DETAILED ACTION
1. This Office Action is responsive to claims filed for No. 18/534,274 on February 2, 2026. Please note Claims 1, 3, 5-11, 13 and 15-22 are pending and have been examined.
America Invents Act
2. 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
3. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 February 2, 2026 has been entered.
Double Patenting
4. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
5. Claims 1, 3, 5-11, 13 and 15-22 provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 of copending Application No. 18/471,747 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the current application’s claim set is encompassed by the ‘747 application, as shown below.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Current Application 18/534,274 Claim 1
Co-Pending Application 18/471,747
A method for inspecting image data of a display driving device, comprising:
A method for inspecting image data of a display device including a data processing device and a data driving device, the method comprising:
receiving data of a first frame transmitted from a display processing device; checking a first partial area among the areas of image data included in the first frame, based on location information data included in the data of the first frame; generating a first cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data for the first partial area; checking second CRC data included in the data of the first frame; and
generating, by the data processing device, first cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data for partial areas among areas of image data of a first frame and transmitting the image data of the first frame and the first CRC data to the data driving device; receiving, by the data driving device, the image data of the first frame and the first CRC data and generating second CRC data for the partial areas among areas of the image data of the first frame on the basis of the image data of the first frame; and
determining whether there is an error in the first partial area based on a comparison result between the first CRC and the second CRC data
comparing, by the data driving device, the first CRC data with the second CRC data to determine whether there is an error in the partial areas among areas of the image data of the first frame
wherein the first frame includes a vertical blank section, a horizontal blank section, and the image data, wherein the horizontal blank section includes blank start data, blank end data, and the location information data having vertical position information for the partial area, and wherein the location information data is arranged between the blank start data and the blank end data of the horizontal blank section.
wherein the first frame includes the image data and first horizontal line data associated with a horizontal line, the first horizontal line data includes the first CRC data, the first horizontal line data comprises a first portion and a second portion, the first portion includes CRC data, the second portion includes dummy data, CRC data for all sub-pixels included in one area of the partial areas is sequentially included in the first horizontal line data, and CRC data for all sub-pixels included in another area of the partial areas is sequentially included in the first horizontal line data.
As can be seen from above, Claim 1 of Current Application ‘274 includes all the limitations of Claim 1 of the Co-Pending Application ‘747. While there are additional concepts claimed in the ‘747 application, this current application is a broader/broadening version of that claim set. This is in spite of the addition of additional details (also underlined), as they include aspects of blank section data for partial areas. Furthermore, aspects of the “same horizontal line” are found in both claim sets. This level of detail is also found in the ‘747 application and the scope of these claim sets is still not distinct.
Independent Claim 11 of the current application is identical in scope to respective Claim 12 of the ‘747 application, as reasoned above.
Dependent Claims 3, 5-10 and 13 and 15-22 of the current application are rejected as being identical to respective depending claims of the ‘747 application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 3, 5-11, 13 and 15-22 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ogawa ( US 2020/0050520 A1 ).
Ogawa teaches in Claim 1:
A method for inspecting image data of a display driving device ( Figure 2, [0030] discloses aspects of the processing device which can perform check result information such as an error detection signal, i.e. testing the device ), comprising:
receiving data of a first frame transmitted by a display processing device ( Figure 13, [0032] discloses transmitting image data, such as frame of display. Also, please note [0092]-[0093] of steps S1 and S2 which transmit image data );
checking a first partial area among the areas of image data included in the first frame based on location information data included in the data of the first frame; generating a first cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data for the first partial area ( Figure 13, [0032] discloses information and data for an image check, including information for designating a target region to be subjected to the image check as well as generating and then storing a CRC/checksum as a result of the image check method. Also, please note Figure 13, [0094] which discloses calculating an expectation value of the image data of the region to be subjected to the image check );
checking second CRC data included in the data of the first frame; and determining whether there is an error in the first partial area based on a comparison result between the first CRC data and the second CRC data ( Figure 13, [0093] disclose step S2 which reads out the image data and transmits the data to the circuit device 100. [0036] discloses a check result information output unit 140 which is an error detection signal indicating an error has been detected in the target region. The error is determined by comparing the calculated value that has been read out and the expectation value, i.e. interpreted as a comparison between first and second CRC data/aspects ),
wherein the first frame includes a vertical blank section, a horizontal blank section, and the image data ( Figure 4, [0068], [0069] disclose a horizontal blanking period, a vertical blanking period and the image data 6 ), and
wherein the horizontal blank section includes blank start data, blank end data ( Figure 5, [0068] disclose HTOTAL which have parameters such as HSW, HBP and HFP and these are all horizontal blanking period parameters. Please note Figure 5, with the timing aspects, clearly show a start time/data, end time/data, etc. ), and the location information data having vertical position information for the first partial area ( Figure 4, [0059], [0032] discloses detail on the target region for the image check. Please note the aspects of the x and y integers for the location and this is clearly indicative of a vertical position information. Please note aspects of “a partial area” and corresponding “location information” have not been well defined here. As it relates to horizontal blank section is that the partial areas, which can be seen in Figure 4, have location information/positions and these have a vertical dimension to them as well. For reference, Applicant defines this in Figure 6, [0067] (see aspects of vertical position, e.g. Y Position), such as partial area 641, corresponding to a dynamic image. In this same sense, please note Ogawa’s Figure 4, such as image data 6. To clarify, vertical aspects are included in the horizontal blanking period parameters, etc ), and
wherein the location information data is arranged between the blank start data and the blank end data of the horizontal blank section. ( [0084] discloses the image check (CRC data) is arranged in horizontal front-porch period and note L1-L3 indicating horizontal scanning lines. To clarify, the CRC data is provided for the target area (interpreted first partial area) and as such, it is transmitted on the same line(s). Figure 5 shows the HWidth, which corresponds to the image data, is between HBP, HFP, etc )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 3:
The method of claim 1, wherein the second CRC data is received in a transmission section of the image data. ( [0032], [0034] disclose transmission data adopted to a data reception method of the display driver )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 5:
The method of claim 4, wherein the location information data is received in the horizontal blank section. ( Figure 9, [0081] disclose horizontal scanning line as well as a horizontal blanking period )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 6:
The method of claim 1, wherein the second CRC data is received on the same horizontal line as the first partial area. ( [0084] discloses the image check (CRC data) is arranged in horizontal front-porch period and note L1-L3 indicating horizontal scanning lines )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 7:
The method of claim 1, wherein the second CRC data is received through the same transmission line as the image data. ( Figure 2, [0032] discloses transmitting image data, information image check and data for image check to the interface circuit 160 and notably, the same communication method )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 8:
The method of claim 7, wherein the second CRC data is received via the main link transmission line. ( The same reasoning in the above claim is also applicable here as well, notably the term “main” link transmission. As noted above, all of the above data is transmitted using the same communication method )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 9:
The method of claim 1, wherein a position of the first partial area is changed within an area of the image data according to a change of frame. ( The same reasoning in Claim 1 is also applicable here as well: [0046] discloses the target region is dependent on the frame, one frame to a next frame and the region is determined based on verification of the data. Furthermore, it can be one frame or one horizontal scanning line only )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 10:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first partial area includes an image corresponding to a state of the vehicle. ( Figure 16, [0104] discloses an automobile 206 includes a display device 350 )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 11:
A display driving device ( Figure 2, [0030] discloses aspects of the processing device which can perform check result information such as an error detection signal, i.e. testing the device. Figure 16, [0104] discloses an automobile 206 which includes a display device 350 ), comprising:
a frame data receiving unit configured to receive data of a first frame transmitted by a display processing device ( Figure 13, [0032] discloses transmitting image data, such as frame of display. Also, please note [0092]-[0093] of steps S1 and S2 which transmit image data );
a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) generation unit configured to check a first partial area among the areas of image data included in the first frame based on location information included in the data of the first frame and generate a first CRC data on the first partial area ( Figure 13, [0032] discloses information and data for an image check, including information for designating a target region to be subjected to the image check as well as generating and then storing a CRC/checksum as a result of the image check method. Also, please note Figure 13, [0094] which discloses calculating an expectation value of the image data of the region to be subjected to the image check );
a CRC extracting unit configured to check second CRC data included in the data of the first frame; and a CRC check unit configured to determine whether there is an error in the first partial area based on a result of comparing the first CRC with the second CRC data ( Figure 13, [0093] disclose step S2 which reads out the image data and transmits the data to the circuit device 100. [0036] discloses a check result information output unit 140 which is an error detection signal indicating an error has been detected in the target region. The error is determined by comparing the calculated value that has been read out and the expectation value, i.e. interpreted as a comparison between first and second CRC data/aspects ),
wherein the horizontal blank section includes blank start data, blank end data ( Figure 5, [0068] disclose HTOTAL which have parameters such as HSW, HBP and HFP and these are all horizontal blanking period parameters. Please note Figure 5, with the timing aspects, clearly show a start time/data, end time/data, etc. ), and the location information data having vertical position information for the partial area ( Figure 4, [0059], [0032] discloses detail on the target region for the image check. Please note the aspects of the x and y integers for the location and this is clearly indicative of a vertical position information. Please note aspects of “a partial area” and corresponding “location information” have not been well defined here. As it relates to horizontal blank section is that the partial areas, which can be seen in Figure 4, have location information/positions and these have a vertical dimension to them as well. For reference, Applicant defines this in Figure 6, [0067] (see aspects of vertical position, e.g. Y Position), such as partial area 641, corresponding to a dynamic image. In this same sense, please note Ogawa’s Figure 4, such as image data 6. To clarify, vertical aspects are included in the horizontal blanking period parameters, etc ), and
wherein location information data is between the blank start data and the blank end data of the horizontal blank section corresponding to the first partial area. ( [0084] discloses the image check (CRC data) is arranged in horizontal front-porch period and note L1-L3 indicating horizontal scanning lines. To clarify, the CRC data is provided for the target area (interpreted first partial area) and as such, it is transmitted on the same line(s). Figure 5 shows the HWidth, which corresponds to the image data, is between HBP, HFP, etc )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 13:
The device of claim 11, wherein the second CRC data is received in a transmission section of the image data. ( [0032], [0034] disclose transmission data adopted to a data reception method of the display driver )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 15:
The device of claim 14, wherein the location information data is received in the horizontal blank section. ( Figure 9, [0081] disclose horizontal scanning line as well as a horizontal blanking period )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 16:
The device of claim 11, wherein the second CRC data is received on the same horizontal line as the first partial area. ( [0084] discloses the image check (CRC data) is arranged in horizontal front-porch period and note L1-L3 indicating horizontal scanning lines )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 17:
The device of claim 11, wherein the second CRC data is received through the same transmission line as the image data. ( Figure 2, [0032] discloses transmitting image data, information image check and data for image check to the interface circuit 160 and notably, the same communication method )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 18:
The device of claim 17, wherein the second CRC data is received via the main link transmission line. ( The same reasoning in the above claim is also applicable here as well, notably the term “main” link transmission. As noted above, all of the above data is transmitted using the same communication method )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 19:
The device of claim 11, wherein a position of the first partial area is changed within an area of the image data according to a change of frame. ( The same reasoning in Claim 11 is also applicable here as well: [0046] discloses the target region is dependent on the frame, one frame to a next frame and the region is determined based on verification of the data. Furthermore, it can be one frame or one horizontal scanning line only )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 20:
The device of claim 11, wherein the first partial area includes an image corresponding to a state of the vehicle. ( Figure 16, [0104] discloses an automobile 206 includes a display device 350 )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 21:
The method of claim 1, wherein the vertical position information indicates whether the first partial area is changed as the first frame is changed to a second frame. ( [0046] discloses the target region is dependent on the frame, one frame to a next frame and the region is determined based on verification of the data. Furthermore, it can be one frame or one horizontal scanning line only. To clarify, the image data 6, as shown in Figure 4, is updated and as such, aspects such as the claimed first partial area, the claimed partial area, etc, are also updated as well. The location information in particular applies to image data 6 (consistent with Applicant’s partial area 641) which changes as the frame is changed. Figure 13 of Ogawa is an iterative cycle which transmits information for an image check and resulting in a continuous transmission of data for an image check and this is done for each frame, [0095]. Also, please note [0062] for aspects of each/every horizontal scanning period, i.e. for each frame. Furthermore, please note the aspects of the HTOTAL, horizontal blanking period parameters in general. Also please note the Y position/vertical position aspects shown in Figure 4 )
Ogawa teaches in Claim 22:
The device of claim 11, wherein the vertical position information indicates whether the first partial area is changed as the first frame is changed to a second frame. ( [0046] discloses the target region is dependent on the frame, one frame to a next frame and the region is determined based on verification of the data. Furthermore, it can be one frame or one horizontal scanning line only. To clarify, the image data 6, as shown in Figure 4, is updated and as such, aspects such as the claimed first partial area, the claimed partial area, etc, are also updated as well. The location information in particular applies to image data 6 (consistent with Applicant’s partial area 641) which changes as the frame is changed. Figure 13 of Ogawa is an iterative cycle which transmits information for an image check and resulting in a continuous transmission of data for an image check and this is done for each frame, [0095]. Also, please note [0062] for aspects of each/every horizontal scanning period, i.e. for each frame. Furthermore, please note the aspects of the HTOTAL, horizontal blanking period parameters in general. Also please note the Y position/vertical position aspects shown in Figure 4 )
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant’s arguments considered, but are respectfully not persuasive.
Please note the updated rejection in light of the claim amendments. However, the current double patenting and 102 rejections have been maintained.
Ogawa teaches in Figures 4 and 5 of aspects 5, 6, 7. Notably, the HWidth shown here corresponds to image data 6 and looking at Figure 5, this HWidth is between HBP, HFP, etc, which are blank start and end aspects. Please note the similarities between this and Applicant’s own Figure 6.
Conclusion
8. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amr Awad can be reached on 571-272-7764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DENNIS P JOSEPH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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