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 .
Specification
2 The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claims 1 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song et al. (US 20160055798) in view of Lee et al. (US 20220293025).
As to claim 1, Song discloses a display apparatus (Fig. 1) comprising:
a display panel (Fig. 1(110)) including a first display region (Fig. 11(EBK-1)) and a second display region (Fig. 11(EBK-2)), [0078]);
a gate emission driver (Fig. 1(120): scan driving unit) which outputs gate signals to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]);
a data driver (Fig. 1(130): data driving unit) which applies a data voltage to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]); and
a block control driver (Fig. 1(140): emission driving unit) which outputs block control signals to the display panel based on block control data ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially or simultaneously provide the emission control signals to the display panel 110 … emission driving unit 140 includes first through (n)th emission driving blocks in parallel), and
wherein the block control driver receives the block control data sequentially ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially, i.e. emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) receives the block control data sequentially from the mode control unit 145, [0078]: simultaneous emission operations are sequentially performed), and outputs the block control signals in parallel (Fig. 2, [0068]: first through (n)th emission driving blocks 142-1 through 142-n are arranged in parallel. Therefore, emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) outputs the block control signals in parallel).
Song does not expressly teach a driving frequency of the first display region is determined independently of a driving frequency of the second display region based on the block control signals.
Lee teaches a driving frequency of the first display region is determined independently of a driving frequency of the second display region based on the block control signals ([0115]: processor 120 may independently control a driving frequency of the execution screen of the first application, displayed through the first part (e.g., the first region 201 in FIG. 3 or the first region 612 in FIG. 6), and a driving frequency of the execution screen of the second application, displayed through the second part (e.g., the second region 202 in FIG. 3 or the second region 614 in FIG. 6), [0122]: each gate line (GL) can include a gate signal line (SCL), to which a gate scan signal is applied, and/or a light-emission signal line (EML), to which a light-emission signal is applied, [0123]: gate controller 530 may apply a gate scan signal and/or a light-emission signal, corresponding to a first driving frequency (e.g., 120 Hz), to some gate lines (GLs) corresponding to the first part (e.g., the first region 201 in FIG. 3 or the first region 612 in FIG. 6); Note: the “light-emission signal” is interpreted as the “block control signal”).
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 Song’s display apparatus by incorporating Lee’s idea of determining driving frequency of a display region independently in order to minimize circuit design complexity and reduce power consumption (see Lee: [0010]).
As to claim 20, Song discloses an electronic apparatus (Fig. 1) comprising:
a display panel (Fig. 1(110)) including a first display region (Fig. 11(EBK-1)) and a second display region (Fig. 11(EBK-2)), [0078]);
a gate emission driver (Fig. 1(120): scan driving unit) which outputs gate signals to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]);
a data driver (Fig. 1(130): data driving unit) which applies a data voltage to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]);
a block control driver (Fig. 1(140): emission driving unit) which outputs block control signals to the display panel based on block control data ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially or simultaneously provide the emission control signals to the display panel 110 … emission driving unit 140 includes first through (n)th emission driving blocks in parallel);
a driving controller (Fig. 1(160): timing control unit) which controls the gate emission driver (Fig. 1(120): scan driving unit), the data driver (Fig. 1(130): data driving unit) and the block control driver (Fig. 1(140): emission driving unit) based on an input control signal ([0062] – [0063]); and
a processor (Fig. 12(510)) which outputs the input control signal ([0080] – [0081]), and
wherein the block control driver receives the block control data sequentially ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially, i.e. emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) receives the block control data sequentially from the mode control unit 145, [0078]: simultaneous emission operations are sequentially performed), and outputs the block control signals in parallel (Fig. 2, [0068]: first through (n)th emission driving blocks 142-1 through 142-n are arranged in parallel. Therefore, emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) outputs the block control signals in parallel).
Song does not expressly teach a driving frequency of the first display region is determined independently of a driving frequency of the second display region based on the block control signals.
Lee teaches a driving frequency of the first display region is determined independently of a driving frequency of the second display region based on the block control signals ([0115]: processor 120 may independently control a driving frequency of the execution screen of the first application, displayed through the first part (e.g., the first region 201 in FIG. 3 or the first region 612 in FIG. 6), and a driving frequency of the execution screen of the second application, displayed through the second part (e.g., the second region 202 in FIG. 3 or the second region 614 in FIG. 6), [0122]: each gate line (GL) can include a gate signal line (SCL), to which a gate scan signal is applied, and/or a light-emission signal line (EML), to which a light-emission signal is applied, [0123]: gate controller 530 may apply a gate scan signal and/or a light-emission signal, corresponding to a first driving frequency (e.g., 120 Hz), to some gate lines (GLs) corresponding to the first part (e.g., the first region 201 in FIG. 3 or the first region 612 in FIG. 6); Note: the “light-emission signal” is interpreted as the “block control signal”).
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 Song’s display apparatus by adapting Lee’s idea of determining driving frequency of a display region independently in order to minimize circuit design complexity and reduce power consumption (see Lee: [0010]).
6. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song et al. (US 20160055798) in view of Chun (US 20220293025).
As to claim 13, Song discloses a display apparatus (Fig. 1) comprising:
a display panel (Fig. 1(110)) including a pixel circuit (Fig. 1(P), [0063]);
a gate emission driver (Fig. 1(120): scan driving unit) which outputs gate signals to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]);
a data driver (Fig. 1(130): data driving unit) which applies a data voltage to the display panel ([0062] – [0063]); and
a block control driver (Fig. 1(140): emission driving unit) which outputs a block control signal to the display panel based on block control data ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially or simultaneously provide the emission control signals to the display panel 110 … emission driving unit 140 includes first through (n)th emission driving blocks in parallel),
wherein the block control driver receives the block control data sequentially ([0064]: mode control unit 145 controls the emission driving unit 140 to sequentially, i.e. emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) receives the block control data sequentially from the mode control unit 145, [0078]: simultaneous emission operations are sequentially performed), and outputs the block control signals in parallel (Fig. 2, [0068]: first through (n)th emission driving blocks 142-1 through 142-n are arranged in parallel. Therefore, emission driving unit 140 (block control driver) outputs the block control signals in parallel).
Song does not explicitly teach the pixel circuit includes: a driving transistor which generates a driving current based on the data voltage; a writing transistor which performs a data writing operation by applying the data voltage to the driving transistor in response to a write gate signal; an initialization transistor which performs an initialization operation by applying an initialization voltage to the driving transistor in response to an initialization gate signal; and a block control transistor which controls the writing operation and the initialization operation in response to the block control signal.
Chun teaches the pixel circuit (Fig. 2, [0092]: equivalent circuit of the subpixel SP of the light-emitting display device 100) includes:
a driving transistor (Fig. 2(DRT)) which generates a driving current based on the data voltage ([0093]: driving transistor DRT for controlling a current flowing in the light-emitting element ED);
a writing transistor (Fig. 2(SCT)) which performs a data writing operation by applying the data voltage to the driving transistor in response to a write gate signal ([0093]: scan transistor SCT for transmitting a data voltage Vdata to the driving transistor DRT);
an initialization transistor (Fig. 2(SENT)) which performs an initialization operation by applying an initialization voltage to the driving transistor in response to an initialization gate signal ([0093]: sense transistor SENT for an initialization operation); and
a block control transistor (Fig. 2(EMT)) which controls the writing operation and the initialization operation in response to the block control signal (Fig. 6-7, [0093], [0106], [0108], [0140] – [0142]: block driving, [0148]: SCAN, SENSE, and EM applied to a first block BLK #1 in the block driving according to the first method of the light-emitting display device 100, [0149]: six subpixel lines SPL #1 to SPL #6 included in the first block BLK #1 are driven according to a set procedure (SENSING, HOLD1, DW, HOLD2, and EMISSION). After the driving of the six subpixel lines SPL #1 to SPL #6 included in the first block BLK #1 starts, driving of six subpixel lines SPL #1 to SPL #6 included in a second block BLK #2 may start, [0151]).
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 Song’s display apparatus by incorporating Chun’s idea of controlling the writing operation (SCAN) and the initialization operation (SENSE) in response to the block control signal in order to prevent luminance non-uniformity (see Chun: [0007]).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 2-12 and 14-19 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AFROZA Y CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-1543. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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/AFROZA CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2628