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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, 13-15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0040163 (hereinafter Sun) in view of Furihata et al. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0130872 (hereinafter Furihata) and further in view of Kunimori et al. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0103682 (hereinafter Kunimori).
Consider claim 1, Sun teaches an electronic device, comprising: a sensor configured to sense ambient temperature to provide ambient temperature information (Figure 3 and [0022], 116); a controller electrically connected to the sensor and configured to receive the ambient temperature information (Figure 3, 102); a memory, disposed outside the controller, configured to store a plurality of sets of data corresponding to different ambient temperature information (figure 3, [0022] [0025], 106); a functional circuit, disposed outside the memory, electrically connected to the controller and the memory (Figure 3, 104 connected to 102, 118 and OTP 106); a driving circuit, disposed outside the controller, the memory and the functional circuit, electrically connected to the functional circuit (Figure 3, circuit 108, 110); and at least one electronic unit electrically connected to the driving unit (Figure 3, 114), wherein the controller provides a driving command to the functional circuit according to the received ambient temperature information (Figure 3 and [0022], the controller 102 receives a digital controlling signal (an address) transmitted by an external temperature sensor 116 (or an external luminance sensor) or a timing controller (Tcon) 122 from the multiplexer 120, and then transmits the address to the gamma selecting circuitry 104 for selecting corresponding voltage values of a gamma curve from a lookup table stored in the OTP memory 106 for access), wherein the functional circuit selects at least one set of data from the memory according to the received driving command ([0022], the controller 102 receives a digital controlling signal (an address) transmitted by an external temperature sensor 116 (or an external luminance sensor) or a timing controller (Tcon) 122 from the multiplexer 120, and then transmits the address to the gamma selecting circuitry 104 for selecting corresponding voltage values of a gamma curve from a lookup table stored in the OTP memory 106 for access), and the functional circuit provides the at least one set of data to the driving circuit ([0022], then the selected voltage values are sent to the digital variable resistor 110 to generate voltages and to the backlight control unit 112 for performing a dynamic contrast function. The digital variable resistor 110 is implemented by a resistor string with a plurality of serially arranged resistors capable of offering different reference voltages of a gamma curve to adjust the liquid crystal to the required color or gray level. Subsequently, the generated voltages by the digital variable resistor 110 are sent to the gamma voltage output unit 108 to output to the external source drivers 114 as reference voltages), and wherein the driving circuit generates different driving signals according to the received at least one set of data to drive the at least one electronic unit ([0022-0024], figure 3 and figure 5).
Sun does not appear to specifically disclose a functional circuit, disposed outside the controller.
However, in a related field of endeavor, Furihata teaches a display driver includes gamma curve control circuitry (abstract) and further teaches a functional circuit, disposed outside the controller (Figure 3, functional circuit 13 and controller 11. In addition, Furihata teaches memory 12 and electronic unit 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide functional circuit and controller as taught by Furihata’s figure 3 with the benefit that the command control circuitry 11 is configured to receive control signals, image data and a DBV from the processing unit 2. The command control circuitry 11 may be configured to supply a curve control signal and a brightness control signal, which are used for gamma correction to be performed by the gamma curve control circuitry 13 as suggested in [0033] and figure 3. Furthermore, it has been held that constructing a formerly integral structure in various elements involves only routine skill in the art.
Sun does not appear to specifically disclose wherein the electronic device is configured to perform an interpolation operation on first data corresponding to a first ambient temperature, second data corresponding to a second ambient temperature, and a third ambient temperature to generate third data corresponding to the third ambient temperature, wherein the generated third data is loaded into the memory and overwrites original data stored in the memory.
However, in a related field of endeavor, Kunimori teaches a temperature sensor and for a display in figure 6 and further teaches wherein the electronic device is configured to perform an interpolation operation on first data corresponding to a first ambient temperature, second data corresponding to a second ambient temperature ([0049], based on the data fed from the two lookup tables selected by the selection circuit 3, the calculation circuit 6 calculates and outputs overdrive data (the amount of overdrive) interpolated between the data of those two lookup tables. [0054], a circuit 11 is additionally provided for performing data processing, such as data interpolation), and a third ambient temperature to generate third data corresponding to the third ambient temperature [0043] and [0048-0049], wherein the generated third data is loaded into the memory and overwrites original data stored in the memory ([0054], a circuit 11 is additionally provided for performing data processing, such as data interpolation, when lookup table data is read out from low-speed response memory 8 and stored (stored and thus loaded) in high-speed response memory 7. [0052], the high-speed response memory 7, in which lookup tables are stored temporarily, is built with a memory device with a capacity large enough to store a plurality of, in this example two, lookup tables. Alternatively, the high-speed response memory 7 may be built with a memory device with a capacity large enough to store one lookup table. Based on the temperature information detected by a temperature sensor 5, the control circuit 10 reads out lookup tables from the low-speed response memory 8, and writes them to a first and a second memory region 7A and 7B in the high-speed response memory 7. In other words, when the control circuit write a second lookup table to the memory 7 for a second time due to a temperature detection, then the control circuit overwrite (e.g. replacing old data with new data) a first lookup table obtained during a first time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform interpolation as taught by Kunimori with the benefit that this makes it possible to generate interpolated data from a small number of lookup tables, and thus helps reduce the number of lookup tables needed as suggested in [0049]. In addition, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to load or write into a memory in order to reduce the use of high-speed response memory, since high-speed response memory is expensive, it is often impractical to use as much of it as desired as suggested in [0050].
Consider claim 6, Sun, Furihata and Kunimori teach all the limitations of claim 1. In addition, Sun teaches wherein: the first ambient temperature corresponds to a first driving command, the second ambient temperature corresponds to a second driving command, and when the ambient temperature is changed from the first ambient temperature to the second ambient temperature, the controller changes the first driving command to the second driving command ([0022] and [0025], Storing common voltages in the internal OTP memory in a gamma voltage setting IC, the user can adequately correct the deviations caused by temperature).
Consider claim 7, Sun, Furihata and Kunimori teach all the limitations of claim 6. In addition, Sun teaches wherein: the functional circuit selects the first data from the memory according to the first driving command, and the functional circuit selects the second data from the memory according to the second driving command ([0024], the memory module 152 receives an inputted digital signal from an external temperature sensor 156, and then selects a corresponding voltage value from the OTP memory 106 by the internal registers 154 according to the digital inputted signal).
Consider claim 8, Sun, Furihata and Kunimori teaches all the limitations of claim 6. In addition, Kunimori teaches the sensor receives the third ambient temperature [0043], the third ambient temperature is between the first ambient temperature and the second ambient temperature [0049], see motivation to combine in claim 1.
Consider claim 13, Sun, Furihata and Kunimori teach all the limitations of claim 1. In addition, Sun teaches wherein: the plurality of sets of data respectively comprise a plurality sets of gamma data ([0022], gamma), the plurality of sets of gamma data respectively correspond to electronic units for providing output light of different colors ([0026], color; [0005], RGB).
Consider claim 14, it includes the limitations of claim 1 and thus rejected by the same reasoning.
Consider claim 15, Sun, Furihata and Kunimori teach all the limitations of claim 14. In addition, Sun teaches controlling the driving circuit to change the driving signal when the ambient temperature information is changed (Figure 3 and [0022], controller 102, driving circuit 118).
Consider claim 17, it includes the limitations of claim 8 and thus rejected by the same reasoning.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/12/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 9, Applicant argues that “Kunimori does not teach or suggest that the interpolation result calculated from the Circuit 6 is fed back into the ROM 8 to overwrite original data stored in the ROM 8.” The Office respectfully disagrees for the following reasons.
Kunimori teaches in [0054], a circuit 11 is additionally provided for performing data processing, such as data interpolation, when lookup table data is read out from low-speed response memory 8 and stored (stored and thus loaded) in high-speed response memory 7. Kunimori teaches [0052], the high-speed response memory 7, in which lookup tables are stored temporarily, is built with a memory device with a capacity large enough to store a plurality of, in this example two, lookup tables. Alternatively, the high-speed response memory 7 may be built with a memory device with a capacity large enough to store one lookup table. Based on the temperature information detected by a temperature sensor 5, the control circuit 10 reads out lookup tables from the low-speed response memory 8, and writes them to a first and a second memory region 7A and 7B in the high-speed response memory 7. In other words, when the control circuit write a second lookup table to the memory 7 for a second time due to a temperature detection, then the control circuit overwrite (e.g. replacing old data with new data) a first lookup table obtained during a first time. Consequently, these arguments have been considered but they are not persuasive.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ROBERTO W FLORES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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