Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by IISAKA et al. (US 2011/0205439).
The applied reference has a common Assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claims 1, 4-6 IISAKA et al. (US 2011/0205439), figs. 1-4, 7-12, discloses a liquid crystal display device comprising: a liquid crystal panel including panel pixels; and a display control circuit configured to control the liquid crystal panel, wherein video data includes pixel data corresponding to the panel pixels, and the pixel data designates gradation levels of the panel pixels, and the display control circuit is configured to: perform first correction on each piece of pixel data included in the video data, based on a gradation level of gradation data of a panel pixel around each piece of pixel data; detect a boundary at which a bright panel pixel, of which the gradation level designated by the pixel data subjected to the first correction is equal to or higher than a first threshold value, and a dark panel pixel, of which the gradation level is equal to or lower than a second threshold value, are adjacent to each other; when there is a first boundary at which the gradation level designated by the pixel data of the bright panel pixel being a bright panel pixel related to the detected boundary and subjected to the first correction is equal to or higher than a third threshold value, in a first bright panel pixel and a first dark panel pixel adjacent to each other via the first boundary, perform second correction for bringing the gradation level designated by the pixel data of the first bright panel pixel subjected to the first correction closer to the first threshold value and bringing the gradation level designated by the pixel data of the first dark panel pixel subjected to the first correction closer to the second threshold value; and supply a data signal corresponding to the corrected gradation level to the panel pixel.
Regarding claim 2, IISAKA et al. (US 2011/0205439), figs. 1-4, 7-12, discloses the liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the display control circuit is configured to reduce a difference between gradation levels designated by pixel data of adjacent panel pixels for each piece of pixel data included in the video data, as the first correction (pars. 81, 89, 98, 105, 118, 119, 123).
Regarding claim 3, IISAKA et al. (US 2011/0205439), figs. 1-4, 7-13, discloses the liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the boundary includes a second boundary in addition to the first boundary, and when dark panel pixels and bright panel pixels of which the number is larger than the number of the dark panel pixels are adjacent to each other at the first boundary, and dark panel pixels and bright panel pixels of which the number is smaller than the number of the dark panel pixels are adjacent to each other at the second boundary, the third threshold value is a value between a gradation level designated by pixel data of the bright panel pixels at the first boundary and a gradation level designated by pixel data of the bright panel pixels at the second boundary (pars. 93, 112, 115, 118, In the normally black mode, it may be considered that the threshold value Vth1 is an optical threshold voltage causing the relative transmittance of a liquid crystal element to be 10%, while the threshold value Vth2 is an optical saturation voltage causing the relative transmittance of a liquid crystal element to be 90%).
Conclusion
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/VAN N CHOW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627