DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
This action is in response to application 18830367 filed on 09/10/2024. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy of foreign priority document, Application No. KR10-2023-0127904, filed in Korea on 09/25/2023, has not been received. An attempt to retrieve the document under the priority document exchange program has failed on 02/25/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The terms “relatively high” and “relatively low” in claims 1-20 are relative terms which render the claim indefinite. The term “relatively high” and “relatively low” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The terms “relatively high” and “relatively low,” under the broadest reasonable interpretation, would require a reference to be compared to be “relatively.” Neither the claims nor the specification provides what this reference is. Furthermore, neither the claims nor the specification defines a degree that is deemed to be “relatively high” and “relatively low,” i.e., 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%? In light of this, the terms “relatively high” and “relatively low” are indefinite and render the claims indefinite as well.
Prior Art Rejections
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 9-14, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US Patent Pub. No. 2018/0122327 A1) in view of Choi (US Patent Pub. No. 2008/0198118 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a display device (Kim, Fig. 1, display device 100) comprising:
a display panel including pixels (Kim, Fig. 1, display panel DP with pixel PX);
a driving controller which receives input image data including an input grayscale from a host and generate a data signal including an output grayscale based on the input image data (Kim, Fig. 1, driving controller 150; Kim, [0057]-[0060], driving controller 150 receive image signal and control signal from an external graphic control unit and provide the image data to data driving circuit 140, and image data including data to be used to generate grayscale voltages); and
a data driver which converts the data signal into a data voltage and provides the data voltage to the display panel (Kim, Fig. 1, data driving circuit 140; Kim, [0060], data driving circuit 140 generates grayscale voltages according to image data provided from the driving controller 150 … outputs the grayscale voltages as data voltages DS to the plurality of data lines DL1 to DLm),
wherein, in a case which a driving frequency of the display panel is changed from a relatively high frequency to a relatively low frequency, a gamma reference voltage of a first low frequency frame having the relatively low frequency is less than or equal to an initial gamma reference voltage (Kim, [0105], frequency of data enable signal DE corresponds to frame frequency; Kim, [0101]-[0114], increase gamma reference voltage when frequency is increased and lower gamma reference voltage when frequency is decreased.).
Kim does not seem to explicitly teach the change of output grayscale to less than input grayscale, but instead teaches the change/lowering of gamma reference voltage. However, in a related art of providing grayscale data for a display device, Choi teaches the effect of changing a gamma reference voltage on the output grayscale for a display driver. Choi teaches that as the gamma reference voltage is lowered, so is the grayscales (Choi, Fig. 3 and [0050]-[0052], grayscales is lowered as the gamma reference voltage is lowered).
Before the time of first effective filing of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art could have seen that, in light of the teaching of Choi, when the gamma reference voltage is lowered as the frequency is lowered in Kim, the output grayscale is also lowered and less than the input grayscale.
Therefore, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of first effective filing of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 2, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 1 and further teaches the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is less than or equal to an output grayscale of a high frequency frame having the relatively high frequency (Kim, [0101]-[0114], increase gamma reference voltage when frequency is increased and lower gamma reference voltage when frequency is decreased; Choi, Fig. 3 and [0050]-[0052], grayscales is lowered as the gamma reference voltage is lowered).
Regarding claim 3, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 1 and further teaches in a case which a frequency interval, which is a difference between the relatively high frequency and the relatively low frequency, is greater than or equal to a reference frequency interval, the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is less than the input grayscale (Kim, Table 1 and [0109]-[0110], different frequency have different difference value range and adjust gamma reference voltage only if the difference of the frequency is greater than a difference value range corresponds to the frequency).
Regarding claim 4, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 3 and further teaches in a case which the frequency interval is less than the reference frequency interval, the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is equal to the input grayscale (Kim, [0109], when difference is smaller than a difference value range, no change to the gamma reference voltage).
Regarding claim 9, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 1 and further teaches an output grayscale of a second low frequency frame having the relatively low frequency is greater than or equal to the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame and is less than or equal to the input grayscale (Kim, Table 1, Figs. 10 and 11, there are multiple steps corresponds to different reference voltages and gamma reference voltages).
Regarding claim 10, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 9 and further teaches the output grayscale is gradually increased toward the input grayscale in the first low frequency frame and the second low frequency frame (Kim, [0111], Figs. 10 and 11, voltage increase from V1 to V4 as frequency is increased).
Regarding claim 11, Kim teaches a method for driving a display device (Kim, Fig. 1, display device 100), the method comprising:
receiving input image data including an input grayscale from a host and generating a data signal including an output grayscale based on the input image data (Kim, Fig. 1, driving controller 150; Kim, [0057]-[0060], driving controller 150 receive image signal and control signal from an external graphic control unit and provide the image data to data driving circuit 140, and image data including data to be used to generate grayscale voltages); and
converting the data signal into a data voltage and providing the data voltage to a display panel (Kim, Fig. 1, data driving circuit 140; Kim, [0060], data driving circuit 140 generates grayscale voltages according to image data provided from the driving controller 150 … outputs the grayscale voltages as data voltages DS to the plurality of data lines DL1 to DLm),
wherein, in a case which a driving frequency of the display panel is changed from a relatively high frequency to a relatively low frequency, a gamma reference voltage of a first low frequency frame having the relatively low frequency is less than or equal to an initial gamma reference voltage (Kim, [0105], frequency of data enable signal DE corresponds to frame frequency; Kim, [0101]-[0114], increase gamma reference voltage when frequency is increased and lower gamma reference voltage when frequency is decreased.).
Kim does not seem to explicitly teach the change of output grayscale to less than input grayscale, but instead teaches the change/lowering of gamma reference voltage. However, in a related art of providing grayscale data for a display device, Choi teaches the effect of changing a gamma reference voltage on the output grayscale for a display driver. Choi teaches that as the gamma reference voltage is lowered, so is the grayscales (Choi, Fig. 3 and [0050]-[0052], grayscales is lowered as the gamma reference voltage is lowered).
Before the time of first effective filing of the claimed invention, one of ordinary skill in the art could have seen that, in light of the teaching of Choi, when the gamma reference voltage is lowered as the frequency is lowered in Kim, the output grayscale is also lowered and less than the input grayscale.
Therefore, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of first effective filing of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 12, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 11 and further teaches the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is less than or equal to an output grayscale of a high frequency frame having the relatively high frequency (Kim, [0101]-[0114], increase gamma reference voltage when frequency is increased and lower gamma reference voltage when frequency is decreased; Choi, Fig. 3 and [0050]-[0052], grayscales is lowered as the gamma reference voltage is lowered).
Regarding claim 13, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 11 and further teaches the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is less than the input grayscale in a case which a frequency interval, which is a difference between the relatively high frequency and the relatively low frequency, is greater than or equal to a reference frequency interval (Kim, Table 1 and [0109]-[0110], different frequency have different difference value range and adjust gamma reference voltage only if the difference of the frequency is greater than a difference value range corresponds to the frequency).
Regarding claim 14, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 13 and further teaches the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame is equal to the input grayscale in a case which the frequency interval is less than the reference frequency interval (Kim, [0109], when difference is smaller than a difference value range, no change to the gamma reference voltage).
Regarding claim 19, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 11 and further teaches an output grayscale of a second low frequency frame having the relatively low frequency is greater than or equal to the output grayscale of the first low frequency frame and is less than or equal to the input grayscale (Kim, Table 1, Figs. 10 and 11, there are multiple steps corresponds to different reference voltages and gamma reference voltages).
Regarding claim 20, Kim in view of Choi teaches the limitation of the claim 11 and further teaches the output grayscale is gradually increased toward the input grayscale in the first low frequency frame and the second low frequency frame (Kim, [0111], Figs. 10 and 11, voltage increase from V1 to V4 as frequency is increased).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 and 15-18 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 and resolving the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection provided above.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 5, 6, 15 and 16, the prior art, whether considered alone or in combination, fail to disclose the technical features of the claimed invention in context as a whole. A close prior art reference Zhang et al. (US Patent Pub. No. 2021/0150965 A1) teaches similarly categorizing and performing different action based on initial grayscale (Zhang, [0087]-[0088]). However, the specifics of changing the reference frequency interval based on the input grayscale value changed in the manner claimed as a whole, is not sufficiently taught or suggested in the prior art.
Regarding claims 7, 8, 17 and 18 the prior art, whether considered alone or in combination, fail to disclose the technical features of the claimed invention in context as a whole. A close prior art reference He (US Patent Pub. No. 2024/0021134 A1) teaches similarly a change of frequency could have effect on brightness/luminance (He, [0088]) However, the specifics of the average luminance of the first low frequency frame based on the frequency interval in the manner claimed as a whole, is not sufficiently taught or suggested in the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0180695 A1 to Ha et al. discloses a similar invention as recited, specifically changing grayscale depending on a frame rate change, see [0056].
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/DONG HUI LIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2629