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 .
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 15 – 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 (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites the limitations "the first touch sensing frame" at Line 10 and “the second touch sensing frame” at Line 11 where there is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim because no - - first touch sensing frame - - or - - second sensing frame - - have been introduced in Claim 15. Notice that Claims 16 – 20 fall rejected with Claim 15 due to dependency. Also, the Examiner recommends adding the subject matter dropped from Claim 1 in the chain of dependency of Claim 2 (i.e. - - a position at which the touch carry clock is generated during a first touch sensing frame included in the touch sensing driving period differs from a position at which the touch carry clock is generated during a second touch sensing frame included in the touch sensing driving period, - -) back into Claim 15 to overcome the instant rejections.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 14 are allowable over the prior art of record for reasoning reflected in the history of the prosecution of the instant application.
Response to Applicants Amendments and Arguments
Applicants amendments and arguments filed October 29, 2025 have been fully considered.
First, the Examiner agrees that the amendments to Claims 1 and 9 overcome the 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) rejections of Claims 1, 6, 9, and 13 and the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of Claims 8 and 14 as set forth and made of record in the Office Action mailed July 29, 2025.
Second, grounds for rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been presented with respect to newly submitted Claims 15 – 20 as described far 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 BRIAN M BUTCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-5575. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ke Xiao, can be reached at (571) 272 - 7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN M BUTCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627 February 06, 2026
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