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 .
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and prosecuted.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3 August 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant contends the prior art of record, Drake and Kim, fails to teach all of the claim limitations. The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Applicant argues Drake and Kim do not teaches the limitation “generating a noise canceling signal with a corresponding magnitude based on the detected noise.” However, that alleged claim limitation is not present in the currently presented claims. In fact, the term “magnitude” does not appear in any currently presented claim. As currently presented, the claim only requires that the noise canceling circuits generate a corresponding noise canceling signal. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, any signal generated by the noise canceling circuits would meet this requirement. Drake, in Figs. 1B and 7A-9F, and the corresponding descriptions, provides for a signal noise module that conditions the touch signal and reduces noise then outputs the signal to confirm a positive touch location on the touch surface based on and corresponding to the touch signals. As such, Drake teaches the claims as currently presented.
The Examiner recommends providing a substantive amendment to the claims to better encompass the arguments with regards to the “magnitude” as presented in the Remarks, dated 3 August 2026, in order to expedite prosecution.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Drake et al., US PG-Pub 2018/0059866, hereinafter Drake, in view of Kim et al., US PG-Pub 2022/0206663, hereinafter Kim.
Regarding Claim 1, Drake teaches a noise canceling system (electronic system 100), comprising:
a plurality of signal receiving lines (plurality of row sense electrodes 301-310; plurality of column sense electrodes 311-318), configured to receive a plurality of touch signals ([0118], “capacitive sense array 125 to measure a mutual capacitance value”) from a touch display panel (touch screen assembly 200 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 202), wherein the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into a plurality of line groups according to a layout design (Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout);
a plurality of noise canceling circuits (signal noise module 166), coupled to the plurality of line groups (Figs. 1A-1B, and corresponding descriptions), and each of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is configured to generate a corresponding noise canceling signal based on the plurality of touch signals received by each of the plurality of line groups (Figs. 1B and 7A-9F, and corresponding descriptions; [0088]-[0090], [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method); and
a first touch display chip (processing device 110; [0078], “The processing device 110 may reside on a common carrier substrate such as, for example, . . . a multi-chip module substrate” , noting how a force and capacitive touch is determined), configured to receive the plurality of touch signals and the plurality of corresponding noise canceling signals of each of the plurality of line groups, so as to generate a plurality of adjusted touch signals (Figs. 7A-9F, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method).
However, Drake does not explicitly teach wherein the number of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of line groups.
Kim teaches wherein the number of the plurality of noise canceling circuits (Kim: noise blocking circuit 170) is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of line groups (Kim: Fig. 6, and corresponding descriptions, [0113]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the number of noise canceling circuits taught by Kim into the device taught by Drake in order to reduce an effect on the touch electrode TE by the common voltage feedback line FL (Kim: [0113]), thereby providing a higher quality touch sensitive display device.
Regarding Claim 2, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of touch signals has a signal intensity, and
wherein when the signal intensity of one of the plurality of touch signals is less than a trigger threshold (Drake: detection threshold 904, 908), the one of the plurality of touch signals is configured to be a noise (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold).
Regarding Claim 3, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is configured to calculate an average value of the signal intensities of the noises in a corresponding one of the plurality of line groups, and configured to generate the plurality of noise canceling signals based on the average value (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold; [0294], discussing the average value of the touch signal).
Regarding Claim 4, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, wherein the layout design is related to a plurality of layout locations of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout), and the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into the plurality of line groups according to the plurality of layout locations (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout).
Regarding Claim 5, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, wherein the layout design is related to a plurality of routing lengths between the plurality of signal receiving lines and the first touch display chip (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions), and the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into the plurality of line groups according to the plurality of routing lengths (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions).
Regarding Claim 6, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, wherein the first touch display chip is further configured to store a matching table (Drake: predetermined calibration table 812), wherein the matching table is configured to store a correspondence between the layout design of the plurality of signal receiving lines and a configuration method for classifying the plurality of signal receiving lines into the plurality of line groups (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions; [0156]-[0160], [0267]-[0269]).
Regarding Claim 7, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of signal transmitting lines (Drake: transmit (TX) electrodes 702) coupled to the first touch display chip and the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions),
wherein the first touch display chip is configured to control a first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in a plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]).
Regarding Claim 8, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 1, further comprising a second touch display chip (Drake: [0078], noting the processing device may be split into more than one, noting how a force and capacitive touch is determined),
wherein the first touch display chip is coupled to a first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts),
wherein the second touch display chip is coupled to the plurality of noise canceling circuits and a second portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts), and configured to receive the plurality of touch signals and the plurality of noise canceling signals of the second portion, so as to generate the plurality of adjusted touch signals (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method), and
wherein the first portion is different from the second portion (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts).
Regarding Claim 9, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 8, further comprising a plurality of signal transmitting lines (Drake: transmit (TX) electrodes 702) coupled to the first touch display chip, the second touch display chip and the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions),
wherein the first touch display chip is configured to control the first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in a plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]), and
wherein the second touch display chip is configured to control the second portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in the plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]).
Regarding Claim 10, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the noise canceling system of claim 9, wherein the first touch display chip and the second touch display chip are connected to each other, so as to synchronously control the plurality of signal receiving lines during the plurality of time periods (Drake: [0071], [0125], [0245], [0269], [0281]-[0282], and [0297]-[0298], each discussing how the device substantially synchronous in order to make a touch determination).
Regarding Claim 11, Drake teaches a touch display device (electronic system 100), comprising:
a touch display panel (touch screen assembly 200 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 202), comprising a plurality of touch units (force electrodes 128) and a plurality of display units (pixel electrodes in LCD layer 202), wherein the plurality of touch units have a touch state ([0065]), and the plurality of display units are configured to generate a display based on a display signal ([0073], [0082], [0105]);
a plurality of signal receiving lines (plurality of row sense electrodes 301-310; plurality of column sense electrodes 311-318), configured to receive a plurality of touch signals from the touch display panel ([0118], “capacitive sense array 125 to measure a mutual capacitance value”), wherein the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into a plurality of line groups according to a layout design (Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout);
a plurality of noise canceling circuits (signal noise module 166), coupled to the plurality of line groups (Figs. 1A-1B, and corresponding descriptions), and each of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is configured to generate a corresponding noise canceling signal based on the plurality of touch signals received by each of the plurality of line groups (Figs. 1B and 7A-9F, and corresponding descriptions; [0088]-[0090], [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method); and
a first touch display chip (processing device 110; [0078], “The processing device 110 may reside on a common carrier substrate such as, for example, . . . a multi-chip module substrate”, noting how a force and capacitive touch is determined), configured to receive the plurality of touch signals and the plurality of corresponding noise canceling signals of each of the plurality of line groups, so as to generate a plurality of adjusted touch signals (Figs. 7A-9F, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method).
However, Drake does not explicitly teach wherein the number of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of line groups.
Kim teaches wherein the number of the plurality of noise canceling circuits (Kim: noise blocking circuit 170) is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of line groups (Kim: Fig. 6, and corresponding descriptions, [0113]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the number of noise canceling circuits taught by Kim into the device taught by Drake in order to reduce an effect on the touch electrode TE by the common voltage feedback line FL (Kim: [0113]), thereby providing a higher quality touch sensitive display device.
Regarding Claim 12, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of touch signals has a signal intensity,
wherein when the touch state of the plurality of touch units indicates that one of the plurality of touch units receives a touch operation (Drake: Figs. 7A-9F, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold), the signal intensity of a corresponding one of the plurality of touch signals is greater than the signal intensity of the other ones of the plurality of touch signals (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold), and
wherein when the signal intensity of one of the plurality of touch signals is less than a trigger threshold (Drake: detection threshold 904, 908), the one of the plurality of touch signals is configured to be a noise (Drake: Figs.9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold).
Regarding Claim 13, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of noise canceling circuits is configured to calculate an average value of the signal intensities of the noises in a corresponding one of the plurality of line groups, and configured to generate the plurality of noise canceling signals based on the average value (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method when the touch signal is either above or below a defined threshold; [0294], discussing the average value of the touch signal).
Regarding Claim 14, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, wherein the layout design is related to a plurality of layout locations of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout), and the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into the plurality of line groups according to the plurality of layout locations (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions, showing the sense electrode lines are grouped according to an array layout).
Regarding Claim 15, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, wherein the layout design is related to a plurality of routing lengths between the plurality of signal receiving lines and the first touch display chip (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions), and the plurality of signal receiving lines are classified into the plurality of line groups according to the plurality of routing lengths (Drake: Figs. 3A-3B, 4B-4C, and 6A-7A, and corresponding descriptions).
Regarding Claim 16, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, wherein the first touch display chip is further configured to store a matching table (Drake: predetermined calibration table 812), wherein the matching table is configured to store a correspondence between the layout design of the plurality of signal receiving lines and a configuration method for classifying the plurality of signal receiving lines into the plurality of line groups (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions; [0156]-[0160], [0267]-[0269]).
Regarding Claim 17, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of signal transmitting lines (Drake: transmit (TX) electrodes 702) coupled to the first touch display chip and the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions),
wherein the first touch display chip is configured to control a first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in a plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]).
Regarding Claim 18, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 11, further comprising a second touch display chip (Drake: [0078], noting the processing device may be split into more than one, noting how a force and capacitive touch determination is provided),
wherein the first touch display chip is coupled to a first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts),
wherein the second touch display chip is coupled to the plurality of noise canceling circuits and a second portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts), and configured to receive the plurality of touch signals and the plurality of noise canceling signals of the second portion, so as to generate the plurality of adjusted touch signals (Drake: Figs. 9A-10H, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple touches being detected and provided back to the processor to determine the adjusted touch location; [0158]-[0170], discussing the signal conditioning and noise reduction method), and
wherein the first portion is different from the second portion (Drake: Figs. 1A and 6A-7B, and corresponding descriptions, showing multiple processing chip layouts).
Regarding Claim 19, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 18, further comprising a plurality of signal transmitting lines (Drake: transmit (TX) electrodes 702) coupled to the first touch display chip, the second touch display chip and the plurality of signal receiving lines (Drake: Fig. 7A, and corresponding descriptions),
wherein the first touch display chip is configured to control the first portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in a plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]), and
wherein the second touch display chip is configured to control the second portion of the plurality of signal receiving lines through the plurality of signal transmitting lines to generate the plurality of touch signals in the plurality of time periods (Drake: [0135]-[0139]).
Regarding Claim 20, Drake, as modified by Kim, teaches the touch display device of claim 19, wherein the first touch display chip and the second touch display chip are connected to each other, so as to synchronously control the plurality of signal receiving lines during the plurality of time periods (Drake: [0071], [0125], [0245], [0269], [0281]-[0282], and [0297]-[0298], each discussing how the device substantially synchronous in order to make a touch determination).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kuo et al., US PG-Pub 2015/0338992, teaches a touch detection circuit that compares the magnitudes of signal lines in order to obtain a smaller noise summation.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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STEPHEN T. REED
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2627
/Stephen T. Reed/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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