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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10 March 2026 has been entered.
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, 6, 7, 9-12, 16, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Routley et al (US 2009/0201281; hereinafter Routley), in view of Shirasaki et al (US 2008/0111812; hereinafter Shirasaki).
• Regarding claims 1 and 12, Routley discloses a display apparatus and associated method (figure 3), comprising:
a display panel including a plurality of sub-pixels (elements 300 and 320 in figure 3);
a driver circuit configured to drive the display panel (elements 346 and 360 in figure 3 and ¶ 46); and
a sensing circuit for sensing electrical characteristics of a sensing area of the display panel to output sensing data (element 354 in figure 3 and ¶ 45),
wherein the driver circuit is configured to perform a sequence that varies sensing current applied to a first power line until the sensing data falls within a target range in a sensing mode, and to repeat the sequence with respect to the sensing area (¶s 22 and 49), and
wherein the driver circuit drives the display panel using a first sensing current and the sensing circuit senses the sensing area to output first sensing data in a first sensing mode (¶s 22 and 49).
However, Routley fails to disclose the additional details of the display apparatus.
In the same field of endeavor, Shirasaki discloses where:
the driver circuit drives the display panel using a first sensing current and the sensing circuit senses the sensing area to output first sensing data in a first sensing mode (figure 22 and ¶s 243-249; where the first iteration of steps S214-S218 is interpreted as being “a first sensing mode”);
the driver circuit drives the display panel using the first sensing current and the sensing circuit senses the sensing area to output second sensing data in a first sensing sequence of a second sensing mode (figure 22 and ¶s 243-249; where the second iteration of steps S214-S218 following the first iteration of step S219 is interpreted as being “a first sensing sequence of a second sensing mode”);
if the second sensing data is smaller than the first sensing data, the driver circuit increases the first sensing current to a second sensing current, the driver circuit and the sensing circuit perform a second sensing sequence of the second sensing mode using the second sensing current, and the sensing circuit outputs third sensing data (YES output of step S218 and step S219 in figure 22 and ¶s 243-249); and
if the second sensing data or the third sensing data is greater than the first sensing data, the driver circuit calculates a compensate gain based on the second sensing data or the third sensing data without increasing the first sensing current or the second sensing current and stores the compensate gain in a memory (NO output of step S218 and ¶ 252; where Vofst=Vunit*Minc (¶ 135), Vpix=Vorg+Vofst (¶ 144), and Minc is interpreted as being an offset gain coefficient).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Routley according to the teachings of Shirasaki, for the purpose of compensating for characteristic fluctuation of driving elements of display pixels (¶ 9).
• Regarding claims 6, 7, 9-11, 16, 17, and 19, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, discloses everything claimed, as applied to claim 1. Additionally, Routley discloses where:
Claim 6: the sensing circuit is configured to sense electrical characteristics of the sensing area using the first sensing current flowing through a sensing path in the sensing area and a second power line from the first power line in the first sensing sequence to output the second sensing data (¶ 45), and
to sense electrical characteristics of the sensing area using the second sensing current flowing through the sensing path in the sensing area and the second power line from the first power line in the second sensing sequence to output third sensing data (¶ 45).
Claim 9: the driver circuit comprises a power management circuit (element 360 in figure 3 and ¶ 46), which is configured to apply a first power voltage and the sensing current to a first power line shared by the plurality of sub-pixels of the display panel and to apply a second power voltage to a second power line shared by light emitting elements of the plurality of sub-pixels (¶s 19 and 46), and
the power management circuit is configured to apply the first power voltage for the sensing mode different from the first power voltage for a display mode and to apply the second power voltage for the sensing mode different from the second power voltage for the display mode (¶s 19, 22, and 49).
Claim 10: the display panel includes a plurality of sensing areas (¶ 19), and
the driver circuit is configured to sense electrical characteristics of the plurality of sensing areas for each of the sensing areas and for each color using the first sensing current in the first sensing sequence (¶ 19) and
to sense electrical characteristics of the plurality of sensing areas for each of the sensing areas and for each color using the second sensing current in the second sensing sequence (¶ 19).
Claim 11: the target range is a range where second sensing data of the sensing area of the first sensing mode is greater than the first sensing data of the first sensing mode (¶ 49).
Claim 16: the driving method further comprises:
sensing electrical characteristics of the sensing area using the first sensing current flowing through a sensing path in the sensing area and a second power line from a first power line in the display area in the first sensing sequence (¶ 45); and
sensing electrical characteristics of the sensing area using the second sensing current flowing through the sensing path in the sensing area and the second power line from the first power line in the second sensing sequence (¶ 45).
Claim 19: the display area includes a plurality of sensing areas (¶ 19),
electrical characteristics of the plurality of sensing areas are sensed for each of the sensing areas and for each color using the first sensing current in the first sensing sequence (¶ 19), and
electrical characteristics of the plurality of sensing areas are sensed for each of the sensing areas and for each color using the second sensing current in the second sensing sequence (¶ 19).
However, Routley fails to disclose the additional details of the display apparatus.
In the same field of endeavor, Shirasaki discloses where:
Claims 7 & 17: the driver circuit and the sensing circuit are configured to repeatedly increase the second sensing current and perform a same sensing sequence as the second sensing sequence using the second sensing current, until the third sensing data is greater than the first sensing data (figure 22 and ¶s 243-249).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Routley according to the teachings of Shirasaki, for the purpose of compensating for characteristic fluctuation of driving elements of display pixels (¶ 9).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Routley, in view of Shirasaki, and further in view of Chung et al (US 2015/0194096; hereinafter Chung).
• Regarding claim 2, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, discloses everything claimed, as applied to claim 1. However, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, fails to disclose the additional details of the display apparatus.
In the same field of endeavor, Chung discloses where the driver circuit is configured to accumulate image data to predict a deterioration area based on the accumulated image data and to determine the deterioration area as the sensing area (¶s 107 and 112).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Routley, as modified by Shirasaki, according to the teachings of Chung, for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of degradation compensation with respect to a specific area corresponding to a predetermined condition (¶ 112).
Claims, 3, 8, 13, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Routley, in view of Shirasaki, and further in view of Lin et al (US 2023/0136140; hereinafter Lin).
• Regarding claims 3 and 13, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, discloses everything claimed, as applied to claims 2 and 12, respectively. However, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, fails to disclose the additional details of the display apparatus.
In the same field of endeavor, Lin discloses where:
Claims 3 & 13: the driver circuit is configured to provide a same grayscale of image patterns in the first sensing sequence and the second sensing sequence to the sensing area (figure 13 and ¶s 63-66), and
the sensing area is configured to display the image pattern at a first brightness in the first sensing sequence and to display the image pattern at a second brightness in the second sensing sequence (inherent in the combination of Routley (see ¶ 9) and Lin).
Claims 8 & 18: the display panel includes the sensing area and a non-sensing area, and the sensing area includes sensing subpixels and non-sensing subpixels (¶s 63-66; where, even though “B225” given as an example of “a predetermined gray level … which allows the operating point of the driving transistor to enter the linear region easily”, one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that a maximum gray level could be used in accordance with the teachings of Lin (“the predetermined gray level is different from the lowest gray level”); see also ¶s 29 and 30); and
the driver circuit is configured to apply a maximum grayscale data voltage to the sensing subpixels and to apply a minimum grayscale data voltage to the non-sensing subpixels of the sensing area and the non-sensing area in the first and second sensing mode (¶s 31 and 63-66).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Routley, as modified by Shirasaki, according to the teachings of Lin, for the purpose of extending the lifetime of a display panel (¶ 66).
Claims 4, 5, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Routley, in view of Shirasaki, and further in view of Wang et al (US 2017/0372655; hereinafter Wang).
• Regarding claims 4, 5, 14, and 15, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, discloses everything claimed, as applied to claims 3 and 13. However, Routley, in view of Shirasaki, fails to disclose the additional details of the display device.
In the same field of endeavor, Wang discloses where:
Claims 4 & 14: the driver circuit is configured to sequentially display the image patterns for each color in the sensing area in each of the first sensing sequence and the second sensing sequence (¶ 41), and
the second brightness of the image patterns for each color displayed in the sensing area in the second sensing sequence is for being brighter than the first brightness of the image patterns for each color displayed in the sensing area in the first sensing sequence (inherent in the combination of Routley, Shirasaki, and Wang).
Claims 5 & 15: each of the first sensing sequence and the second sensing sequence comprises:
a first color sensing period for sensing electrical characteristics of first color sub-pixels in the sensing area (¶ 41),
a second color sensing period for sensing electrical characteristics of second color sub-pixels in the sensing area (¶ 41), and
a third color sensing period for sensing electrical characteristics of third color
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Routley, as modified by Shirasaki, according to the teachings of Wang, for the purpose of prolonging the lifespan of light-emitting devices in a display (¶ 7).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Closing Remarks/Comments
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN DANIELSEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4248. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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/NATHAN DANIELSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2622