DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
2. Acknowledgement is made of amendment filed on 07/07/2026, in which claim 1 is amended, claim 11 is added, rejection of claims 1-10 are traversed and claims 1-11 currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 of this title, 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.
4. Claim(s) 1-4 and 6-8 is/are ejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Namekata et al. (US 2024/0046890 A1, hereinafter referred as “Namekata”) in view of Ninan et al. (US 2013/0147778 A1, hereinafter referred as “Ninan”).
Regarding claim 1, Namekata discloses a display device (10) comprising:
a display panel (12) configured to emit display light (abstract discloses a display includes a display area for displaying a display image);
a decorative layer (18) located on a display surface side of the display panel (12) (Figs. 2-3 and ¶0043 discloses display image displayed on the display panel 12 can be viewed from the observer via the decorated layer 18) and having a pattern in a plan view (¶0042 discloses the decorated layer 18 has, for example, a pattern such as a wood grain pattern and has translucency), the decorative layer (18) being configured to allow at least portion of the display light to transmit (¶0043-¶0044 discloses the display image displayed on the display panel 12 can be viewed from the observer via the decorated layer 18) and reflect at least portion of outside light to display the pattern (¶0043 and ¶0045 discloses pattern of the decorated layer 18 can also be viewed from the observer, and the observer can view the pattern of the decorated layer 18 as overlapping the display image);
a measurer (22) configured to measure an intensity of the outside light emitted to the decorative layer (18) (Fig. 1 and ¶0033 discloses illuminance sensor 22 detects the illuminance of light incident on the display 10 and outputs a signal indicating the detected illuminance to the control circuit 20); and
a display controller (20) configured to control the display light according to an image displayed on the display panel (12) (Figs. 1-3 and ¶0047 discloses second acquisition unit 34 acquires a brightness L of the second end image displayed in the first end area A11 from the image data for the display image) and the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (22) (Fig. 1 and ¶0033 discloses control circuit 20 controls the display 10 based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance sensor 22).
Namekata doesn’t disclose wherein the display controller controls a luminance of a black screen displayed by the display panel in accordance with the intensity of the outside light.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ninan discloses wherein the display controller controls a luminance of a black screen displayed by the display panel in accordance with the intensity of the outside light (¶0049 and ¶0051-¶0053 discloses the ambient black level unit 110 may be configured to monitor and process the data from the light sensors 108 to determine the intensity of ambient light present on the display panel 106. The light source controller 112, or the ambient black level unit 110 therein, may determine an appropriate black level for the display panel 106 and may adjust the light output levels of one or more light sources in the plurality of light sources 102 to achieve the determined black level).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Namekata for the purpose of improving visibility of a dark image content and permit the displayed black level to track the luminance caused by the ambient light reflected from the decorative layer.
Regarding claim 2, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 1,
wherein the display panel (12) is a liquid crystal panel including a liquid crystal layer (Figs. 1, 3 and ¶0031 discloses display panel 12 is a liquid crystal panel),
the display device (10) further includes a backlight unit (14) configured to emit backlight to the liquid crystal panel (Figs. 1, 3 and ¶0031 discloses backlight 14 is located on the rear surface of the display panel 12 and radiates light to the display panel 12),
the display controller (20) controls a light transmittance at each position of the liquid crystal panel in plan view through control of the liquid crystal panel (¶0063 discloses the correction value generation unit 40 generates correction values for correcting the respective pixels of the first end image to cause the brightness of the first end image to gradually decrease from the center of the display area A1 toward the end of the display area A1), and
the display controller (20) includes a backlight controller that controls an intensity of the backlight through control of the backlight unit (14) (¶0055 discloses when the control circuit 20 determines that the brightness of the second end image is equal to or lower than the brightness threshold value, the control circuit 20 performs a light intensity decreasing process for decreasing the light intensity of the end light source group 24 to cause the brightness ratio to be equal to or lower than the brightness ratio threshold value by controlling the backlight 14).
Regarding claim 3, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 2, wherein the backlight controller corrects the intensity of the backlight (¶0050 discloses the control circuit 20 controls… the backlight 14 to cause the brightness ratio to be equal to or smaller than the brightness ratio threshold value) according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (22) (¶0048 discloses derivation unit 36 derives a brightness ratio ((LT+EkR)/EkR), defined as a ratio between the brightness of the first end area A11 and the brightness of the peripheral area A2, based on the illuminance E received and the brightness L of the second end image acquired).
Regarding claim 4, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 2, wherein the display controller (20) corrects a light transmittance at each position of the liquid crystal panel in plan view (¶0050 discloses the control circuit 20 controls the display panel 12… to cause the brightness ratio to be equal to or smaller than the brightness ratio threshold value) according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (22) (¶0048 discloses derivation unit 36 derives a brightness ratio ((LT+EkR)/EkR), defined as a ratio between the brightness of the first end area A11 and the brightness of the peripheral area A2, based on the illuminance E received and the brightness L of the second end image acquired).
Regarding claim 6, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the measurer (22) includes a sensor that receives the outside light (Fig. 1 and ¶0047 discloses first acquisition unit 32 receives an illuminance E from the illuminance sensor 22), and an intensity acquirer that acquires an intensity of the outside light received by the sensor (¶0048 discloses derivation unit 36 derives a brightness ratio ((LT+EkR)/EkR), defined as a ratio between the brightness of the first end area A11 and the brightness of the peripheral area A2, based on the illuminance E received).
Regarding claim 7, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the display controller (20) includes a generator that generates a video signal corresponding to an image to be displayed (¶0049 discloses the control circuit 20 displays the display image on the display panel 12 in accordance with the image data), a corrector (42) that corrects the video signal (Fig. 1 and ¶0064 discloses image correction unit 42 multiplies the correction values for correcting the respective pixels generated by the correction value generation unit 40 by the gradation values of the corresponding pixels in the image data and outputs the resultant gradation values of the respective pixels to the display panel 12), and an input unit that inputs the video signal to the display panel (12) (¶0032 discloses control circuit 20 causes the display panel 12 to display a display image via a liquid crystal drive circuit based on image data supplied from outside), and the corrector (42) corrects the video signal according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (22) (¶0065 discloses FIG. 6 shows the brightness after image correction at the respective positions in the display 10 occurring when the illuminance of the external light incident on the display 10 of FIG. 3 is relatively low).
Regarding claim 8, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 7, wherein the corrector (42) performs gamma correction on the video signal (¶0082 discloses correction value generation unit 40 uses, for example, gamma correction to create correction values for correcting the respective pixels of the first end image), and the display controller (20) includes a gamma adjuster that adjusts characteristics of the gamma correction according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (22) (¶0082 discloses correction value generation unit 40 creates a correction value between the correction value for correcting pixel P1 and the correction value for correcting pixel P2 based on a gamma curved given by y=xγ. γ is, for example, 1/2.2).
Regarding claim 11, Namekata doesn’t disclose the display device according to Claim 1, wherein the luminance of the black screen increases as the intensity of the outside light increases.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ninan discloses wherein the luminance of the black screen increases as the intensity of the outside light increases (¶0053 discloses the black level is adjusted up or elevated as the ambient light becomes brighter).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Namekata for the purpose of improving visibility of a dark image content and permit the displayed black level to track the luminance caused by the ambient light reflected from the decorative layer.
5. Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Namekata in view of Ninan and in further view of Lu et al. (US 2016/0253944 A1, hereinafter referred as “Lu”).
Regarding claim 5, Namekata discloses the display device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the display panel (12) includes a plurality of light emitting elements (¶0029 discloses display 10 may be a self-luminous type display such as an organic EL display),
Namekata as modified doesn’t disclose the display light is light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements, and the display controller controls an intensity of the light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements according to an image displayed on the display panel and the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lu discloses the display light is light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements (abstract and ¶0003 discloses the display comprises an OLED with color grayscale values for each pixel), and the display controller controls an intensity of the light emitted by each of the plurality of light emitting elements according to an image displayed on the display panel (Fig. 2 and ¶0045 discloses if the brightness value is greater than the first threshold, the image display device increases at least one primary color gray scale values of each pixel in the first display information to obtain the second display information; correspondingly, if the brightness value is less than the first threshold, the image display device decreases at least one primary color gray scale values of each pixel in the first display information to obtain the second display information) and the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (Fig. 1 and ¶0036 discloses in step 101, the image display device obtains a brightness value of the current ambient light periodically through a light sensor).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Namekata for the purpose of providing an electronic apparatus can be used for displaying information input by a user or provided to a user, providing a rich visual output to the user (¶0003).
6. Claim(s) 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Namekata in view of Ninan and in further view of Nakano (US 2004/0095402 A1, hereinafter referred as “Nakano”).
Regarding claim 9, Namekata as modified doesn’t disclose the display device according to claim 7, wherein the display controller includes a memory that stores correction data including details of correction by the corrector according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer, and the corrector references the correction data from the memory and corrects the video signal according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Nakano discloses wherein the display controller (7) includes a memory (8) that stores correction data including details of correction by the corrector (¶0074 discloses a predetermined reference value relating to ambient brightness is stored in the storage unit 8) according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (10) (¶0004 and ¶0071 discloses the optical sensor 10 detects the intensity of external light on the periphery of the display surface), and the corrector references the correction data from the memory (8) (¶0074 discloses a predetermined reference value relating to ambient brightness is stored in the storage unit 8) and corrects the video signal according to the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer (10) (¶0074 discloses when the value of the digital data C2 is greater than the reference value, the main controller 7 increases the light-emitting luminance of the backlight 9, or increases the gain or bias of the image processor 4 so as to increase the gradation value of the image…when the value of the digital data C2 is smaller than the reference value, the main controller 7 carries out the processes opposite to the above-mentioned processes in order to decease the luminance of the screen).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Namekata for the purpose of decreasing the processing load by reducing the number of calculations for the controller and faster response times.
Regarding claim 10, Namekata discloses the display device according to claim 9, outside light emitted to the decorative layer (Fig. 1 and ¶0033 discloses illuminance sensor 22 detects the illuminance of light incident on the display 10 and outputs a signal indicating the detected illuminance to the control circuit 20).
Namekata doesn’t disclose wherein the correction data includes information on a reference luminance of the display light for the intensity of the outside light emitted… at each position of the display panel in plan view, and the corrector corrects the video signal by comparing the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer with the reference luminance at each position of the display panel in plan view.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Nakano discloses wherein the correction data includes information on a reference luminance of the display light for the intensity of the outside light emitted… at each position of the display panel in plan view (Fig. 27 and ¶0154-¶0155 discloses a weighting process is carried out on the gradation of each pixel depending on the position of each pixel within the display surface), and the corrector corrects the video signal by comparing the intensity of the outside light measured by the measurer with the reference luminance at each position of the display panel in plan view (¶0156 discloses the main controller 7 finds the sum of products between the gradation D and correction coefficient K with respect to all the pixels, by taking the coefficient γ of the gamma correction into consideration, and the resulting sum is divided by the number of all the pixels Z so that the gradation D0r of the image I3 is calculated).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Namekata for the purpose of achieving better optical accuracy across the panel based on sensor location.
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-10 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PRIYANK J SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3732. The examiner can normally be reached on 10:00 - 6:00 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ghebretinsae, Temesghen can be reached on (571) 272-3017. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PRIYANK J SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626
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