DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lin (US 2024/0028151).
Regarding claim 1, Lin discloses a touch display device (para. 37) comprising:
a touch sensor (110, fig. 1-2) including a plurality of first touch electrodes (120, fig. 2) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (120, fig. 2); and
a touch driving circuit (140 in figs. 1, 4 and 6) configured to supply a touch driving signal (Pch and PTx in fig. 18) to the touch sensor during a touch sensing mode period (including P1 and P3 in fig. 18),
wherein the touch sensing mode period comprises:
a first touch sensing mode period (P1 in fig. 18) in which a first touch driving signal (Pch in fig. 18) is applied to the touch sensor as the touch driving signal (see S311-S312 in fig. 15A), and
a second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18) in which a second touch driving signal (PTx in fig. 18) is applied to the touch sensor as the touch driving signal (see S21-S26 in fig. 15A),
wherein, during the second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18), the touch driving circuit supplies the second touch driving signal to a part of the touch sensor (PTx on Pad4 in fig. 18) and supplies an auxiliary driving signal (PTx on Pad5-Pad7 in fig. 18) to another part of the touch sensor (para. 96-97).
Regarding claim 2, Lin discloses wherein the touch driving circuit outputs an external auxiliary driving signal input from outside as the auxiliary driving signal (PTx in fig. 6 as produced by controller 140), and the external auxiliary driving signal and the second touch driving signal have a same phase (see fig. 18; wherein PTx for both Pad4 and Pad5 have the same phase during P3a).
Regarding claim 3, Lin discloses wherein the touch driving circuit generates an internal auxiliary driving signal based on a reference driving signal input from outside (PTx in fig. 6 as produced by controller 140) and outputs the internal auxiliary driving signal as the auxiliary driving signal (PTx in fig. 6), and the internal auxiliary driving signal and the second touch driving signal have a same phase (see fig. 18; wherein PTx for both Pad4 and Pad5 have the same phase during P3a).
Regarding claim 4, Lin discloses wherein, during the first touch sensing mode period (P1 in fig. 15A), the plurality of first touch electrodes are electrically separated and the plurality of second touch electrodes are electrically separated (see fig. 7A and para. 62),
wherein, during the second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 15A), two or more first touch electrodes among the plurality of first touch electrodes are electrically connected to each other (see Pad4-Pad7 in fig. 19A and para. 98), or two or more second touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes are electrically connected to each other (see Pad4-Pad7 in fig. 19A and para. 98).
Regarding claim 5, Lin discloses wherein, during the first touch sensing mode period (P1, fig. 18), the first touch driving signal is applied to at least one of the plurality of first touch electrodes (see Pch applied to all capacitance sensors 120 in Pad1-Pad7 in fig. 18-19) or at least one of the plurality of second touch electrodes (see Pch applied to all capacitance sensors 120 in Pad1-Pad7 in fig. 18-19),
wherein, during the second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18), the second touch driving signal is applied commonly to two or more first touch electrodes among the plurality of first touch electrodes (see PTx as applied to capacitance sensors Pad4-Pad7 in fig. 18-19), or is applied commonly to two or more second touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes (see PTx as applied to capacitance sensors Pad1-Pad4 in fig. 18-19).
Regarding claim 6, Lin discloses wherein the first touch sensing mode period is a contact mode period during which a contact touch that has contacted a screen is sensed (para. 47, 51), and the second touch sensing mode period is a hover mode period during which a non-contact touch that has not contacted the screen is sensed (see 3D gesture sensing in fig. 18 and para. 96-97),
wherein the first touch driving signal includes first pulses having a first amplitude during the first touch sensing mode period (see Pch in fig. 18), and the second touch driving signal includes second pulses having a second amplitude during the second touch sensing mode period (see PTx in fig. 18), wherein the second amplitude is different from the first amplitude, or a number of the second pulses is different from a number of the first pulses (see fig. 18, wherein the number of pulses are different).
Regarding claim 7, Lin discloses wherein the second touch sensing mode period includes:
a first sub-sensing period (P3a in fig. 18) in which the second touch driving signal is simultaneously applied to two or more first touch electrodes that are electrically connected to each other among the plurality of first touch electrodes (see connected capacitor sensors 120 located on Pad4 in fig. 18-19); and
a second sub-sensing period (P3b in fig. 18) in which the second touch driving signal is simultaneously applied to two or more second touch electrodes that are electrically connected to each other among the plurality of second touch electrodes (see connected capacitor sensors 120 located on Pad4 in fig. 18-19),
wherein, during the first sub-sensing period, the touch driving circuit supplies the auxiliary driving signal to remaining first touch electrodes excluding the two or more first touch electrodes or the plurality of second touch electrodes (see PTx applied to Pad5-Pad7 in P3a in fig. 18),
wherein, during the second sub-sensing period, the touch driving circuit supplies the auxiliary driving signal to remaining second touch electrodes excluding the two or more second touch electrodes or the plurality of first touch electrodes (see PTx applied to Pad1-Pad3 in P3b in fig. 18).
Regarding claim 8, Lin discloses wherein an operating period of the touch display device includes: a display mode period during which an image is displayed (see P0 in fig. 18); and
a touch sensing mode period including the first touch sensing mode period and the second touch sensing mode period (see P1 and P3 in fig. 18),
wherein the display mode period, the first touch sensing mode period, and the second touch sensing mode period are defined by a first mode control signal and a second mode control signal having different signal waveforms (see multiple display-related signals in para. 95, which are different control signals having different waveforms throughout display and touch driving).
Regarding claim 18, Lin discloses a touch driving circuit (fig. 1-2) for driving a plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes (102, fig. 2) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (120, fig. 2), the touch driving circuit comprising:
a first touch driving signal output circuit (110, fig. 2) configured to supply a first touch driving signal (Pch in fig. 18) to each of the plurality of first touch electrodes (S311-S312 in fig. 15A) during a first touch sensing mode period (P1 in fig. 18);
a sensing circuit (110, fig. 2) configured to supply a second touch driving signal (PTx, fig. 18) to two or more first touch electrodes (see capacitive sensor 120 located in Pad4 in fig. 18-19) or two or more second touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes among the plurality of touch electrodes (see capacitive sensor 120 located in Pad4 in fig. 18-19) during a second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18); and
an auxiliary driving signal output circuit (110, fig. 2) configured to supply, during the second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18), an auxiliary driving signal (PTx on Pad5-Pad7 in fig. 18) to two or more touch electrodes (PTx on Pad5-Pad7 in fig. 18) to which the second touch driving signal is not applied among the plurality of touch electrodes (see para. 96-98).
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.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of King (US 201/0338964).
Regarding claim 20, Lin discloses a touch display device (para. 37) comprising:
a touch sensor (110, fig. 1-2) including a plurality of first touch electrodes (120, fig. 2) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (120, fig. 2); and
a touch driving circuit (140 in figs. 1, 4 and 6) configured to supply a touch driving signal (Pch and PTx in fig. 18) to the touch sensor during a touch sensing mode period (including P1 and P3 in fig. 18),
wherein the touch sensing mode period comprises:
a first touch sensing mode period (P1 in fig. 18) in which a first touch driving signal (Pch in fig. 18) is applied to the touch sensor as the touch driving signal (see S311-S312 in fig. 15A), and
a second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18) in which a second touch driving signal (PTx in fig. 18) is applied to the touch sensor as the touch driving signal (see S21-S26 in fig. 15A),
wherein, during the second touch sensing mode period (P3 in fig. 18), the touch driving circuit supplies the second touch driving signal to a part of the touch sensor (PTx on Pad4 in fig. 18) and supplies an auxiliary driving signal (PTx on Pad5-Pad7 in fig. 18) to another part of the touch sensor (para. 96-97).
Lin fails to disclose wherein the first touch driving signal has a first amplitude and the second touch driving signal has a second amplitude greater than the first amplitude.
King discloses a firs couch driving signal having a first amplitude and a second touch driving signal having a second amplitude greater than the first amplitude (see claims 1-3 on page 13; wherein one area of the touch device is operated in touch sensing mode with driving signal having a first amplitude and second area of the touch device is operated in hover sensing mode with second driving signal having a second amplitude, wherein the second amplitude is higher resulting in greater sensitivity when detecting hover touches).
When the invention was made (pre-AIA ) or before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the teachings of King in the device of Lin. The motivation for doing so would have been to have increased sensitivity in the hover sensing mode to accurately detect hover touches on the device (King; see claims 1-3 on page 13; wherein e.g. hover touches are located farther from the device than actual touches, resulting in the need for increased sensitivity to detect the hover touches accurately).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-17 and 19 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Brunet (US 2017/0199611), which discloses a touch device that is capable of mutual or self capacitive touch detection. Brunet discloses when driven in self capacitive mode the top layer of electrodes are driven by a second drive signal and the bottom layer of electrodes is driven by shield signal (see para. 43 and fig. 5; further wherein the second drive signal and the shield signal are substantially the same).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBIN J MISHLER whose telephone number is (571)270-7251. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-5:00 M-F.
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, NITIN PATEL can be reached at (571)272-7677. 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.
/ROBIN J MISHLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2628