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 .
Attempt for Communication
On 09/02/2026, the examiner called and left voicemail for the applicant’s representative Floyd Canfield (Reg. No. 69,151) to discuss and resolve the rejections under 25 U.S.C. 112(b). No reply call was received by COB on 09/03/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3-4 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitations "the analog front-end circuit block" (line 3), “the digital circuit block” (line 4), and “the configuration setting” and “the digital circuit block” (line 5).
Claim 4 recites the limitations “the digital circuit block” (lines 3-5) and “the analog front-end circuit block” (line 6).
Claim 15 recites the limitations “the digital circuit block” (lines 3-5) and “the analog front-end circuit block” (line 6).
There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitation in the claims.
For the purpose of examination, it is assumed that claim 3 and 4 depend on claim 2, and claim 15 depends on claim 14.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2, 5-14 and 16-23 are allowed.
Claims 3-4 and 15 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Kang et al., US Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2005/0064829 teaches an Always On (AON) power domain FIG. 2A, 210a including a Power Control unit 140 (i.e. a power consumption control block), wherein the AON power domain is always powered on and the remaining power collapsible power domains 210b-e can be individually powered off during the sleep mode (paragraph 0032, paragraph 0033, lines 9-12). Kang further teaches supplying high-frequency main/system clock 152 to the modem processor 120 during normal operation and a separate low-frequency sleep clock 154 used by the AON domain within the modem processor (FIG. 1, paragraph 0028, lines 5-10), wherein, the clock controller 248 (within the Power Control unit 140) disables the main clock 152 prior of powering down and enables the main clock 152 after powering up the collapsible power domain(s) (paragraph 0042, lines 1-2). However, Kang does not teach reducing the operating clock frequency of the power consumption control block (sleep clock 154 for the Power Control unit 140 within the AON power domain) and increasing the operating clock frequency of the power consumption control block, as required by the second procedure and the fourth procedure recited in claims 1 and 13. In Kang, the sleep clock supplied to the AON power domain (i.e. to the Power Control unit 140) is constant albeit with low-frequency, thus it is not reduced or increased as claimed.
Huang et al., US Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2017/0329435 teaches a touchscreen (FIG(s) 2-3), wherein upon receiving a wake-up signal for the touchscreen, obtaining on the touchscreen an effective touch area that corresponds to the signal for waking up the touchscreen according to a preset correspondence between the signal for waking up the touchscreen and the effective touch area and further detecting position information of a touch point within the effective touch area and generating an operation instruction according to the position information of the touch point (Abstract, paragraph 0007, FIG. 2, paragraph 0050). However, Huang does not teach when entering a low-power mode from a normal mode, cyclically switching between a pre-wake-up mode and a power-off mode, wherein in the power-off mode, the power consumption control block controls the functional circuit block to be completely powered off, and in the pre-wake-up mode, performing touch detection of multiple frames on the touch display panel, wherein the touch detection comprises determining whether a touch area in the frames reaches a touch area threshold and determining whether at least one preset touch point reaches a touch count threshold, as required by claims 7 and 18.
Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) teaches the complexity and lessened reliability due to the traditional power domain design approach based of manual modifications to the original RTL code (specification, paragraphs 0003-0005).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, none of the prior art and the AAPA disclose or suggest reducing the operating clock frequency of the power consumption control block and increasing the operating clock frequency of the power consumption control block, as required by the second procedure and the fourth procedure recited in claims 1 and 13, in combination with the remaining claim elements.
Regarding claims 7 and 18, none of the prior art and the AAPA disclose or suggest when entering a low-power mode from a normal mode, cyclically switching between a pre-wake-up mode and a power-off mode, wherein in the power-off mode, the power consumption control block controls the functional circuit block to be completely powered off, and in the pre-wake-up mode, performing touch detection of multiple frames on the touch display panel, wherein the touch detection comprises determining whether a touch area in the frames reaches a touch area threshold and determining whether at least one preset touch point reaches a touch count threshold, as required by claims 7 and 18, in combination with the remaining claim elements.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEFAN STOYNOV whose telephone number is (571)272-4236. The examiner can normally be reached Monday 7AM-3PM, Wednesday 7AM-11AM and Thursday 7AM-3PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Jung can be reached at 571-270-3779. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEFAN STOYNOV/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2175
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