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 .
Drawings
Figure 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 4. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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 1-2, 4-5, 12-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xi et al. (US Patent Publication No. 2017/0168605; hereinafter Xi) in view of Zou et al. (US Patent Publication No. 2017/0031512; hereinafter Zou) and Hong et al. (US Patent Publication No. 2016/0246432; hereinafter Hong).
With reference to claims 1 and 20, Xi discloses a touch display device comprising a touch display panel (TP) (see paragraphs 25, 28; Figs. 1-3), comprising a display region (202) and a non-display region (201) surrounding the display region (202) (see paragraphs 28, 32; Figs. 1-3),
wherein the display region comprises a plurality of touch electrodes (TP) arranged in an array (see paragraphs 27-28; Figs. 1-3); among the plurality of touch electrodes, M adjacent touch electrodes form a touch electrode group; M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 (in teaching connection of 2 or more electrodes (11,13) to the same switching unit (T1); see paragraphs 65, 74-75; Fig. 3a);
wherein the non-display region (201) comprises a first control circuit (T), a second control circuit (COM), a plurality of gating control lines (signal line connected to first control circuit), a plurality of common signal lines (signal line connect to common circuit), a plurality of switch control lines (control lines of switching units S, K) (see paragraphs 32, 60-62; Figs. 2d, 8);
wherein the non-display region comprises a first control circuit, a second control circuit, a plurality of gating control lines, a plurality of common signal lines, a plurality of switch control lines (see paragraph 32, 41, 71).
While disclosing the usage of first and second control circuits (see paragraphs 31-32), Xi fails to include disclosure of a the first control circuit and the second control circuit comprising connections as recited.
Zou discloses a touch display device having a touch panel (20) comprising a display region (AA) and an non-display region surrounding the display region (see paragraphs 27-29; Figs. 2-8), wherein the first control circuit (212) comprises a plurality of multi-channel gating circuits (D) (see paragraphs 41-43; Fig. 5); a multi-channel gating circuit (D) of the plurality of multi-channel gating circuits comprises a plurality of gating switches (D1-D3) (see paragraphs 41-43; Fig. 5); in a same multi-channel gating circuit (D), control terminals of the plurality of gating switches (D1-D2) are electrically connected to different ones of the plurality of gating control lines respectively (in illustrating gate terminals connected to horizontal control lines; see Fig. 5), first terminals of the plurality of gating switches are electrically connected to a same one of the plurality of touch lines (in illustrating terminal connection to (D3) connected to integrated circuit (23) for providing touch driving signals; see paragraphs 30, 41, 45; Fig. 5), and second terminals of the plurality of gating switches are electrically connected to touch electrodes (25) in a same touch electrode group (column) respectively (see paragraphs 42-43; Fig. 5); and wherein the second control circuit (211) comprises a plurality of control switches (C) (see paragraphs 31-33; Fig. 5); control terminals of the plurality of control switches are electrically connected to the plurality of switch control lines (in illustrating lines connected to the control switches; see Fig. 5), input terminals of the plurality of control switches are electrically connected to the plurality of common signal lines (in illustrating gate terminals connected to horizontal control lines; see Fig. 5), and output terminals of the plurality of control switches are electrically connected (251) to the plurality of touch electrodes (25) respectively (see paragraphs 25, 32-33; Figs. 4-5) wherein among the plurality of control switches (C), control switches electrically connected to adjacent touch electrodes (25) belonging to different touch electrode groups (vertical electrodes) are electrically connected to different ones of the plurality of common signal lines respectively (see paragraphs 24-25; Figs. 4-5), and are electrically connected to different ones of the plurality of switch control lines respectively (see Figs. 4-5).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the connections of the first and second control units similar to that which is taught by Zou to be carried out in a device similar to that which is taught by Xi to thereby reducing coupling capacitance while narrowing the display panel (see Zou; paragraph 44).
While Xi and Zou disclose the features as detailed above there fails to be specific disclosure of touch fan-out lines as recited.
Hong discloses a touch panel display device (1) having a display region (100) and a non-display region surrounding the display region (see paragraphs 50-52; Fig. 2), having a first and second control circuit (Su1, Su2) wherein the non-display region comprises a plurality of touch fan-out lines (PL1-PLk) (see paragraphs 64-65; Fig. 2).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the suage of the fan-out lines similar to that which is taught by Hong to be carried out in a touch display panel similar to that which is taught by Xi and Zou to thereby transferring sensing signals from the touch sensing area to a non-sensing area while reducing the area of the non-sensing area (see Hong; paragraph 8).
With reference to claim 2, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 1, wherein Xi further discloses at least one of the following configurations is satisfied: control switches, electrically connected to touch electrodes (11-13) in a same row in a same touch electrode group, are electrically connected to a same one of the plurality of switch control lines and a same one of the plurality of common signal lines; or control switches, electrically connected to touch electrodes in a same column in a same touch electrode group, are electrically connected to a same one of the plurality of switch control lines and a same one of the plurality of common signal lines (see paragraphs (see paragraphs 72-74; Fig. 3a).
With reference to claims 4-5, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 1 or 4, wherein Xi further discloses that the control switches electrically connected to touch electrodes (11-14) that are adjacent and belong to a same touch electrode group (11, 13), are electrically connected to different ones of the plurality of common signal lines respectively (see Fig. 3a).
With reference to claim 12, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 1, wherein Xi further discloses that the first control circuit (T) and the second control circuit (COM) are disposed on two opposite sides of the display region respectively (see Fig. 2d).
With reference to claim 13, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 12, wherein Hong further discloses that the display region further comprises a plurality of touch wires (in teaching (TSU connected with a sensing signal line RL; see paragraph 64; Fig. 2); the plurality of touch wires are electrically connected to the plurality of touch electrodes (TSU) in one-to-one correspondence (see paragraph 64); and a terminal of a touch wire of the plurality of touch wires is electrically connected to a control switch of the plurality of control switches, and another terminal of the touch wire of the plurality of touch wires is electrically connected to a gating switch of the plurality of gating switches (in teaching connection to Su1-Su2; see paragraphs 79-80, 90-92; Fig. 6).
With reference to claim 14, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 1, wherein Zou further discloses that wherein the touch electrodes (25) in the same touch electrode group (column) are electrically connected to a same one of the plurality of control switches (C) (see paragraphs 31-35, 42-43; Fig. 5).
With reference to claim 15, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 14, wherein Zou further discloses that the first control circuit and the second control circuit are disposed on a same side of the display region. (see Figs. 2c, 3a).
With reference to claim 16, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 14, wherein Hong further disclose the non-display region (non-sensing area; see paragraph 8) further comprises a driver chip disposition region; the driver chip disposition region is configured to dispose a driver chip (300, 400) (see paragraph 50; Figs. 1-2); the second control circuit is integrated into the driver chip (see paragraphs 143, 147; Fig. 14).
With reference to claim 19, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 14, wherein Xi further discloses a working stage (touch detection period) of the touch display panel comprises a touch short-circuit detection stage, in the touch short-circuit detection stage, the plurality of common signal lines are configured to transmit different common signals respectively (in teaching the second switching unit may be electrically connected to the common signal terminal (COM) through two different wires (see paragraphs 62-63; Fig. 8).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xi, Zou, and Hong as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US Patent Number 11,914,814; hereinafter Kim)
With reference to claim 3, Xi, Zou, and Hong disclose the touch display panel of claim 2, however fail to disclose the connection of grouped electrodes as recited.
Kim discloses a touch driving circuit and touch display device having switching control circuitry (see Figs. 4-10) wherein, gating switches (GSWnn) electrically connected to two touch electrodes (T1, T9), that are adjacent in the same column and belong to different touch electrode groups (in teaching connection groupings of G1-G4, GSW22), are electrically connected to different ones of the plurality of gating control lines (GWnn) respectively (see column 14, lines 5-17; Figs. 9-10).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to allow the usage of grouping connections similar to that which is taught by Kim to be carried out in a system similar to that which is taught by Xi, Zou, and Hong to reduce the number of units required for the touch display device (see Kim; column 9, lines 49-50).
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
MAEDE (US2017/0336898) discloses a display device including a first and second switching element positioned in a non-display area of the display panel, and having a plurality of gating control lines and a plurality of switch control lines (see paragraphs 93- 116; Fig. 12).
Conclusion
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/ADE/Examiner, Art Unit 2625
/WILLIAM BODDIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2625
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