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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species III [figures 7-10, corresponding claims 1-10] in the reply filed on 10/14/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that simultaneous examination will not present an undue burden [Remarks, 1st para.]. This is not found persuasive because Species | corresponds to the timing of a first scan period [fig. 4] & second scan period [fig. 5]. Species Il corresponds to a timing a different first scan period and a different second scan period [fig. 6]. Species Ill corresponds to a first configuration for a light emitting driver [fig. 7] using light emitting stage circuit configuration of figs. 8-11. Species IV corresponds to a second configuration for a light emitting driver [fig. 7] using the light emitting stage circuit configuration of figs. 11-13. Species V corresponds to a first configuration of a scan driver [fig. 14] using scan stage circuit configuration of figs 15-17. Species VI corresponds to a second configuration of a scan driver [fig. 18] using scan stage circuit configuration of figs. 19-20.
Species | & Species Il would require a different field of search than Species Ill & Species IV [light emitting driver configurations], would require different field of search than Species V & Species VI [scan driver configuration]. Further each species would require different search strategies and search queries.
Thus, there would be a serious examination and search burden.
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 10/14/2025.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in South Korea on 2/29/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR 10-2024-0029966 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/10/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 20140132162).
As to claim 1, Kim discloses a display device (display device 10) [abstract & fig. 1 & para. 42] comprising:
a first scan driver (scan driver 200) [fig. 1 & para. 47] configured to transmit first scan signals (scan signals s[1]-s[n] supply gate-on voltage @ time t1 for s[i-1] scan line & @ time t2 for s[1] scan line) [fig. 3 & para. 47, 56, & 73-74] at a turn-on level during first scan periods [fig. 3 & fig. 3 & para. 47, 56, & 73-74] and to maintain the first scan signals at a turn-off level throughout second scan periods (time t4 corresponding to reset, scan signals s[1]-s[n] off) [fig. 3 & para. 80];
a light emitting driver (light emission driver 500) [fig. 1 & para. 42 & 53] configured to transmit light emitting signals (light emitting signals em[1]-em[n] during time t1 & t2, gate-off voltage) [figs. 2-3 & 74] at a turn-off level to overlap the first scan signals at the turn-on level during the first scan periods and to transmit the light emitting signals at the turn-off level during the second scan periods (light emitting signals em[1]-em[n] during time t4, gate-off voltage) [figs. 2-3 & 80]; and
pixels (pixel 510) [figs. 1-2 & para. 54-55] configured to receive data voltages (data voltage vdat applied by data signal data[j] in response to corresponding scan signal) [figs. 1-3 & para. 48, 50, 53, 56, & 77] in response to the first scan signals at the turn-on level and to be in a non-emitting state in response to the light emitting signals at the turn-off level [figs. 1-3 & para. 60-62 & 65],
wherein,
the light emitting driver includes a plurality of light emitting stages (light emitting driving blocks 510-1, 510-2, 510-3, 510-4…) [fig. 4 & para. 84-85],
during the first scan periods, the light emitting stages sequentially generate light emitting signals of the turn-off level in units of one light emitting stage (times t12 & t13) [fig. 6 & para. 74, 120-122, & 117], and
during the second scan periods, the light emitting stages sequentially generate light emitting signals of the turn-off level in units of m light emitting stages, where m is an integer greater than 1 (time t14 corresponding to reset period t4, em[1] & em[2]) [fig. 6 & para. 80, 124-125, & 117].
As to claim 2, Kim discloses the display device of claim 1, wherein the integer m is a multiple of 2 (em[1] & em[2]) [fig. 6 & para. 80, 124-125, & 117].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lee et al. (US 20160035262).
Zhou et al. (US 20220335894).
Song et al. (US 20160055798).
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/DAVID TUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2622