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 .
Drawings
The drawings filed 5-5-25 have been accepted by the examiner.
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 1-4, 8, and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou et al. (US 2019/0101751) in view of Hejda et al. (US 2025/0244578).
Regarding claim 1, Chou (Fig. 5) discloses a method, comprising:
performing image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (eg. “perform an image pre-distorting process on the merged image I4” discussed in [0022]) to produce a warped version of an input image (eg. image warping on input image I4 produces a warped version, called “pre-distorted image I5” in [0022]);
producing resulting image data corresponding to a resulting image (200) such that a first region of the resulting image (a first region corresponding to the border of 200) is filled with black pixels (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the border of 200 is black, which the examiner interprets as being “filled with black pixels,” with “pixels” more specifically discussed in [0023], see also “each head-up display image is displayed in a corresponding outer frame, and each outer frame is formed by a display region not displaying an image” discussed in [0018]) and a second region of the resulting image (a central region of 200) incorporates the warped version of the input image (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the central region of 200 shows the warped version of the input image, corresponding to I5);
driving a display panel (102 may be a “a liquid crystal display, a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) display, a digital light processing (DLP) projector, or a micro light emitting diode (micro LED) display” as discussed in [0020]) based on the resulting image data (“display apparatus 102 may display the ultra-wide image 200” discussed in [0022]);
producing black pixel pattern data indicative of an arrangement of the black pixels in the resulting image (eg. the black pixels corresponding to the border area of 200, as discussed above).
However, while Chou teaches the display may be a “liquid crystal display” (see [0024]), Chou fails to explicitly teach or suggest a “backlight,” or “controlling, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of a plurality of light sources of a backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel.”
Hejda (Fig. 1-4) discloses a method, comprising:
performing image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (“a display image which is distorted with the aid of a warping function” as discussed in [0028]) to produce a warped version of an input image (“the warping function generally causes the distortion of a display image” discussed in [0032]).
Hejda additionally teaches that “the backlighting of the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” (see [0008]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou and Hejda would provide a method comprising controlling, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of a plurality of light sources of a backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel (as taught by Chou, the image data includes “blank regions” with corresponding black pixels, ie. “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black” and “does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022], while as taught by Hejda, the backlight is deactivated for regions without an active image, see [0008], while the examiner interprets the “blank regions” of Chou to correspond to “regions without an active image” as in Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou to include controlling, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of a plurality of light sources of a backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel as taught by Hejda because this can improve image contrast so that “no bothersome gray region is produced” (see [0034]).
Regarding claim 10, Chou (Fig. 1 and 5) discloses a display device, comprising:
a display panel (102);
a display driver (104) configured to:
perform image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (eg. “perform an image pre-distorting process on the merged image I4” discussed in [0022]) to produce a warped version of an input image (eg. image warping on input image I4 produces a warped version, called “pre-distorted image I5” in [0022]);
produce resulting image data corresponding to a resulting image (200) such that a first region of the resulting image (a first region corresponding to the border of 200) is filled with black pixels (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the border of 200 is black, which the examiner interprets as being “filled with black pixels,” with “pixels” more specifically discussed in [0023], see also “each head-up display image is displayed in a corresponding outer frame, and each outer frame is formed by a display region not displaying an image” discussed in [0018]) and a second region of the resulting image (a central region of 200) incorporates the warped version of the input image (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the central region of 200 shows the warped version of the input image, corresponding to I5);
drive the display panel (102 may be a “a liquid crystal display, a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) display, a digital light processing (DLP) projector, or a micro light emitting diode (micro LED) display” as discussed in [0020]) based on the resulting image data (“display apparatus 102 may display the ultra-wide image 200” discussed in [0022]);
produce black pixel pattern data indicative of an arrangement of the black pixels in the resulting image (eg. the black pixels corresponding to the border area of 200, as discussed above).
However, while Chou teaches the display may be a “liquid crystal display” (see [0024]), Chou fails to explicitly teach or suggest a “backlight device comprising a plurality of light sources configured to illuminate the display panel,” or “control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel.”
Hejda (Fig. 1-4) discloses a display device, comprising:
a display panel (22);
a backlight device (21) comprising a plurality of light sources (eg. “one or more LEDs” as discussed in [0034]) configured to illuminate the display panel (“direct the backlight emitted by the backlight arrangement into a preferential direction such that the display image is directed” discussed in [0033]); and
a display driver (9) configured to:
perform image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (“a display image which is distorted with the aid of a warping function” as discussed in [0028]) to produce a warped version of an input image (“the warping function generally causes the distortion of a display image” discussed in [0032]).
Hejda additionally teaches that “the backlighting of the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” (see [0008]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou and Hejda would provide a display device configured to control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel (as taught by Chou, the image data includes “blank regions” with corresponding black pixels, ie. “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black” and “does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022], while as taught by Hejda, the backlight is deactivated for regions without an active image, see [0008], while the examiner interprets the “blank regions” of Chou to correspond to “regions without an active image” as in Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou to control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel as taught by Hejda because this can improve image contrast so that “no bothersome gray region is produced” (see [0034]).
Regarding claim 2, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, and Chou further discloses wherein the display panel forms a projector configured to project a display image on a display screen based on the resulting image data (the image beam is “projected to a screen (e.g., a head-up display screen or a windscreen panel of the vehicle)” as discussed in [0019]).
Additionally, Hejda (Fig. 1 and 3) further discloses wherein the display panel (22) and the backlight device (21) form a projector (2) configured to project a display image on a curved display screen (projected onto windshield 5 as seen in Fig. 1, and “the curvature of the windshield 5 in the lateral direction and height direction” discussed in [0032]) based on the resulting image data (“a display image displayed on the display surface 3 of the display unit 2 is reflected at a lower region of the inside of the windshield 5” discussed in [0027]), and wherein a shape of the first region of the resulting image (eg. corresponding to the “regions without an active image” as discussed above) is based on at least one of a shape of the curved display screen (as seen in Fig. 4, the shape of the image border corresponds to the border of the screen, see also “a banana-shaped distortion in order to compensate for the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0032] and “dimming zones are distorted according to the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and a manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 3, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein performing the image warping on the input image data is based on the at least one of the shape of the curved display screen (“the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and the manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 4, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the curved display screen is formed on a surface of a windshield (5) of an automotive vehicle (“motor vehicle” discussed in [0035]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 8, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the resulting image and the input image are rectangular (both the resulting image 200 and input image I1 are rectangles as seen in Fig. 5, see also I1 has an aspect ratio of “16:9” as discussed in [0022]).
Regarding claim 11, Chou and Hejda disclose a display device as discussed above, and Chou further discloses wherein the display device comprises a projector (“projected” as discussed in [0019]),
wherein the projector comprises the display panel (102),
wherein the projector is configured to project a display image on a display screen based on the resulting image data (the image beam is “projected to a screen (e.g., a head-up display screen or a windscreen panel of the vehicle)” as discussed in [0019]).
Additionally, Hejda (Fig. 1 and 3) further discloses wherein the display device comprises a projector (eg. projected onto the windshield as seen in Fig. 1),
wherein the projector (2) comprises the display panel (22) and the backlight device (21),
wherein the projector is configured to project a display image on a curved display screen (projected onto windshield 5 as seen in Fig. 1, and “the curvature of the windshield 5 in the lateral direction and height direction” discussed in [0032]) based on the resulting image data (“a display image displayed on the display surface 3 of the display unit 2 is reflected at a lower region of the inside of the windshield 5” discussed in [0027]), and
wherein a shape of the first region of the resulting image (eg. corresponding to the “regions without an active image” as discussed above) is based on at least one of a shape of the curved display screen (as seen in Fig. 4, the shape of the image border corresponds to the border of the screen, see also “a banana-shaped distortion in order to compensate for the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0032] and “dimming zones are distorted according to the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and a manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 12, Chou and Hejda disclose a display device as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein performing the image warping on the input image data is based on the at least one of the shape of the curved display screen (“the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and the manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 13, Chou and Hejda disclose a display device as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the curved display screen is formed on a surface of a windshield (5) of an automotive vehicle (“motor vehicle” discussed in [0035]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou and Hejda for the same reasons as discussed above.
Claims 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou in view of Hejda and Kim et al. (US 2025/0091441).
Regarding claim 16, Chou (Fig. 1 and 5) discloses a display driver, comprising:
image data processing circuitry (104, eg. processing the input image using a “distorting process”) configured to:
perform image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (eg. “perform an image pre-distorting process on the merged image I4” discussed in [0022]) to produce a warped version of an input image (eg. image warping on input image I4 produces a warped version, called “pre-distorted image I5” in [0022]);
produce resulting image data corresponding to a resulting image (200) such that a first region of the resulting image (a first region corresponding to the border of 200) is filled with black pixels (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the border of 200 is black, which the examiner interprets as being “filled with black pixels,” with “pixels” more specifically discussed in [0023], see also “each head-up display image is displayed in a corresponding outer frame, and each outer frame is formed by a display region not displaying an image” discussed in [0018]) and a second region of the resulting image (a central region of 200) incorporates the warped version of the input image (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the central region of 200 shows the warped version of the input image, corresponding to I5);
drive the display panel (102 may be a “a liquid crystal display, a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) display, a digital light processing (DLP) projector, or a micro light emitting diode (micro LED) display” as discussed in [0020]) based on the resulting image data (“display apparatus 102 may display the ultra-wide image 200” discussed in [0022]);
produce black pixel pattern data indicative of an arrangement of the black pixels in the resulting image (eg. the black pixels corresponding to the border area of 200, as discussed above).
However, while Chou teaches the display may be a “liquid crystal display” (see [0024]), Chou fails to explicitly teach or suggest a “backlight,” or “control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel.”
Hejda (Fig. 1-4) discloses a display driver, comprising:
image processing circuitry (9, eg. processing the input image using a “warping function”) configured to:
perform image warping on input image data corresponding to an input image (“a display image which is distorted with the aid of a warping function” as discussed in [0028]) to produce a warped version of an input image (“the warping function generally causes the distortion of a display image” discussed in [0032]).
Hejda additionally teaches that “the backlighting of the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” (see [0008]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou and Hejda would provide a display device configured to control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel (as taught by Chou, the image data includes “blank regions” with corresponding black pixels, ie. “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black” and “does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022], while as taught by Hejda, the backlight is deactivated for regions without an active image, see [0008], while the examiner interprets the “blank regions” of Chou to correspond to “regions without an active image” as in Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou to control, based on the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data, luminance levels of one or more of the plurality of light sources of the backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel as taught by Hejda because this can improve image contrast so that “no bothersome gray region is produced” (see [0034]).
However, Chou and Hejda fail to specifically teach or suggest “drive circuitry configured to drive the display panel based on the resulting image data.”
Kim (Fig. 7 and 8) discloses a display driver, comprising:
image data processing circuitry (805, with “805 may process image signals” discussed in [0234]) configured to:
perform image processing on input image data corresponding to an input image (eg. “805 may be equipped with a decoder, a scaler, a formatter, etc. to process image signals” discussed in [0234]);
produce resulting image data corresponding to a resulting image (eg. as seen in Fig. 8, the processed image signals, corresponding to the claimed “resulting image data,” are transmit to 832, see “832 may receive control signals, image signals, etc. from the display controller 805” discussed in [0241]); and
drive circuitry (834 and 836) configured to drive the display panel (810) based on the resulting image data (eg. “gate driver 834 and the data driver 836 may supply scanning signals and image signals to the display panel 810” discussed in [0242]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda to include drive circuitry configured to drive the display panel based on the resulting image data as taught by Kim because this allows the display panel to be controlled with the proper timing (eg. using a “vertical synchronization signal” as discussed in [0241]) and data formats (eg. “change the format of the input image signal into an image signal for display on the display panel” discussed in [0237]).
Regarding claim 17, Chou, Hejda, and Kim disclose a display driver as discussed above, and Chou further discloses wherein the display panel forms a projector configured to project a display image on a display screen based on the resulting image data (the image beam is “projected to a screen (e.g., a head-up display screen or a windscreen panel of the vehicle)” as discussed in [0019]).
Additionally, Hejda (Fig. 1 and 3) further discloses wherein the display panel (22) and the backlight device (21) form a projector (2) configured to project a display image on a curved display screen (projected onto windshield 5 as seen in Fig. 1, and “the curvature of the windshield 5 in the lateral direction and height direction” discussed in [0032]) based on the resulting image data (“a display image displayed on the display surface 3 of the display unit 2 is reflected at a lower region of the inside of the windshield 5” discussed in [0027]), and wherein a shape of the first region of the resulting image (eg. corresponding to the “regions without an active image” as discussed above) is based on at least one of a shape of the curved display screen (as seen in Fig. 4, the shape of the image border corresponds to the border of the screen, see also “a banana-shaped distortion in order to compensate for the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0032] and “dimming zones are distorted according to the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and a manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou, Hejda, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 18, Chou, Hejda, and Kim disclose a display driver as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein performing the image warping on the input image data is based on the at least one of the shape of the curved display screen (“the warping function which is based on the curvature of the windshield 5” discussed in [0036]) and the manual input (this limitation is not being examined due to the alternative language “at least one of”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou, Hejda, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Claims 5 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou and Hejda as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Lin et al. (US 2022/0005421).
Regarding claim 5, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and
wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels.
Lin discloses a method wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits (called “local dimming data” and which “include bit data” as discussed in [0042]) respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image (“local dimming data based on image data” discussed in [0003]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou and Hejda with Lin would provide a method wherein each of the plurality of bits (eg. the bits taught by Lin, which control the backlight for local dimming) indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels (eg. controlling the local dimming of the backlight to turn off for black pixels as taught by Chou and Hejda, see “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black… does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022] of Chou and “the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” discussed in [0008] of Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda so the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels as taught by Lin because this allows the display quality to improve (eg. to “increase the contrast” as discussed in [0002]).
Regarding claim 14, Chou and Hejda disclose a display device as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and
wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels.
Lin discloses a display device wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits (called “local dimming data” and which “include bit data” as discussed in [0042]) respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image (“local dimming data based on image data” discussed in [0003]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou and Hejda with Lin would provide a method wherein each of the plurality of bits (eg. the bits taught by Lin, which control the backlight for local dimming) indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels (eg. controlling the local dimming of the backlight to turn off for black pixels as taught by Chou and Hejda, see “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black… does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022] of Chou and “the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” discussed in [0008] of Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda so the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels as taught by Lin because this allows the display quality to improve (eg. to “increase the contrast” as discussed in [0002]).
Claims 6, 7, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou and Hejda as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Kubota et al. (US 2011/0292018).
Regarding claim 6, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (24, called “dimming zones”) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“dimming zones 24 each have one or more LEDs” discussed in [0034]).
However, Chou and Hejda fail to teach or suggest wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source.
Kubota (Fig. 2) discloses a method wherein a resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (201) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“each backlight cell 201 is equipped with an LED light source 202” discussed in [0031]),
wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources (eg. “sets illumination intensity of each backlight cell 201 (for each area) based on the maximum brightness level of each area detected by the brightness level detecting section 4” discussed in [0035]) comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source (“measures a black display area ("black area") from the ratio of the obtained number of pixels to the total number of pixels” discussed in [0034]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda so controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source as taught by Kubota because this prevents light from “leaking from the black window area to the surrounding white background area” (see [0008]).
Regarding claim 7, Chou, Hejda, and Kubota disclose a method as discussed above, and Kubota further discloses wherein the method comprises:
determining a base luminance level (eg. using 6 to “sets illumination intensity of each backlight cell 201 (for each area) based on the maximum brightness level of each area” as discussed in [0035]) of the first light source based on pixel data of the resulting image data (eg. “detects a maximum brightness level of each area from the values of the in-area maximum grayscale level” discussed in [0034]), the pixel data corresponding to the pixels of the first zone (eg. “of each area” as discussed above); and
determining a compensation coefficient based on the ratio of the number of black pixels in the first zone to the total number of the pixels of the first zone (eg. as discussed above, with 5, “measures a black display area ("black area") from the ratio of the obtained number of pixels” discussed in [0034]); and
applying the compensation coefficient to the base luminance level to determine a specified luminance level of the first light source (using 8, “compares the black area detected by the black area detecting section 5 with a black area threshold value” to change the base luminance level, eg. to “the light control values of all the areas are set at the maximum (area control: OFF)” or “the minimum value of the light control values is set corresponding to the black area (black area control)” as discussed in [0037]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Chou, Hejda and Kubota for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 15, Chou and Hejda disclose a display device as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (24, called “dimming zones”) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“dimming zones 24 each have one or more LEDs” discussed in [0034]).
However, Chou and Hejda fail to teach or suggest wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source.
Kubota (Fig. 2) discloses a display device wherein a resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (201) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“each backlight cell 201 is equipped with an LED light source 202” discussed in [0031]),
wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources (eg. “sets illumination intensity of each backlight cell 201 (for each area) based on the maximum brightness level of each area detected by the brightness level detecting section 4” discussed in [0035]) comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source (“measures a black display area ("black area") from the ratio of the obtained number of pixels to the total number of pixels” discussed in [0034]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda so controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source as taught by Kubota because this prevents light from “leaking from the black window area to the surrounding white background area” (see [0008]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou and Hejda as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim.
Regarding claim 9, Chou and Hejda disclose a method as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest the method further comprising:
providing, by a host, the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data to a display driver integrated circuit (DDIC), wherein the host is external to the DDIC and configured to process the input image data to produce the resulting image data and produce the black pixel pattern data,
wherein the driving of the display panel and the controlling of the luminance levels of the plurality of light sources are performed by the DDIC.
Kim (Fig. 7 and 8) discloses a method, comprising:
performing image processing (with 805) on input image data corresponding to an input image (“805 may be equipped with a decoder, a scaler, a formatter, etc. to process image signals” discussed in [0234]) to produce a processed version of an input image (eg. the processed image signals);
producing resulting image data corresponding to a resulting image (eg. as seen in Fig. 8, the processed image signals, corresponding to the claimed “resulting image data,” are transmit to 832, see “832 may receive control signals, image signals, etc. from the display controller 805” discussed in [0241]);
driving a display panel (810) based on the resulting image data (eg. “gate driver 834 and the data driver 836 may supply scanning signals and image signals to the display panel 810” discussed in [0242]);
controlling, based on the resulting image data (eg. based on “luminance level of each of the divided areas of the display panel 810” discussed in [0247], luminance levels of one or more of a plurality of light sources of a backlight device configured to illuminate the display panel (eg. “driven by local dimming” and “intensity of light emitted from each of blocks of the backlight unit 850 may be adjusted, according to the luminance level of each of the divided areas of the display panel 810” discussed in [0247]);
providing, by a host (805), the resulting image data (the data from 805 provided to 834, 836, 850, etc. as seen in Fig. 8) to a display driver integrated circuit (DDIC) (including 836 and 856, see “data driver 836 may include a plurality of source driver integrated circuits (ICs)” discussed in [0243] while [0264] further discloses how 856 “may include at least one driver IC”), wherein the host is external to the DDIC (as seen in Fig. 8, 805 is separate from 830 and 850) and configured to process the input image data to produce the resulting image data (as discussed above, 805 processes the image data),
wherein the driving of the display panel (“gate driver 834 and the data driver 836 may supply scanning signals and image signals to the display panel 810” discussed in [0242]) and the controlling of the luminance levels of the plurality of light sources are performed by the DDIC (“intensity of light emitted from the light source 852 may be adjusted according to the amplitude (e.g., voltage) of the operating signal received from the light source operating unit 856” discussed in [0254]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou and Hejda so the method includes providing, by a host, the resulting image data and the black pixel pattern data to a display driver integrated circuit (DDIC), wherein the host is external to the DDIC and configured to process the input image data to produce the resulting image data and produce the black pixel pattern data, wherein the driving of the display panel and the controlling of the luminance levels of the plurality of light sources are performed by the DDIC as taught by Kim because this allows the display panel to be controlled with the proper timing (eg. using a “vertical synchronization signal” as discussed in [0241]) and data formats (eg. “change the format of the input image signal into an image signal for display on the display panel” discussed in [0237]).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou, Hejda, and Kim as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Lin.
Regarding claim 19, Chou, Hejda, and Kim disclose a display driver as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and
wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels.
Lin discloses a display driver wherein the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits (called “local dimming data” and which “include bit data” as discussed in [0042]) respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image (“local dimming data based on image data” discussed in [0003]).
Therefore, the combination of Chou, Hejda, and Kim with Lin would provide a method wherein each of the plurality of bits (eg. the bits taught by Lin, which control the backlight for local dimming) indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels (eg. controlling the local dimming of the backlight to turn off for black pixels as taught by Chou and Hejda, see “blank regions above and below the merged image I4, which may be displayed in black… does not contain any image contents” discussed in [0022] of Chou and “the backlight arrangement is deactivated for regions that do not contain active image points” discussed in [0008] of Hejda).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou, Hejda, and Kim so the black pixel pattern data comprises a plurality of bits respectively corresponding to pixels of the resulting image, and wherein each of the plurality of bits indicates whether a corresponding one of the pixels of the resulting image is one of the black pixels as taught by Lin because this allows the display quality to improve (eg. to “increase the contrast” as discussed in [0002]).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou, Hejda, and Kim as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Kubota.
Regarding claim 20, Chou, Hejda, and Kim disclose a display driver as discussed above, and Hejda further discloses wherein the resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (24, called “dimming zones”) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“dimming zones 24 each have one or more LEDs” discussed in [0034]).
However, Chou, Hejda, and Kim fail to teach or suggest wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source.
Kubota (Fig. 2) discloses a display driver wherein a resulting image is segmented into a plurality of zones (201) that corresponds to the plurality of light sources, respectively (“each backlight cell 201 is equipped with an LED light source 202” discussed in [0031]),
wherein controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources (eg. “sets illumination intensity of each backlight cell 201 (for each area) based on the maximum brightness level of each area detected by the brightness level detecting section 4” discussed in [0035]) comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source (“measures a black display area ("black area") from the ratio of the obtained number of pixels to the total number of pixels” discussed in [0034]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Chou, Hejda, and Kim so controlling the luminance levels of the one or more of the plurality of light sources comprises controlling a luminance level of a first light source of the plurality of light sources based on a ratio of a number of black pixels in a first zone of the plurality of zones to a total number of pixels of the first zone, the first zone corresponding to the first light source as taught by Kubota because this prevents light from “leaking from the black window area to the surrounding white background area” (see [0008]).
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN M BLANCHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2623
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