Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 16, 2026
Application No. 18/996,076

AREA-BASED DISPLAY METHOD AND DISPLAY DEVICE

Non-Final OA §101§103
Filed
Jan 17, 2025
Examiner
ABDIN, SHAHEDA A
Art Unit
2627
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Beijing Boe Technology Development Co., LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allow Rate
561 granted / 712 resolved
+16.8% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+16.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
733
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.0%
-38.0% vs TC avg
§103
72.2%
+32.2% vs TC avg
§102
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
§112
6.0%
-34.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 712 resolved cases

Office Action

§101 §103
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 § 101 1. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. 2. Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim is NOT to a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. The claimed " computer storage medium “, on which a computer program is stored " are non-structural per se, and the specification discloses a "program or software" embodiment (see, spec [0056]). Therefore, a reasonable interpretation in light of the specification leads to the conclusion that the claim encompasses pure software, which does not fall within the definition of a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. 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. 3. Claim(s) 20-23, 27, 30-33, 35-39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 20180366068 A1) in view of Qi (CN 101197110A). Regarding claim 20: Liu (US 20180366068 A1) discloses a method for partition display (dividing the display panel 100, Fig. 1), comprising: receiving and displaying, by a display device (( a display system 100 includes a display panel 110. See also Fig. 6, a display system 200, (Figs. 1 or 6, a display system 100/200. [0048-0049], See “smart glasses), a current frame image (i.e. current image frame corresponding to first image frame for displaying image on display 216) ( [0037-0046],[0054-0057], Fig. 1-2, 4 ), and obtaining fixation point coordinates (i.e. vision focus on display area 261, see Fig. 5) of a user on a display screen of the display device (([0046], “the display area dividing device 220 can divide the display area of the display panel 210 into the first display area 211 and the second display area 212 according to the vision focus area 261 determined by the vision focus area determination device 241.” [0047], “the vision focus area determination device 241 can determine current vision focus area 261 by a real-time direction of line of sight acquired by the eye-tracking device 242.” Examiner notes a vision focus area corresponds to the fixation point); dividing a display region of the display screen into a plurality of display areas (210, 211, 261) according to the fixation point coordinates (see [0044-0047 and determining controllers (131-133, see Fig.5) ([0044-0047], see Fig. 5), and receiving a next frame image ( receiving image at 210, 211 and 261, increase the frame rate of the video image displayed by the first display area to the first refresh frequency by inserting the at least one frame of intermediate image between the two adjacent frames of images), and controlling the next frame image for being displayed in the plurality of display areas by using the first controllers respectively ([0044-0047]), wherein the next frame image comprises a plurality of sub-images (images at 210, 211 and 261) (see Fig. 5, [0044-0047]), and one display region is used for displaying one sub-image (see 0044-0047) ( in [0044] discloses receiving the video images with a frame rate equal to the third refresh frequency through the display driving device 130. The video images with the frame rate equal to the third refresh frequency can be acquired, in Fig. 8, [0058] teach the display panel 210 and its first display area 211 and second display area 212 and vision focus area 261comprise an array of pixels. The first display area and/or the second display area corresponds to one of the sub-display portions and displaying image on the display portions). Liu does not specifically disclose to determining first controllers respectively corresponding to the plurality of display areas, wherein each of the first controllers comprises at least one driving chip Qi (CN 101197110) discloses to determining first controllers (1,2, see Fig. 4) respectively corresponding to the plurality of display areas (240), wherein each of the first controllers comprises at least one driving chip (Qi discloses in FIG. 4, divide the display area into plurality od sub-areas 240, and each of the sub-areas is independently driven by gate drive units (1,2) (see Fig. 4, page 1 of 1 and 11 of 11) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu with the teaching of Qi thereby providing high-efficient data transmission in the display device. Regarding claim 21: Liu disclose wherein the plurality of display areas comprise a fixation area (i.e. 261, see Fig. 5) and a non-fixation area (e.g. 212) [0044-0047]; and the dividing the display region of the display screen into the plurality of display areas according to the fixation point coordinates (i.e. user’s eye focus point at 261), comprises: dividing the display region into the fixation area (focus area 261) and the non-fixation area (211, 212) according to the fixation point coordinates (focus point) and a viewing angle range of the user ([0039]), wherein sub-images displayed in the fixation area are within the viewing angle range, and sub-images displayed in the non-fixation area exceed the viewing angle range ([0033-0046], note that working point or focus area corresponding to viewing angle and the other sub display areas (211, 212) is out of viewing angle range). Regarding claim 22: Liu discloses wherein the fixation area comprises a boundary area (113), and the boundary area is determined according to a display cell (i.e. display pixel or elements formed in data lines and gate lines) controlled by the driving chip corresponding to a boundary of the fixation area ([0044-0046]), wherein the display region comprises a plurality of display cells, and each of the plurality of display cells is controlled for display through one driving chip (i.e. display controller) ([0043-0044]). Regarding claim 23: Liu discloses wherein the controlling the next frame image for being displayed in the plurality of display areas by using the first controllers (see Fig. 5), comprises: controlling, according to a difference degree (i.e refresh or pixel-level based on gray value and resolution, see [0054-0057]) between sub-images (image on plurality of displays i.e. 211, 212) in the next frame image and in the current frame image (i.e. image at focused area), the next frame image for being displayed in the plurality of display areas by using the first controllers (see Fig. 5) [0044-0047]. Regarding claim 27: Liu in view of Qi discloses determining second controllers (e.g. n) respectively corresponding to the plurality of display areas (see Qi Fig. 4 ) , wherein each of the second controllers comprises at least one group of gate driver on array (GOA) circuits, and each group of GOA circuits is controlled through a separate signal; and scanning the plurality of display areas by using the second controllers (see Fig. 4) ; and Liu discloses refresh and display sub-images corresponding to the plurality of display areas ( Liu in ([0043], “the first display driving device 131 can drive the first display area 111 with a first refresh frequency (e.g., 180 Hz) and the second display driving device 132 can drive the second display area 112 with a second refresh frequency (e.g., 60 Hz), and the first refresh frequency is greater than the second refresh frequency. [0057], Fig. 9, step S200). Therefore, combining the reference of Liu and Qi would be obvious to meet the limitations as recited in claim 27. Same motivation as Applied to claim 1. Regarding claim 30: Liu discloses in response to a specified operation for an any region in the display region, determining a first sub-image (i.e. video image on first display 111), corresponding to the any region, in the next frame image; controlling the first sub-image in the next frame image to be refreshed and displayed by using a first controller corresponding to the any region ([0044], Fig. 5). Regarding claim 31: Liu discloses : sending the fixation point coordinates (focused point location) to a graphics processing unit (GPU) for the GPU to determine the plurality of display areas according to the fixation point coordinates and to compress sub-images (i.e. video image cganged based on shape ) corresponding to different display areas in the next frame image according to different compression ratios [0055-0056], and [0063]; and/or, sending location information of the plurality of display areas and identification information (i.e. size of display outside of focused display) corresponding to the plurality of display areas to the GPU for the GPU to compress sub-images corresponding to different display areas in the next frame image according to different compression ratios, wherein the identification information is used for representing the driving chip ([0063]. Regarding claim 32: Liu discloses wherein the plurality of display areas comprise a fixation area (focused area) and a non-fixation area (difference display areas out side of focused display area 261); and sub-images corresponding to the fixation area in the next frame image are uncompressed images (i.e. video image for display panel), and sub-images corresponding to the non-fixation area in the next frame image are compressed images (reduced image based on display shape) (see [0054-0055] and [0063]]) ; or a compression ratio of the sub-images corresponding to the fixation area in the next frame image is lower than a compression ratio of the sub-images corresponding to the non- fixation area in the next frame image. Regarding claim 33: Liu discloses wherein the fixation area (261) comprises a boundary area (i.e. border, see Fig. 5); and sub-images corresponding to the boundary area in the next frame image are images comprising compressed image data (image processed ) and uncompressed image data (unprocessed image data [(see [0054-0055] and [0063]]) ; Regarding claim 35 Liu discloses: transmitting the fixation point coordinates to the first controllers , so that the first controller determines the plurality of display areas according to the fixation point coordinates and uses driving chips corresponding to the plurality of display areas for refreshing and displaying ([0066-0076]); and/or, transmitting location information of the plurality of display areas and identification information (i.e. first, second and third display areas) corresponding to the plurality of display areas to the first controllers, so that the first controller uses driving chips corresponding to the plurality of display areas for refreshing and displaying [0044-0047], [0066-0076], Fig. 9. Regarding claim 36: Liu discloses wherein the obtaining the fixation point coordinates (focus point on 261) of the user on the display screen of the display device, comprises: obtaining the fixation point coordinates of the user on the display screen of the display device by a camera device (241), wherein the camera device is integrated on the display device (200) ([0047]). Regarding claim 37: Liu discloses a display device, comprising a display screen (210) and a processor (CPU), wherein: the display screen is configured to display contents (display content); and the processor is configured to execute steps in the method according to claim 20 ([0044-0046], [0063], Fig. 7). Regarding claim 38: Liu discloses computer storage medium (CPU), on which a computer program is stored, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, (see Liu [0063-0064]) . Regarding claim 39: Liu discloses: in response to a specified operation (i.e. video image operation) for an any region in the display region (e.g. 211), determining a first sub-image, corresponding to the any region, in the next frame image; controlling the first sub-image in the next frame image to be refreshed and displayed by using a first controller corresponding to the any region ([0044-0046], [0063], Fig. 7). 4. Claim(s) 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 20180366068 A1) in view of Qi (CN 101197110). and further in view of Samec (US 20160270656 A1). Regarding claim 34: Liu in view of QI does not specifically disclose wherein the display screen is configured to display 3D images of different viewing angles, and image contents of the 3D images of different viewing angles are different. Samec (US 20160270656 A1) discloses wherein the display screen is configured to display 3D images of different viewing angles [1649], and image contents of the 3D images of different viewing angles are different ([1645-1646], [1649]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu with the teaching of Qi and Samec, thereby providing improved pixel quality the display device. Allowable Subject Matter 5. Claims 24-26 and 28-29 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. Regarding claim 24: The closest art of record singly or in combination fails to teach or suggest the limitations “ wherein the controlling, according to a difference degree between each of sub-images in the next frame image and each of sub- images in the current frame image, the next frame image for being displayed in the plurality of display areas by using the first controllers comprises: in a condition that difference degrees between a part of sub-images in the next frame image and in the current frame image are greater than an image threshold , refreshing and displaying the part of sub-images in the next frame image” (see Applicant’s disclosure [0028-0032]) Regarding claim 28: The closest art of record singly or in combination fails to teach or suggest the limitations “ wherein the plurality of display areas comprise a fixation area and a non-fixation area; and the scanning the plurality of display areas by using the second controllers comprises: in a condition that difference degrees between sub-images in the fixation area in the next frame image and in the current frame image are greater than an image threshold, and difference degrees between sub-images in the non-fixation area in the next frame image and in the current frame image are less than or equal to the image threshold, scanning the fixation area sequentially in rows by using the second controller corresponding to the fixation area; or in a condition that difference degrees between all sub-images in the next frame image and in the current frame image are greater than an image threshold, scanning the fixation area sequentially in rows by using the second controller corresponding to the fixation area, and simultaneously scanning the non-fixation area in multiple rows by using the second controller corresponding to the non-fixation area” see Applicant’s disclosure ([0028-0033]). Regarding claim 29: The closest art of record singly or in combination fails to teach or suggest the limitations discloses “in a condition that difference degrees between sub-images in the fixation area in the next frame image and in the current frame image are greater than an image threshold, and difference degrees between sub-images in a non-fixation area in the next frame image and in the current frame image are less than or equal to the image threshold: loading a control signal to each group of GOA circuits in the second controller corresponding to the fixation area, and unloading a control signal to each group of GOA circuits in the second controller corresponding to the non-fixation area” see Applicant’s disclosure ([0028-0033), [0044]. Pertinent art 6. Pertinent art of record US 20110032231 A1, US 12154496 B2 discloses display device. Inquiry . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communication from the examiner should be directed to Shaheda Abdin whose telephone number is (571) 270-1673. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LunYi Lao could be reached at (571) 272-7671. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about PAIR system, see http://pari-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SHAHEDA A ABDIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 17, 2025
Application Filed
Dec 13, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §101, §103
Apr 02, 2026
Response Filed

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

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+16.1%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 712 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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