DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Application
1. Applicant’s Response to Election / Restriction Requirement filed December 17, 2025 is received and entered.
2. Applicant elected, without traverse, Invention A and Species I, corresponding to claims 1 – 6.
3. Claims 7 – 20 are withdrawn as being directed to non-elected inventions / species. Claims 1 – 6 are pending and are under examination in this action.
4. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Specification
5. The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: in paragraph [0064], Applicant discloses “first and second pins P1 and P1”, which should be amended to state “first and second pins P1 and [[P1]] P2”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1 – 3 and 5 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (U.S. Pub. 2018/0321793) in view of Chang (U.S. Patent 11,449,172).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches: a display device (FIG. 1; paragraph [0060]; display device) comprising:
a touch panel configured to sense a touch (FIGS. 1, 4; paragraph [0064]; sensor part 100 is a “touch panel” that senses touch input in an active area 101 thereof); and
a touch panel driver configured to drive the touch panel (FIGS. 1, 4; paragraphs [0081], [0087]; touch driver 200 drives sensor part 100, and includes driving circuit 210 and sensing circuit 220), the touch panel driver comprising:
connections (FIG. 3; paragraphs [0079], [0091]; the connections between first wires 142 or third wires 146 and signal receiving parts 221 are “connections”) comprising a first connection (FIG. 4; the “first connection” is the point at which either the first input terminal IN1 or the second terminal IN2 connects to a corresponding signal, such as via first wire 142, third wire 146, or ground, as illustrated. In other words, the “first connection” is the point at which either input to first amplifier AMP1 of the topmost signal receiving part 221 is connected to the sensor part 100 or the driving circuit 210) and a second connection configured to receive a signal corresponding to the touch from the touch panel (FIGS. 3, 4; paragraph [0067], [0088], [0091]; the “second connection” is the point at which the first input terminal IN1 of another amplifier of a different signal receiving part 221 connects to a corresponding signal, such as via first wire 142. A sensing signal Sse, corresponding to a change in capacitance Cse in response to an applied touch, is received by the first input terminal IN1 of the another amplifier of the different signal receiving part 221);
signal receivers connected to the connections, respectively (FIG. 4; paragraph [0090]; signal receiving parts 221 are connected to the first and second connections, respectively, as set forth above); and
a first analog-digital converter connected to a signal receiver connected to the first connection from among the signal receivers (FIG. 4; paragraph [0089]; analog-to-digital converter part 223 is connected to the topmost signal receiving part 221 which is connected to the “first connection”, as set forth above), the first analog-digital converter being configured to output a first signal or a second signal according to a magnitude of an input signal of the first analog-digital converter (FIG. 4; paragraph [0067], [0093]; amplified sensing signal Sse is converted by ADC 223. When there is an applied touch input, Sse would have a first [high] magnitude based on a change of capacitance and thus a first signal of a corresponding magnitude would be input to ADC 223. When there is no applied touch input, Sse would have a second [low] magnitude based on a lack of change of capacitance and thus a second signal of a corresponding magnitude would be input to ADC 223).
Kim fails to explicitly disclose: the connections are pins and the first connection is a first pin and the second connection is a second pin.
However, in a related field of endeavor, Chang discloses a touch panel 110 that is connected to a touch driving device 120 (FIG. 1; col. 3, lines 33 – 34).
With regard to claim 1, Chang teaches: the connections are pins and the first connection is a first pin and the second connection is a second pin (FIG. 1; col. 3, lines 60 – 62; col. 5, lines 43 – 45; touch driving device 120 includes pins PIN_1 to PIN_p to connect touch driving device 120 to touch panel 110 to sense and process touch inputs).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of Applicant’s claimed invention to combine the known teachings of Kim and Chang to yield predictable results. More specifically, the teachings of a touch display device having wired connections between a touch driver and a touch sensor in order to receive and process touch inputs, as taught by Kim, are known. Additionally, the teachings of a touch device having a touch driver with pins to connect a touch driver and touch sensor in order to receive and process touch inputs, as taught by Chang, are known as well. The combination of the known teachings of Kim and Chang would yield the predictable results of a touch device having a touch driver with pins to connect to wires from a touch sensor in order for the touch driver to receive and process touch inputs from the touch sensor. In other words, it would have been obvious to utilize the well-known and conventional hardware pins of Chang to connect the touch driver and touch sensor of Kim. Such a modification of Kim requires nothing more than either a simple substation of one connection means for another, or merely filling in the gaps of Kim as to the particular structure for connecting corresponding signals to the input terminals of sensing circuit 220 of Kim. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of Applicant’s claimed invention to combine the known teachings of Kim and Chang to yield the aforementioned predictable results.
Regarding claim 2, Kim teaches: further comprising a second analog-digital converter connected to a signal receiver connected to the second pin from among the signal receivers (FIG. 4; paragraph [0089]; any ADC 223 other than the topmost ADC 223 that is connected to any signal receiving part 221 other than the topmost signal receiving part 221), the second analog-digital converter being configured to convert an input signal of the second analog-digital converter into a digital signal corresponding to a voltage level of the input signal of the second analog-digital converter (This recitation is basically a description of the basic functionality of an analog-to-digital converter and is therefore taught by the mere disclosure of ADCs 223).
Regarding claim 3, Kim teaches: wherein each of the signal receivers comprises an analog front end comprising an operational amplifier (FIG. 4; paragraph [0091]; each signal receiving part 221 is implemented with an analog front end AFE that includes a first amplifier AMP1).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Kim and Chang teaches: wherein the first pin is configured to receive a driving voltage of the touch panel driver (FIGS. 3, 4; paragraph [0088]; as set forth above with regard to claim 1, the “first connection” may be the point at which the first input terminal IN1 connects to a corresponding signal, such as via first wire 142. A sensing signal Sse, corresponding to driving signal Sdr when a touch is applied, is received by the first input terminal IN1 of the topmost signal receiving part 221. Accordingly, sensing signal Sse includes a driving voltage when a touch is applied. When combined with Chang, the first input terminal IN1 would include a corresponding first pin that receives a driving voltage in the sensing signal Sse).
Regarding claim 6, Kim teaches: wherein the first pin is connected to ground (FIGS. 3, 4; paragraph [0088]; as set forth above with regard to claim 1, the “first connection” may be the point at which the second input terminal IN2 connects to a corresponding signal. The “first connection”, connected to second input terminal IN2, may be connected to ground GND. When combined with Chang, the second input terminal IN2 would include a corresponding second pin that receives a ground voltage GND).
8. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Chang, as evidenced by Ludden et al. (U.S. Pub. 2008/0303836).
Regarding claim 4, neither Kim nor Chang explicitly disclose: wherein the first pin is configured to receive a signal from a host processor.
However, as set forth above with regard to claim 6, Kim discloses that the “first pin” may receive a ground voltage (paragraph [0091]).
It was well-known and conventional in the art before the effective filing date of Applicant’s claimed invention for voltages of a display device, such as a ground voltage, to be generated and provided by a host processor. For evidence, pleas see paragraph [0062] of Ludden et al. (U.S. Pub. 2008/0303836).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of Applicant’s claimed invention to modify the combination of the known teachings of Kim and Chang to yield predictable results using well-known and conventional teachings in the art. Specifically, it would have been obvious to fill in the gaps of Kim, as to where the ground voltage is received from with regard to its application to a signal processing part, using the well-known and conventional teachings of Ludden. Such a modification of Kim merely fills in the gaps as to where the ground voltage thereof originates using well-known and conventional teachings.
Conclusion
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/RYAN A LUBIT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626