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 § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 8-9, 13, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2018/0321782 to Qin et al. (Qin).
As to claim 1, Qin discloses a display panel (Figs. 1-6, Par. 54), comprising: a substrate (16), having a surface (Figs. 5A-6, Par. 54); a pixel array layer (18) ((Figs. 5A-6, Par. 54), disposed on the surface (16) (Figs. 5A-6, Par. 54) and comprising a plurality of signal lines (13) arranged along a first direction (Figs. 1-6, Par. 54); and a color resist layer (on 17, next to 19), disposed on the pixel array layer (17, 14) (Fig. 5A-6, Pars. 54-55) and comprising a plurality of pixel units (15) (Fig. 5A-6, Pars. 54-55), wherein the plurality of pixel units (15) are sequentially arranged along the first direction (Y-axis) (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 54-55), and each of the plurality of pixel units (15) comprises a plurality of color resists (Figs. 1-6, Par. 53), the plurality of color resists of each of the plurality of pixel units (Figs. 1-6, Par. 53) comprising a first color resist, a second color resist, and a third color resist sequentially (Figs. 1-6, Par. 53) arranged along the first direction (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 53-55), wherein the first color resist, the second color resist, and the third color resist are different in color (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 53-54), wherein each of the plurality of signal lines (12) corresponds to a boundary between the first color resist and the second color resist, a boundary between the second color resist and the third color resist, or a boundary between the third color resist and the first color resist (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 53-55, e.g. Fig. 4 show 12 is in the boundary between 14R and 14G), and wherein an interval between adjacent two of the plurality of signal lines (13) corresponds to N of the plurality of color resists, N is a positive integer greater than 1, and N is not a multiple of 3 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 53-54).
As to claim 9, see claim rejection above. Qin further discloses each of the plurality of signal line groups (13) comprises M signal lines arranged along the first direction, and M is a positive integer greater than 1 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 53-54); and a sum of M and N is a positive integer greater than 3, and the sum of M and N is not a multiple of 3 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 53-54).
As to claim 2, Qin discloses N=2 (Abstract).
As to claim 3, Qin discloses N=4 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 25, 41).
As to claim 6, Qin discloses the plurality of signal lines are a plurality of touch signal lines (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 53-54).
As to claim 13, see claim 6 rejection above.
As to claim 8, Qin discloses when the display panel is observed from a lateral viewing angle along the first direction, the display panel provides a white light (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 37-38).
As to claim 15, see claim 8 rejection above.
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.
Claim(s) 4-5 and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0321782 to Qin et al. (Qin).
As to claim 4, Qin does not expressly disclose N=5.
However, Qin discloses N between touch lines (13) can be any number as long as it satisfies touch requirement (e.g. N may be 2) (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 25, 26, 41, Figs. 1-2, 6 show 4 N=4, Fig. 3 shows N=6, Fig. 5A shows N=3; see also Abstract (e.g. “In each row of sub-pixel units, at least two rendering pixel units of the plurality of rendering pixel units are disposed between two adjacent touch lines”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try with a reasonable expectation of success (and as a matter of design choice) to modified Qin to configure N to 5 to reduce the number of touch lines thereby increasing an aperture ratio of the display panel and thus increasing brightness of the display panel as suggested by Qin (Par. 25).
As to claim 5, see claim 4 rejection and motivation above. Qin as modified discloses N=7 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 25, 26, 41).
As to claim 10, see claim 4 rejection and motivation above. Qin does not expressly disclose the sum of M and N is 5.
However, Qin discloses N between touch lines (13) can be any number as long as it satisfies touch requirement (e.g. the sum of M and N is 5) (Figs. 1-6, Pars. 25, 26, 41). Qin also discloses at least two rendering pixel units of the plurality of rendering pixel units are disposed between two adjacent touch lines (Abstract).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try with a reasonable expectation of success to modified Qin to configure the sum of M and N is 5 to reduce the number of touch lines thereby increasing an aperture ratio of the display panel and thus increasing brightness of the display panel as suggested by Qin (Par. 25).
As to claim 11, see claim 10 rejection and motivation above. Qin as modified discloses M=2 and N=3 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 25, 26, 41).
As to claim 12, see claim 10 rejection and motivation above. Qin as modified discloses M=3 and N=2 (Figs. 1-2, 4-6, Pars. 25, 41).
Claim(s) 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0321782 to Qin et al. (Qin) and US 2022/0043295 to Liu.
As to claim 7, Qin does not expressly disclose the plurality of signal lines are a plurality of heating lines.
Liu discloses the plurality of signal lines are a plurality of heating lines (Figs. 5-7, Par. 48).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Qin with the teaching of Liu to eliminate undesirable phenomena such as smear due to abnormal liquid crystal state when operating in a low-temperature environment as suggested by Liu (Abstract).
As to claim 14, see claim 7 rejection above.
Conclusion
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/JARURAT SUTEERAWONGSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2621
/LUNYI LAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2621