Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 18, 2026
Application No. 18/839,568

DISPLAY DEVICE

Final Rejection §112
Filed
Aug 19, 2024
Priority
Apr 22, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTJP2022018538
Examiner
FLORES, ROBERTO W
Art Unit
2621
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Sharp Corporation
OA Round
4 (Final)
49%
Grant Probability
Moderate
5-6
OA Rounds
1y 0m
Est. Remaining
63%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 49% of resolved cases
49%
Career Allowance Rate
269 granted / 544 resolved
-12.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+13.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
586
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
68.1%
+28.1% vs TC avg
§102
15.5%
-24.5% vs TC avg
§112
10.7%
-29.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 544 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 2-4, 6 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 2 recites “the monitoring operation being performed once, for every predetermined number of times degradation information acquisition operations are performed, by interrupting the degradation information acquisition operations.” Applicant states on page 5 of Applicant’s response that support may be found in [0056]-[0058] and figure 8. However, Applicant’s original specification refers in [0053], the control unit 2 determines the presence or absence of a short circuit between the first power supply unit ELVDD and the second power supply unit ELVSS, every time obtaining degradation information on a predetermined number of subpixels 51 among the plurality of subpixels 51. [0055] refers to when the monitoring operation interrupts the display operation, the number of rows to be monitored within one frame period has a limit. [0056], an interruption is made once every five rows in the normal current monitoring operation, and the current is monitored for the monitor rows S_mon1 to S_mon4. Thus, Applicant’s disclosure does not mention interruption of the degradation information acquisition operations. In fact, it appears that the monitoring of short circuit is determined every time obtaining degradation information. In addition, it appears that [0055-0056] suggest an interruption of the display operation but do not suggest an interruption of the degradation information acquisition operations. Other claims are rejected due to their dependencies. Allowable Subject Matter Prior arts fail to teach all the limitations of Claim 2 (e.g. interrupting the degradation information acquisition operations in combination to other limitations in the claim). However, Claims 2-4, 6, 10-15 are under a 112 rejection as detailed above. Response to Arguments In view of Applicant’s amendment, the prior art rejection has been withdrawn. However, claims 2-4, 6, 10-15 are rejected under a 112 as detailed above. 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERTO W FLORES whose telephone number is (571)272-5512. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7am-4pm, EST. 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 A AWAD can be reached at (571)272-7764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ROBERTO W FLORES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Show 1 earlier event
Oct 07, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112
Dec 30, 2025
Response Filed
Jan 14, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §112
Feb 26, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Mar 02, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112
Jun 24, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 21, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
49%
Grant Probability
63%
With Interview (+13.7%)
3y 0m (~1y 0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 544 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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