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 .
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 1-16, 19, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Lee (US 2018/0173923 A1, Published June 21, 2018) in view of Jeong (US 2025/0044899 A1, Filed on May 17, 2024).
As to claim 1, Lee discloses an electronic device, comprising:
a substrate; a plurality of pixels disposed on the substrate (Kee at Figs 1-2, 4, in particular), ,
each of the plurality of pixels including: a display unit including a self-luminous element (Lee at Figs. 1-2, 4, 19, 32; ¶ [0417]-[0418]); and
a first sensing unit (Lee at Fig. 19, optical sensor PS; ¶ [0321]);
a second sensing unit disposed on the substrate and configured to overlap at least one of the plurality of pixels (Lee at Fig. 25);
a first driving unit disposed on the substrate (Lee at Figs. 1, 4, in particular, data driving circuit (DDC) 120; Fig. 5, TSC 2500. MPEP 2144.04(V) establishes that making integral is obvious); and
a second driving unit disposed on the substrate (Lee at Figs. 4, 19-20, in particular, fingerprint sensing circuit 420; ¶ [0332]),
wherein, in a first mode (Lee at Figs. 8, in particular, display mode DM; ¶ [0190]-[0192]), the first driving unit outputs a first signal to the display unit (Lee at Figs. 1, 10-11, output from data driving circuit DDC 120; ¶ [0247]);
wherein, in a second mode (Lee at Figs. 8, in particular, touch sensing mode TM; ¶ [0190]-[0192]), the first driving unit outputs a second signal to the second sensing unit, receives a third signal from the second sensing unit (Lee at Figs. 8, 25),… [and outputs a fourth signal to the second driving unit according to the third signal];
wherein, in a third mode (Lee at Fig. 8, in particular, fingerprint sensing mode FM), the second driving unit outputs a fifth signal to the first sensing unit… [according to the fourth signal], and the first sensing unit returns a sixth signal to the first driving unit (Lee at Figs. 19-20).
Lee does not expressly disclose and outputs a fourth signal to the second driving unit according to the third signal, nor does Lee disclose expressly disclose according to the fourth signal.
However, Jeong does contemplate “and outputs a fourth signal to the second driving unit according to the third signal” as well as “ according to the fourth signal” (Lee at ¶ [0016]-[0017] discloses “In an embodiment, the first sensing section may be included in a first frame period, and the second sensing section may be included in a second frame period adjacent to the first frame period. [0017] An embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a method of driving a display device, including: sensing a touch of an object using touch sensors; sensing a fingerprint and the touch of the object by driving photo sensors in a time-sharing manner” ¶ [0191]; Claims 11, 12, 16).
Lee discloses a base touchscreen device upon which the claimed invention is an improvement. Jeong discloses a comparable touchscreen device which has been improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Hence, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify or add to Lee the teachings of Jeong for the predictable result of detecting proximity (Jeong at ¶ [0192]-[0193]).
As to claim 2, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a signal line electrically connected to the display unit, the first sensing unit and the first driving unit (Lee at Figs. 1, 10-11, 24).
As to claim 3, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the signal line is used to transmit the first signal in the first mode (Lee at (Lee at Figs. 1, 10-11, 24).
As to claim 4, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the signal line is used to transmit the sixth signal in the third mode (Jeong at Figs. 1, 7).
Lee discloses a base touchscreen device upon which the claimed invention is an improvement. Jeong discloses a comparable touchscreen device which has been improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Hence, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify or add to Lee the teachings of Jeong for the predictable result of detecting proximity (Jeong at ¶ [0192]-[0193]).
As to claim 5, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when the first driving unit receives the sixth signal, the first driving unit is used to perform biometrics recognition (Jeong at Figs 1-2, 8).
As to claim 6, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a signal line, wherein the display unit further includes a self-luminous circuit connected between the signal line and the self-luminous element (Jeong at Figs. 7-8).
As to claim 7, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first sensing unit further includes a sensing element and a sensing circuit (Lee at Fig. 25).
As to claim 8, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the sensing circuit further includes: a first switch having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the first switch is electrically connected to a first power source; a second switch having a control end, a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the second switch is electrically connected to a second power source, wherein the control end of the second switch is electrically connected to the second end of the first switch; and a third switch having a first end, wherein the first end of the third switch is electrically connected to the second end of the second switch (Jeong at Fig. 8).
As to claim 9, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the sensing element has a first end, and the first end of the sensing element and the second end of the first switch are electrically connected to the control end of the second switch (Jeong at Fig. 8).
As to claim 10, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second end of the third switch is electrically connected to the signal line (Jeong at Fig. 8).
As to claim 11, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first switch has a control end, and the control end of the first switch is electrically connected to the second driving unit (Jeong at Fig. 8).
As to claim 12, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a common voltage signal line electrically connected to the second sensing unit and the first sensing unit (Lee at Fig. 24).
As to claim 13, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a third driving unit disposed on the substrate, wherein the self-luminous circuit of the display unit is electrically connected to the third driving unit through a scan line (Lee at Figs 1, 4, GDC 130).
As to claim 14, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 13, further comprising an active area and a non-active area surrounding the active area, wherein the plurality of pixels are located in the active area, the second sensing unit is located in the active area, and the first driving unit, the second driving unit and the third driving unit are located in the non-active area (Lee at Figs. 1, 4) (Jeong at Fig. 1).
As to claim 15, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a first bonding area, a first circuit area and a second circuit area disposed on the substrate and located in the non-active area, wherein a de-multiplexer is disposed in the second circuit area, the first driving unit is disposed in the first bonding area, the first driving unit is electrically connected to the de-multiplexer in the second circuit area 13 through at least one conductive wire disposed in the first circuit area, and the de-multiplexer is electrically connected to the plurality of pixels in the active area (Lee at Figs. 1, 4) (Jeong at Fig. 1).
As to claim 16, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the second sensing unit shares the sensing circuit of the first sensing unit (Jeong at Figs. 1, 7. MPEP 2144.05(V) establishes making integral is obvious).
As to claim 19, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of microchips, wherein the display unit further includes a self-luminous circuit, the first sensing unit includes a sensing element and a sensing circuit, and each microchip is provided with the self-luminous circuit and the sensing circuit (Jeong at Figs. 1, 2, 7. Examiner takes an official notice that micro-LED or nano-LED displays in the form of integrated circuits (ICs) are well-known in the art).
As to claim 20, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first sensing unit is electrically connected to a CDS processing circuit (Jeong at ¶ [0123]).
Claims 17, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Jeong as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Won (US 2019/0065717 A1, Published February 28, 2019).
As to claim 17, the combination of Lee and Jeong discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 1.
The combination does not disclose that each of the plurality of pixels further includes an infrared display unit, and the infrared display unit includes an infrared self-luminous element and an infrared self-luminous circuit.
However, Won does disclose that each of the plurality of pixels further includes an infrared display unit, and the infrared display unit includes an infrared self-luminous element and an infrared self-luminous circuit (Won at Figs. 4A, 4B).
The combination of Lee and Jeong discloses a base display device upon which the claimed invention is an improvement. Won discloses a comparable display device which has been improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Hence, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify or add to the combination of Lee and Jeong the teachings of Won for the predictable result of providing user authentication (Won at ¶ [0005]).
As to claim 18, the combination of Lee, Jeong, and Won discloses the electronic device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the infrared display unit is electrically connected to the first driving unit through a signal line, and the infrared display unit is electrically connected to the second driving unit through a scan line (Won at Fig. 4).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Won (US 2019/0065717 A1, Published February 28, 2019) is made of record for its relevance to claim 1 by its disclosure of the following at Fig. 3B:
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Document1 (KR 102609068 B1, Published December 5, 2023 – translation attached) is made of record for its relevance to claims 1 by its disclosure of the following at Fig. 3:
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sanjiv D Patel whose telephone number is (571)270-5731. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/Sanjiv D. Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625
05/19/2026
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