DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/02/2026 has been entered. Currently, claims 1-7 are pending and examined as follows.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1 and 6-7 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim in US 2012/0038585 (hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claim 1, Kim disclose a display device (Kim’s par. 3) comprising: a signal line (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 33: see DL); a pixel electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 34: see 30); a drive electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 34: see 32) opposed to the pixel electrode (Kim’s par. 34: opposed by liquid crystal layer); scanning lines (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 33: see GL); and
display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 34, 45: each pulse of GL in data recording periods DWM is a display period, in other words, there are eight display periods in each DWM) and a detection period (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45: see TSM) in one of unit drive periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g.: from left: first DWM period, first TSM period and second DWM period form a unit drive period), wherein during one of the display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g. first pulse in first DWM from left), a display operation with respect to a horizontal line of an image is performed (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 34, 45, 48: voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer to realize gray level through by activating a gate line [horizontal line]), a common voltage is applied to the drive electrode (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4 and par. 34, 45: common voltage to common electrode 32 during data recording DWM), a scanning signal is applied to one of the scanning lines (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4 and par. 48-49: each pulse of GL corresponds to a sequential driving of one gate line and to one display period), the one of the scanning lines being used for the display operation with respect to the horizontal line of the image (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45, 48-49), a pixel signal is applied to the pixel electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 45: data signal to 30), wherein, during the detection period (Kim’s Fig. 4: see TSM), the touch detections are performed (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 46, 50), a drive signal is applied to the drive electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 46: during TSM a sensing driving voltage is applied to electrode 32), wherein during the display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: during each of eight pulses of GL in DWM), a scanning signal is applied to some of the scanning lines sequentially (Kim’s par. 48-49), the some of the scanning lines include the one of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48-49: the one of the scanning lines for display [par. 34, 45] is part of the eight lines driving sequentially during DWM by a gate signal pulse shown in Fig. 4).
Kim fails to explicitly disclose the following negative limitations: “during one of the display periods…touch detections are not performed”, “a scanning signal is applied to only one of the scanning lines and is not applied to a rest of the scanning lines”, “the rest of the scanning lines is not supplied with any scanning signal and is not used for the display operation with respect to the horizontal line of the image”, or “during the detection period…the display operation is not performed”.
However, Kim does disclose separate display and touch detection periods and different signals during these periods (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45-50); Kim also disclose a frame divided into multiple display periods DWM where each period includes driving of eight lines (Kim’s par. 48, 49) and where each line is driven by a signal pulse in a sequence (Kim’s Fig. 4: eight pulses which are implied to each select only one of the eight gate lines of par. 48-49). Kim also fails to disclose the scanning signal for any other function than display (Kim’s par. 45).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that Kim implicitly disclose the negative limitations of no touch detection during display, no display during touch detection and no application of a scanning signal for display operation to the rest of the scanning signals other than the only being selected for display in a sequential driving; in order to obtain the predictable result of separate signals for touch and display (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4, 38, 45-50), and diving the horizontal lines into multiple display periods (Kim’s par. 48-49).
By doing such combination, Kim discloses:
a display device (Kim’s par. 3) comprising:
a signal line (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 33: see DL);
a pixel electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 34: see 30);
a drive electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 34: see 32) opposed to the pixel electrode (Kim’s par. 34: opposed by liquid crystal layer);
scanning lines (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 33: see GL); and
display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 34, 45: see each pulse of data recording periods DWM which are display periods because the voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer to realize gray level, there are eight pulses and thus eight display periods in each DWM) and a detection period (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45: see TSM) in one of unit drive periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g.: from left: first DWM period, first TSM period and second DWM period form a unit drive period), and the detection period not overlapping the display periods in the one of unit drive periods (Kim’s Fig. 4),
wherein during one of the display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g. first pulse of first DWM from left),
a display operation with respect to a horizontal line of an image is performed (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 34, 45: voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer to realize gray level, par. 48-49: horizontal lines [GL]),
touch detections are not performed (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 38, 45-50: DWM and TSM do not overlap and therefore, upon combination, touch detections are not performed during DWM),
a common voltage is applied to the drive electrode (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4 and par. 34, 45: common voltage to common electrode 32 during data recording DWM),
a scanning signal is applied to only one of the scanning lines (upon combination, Kim’s Figs. 2, 4 and par. 48-49: only one gate line is applied a gate signal pulse in the sequence of sequential driving a group of eight gate lines GL in a DWM period) and is not applied to a rest of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48-49: due to sequential driving of each line in multiple groups DWM, it is obvious that the rest of the scanning lines other than the only line currently selected for application of a pulse in a period DWM, are not being supplied a gate signal), the one of the scanning lines being used for the display operation with respect to the horizontal line of the image (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45, 48-49, horizontal line is one frame 1F),
the rest of the scanning lines is not supplied with any scanning signals (Kim’s par. 48-49: due to sequential driving of each line in multiple groups DWM, it is obvious that the rest of the scanning lines refers to the scanning lines not currently selected for application of a gate signal pulse in a period DWM) and is not used for the display operation with respect to the horizontal line of the image (Kim’s Fig. 4 and par. 45, 48-49: only pixel selected by a gate signal pulse are used for display operation),
a pixel signal is applied to the pixel electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 45: data signal to 30),
wherein, during the detection period (Kim’s Fig. 4: see TSM),
the touch detections are performed and the display operation is not performed (Kim’s Fig. 4: TSM and DWM do not overlap and therefore, upon combination, display operations are not performed during TSM),
a drive signal is applied to the drive electrode (Kim’s Fig. 2 and par. 46: during TSM a sensing driving voltage is applied to electrode 32),
wherein during the display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: see pulses of periods DWMs),
a scanning signal is applied to some of the scanning lines sequentially (Kim’s par. 48-49), the some of the scanning lines include the at least one of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48-49: the one of the scanning lines for display [par. 34, 45] is part of the eight lines driving sequentially during DWM).
Regarding claim 6, Kim further discloses wherein none of the scanning lines receive the scanning signal during the detection period in the one of unit drive periods (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4 and par. 48-50: a selected scanning line is applied a signal line pulse only during a pulse period of DWM). It would also have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that Kim implicitly disclose the negative limitation of none of the scanning lines receive the scanning signal during the detection period in the one of unit drive periods; in order to obtain the predictable result of separate signals for touch and display (Kim’s Figs. 2, 4, 38, 45-50).
Regarding claim 7, Kim discloses wherein the display periods include a first display period and a second display period (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g.: from left: first pulse of DWM period and second pulse of second DWM period), the one of the display periods is one of the first and second display periods (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g. leftmost pulse of leftmost DWM period), and the detection period is between the first display period and the second display period in the one of unit drive periods [predetermined period] (Kim’s Fig. 4: e.g.: from left: first DWM period, first TSM period and second DWM period form one of unit drive periods).
Claims 2-3 and 5 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Parekh et al. in US 2013/0194195 (hereinafter Parekh).
Regarding claim 2, Kim fails to disclose wherein the drive signal has pulses.
However, in the same field of endeavor of touch detection in a display device, Parekh discloses the drive signal having a number of pulses (Parekh’s par. 22).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use Parekh’s teaching of the drive signal having pulses in Kim’s drive signal (Kim’s par. 46), in order to obtain the benefit of taking into account frame time and pulse length (Parekh’s par. 29) and reducing latency (Parekh’s par. 38).
Regarding claim 3, Kim in view of Parekh disclose wherein a number of the pulses during the detection period (Parekh’s par. 29: e.g. four pulses) is less than a number of the some of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48: eight gate lines).
Regarding claim 5, Kim in view of Parekh disclose wherein a number of the pulses during the detection period (Parekh’s Fig. 3 and par. 23: e.g. eight pulses) is equal to a number of the some of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48: eight gate lines).
Claim 4 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Parekh as applied above, in further view of Krah et al. in US 7,986,193 (hereinafter Krah).
Kim in view of Parekh fail to explicitly disclose a number of the pulses during the detection period is more than a number of the some of the scanning lines.
However, in the same field of endeavor of touch detection in a display device, Krah discloses a sensing drive pulse train with twelve pulses (Krah’s Fig. 7a and col. 15 lines 4-21).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Kim in view of Parekh’s device such that a number of the pulses during the detection period (Parekh’s par. 29: e.g. number of pulses applied to a driven electrode for touch detection which upon combination is twelve per Krah’s Fig. 7A) is more than a number of the some of the scanning lines (Kim’s par. 48: eight gate lines); in order to obtain the benefit of a known number of pulses that is used for touch detection (Krah’s Fig. 7a and col. 15 lines 4-21) and because Parekh already discloses that the number of the pulses is based on the frame calculated frame time and the length of time for each pulse (Parekh’s par. 29), in other words, variable.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/02/2026have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. On the Remarks pg. 4, Applicant argues that Kim’s Fig. 4 (see eight pulses applied to plural gate lines GL in one period DWM) fails to disclose the amended limitation of claim 1 where the scanning signal is applied to only one of the scanning lines during an entire display period. The office must respectfully disagree, the display period is interpreted as a pulse of a period DWM (Fig. 4), each pulse driving a line where eight lines are sequentially driven (par. 48-49). Thus, only one line is being selected during a sequence of sequential driving and the rest of the lines are not being supplied with any scanning signals for display. See above rejection for details on how the added limitation is obvious over Kim.
Conclusion
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/LILIANA CERULLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621