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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 2, 4-7, 9-12, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0080670 to Jung et al.; in view of US 12,142,219 to Koh et al.; further in view of US 2023/0306884 to Choi et al.
As per claim 1, Jung et al. teach a method of burn-in compensation for a display panel, comprising:
performing, based on a first compensation value corresponding to a first display region of the display panel, a compensation calculation on input pixel data of the first display region (Fig. 13, paragraph 72, “a timing diagram 210 illustrates an amount of attenuation (ordinate 212) applied to the maximum pixel luminance value that is permitted in the cell in relation to time”; Fig. 11, paragraphs 64-65, “the local maximum pixel luminance value (max_graylevel) may be used by the local tone mapping block 116, which may perform any suitable local tone mapping on the image data under the constraint that each cell has a local maximum pixel luminance value indicated by the attenuation value max_graylevel provided by the burn-in detection and mitigation (BIDM) block 114 ….The local tone mapping block 116 may apply any suitable local tone curve to input image data of each cell to produce locally tone-mapped image data as an output”, in other words, the local tone mapping for each cell will be construed as the claimed compensation calculation) in an input frame (paragraph 58, “the input image data 110 is represented by a frame of image data showing a photo that is to be displayed on the electronic display 18. The input image data 110 may be divided into a variety of image cells”), to generate output pixel data of the first display region in a burn-in-compensated output frame, wherein the first compensation value is determined based on a first accumulated burn-in stress corresponding to the first display region (Fig. 12, cumulative filtered cell risk);
sampling based on a first sampling period corresponding to the first display region (paragraph 10).
Jung et al. do not necessarily teach sampling to obtain sampled pixel data of the first display region in a first sampled output frame from a plurality of burn-in-compensated output frames generated successively; determining a first burn-in stress increment based on the sampled pixel data of the first display region in the first sampled output frame, and generating a first updated accumulated burn-in stress based on the first accumulated burn- in stress and the first burn-in stress increment, or based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment.
Koh et al. teach sampling to obtain sampled pixel data of the first display region in a first sampled output frame from a plurality of burn-in-compensated output frames generated successively (Fig. 8, the sampled burn-in compensated image data is analogous to the per-cell tone mapped data of Jung); determining a first burn-in stress increment based on the sampled pixel data of the first display region in the first sampled output frame (column 9, lines 63-67, “The history update 66 is an incremental update representing an increased amount of pixel aging that is estimated to have occurred since a corresponding previous history update 66”) and generating a first updated accumulated burn-in stress based on the first accumulated burn- in stress and the first burn-in stress increment (column 10, lines 10-14, “each history update 66 may be aggregated to maintain a burn-in history map 70 indicative of the total estimated burn-in that has occurred to the display pixels of the electronic display 12.”), or based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to modify the device of Jung et al., by sampling to obtain sampled pixel data of the first display region in a first sampled output frame from a plurality of burn-in-compensated output frames generated successively; determining a first burn-in stress increment based on the sampled pixel data of the first display region in the first sampled output frame, and generating a first updated accumulated burn-in stress based on the first accumulated burn- in stress and the first burn-in stress increment, or based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment, such as taught by Koh et al., for the purpose of reducing a burn-in effect.
Jung and Koh et al. do not necessarily teach generating the first updated accumulated burn-in stress for updating the first sampling period.
Choi et al. teach generating the first updated accumulated burn-in stress for updating the first sampling period, wherein the first sampling period is associated with the first accumulated burn-in stress (paragraph 153, “determining a first sampling period based on the first cumulative time; determining a second sampling period based on the second cumulative time, obtaining the global burn-in information and the local burn-in information corresponding to the first area 231 for each of the first sampling period; and obtaining the global burn-in information and the local burn-in information corresponding to the second area 232 for each of the second sampling period”, in other words, the sampling period is determined based on the amount of accumulated time, which corresponds, at least indirectly, to the cumulative time of burn-in stress).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to modify the device of Jung and Koh et al., by generating the first updated accumulated burn-in stress for updating the first sampling period, wherein the first sampling period is associated with the first accumulated burn-in stress, such as taught by Choi, for the purpose of optimizing computational resources.
As per claim 2, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining the first accumulated burn-in stress corresponding to the first display region (Jung, Fig. 12, cumulative filtered cell risk), and determining, based on a first mapping table, the first compensation value (Fig. 11, paragraphs 64-65, “The local tone mapping block 116 may apply any suitable local tone curve to input image data of each cell to produce locally tone-mapped image data as an output”) corresponding to the first accumulated burn-in stress, wherein the first mapping table records a mapping relationship of a plurality of reference accumulated burn-in stresses corresponding to a plurality of reference compensation values (Koh et al., column 10, lines 25-30, “the gain maps 74 may be programmed into 2D lookup tables (LUTs)”).
As per claim 4, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the first updated accumulated burn-in stress based on the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first burn-in stress increment comprises: adding the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first burn-in stress increment to obtain the first updated accumulated burn-in stress (Koh et al., Fig. 8, column 9, lines 60-65, “The history update 66 is an incremental update representing an increased amount of pixel aging that is estimated to have occurred”).
As per claim 5, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the first updated accumulated burn-in stress based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment comprises: determining the first accumulated burn-in stress corresponding to the first compensation value (Koh, Fig. 8, 60) based on a first mapping table, wherein the first mapping table records a mapping relationship of a plurality of reference accumulated burn-in stresses corresponding to a plurality of reference compensation values (Koh et al., column 10, lines 25-30, “the gain maps 74 may be programmed into 2D lookup tables (LUTs)”); and adding the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first burn-in stress increment to obtain the first updated accumulated burn-in stress (Koh et al., Fig. 8, column 9, lines 60-65, “The history update 66 is an incremental update representing an increased amount of pixel aging that is estimated to have occurred”).
As per claim 6, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on a second mapping table, an updated value of the first sampling period corresponding to the first updated accumulated burn-in stress, wherein the second mapping table records a mapping relationship of a plurality of reference accumulated burn-in stresses corresponding to a plurality of sampling periods (Koh et al., column 10, lines 25-30, “the gain maps 74 may be programmed into 2D lookup tables (LUTs)”), and when the first accumulated burn-in stress changes to the first updated accumulated burn-in stress, the larger a variation magnitude of the first compensation value, the smaller the updated value of the first sampling period (Choi et al., paragraph 169, “For example, a first user may habitually use the second state of the electronic device 200 only for a short time, and in this case, the electronic device 200 may set the second sampling period to a relatively short time (e.g., about 5 seconds). For example, a second user may habitually use the second state of the electronic device 200 for a long time, and in this case, the electronic device 200 may set the second sampling period to a relatively long time (e.g., about 10 seconds)”, notice that when the sampling rate is bigger, the time period within each sample is smaller, and said sampling period is determined on the basis of accumulated usage).
As per claim 7, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, wherein the first sampling period is a multiple of a time length of a frame, and output pixel data of the first display region in each output frame within the first sampling period results in a same or similar burn-in stress original increment (Choi, paragraph 153, “determining a first sampling period based on the first cumulative time; determining a second sampling period based on the second cumulative time, obtaining the global burn-in information and the local burn-in information corresponding to the first area 231 for each of the first sampling period; and obtaining the global burn-in information and the local burn-in information corresponding to the second area 232 for each of the second sampling period”, in other words, a sampling rate is correlated to an amount of deterioration, it is implicitly disclosed that for a certain amount of deterioration, the burn-in stress increments will be substantially similar).
As per claim 9, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, wherein in a case where the first updated accumulated burn-in stress is generated based on the first compensation value and the first burn- in stress increment, the method further comprises: generating a first updated compensation value based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment (Koh et al., Fig. 8, an incremental value in history update 66 is used to determine a compensation amount (60), said compensation amount (60) in turn determines an incremental update value).
As per claim 10, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 9, wherein generating the first updated compensation value based on the first compensation value and the first burn-in stress increment comprises: obtaining, based on the first compensation value and from a first mapping table, two reference compensation values between which the first compensation value is located, and obtaining two reference accumulated burn-in stresses corresponding to the two reference compensation values, wherein the first mapping table records a mapping relationship of a plurality of reference accumulated burn-in stresses corresponding to a plurality of reference compensation values; determining a first compensation increment based on the first burn-in stress increment, the obtained two reference compensation values and the obtained two reference accumulated burn-in stresses; and determining the first updated compensation value based on the first compensation value and the first compensation increment (Koh, column 13, lines 44-48, “Additionally, in some embodiments, values (e.g., tap points) of the 2D compensation LUT 120 may be interpolated between to generate compensated gains 118 that do not align with the prefilled compensation gains of the 2D compensation LUT 120”).
As per claim 11, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 9, comprising: reading the first compensation value from a storage medium to perform the compensation calculation on the input pixel data of the first display region in the input frame (Koh, column 10, lines 14-16, “gain maps 74 may be generated (e.g., via a compute gain maps sub-block 72) based on the burn-in history map 70”); and writing the first update compensation value to the storage medium (Koh, column 10, lines 10-15, “each history update 66 may be aggregated to maintain a burn-in history map 70 indicative of the total estimated burn-in that has occurred to the display pixels of the electronic display 12”).
As per claim 12, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1, wherein performing, based on a first compensation value corresponding to a first display region of the display panel, a compensation calculation on input pixel data of the first display region in an input frame, comprises: multiplying the first compensation value (Koh, Fig. 12, 118) by an operating factor (Koh, Fig. 12, normalization factor), to obtain an adjusted compensation value for the first display region (Fig. 12, 124), wherein the operating factor is associated with one or more of: a display panel attribute (column 14, lines 25-30, “the normalization factor 122 may take any suitable form, and may take into account a maximum gain to be applied and/or the global brightness setting 110 of the electronic display 12”), an environmental impact factor, and a driving performance; and generating the output pixel data in the first display region of the burn-in-compensated output frame, based on the adjusted compensation value for the first display region and the input pixel data of the first display region (Koh, Fig. 12).
As per claim 16, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach a display control circuit (Jung, Fig. 1, processor core complex 12) of a display panel comprising a processing sub-circuit configured to perform the method of claim 1.
As per claim 17, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach a display device comprising: a display panel (Jung, Fig. 1, display 18); and the display control circuit of claim 16 for controlling a display operation of the display panel.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0080670 to Jung et al.; in view of US 12,142,219 to Koh et al.; in view of US 2023/0306884 to Choi et al.; further in view of US 12, 217,687 to Cook et al.
As per claim 8, Jung, Koh and Choi et al. teach the method according to claim 1.
Jung, Koh and Choi et al. do not teach wherein the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first updated accumulated burn-in stress are represented and processed in a first number of data bits, and the method further comprises: reading a stored value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having a second number of data bits from a storage medium and converting the stored value to a calculated value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits, wherein the second number is less than the first number; and converting a calculated value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits to a stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the second number of data bits, and storing the stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress in the storage medium.
Cook et al teach wherein the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first updated accumulated burn-in stress are represented and processed in a first number of data bits, and the method further comprises: reading a stored value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having a second number of data bits from a storage medium and converting the stored value to a calculated value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits, wherein the second number is less than the first number (Cook, column 8, lines 50-56, “a dither value D may be added to compensate for biasing that results from the quantization of a floor function”); and converting a calculated value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits to a stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the second number of data bits, and storing the stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress in the storage medium (Cook, column 5, lines 7-13, “The term “quantization” as used herein refers to the process of mapping values to a smaller set of discrete finite values by way of truncation or rounding. In practice, this can involve zeroing or removing some one or more of the least significant bits from a calculated number”, see also column 10, lines 35-45 of Koh et al., “the burn-in history map 70 and/or the gain maps 74 determined therefrom may be compressed to provide reduced bandwidth and/or cache utilization. The burn-in history map 70 (e.g., sub-sampled) may be upsampled to the resolution of the electronic display 12 to generate the gain maps 74 or used to generate the gain maps 74 at the sub-sampled resolution, and the gain maps 74 may be upsampled to the resolution of the electronic display 12 and/or input image data 58”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to modify the device of Jung, Koh and Choi et al., so that the first accumulated burn-in stress and the first updated accumulated burn-in stress are represented and processed in a first number of data bits, and the method further comprises: reading a stored value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having a second number of data bits from a storage medium and converting the stored value to a calculated value of the first accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits, wherein the second number is less than the first number; and converting a calculated value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the first number of data bits to a stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress having the second number of data bits, and storing the stored value of the first updated accumulated burn-in stress in the storage medium, such as taught by Cook, for the purpose of optimizing computational resources.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 13-15 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/JOSE R SOTO LOPEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2622
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