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
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al., US PGPUB 20210248966, hereinafter referenced as Li in view of Vivar et al., US PGPUB 20220038305, hereinafter referenced as Vivar.
As to claim 1, Li discloses a backlight driving system, comprising: a) a master device ([0067] the GPU is running, a backlight block corresponding to the pixel) and n slave devices comprises , wherein the n slave devices comprise at least one first slave device and at least one second slave device ([0047] A small square as shown in FIG. 1A represents an LED unit, and a plurality of regions separated by broken lines represent a plurality of backlight regions (i.e., backlight blocks));
b) wherein the n slave devices are coupled to a same output port of the master device, or the n slave devices are coupled in series, and a same output port of the master device is coupled to a first one of the n slave devices to form a communication link ([0047] For example, the LEDs in each of the plurality of backlight block are linked, for example, connected in series, that is, currents passing through the LEDs in a same backlight block are consistent);
c) wherein each of the at least one first slave devices comprises m driving ports for driving at least one LED module, and each of the at least one second slave devices
comprises k driving ports for driving at least one LED module ([0047] For example, the LEDs in each of the plurality of backlight block are linked, for example, connected in series, that is, currents passing through the LEDs in a same backlight block are consistent; wherein each backlight blocks has their own connecting mechanism); and
d) wherein n, m and k are positive integers, and m is not equal to k (wherein each signal coming from CPU 16 for example distributed to each corresponding blocks which are connected in series).
Li does not specifically disclose the n slave devices are coupled to a same output port of the master device.
However, in the same endeavor, Vivar discloses the n slave devices are coupled to a same output port of the master device (as shown in fig. 2 for example, the serial communication wiring bus (e.g., lines 212A) from master device 202 is coupled to slave devices 204A-204C).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Li to further include Vivar’s master-slave arrangement method, in order to the display quality of the display panel.
As to claim 14, Li discloses a backlight driving method, applied in a backlight driving system comprising a master device and n slave devices, wherein the n slave devices comprises at least one first slave device and at least one second slave device ([0067] the GPU is running, a backlight blocks corresponding to pixels),
the method comprising: a) coupling the n slave devices to a same output port of the master device, or coupling the n slave devices in series with a same output port of the master device being coupled to a first one of the n slave devices to form a communication link ([0047] A small square as shown in FIG. 1A represents an LED unit, and a plurality of regions separated by broken lines represent a plurality of backlight regions (i.e., backlight blocks));
b) driving, by m driving ports of the at least one first slave device, at least one LED module ([0047] For example, the LEDs in each of the plurality of backlight block are linked, for example, connected in series, that is, currents passing through the LEDs in a same backlight block are consistent; wherein each backlight blocks has their own connecting mechanism);
c) driving, by k driving ports of the at least one second slave device, at least one LED module ([0047] For example, the LEDs in each of the plurality of backlight block are linked, for example, connected in series, that is, currents passing through the LEDs in a same backlight block are consistent; wherein each backlight blocks has their own connecting mechanism); and
(wherein each signal coming from CPU 16 for example distributed to each corresponding blocks which are connected in series).
Li does not specifically disclose the n slave devices are coupled to a same output port of the master device.
However, in the same endeavor, Vivar discloses the n slave devices are coupled to a same output port of the master device (as shown in fig. 2 for example, the serial communication wiring bus (e.g., lines 212A) from master device 202 is coupled to slave devices 204A-204C).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the disclosure of Li to further include Vivar’s master-slave arrangement method, in order to the display quality of the display panel.
As to claim 2, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 1. The combination further discloses a) in each communication, the master device sends a data packet, and the n slave devices receive the data packet simultaneously, or a slave device receives the data packet from a previous slave device or the master device and forwards the data packet to a next slave device; b) the data packet comprises one or more communication data, and each communication data corresponds to a target slave device of the n slave devices (Vivar, [0026] Each controller 208A, 208B and 208C may be configured to receive a pulse-width modulation (PWM) or pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) signal from a previous one of the multiple slave devices in the daisy chain arrangement via the address input port); and
c) the n slave devices comprise at least one slave device having a largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the communication data comprises data associated with a number of driving ports of the slave device, the data associated
with the number of driving ports of the slave device being encoded based on the
largest number of driving ports (Vivar, [0030] In the above example, the first controller 208A may receive a 100% duty cycle signal or a zero Hz signal (i.e., the direct current signal of the pull-up voltage reference). The first controller then selects the first address 0x01 in the lookup table, and outputs a PWM signal of 5% or a PFM signal of 400 Hz at the address output port 216A).
As to claim 3, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when each driving port drives one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is greater than a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices (Li, [0047] Local dimming technology can divide a backlight unit into a plurality of backlight blocks which can be driven individually, and each of the plurality of backlight blocks includes one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs)).
As to claim 4, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when each driving port drives one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices (LI, [0079] After obtained the adjusted backlight data of each of the plurality of backlight blocks, the adjusted backlight data can be provide to the backlight unit by the graphics processing unit, so that the display device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure displays the above-mentioned display image after performing of the distortion correction).
As to claim 5, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when p driving ports drive one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is greater than a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices to p, wherein p is a positive integer greater than 1 (Vivar, [0032] After identifying the first address claimed by the first slave device 204A based on the PWM or PFM signal, the controller 208B may then claim a second address (e.g., a subsequent address in a predefined sequence stored in memory).
As to claim 6, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when p driving ports drive one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices to p, wherein p is a positive integer greater than 1 (Vivar, [0032] the controller 208B may then determine a predefined PWM or PFM signal corresponding to the claimed second address for sending to the slave device 204C (e.g., the third or subsequent slave device in the daisy chain arrangement) via the address output port 216B).
As to claim 7, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when the target slave device is a slave device having the largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is all valid, and the target slave device drives at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device according to the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device (Vivar, [0048] This automatic addressing may be very useful for field installations to avoid complexity of cabling or maintenance/management of configurations in assigning unique combination of address lines for each device in the RS-485 bus).
As to claim 8, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses when the target slave device is not the slave device having the largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is partially valid, and the target slave device acquires valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device according to the number of driving ports of the target slave device to drive at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device (Vivar, [0055] In some embodiments, the controller may be configured to determine the address for the slave device by identifying an address claimed by the first other slave device according to the predefined PWM or PFM signal received from the first other slave device that corresponds to the address claimed by the first other slave device, and claiming a subsequent address in response to identifying the address claimed by the first other slave device).
As to claim 9, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is partially valid, the target slave device acquires valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device according to the number of driving ports of the target slave device to drive at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device (Li, [0048] The LED driving circuit board 13 is configured to process each frame image signal to obtain processed backlight brightness data of each of the plurality of backlight blocks, and generate driving voltages used for various backlight regions based on the backlight brightness data).
As to claim10, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 2. The combination further discloses
a) the target slave device drives at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device according to the valid data in the data associated with the number of
driving ports of the slave device in the communication data (Vivar, [0026] Each controller 208A, 208B and 208C may be configured to receive a pulse-width modulation (PWM) or pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) signal from a previous one of the multiple slave devices in the daisy chain arrangement via the address input port); and
b) when each driving port drives one LED module, a length of the valid data is equal to a product of the number of driving ports of the target slave device and a length
of the driving data corresponding to each driving port, or when every p driving
ports drive one LED module, the length of the valid data is equal to a product of
the length of the driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the
number of driving ports of the target slave device to p, wherein p is a positive
integer greater than 1 (Vivar, [0032] the controller 208B may then determine a predefined PWM or PFM signal corresponding to the claimed second address for sending to the slave device 204C (e.g., the third or subsequent slave device in the daisy chain arrangement) via the address output port 216B) .
As to claim 11, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 10. The combination further discloses
a) the target slave device masks part data of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data; b) the target slave device controls part data of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data to be invalid; or c) the target slave device does not acquire part data of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data, d) such that the length of the valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data is equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and the number of driving ports of the target slave device, or the length of the valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data is equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the number of driving ports of the target slave device to p, wherein p is a positive integer greater than 1 (Li, [0032] After identifying the first address claimed by the first slave device 204A based on the PWM or PFM signal, the controller 208B may then claim a second address (e.g., a subsequent address in a predefined sequence stored in memory, such as 0x02, etc.) for the second slave device 204B. Similar to above, the controller 208B may then determine a predefined PWM or PFM signal corresponding to the claimed second address for sending to the slave device 204C (e.g., the third or subsequent slave device in the daisy chain arrangement) via the address output port 216B).
As to claim 12, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 11. The combination further discloses the valid data is configured as a beginning data segment of a first length in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data, or an ending data segment of the first length in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data, or a middle data segment of the first length in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data, and the first length is equal to the length of the valid data (Li, [0008] Each controller is configured to receive a pulse-width modulation (PWM) or pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) signal from a previous one of the multiple slave devices in the daisy chain arrangement via the address input port, determine an address for the slave device comprising said controller according to the received PWM or PFM signal, and transmit a PWM or PFM signal to a subsequent one of the multiple slave devices in the daisy chain arrangement via the address output port. The transmitted PWM or PFM signal is indicative of the determined address and different than the received PWM or PFM signal).
As to claim 13, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the backlight driving system of claim 1. The combination further discloses a driving module, comprising the n slave devices, wherein each of the n slave devices comprises an integrated circuit (Li, [0052] The controllers 208A, 208B and 208C may include any suitable microprocessor, microcontroller, integrated circuit, digital signal processor, etc., which may include memory).
As to claim 15, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 14. The combination further discloses a) sending, by the master device in each communication, a data packet, wherein the n slave devices receive the data packet simultaneously to communicate in a parallel communication manner or in a serial bus communication manner, or the slave device receives the data packet from a previous slave device or the master device and forwards the data packet to a next slave device to communicate in a chained serial communication manner ; b) wherein the data packet comprises one or more communication data, each communication data corresponding to a target slave device of the n slave devices; and c) wherein the n slave devices comprises at least one slave device having a largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the communication data comprises data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device, and the data associated with a number of driving ports of the slave device is encoded based on the largest number of driving ports (Li, [0058] FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 for automatically addressing serially connected devices in a system, according to another example embodiment. The system includes a master device including a serial communication transceiver, multiple slave devices each including a serial communication transceiver, an address input port, an address output port, and a controller, a serial communication wiring bus connected between the serial communication transceiver of the master device with the serial communication transceivers of the multiple slave devices, and at least one digital address line connected between the address input ports and the address output ports of the multiple slave devices in a daisy chain arrangement).
As to claim 16, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 15. The combination further discloses when each driving port drives one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is greater than or equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices (LI, [0079] After obtained the adjusted backlight data of each of the plurality of backlight blocks, the adjusted backlight data can be provide to the backlight unit by the graphics processing unit, so that the display device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure displays the above-mentioned display image after performing of the distortion correction).
As to claim 17, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 15. The combination further discloses when every p driving ports drive one LED module, a length of the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is greater than or equal to a product of a length of driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the largest number of driving ports of the slave device among the n slave devices to p, wherein p is a positive integer greater than 1 (Vivar, [0032] the controller 208B may then determine a predefined PWM or PFM signal corresponding to the claimed second address for sending to the slave device 204C (e.g., the third or subsequent slave device in the daisy chain arrangement) via the address output port 216B).
As to claim 18, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 15. The combination further discloses when the target slave device is the slave device having the largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is all valid, and the target slave device drives at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device according to the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device (Vivar, [0048] This automatic addressing may be very useful for field installations to avoid complexity of cabling or maintenance/management of configurations in assigning unique combination of address lines for each device in the RS-485 bus).
As to claim 19, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 15. The combination further discloses the largest number of driving ports among the n slave devices, the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device is partially valid, and the target slave device acquires valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device according to the number of driving ports of the target slave device to drive at least one LED module corresponding to the target slave device (Li, [0048] The LED driving circuit board 13 is configured to process each frame image signal to obtain processed backlight brightness data of each of the plurality of backlight blocks, and generate driving voltages used for various backlight regions based on the backlight brightness data).
As to claim 20, the combination of Li and Vivar discloses the method of claim 15. The combination further discloses a) the target slave device drives at least one LED module corresponding to the target a) slave device according to the valid data in the data associated with the number of driving ports of the slave device in the communication data; and when each driving port drives one LED module, a length of the valid data is equal b) to a product of the number of driving ports of the target slave device and a length of the driving data corresponding to each driving port, or when every p driving ports drive one LED module, the length of the valid data is equal to a product of the length of the driving data corresponding to each driving port and a ratio of the number of driving ports of the target slave device to p, wherein p is a positive integer greater than 1 (Vivar, [0032] After identifying the first address claimed by the first slave device 204A based on the PWM or PFM signal, the controller 208B may then claim a second address (e.g., a subsequent address in a predefined sequence stored in memory).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kure et al., US PGPUB 20150161932 discloses in the present invention, when a main screen and one or more secondary screens are displayed, the screen luminance for the main screen can be suitably controlled without being affected by video signal for the secondary screens. A video display device (1) is provided with an LED backlight (7) that illuminates an LCD panel (5) and an area active control portion (3) that controls the light emission luminance of the LED backlight (7). The area active control portion (3) divides the LED backlight (7) into a plurality of areas and controls the light emission luminance of the LEDs corresponding to each area according to the video signal corresponding to each area. When the LCD panel (5) displays the main screen and one or more secondary screens, the control portion (3) controls the light emission luminance of the LEDs corresponding to the display area for the main screen in a range where a total value of drive current of the LED is equal to or less than a predetermined allowable current value based on a lighting rate of the LED backlight (7) for the main screen, and independently of this luminance control, controls the light emission luminance of an LED corresponding to a display area of the secondary screens to be constant.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAHLU OKEBATO whose telephone number is (571)270-3375. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 - 5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WILLIAM BODDIE can be reached at 571-272-0666. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAHLU OKEBATO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625
1/23/2026