DETAILED ACTION
This Final action is in response to an amendment filed 7/16/2026. Currently claims 1-8 are pending, but claims 4 and 8 remain withdrawn as directed to non-elected subject matter, and claims 1-3 and 5-7 are examined as follows.
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 .
Priority
The disclosure of the prior-filed applications, Applications No. 17/401858, 17/897722 and 18/140890, fail to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The bonding pads of the instant claims finds support in parent application 18/735474 filed 6/06/2024. Therefore, the instant claims have an effective filing date of 6/06/2024.
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 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et al. in US 2021/0109617 (hereinafter Lin) in view of Wang in US 2011/0215360 (hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 1, Lin disclose a lighting touchpad (Lin’s par. 2), comprising: a substrate (Lin’s Fig. 11 and par. 28: see 110); a plurality of first electrodes arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Figs. 1 and 11 and par. 40, 62: electrode 156 part of touch structure TS); a plurality of second electrodes arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Figs. 1 and 11 and par. 40, 62: electrode 158 part of touch structure TS); a plurality of bonding pads arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Fig. 11 and par. 61: see 720 which overlap the pixel SPX), wherein the first electrodes, the second electrodes, and the bonding pads are alternately arranged in a sensing area without overlapping with one another (Lin’s Fig. 1: see electrode 156, electrode 158 and pixel SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11] alternately arranged in direction D3 without overlapping one another); and a plurality of lighting devices connected to a part of the bonding pads (Lin’s Figs. 1, 11 and par. 61: see SPX where each includes an LED connected to bonding pads 720),
wherein the sensing area includes a plurality of sensing cells (Lin’s Fig. 1 is a sensing cell, or see annotated Lin’s Fig. 1 below), and the first electrodes, the second electrodes and the bonding pads are arranged according to a predetermined spatial characteristic for each of the sensing cells (Lin’s Fig. 1: see arrangement of electrodes 156, 158 and pixel SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11]), wherein each of the first electrodes has a first shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see enclosed mesh diamond shape of 156), each of the second electrodes has a second shape different from the first shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see open mesh shape of 158).
Lin fails to disclose dummy pads or the first electrodes and the second electrodes have different areas.
However, Lin does disclose the first electrode with more line portions than the second electrode (Lin’s Fig. 1: see mesh of 156 which includes enclosed inside portions, as opposed to mesh of 158 which does not include enclosing inside portions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the first electrodes and the second electrodes have different areas (Lin’s Fig. 1: enclosed mesh shape of 156 includes a larger area than open mesh shape 158 because the electrode 158 does not include the portions enclosing the inside portion); in order to obtain the predictable result of an obvious result of one electrode having less lines portions than the other electrode as shown in Lin’s Fig. 1.
Still Lin fails to disclose dummy pads.
Nevertheless, in the same field of endeavor of touch displays, Wang disclose dummy pads disposed under the LED package (Wang’s Figs. 5-6 and par. 16-17, 21: dummy solder balls 76A, dummy vias 64A and dummy pads 66A).
Thus, it would also have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that Lin’s Fig. 11 includes dummy pads disposed under the LED package LS (as taught by Wang’s Fig. 5), in order to obtain the benefit of dissipating heat (Wang’s par. 17).
By doing such combination, Lin in view of Wang disclose:
A lighting touchpad (Lin’s par. 2), comprising:
a substrate (Lin’s Fig. 11 and par. 28: see 110);
a plurality of first electrodes arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Figs. 1 and 11 and par. 40, 62: electrode 156 part of touch structure TS);
a plurality of second electrodes arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Figs. 1 and 11 and par. 40, 62: electrode 158 part of touch structure TS);
a plurality of dummy pads arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Fig. 11: see under lighting device LS which upon combination includes dummy bonding pads 66A/64A/76A per Wang’s Figs. 5-6 and par. 16-17, 21);
a plurality of bonding pads arranged on the substrate (Lin’s Fig. 11 and par. 61: see 720 which overlap the pixel SPX; upon combination, 720 is equivalent to 66B in Wang’s Fig. 5 per par. 17), wherein the first electrodes, the second electrodes, the dummy pads and the bonding pads are alternately arranged in a sensing area without overlapping with one another (Lin’s Fig. 1: see electrode 156, electrode 158 and pixel SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11] alternately arranged in direction D3 without overlapping one another. Upon combination, Lin’s Fig. 11: under SPX and LS, there are dummy pads 66A/64A/76A per Wang’s Figs. 5-6 and par. 17, 21); and
a plurality of lighting devices connected to a part of the bonding pads (Lin’s Figs. 1, 11 and par. 61: see SPX where each includes an LED connected to bonding pads 720), wherein the plurality of lighting devices is not connected to the dummy pads (Wang’s par. 14, 17, 22-23: no current flows),
wherein the sensing area includes a plurality of sensing cells (Lin’s Fig. 1 is a sensing cell, or see annotated Lin’s Fig. 1 below), and the first electrodes, the second electrodes and the bonding pads are arranged according to a predetermined spatial characteristic for each of the sensing cells (Lin’s Fig. 1: see arrangement of electrodes 156, 158 and pixel SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11]),
wherein each of the first electrodes has a first shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see enclosed mesh diamond shape of 156), each of the second electrodes has a second shape different from the first shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see open mesh shape of 158).
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Regarding claim 2, Lin in view of Wang disclose wherein each of the first electrodes has at least one first opening for accommodating one or more of the bonding pads (Lin’s Fig. 1: see openings in 156 for accommodating subpixels SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11]).
Regarding claim 3, Lin in view of Wang disclose wherein each of the sensing cells has a rectangular shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see rectangle in direction D1-D2), and in each of the sensing cells, the bonding pads are arranged to be adjacent to four corners of the rectangular shape (Lin’s Fig. 1: see subpixels adjacent to each corner, these subpixels include a bonding pad 720 per Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 5, Lin in view of Wang disclose wherein each of the second electrodes has at least one second opening for accommodating one or more of the bonding pads (Lin’s Fig. 1: see openings in 158 for accommodating subpixels SPX [which includes bonding pads 720 in Fig. 11]).
Regarding claim 6, Lin in view of Wang further disclose wherein each of the lighting devices is connected to two of the bonding pads (Lin’s Fig. 11: see two pads 720 connected to each LED LS), so as to be arranged at edges of adjacent ones of the sensing cells (see annotated Lin’s Figs. 1 and Fig. 11 above where the edge of a sensing cell is draw between the two bonding pads 720).
It would also have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, that a sensing cell in Lin includes an edge between adjacent bonding pads 720 (as shown below), in order to obtain the predictable result of a sensing cell that includes a drive and a sense electrode.
Regarding claim 7, Lin in view of Wang disclose wherein each of the lighting devices is connected to two of the bonding pads along a first direction, a second direction or a third direction crossing the first direction or the second direction (Lin’s Fig. 11: see two pads 720 connected to each LED LS along the cutting plane direction).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have 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. In specific, a new reference to Wang was used to make obvious the dummy pads currently claimed. Please see above rejection addressing the added limitations.
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.
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/LILIANA CERULLO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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