of the display device for the first pixel.
In an analogous art, LEE discloses wherein the deterioration characteristic of the first pixel corresponds to an accumulated stress over a lifetime of the display device for the first pixel (LEE- [0060]; The accumulator 230 accumulates degradation data STDATA and generates age data A_DATA, which represents an accumulation of the degradation data STDATA. The age data A_DATA may include life-span information (i.e., degradation data) of each pixel. For example, the age data may include a plurality of age values, represented as 10-bit data. As shown in FIG. 4, as accumulation of the degradation data SDATA is increased, the amount of degradation is increased and the value of the age data A_DATA may increase (e.g., increased in the order of from Age=0 to Age=2).).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the technique of LEE to the system of Hashimoto in view of Kim, and HAN in order to prevent saturation of the grayscale compensation value due to accumulation of the degradation data.
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 4-5, 7-14, 21, 23, and 25 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Referring to claim 2, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the plurality of sensor transistors and the driving transistor include a same semiconductor material; and
the plurality of sensor transistors and the driving transistor include a same structure and shape”.
Referring to claim 4, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein gate electrode of each of the plurality of sensor transistors are commonly electrically connected to the sensor data line”.
Referring to claim 5, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the sensor pixel is electrically connected between a first power line and a second power line; and the sensing driver is configured to measure a voltage between both ends of a resistor, the resistor being electrically connected to the sensor pixel in series between the first power line and the second power line”.
Referring to claim 7, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the data driver includes a plurality of data integrated circuits mounted on the display panel; and the sensor pixel is between two adjacent ones among the plurality of data integrated circuits in an arrangement direction of the plurality of data integrated circuits in a plan view”.
Referring to claim 8, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the data driver is configured to:
continuously provides the sensor data signal of a first voltage level corresponding to a maximum grayscale to the sensor data line during a driving period; and provides the sensor data signal of a second voltage level corresponding to a grayscale within a grayscale range to the sensor data line during a sensing period”.
Referring to claims 9-11 are objected upon dependent claim 8.
Referring to claim 12, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the sensor pixel is a first sensor pixel;
the display panel includes the first pixel, a second pixel, the first sensor pixel, and a second sensor pixel;
the first pixel and the second pixel are configured to emit different color light;
the data driver is configured to,
provide a first maximum data voltage of the first pixel to the first sensor pixel during a driving period, and
provide a second maximum data voltage of the second pixel to the second sensor pixel during the driving period; and
the second maximum data voltage is different from the first maximum data voltage”.
Referring to claim 13, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the sensor pixel includes auxiliary transistors electrically connected to the plurality of sensor transistors in series, respectively; and gate electrodes of the auxiliary transistors are commonly electrically connected to a sensor control line”.
Referring to claim 14 is objected upon dependent claim 13.
Referring to claim 21, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the sensing driver is a resistive divider; and the sensing driver is electrically connected to the sensor pixel in series”.
Referring to claim 23, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein the same characteristic includes a same deterioration characteristic caused by accumulated stress over a lifetime of the display device”.
Referring to claim 25, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitation “wherein each of the plurality of sensor transistors includes a first electrode, a second electrode and a gate electrode;
the first electrode of each of the plurality of sensor transistors share a common first node;
the second electrode of each of the plurality of sensor transistors share a common second node; and
the gate electrode of each of the plurality of sensor transistors share a common third node corresponding to the sensor data line”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 and 24 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 15-20 and 24 are allowed since certain key features of the claimed invention are not taught or fairly suggested by prior art.
Referring to claim 15, the prior art of record, does not teach, disclose or suggest the claimed limitations of (in combination with all other limitations in the claim), “A display device, comprising:
a display panel including a pixel and a sensor pixel, the pixel including a light emitting element and a driving transistor controlling a current flowing through the light emitting element, the sensor pixel including one or more sensor transistors;
a data driver that supplies a data signal to the pixel through a data line and provides a sensor data signal to the sensor pixel through a sensor data line; and
a sensing driver that obtains sensing information on a current flowing through the sensor pixel, wherein the one or more sensor transistors and the driving transistor include a same semiconductor material, and
the one or more sensor transistors and the driving transistor include a same structure and shape.”.
Referring to claims 16-20 and 24 are allowable based upon dependent on the independent claim 15.
Conclusion
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/SCOTT D AU/Examiner, Art Unit 2624