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(s) 1, 4, 5, 7have 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
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, 4, 5, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akutsu (US 2007/0164946) in view of Shiomi (US 2008/0158443) and Lee (US 2018/0012530).
Regarding claims 1 and 7, Akutsu teaches A display device comprising: a display panel including pixels; a data driving circuit which provides a data signal to the display panel; a scan driving circuit which provides a scan signal to the display panel (Fig. 16, data driver 3, scan driver 4, pixels ); a data compensation circuit which compensates input image data and generates output image data corresponding to the data signal (Fig. 1 data compensation unit), the data compensation circuit including: a reference frame data generating block which generates (i)th reference frame data (current frame data), where i is an integer greater than or equal to 2, based on (i-1)th reference frame data that is generated in an (i-1)th display frame (previous frame data) and (i)th output image data that is generated based on the (i-1)th reference frame data in an (i)th display frame (current frame data that updated/compensated from previous frame data);a reference frame memory device which stores reference frame data (frame memory 115); and a compensating block which generates the (i)th output image data by generating (i)th conversion image data based on (i)th input image data that is input in the (i)th display frame, by generating afterimage compensation data for each of the pixels based on the (i)th conversion image data and the (i-1)th reference frame data, and by compensating the (i)th input image data based on the afterimage compensation data (114a uses a previous frame data and a current frame data to create compensation and conversion data); and a timing control circuit which controls the data driving circuit, the scan driving circuit, and the data compensation circuit (Fig. 16, control circuit 12). Although Akutsu teaches the limitations as discussed above, he does not explicitly teach a reference frame memory device which stores the (i)th reference frame data when the (i)th reference frame data is generated in the (i)th display frame and provides the (i)th reference frame data in an (i+l)th display frame; a memory control block which controls the reference frame memory device.
However in the field of compensating image data Shiomi teaches teach a reference frame memory device which stores the (i)th reference frame data when the (i)th reference frame data is generated in the (i)th display frame and provides the (i)th reference frame data in an (i+l)th display frame; a memory control block which controls the reference frame memory device to store the (i)th reference frame data when the (i)th reference frame data is generated in the (i)th display frame and provides the (i)th reference frame data in an (i+l)th display frame ([0238]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the method as taught by Akutsu with the method as taught by Shiomi. This combination would provide an improved view experience for a user as taught by Shiomi (abstract). Although the combination teaches the limitations as discussed above, they fail to explicitly teach reference frame memory device which stores for each pixel reference frame data.
However in the field of compensating pixel deterioration Lee teaches a method where pixels are divided into blocks and stress data for the blocks is calculated where the frame memory device stores data for each pixel ([0015-0016][0099-0102] teaches the system will generate a stress map for current frame by using a stress map of a previous frame read from memory and determine how to disperse (compensate/output) the pixels based on the stress data.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill it the art to combine the method as taught by Akutsu with the method as taught by Shiomi and the method as taught by Lee. This combination would provide an improved view experience for a user as taught by Shiomi (abstract).
Regarding claim 4, Akutsu teaches wherein the compensating block determines a luminance compensation amount of the afterimage compensation data based on a difference between a reference gray scale value according to the (i-I )th reference frame data and a gray scale value according to the (i)th conversion image data ([0297-0302]).
Regarding claim 5, Acosta teaches when the gray scale value is greater than the reference gray scale value, the compensating block generates the afterimage compensation data which performs a compensation of decreasing a luminance of the (i)th input image data, when the gray scale value is smaller than the reference gray scale value, the compensating block generates the afterimage compensation data which performs a compensation of increasing the luminance of the (i)th input image data, and when the gray scale value is equal to the reference gray scale value, the compensating block generates the afterimage compensation data which does not perform a compensation of adjusting the luminance of the (i)th input image data ([0299][0301][0303]).
Regarding claim 11, Lee teaches accumulated stress memory device configured to store cumulative stress data for each of the pixels ([0099] accumulated stress memory 300).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 6, 8-9, and 12-15 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.
Claims 2 and 8 are objected to based on the equations used for conversion image data.
Claim 6 is objected to based on the equations used for afterimage compensation.
Claims 3 and 9 is objected to based on the equations used for calculating reference frame data.
Claim 12 is objected to based on how the stress data is generated for each pixels and is used to update a cumulative stress data to store in accumulated stress memory device.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDRE L MATTHEWS whose telephone number is (571)270-5806. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-6:00.
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, Amr Awad can be reached at 571-272-7764. 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.
/ANDRE L MATTHEWS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
Prosecution Insights