Ex Parte Hong et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardMay 4, 201613016122 (P.T.A.B. May. 4, 2016) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/016,122 01/28/2011 22150 7590 05/06/2016 F CHAU & AS SOCIA TES, LLC 130 WOODBURY ROAD WOODBURY, NY 11797 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Won-Ki Hong UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 8054L-653 3946 EXAMINER YANG, NAN-YING ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2697 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/06/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): mail@chauiplaw.com garramone@chauiplaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte WON-Kl HONG, JEE-HONG MIN, SEONG-MO HWANG, and IL-HO LEE 1 Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016, 122 Technology Center 2600 Before JOHNNY A. KUMAR, TERRENCE W. McMILLIN, and JOYCE CRAIG, Administrative Patent Judges. McMILLIN, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is a decision2 on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the final rejection of claims 1, 3-9, 13-16, and 20-22. 3 Advisory Act. 1. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. 1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Samsung Display Co., Ltd. App. Br. 1. 2 Our decision refers to the Final Office Action mailed August 16, 2013 ("Final Act."); the Advisory Action mailed October 15, 2013 ("Advisory Act."); Appellant's Appeal Brief filed January 16, 2014 ("App. Br."); the Examiner's Answer mailed March 7, 2014 ("Ans."); Appellant's Reply Brief filed May 2, 2014 ("Reply Br."); and the Specification filed January 28, 2011 ("Spec."). 3 Claims 2, 10-12, 17-19, and 23-27 are cancelled. App. Br. 1. Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016,122 REJECTIONS ON APPEAL Claims 1, 3-9, 13, and 20-22 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Lin et al. (US 2010/0117983 Al, published May 13, 2010) ("Lin"); Felder et al. (US 8,106,892 B2, issued Jan. 31, 2012) ("Felder"); and Kraus et al. (US 7,295,191 B2, issued Nov. 13, 2007) ("Kraus"). Final Act. 4. Claims 14--16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Lin, Felder, Kraus, and Cai et al. (US 2010/0141604 Al, published June 10, 2010) ("Cai"). Final Act. 25-26. THE CLAIMED INVENTION According to Appellants' Specification, "[ e ]xemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of determining a touch coordinate, and a touch panel for performing the method. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of determining a touch coordinate capable of recognizing multi-touches and a touch panel for performing the method." Spec. 1. Independent claim 1 is directed to a method and independent claim 13 is directed to a touch panel assembly. App. Br. 18-19, 21-23. Claim 1 recites: A method of determining a touch coordinate in a touch panel, comprising: detecting a touch cell among a plurality of touch cells, wherein the plurality of touch cells are defined by a plurality of areas in the touch panel in which a first touch electrode and a second touch electrode overlap with each other; detecting a touch position in the detected touch cell based on a first electrical signal measured at at least one of a plurality of terminals of the first and second touch electrodes; 2 Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016,122 detennmmg a number of touches based on a distance between a first touch and a second touch; determining expected touch coordinates, wherein the expected touch coordinates correspond to the touch position when the number of touches is one, and the expected touch coordinates are based on a central point between the first and second touches and the distance between the first and second touches when the number of touches is two; and determining the touch coordinate from among the expected touch coordinates based on a voltage measured at at least one of the plurality of terminals of the first and second touch electrodes, wherein the touch panel comprises a first substrate and a second substrate overlapping the first substrate, the first substrate comprises at least one first touch electrode, and the second substrate comprises at least one second touch electrode, wherein the first touch electrode comprises a first terminal extending along a first side of the first touch electrode in a first direction, and a second terminal extending along a second side of the first touch electrode in the first direction; wherein the first and second sides of the first touch electrode oppose each other, and the second touch electrode comprises a third terminal extending along a first side of the second touch electrode in a second direction crossing the first direction, and a fourth terminal extending along a second side of the second touch electrode in the second direction, wherein the first and second sides of the second touch electrode oppose each other, wherein determining the touch coordinate from among the expected touch coordinates comprises applying a source voltage to the first terminal and a ground voltage to the second terminal, and measuring a first voltage at the third terminal and a second voltage at the fourth terminal while the source voltage is applied to the first terminal and the ground voltage is applied to the second terminal, 3 Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016,122 wherein determmmg the touch coordinate further comprises calculating a single difference between the first and second voltages while the source voltage is applied to the first terminal and the ground voltage is applied to the second terminal, in response to determining that the number of touches is two, and wherein a first expected touch coordinate is determined as the touch coordinate when the first voltage is greater than the second voltage and a second expected touch coordinate is determined as the touch coordinate when the second voltage is greater than the first voltage. App. Br. 18-19. ANALYSIS Claims 1and13 are the pending independent claims. App. Br. 18-19, 21-23. Appellants argue the cited art fails to teach or suggest: wherein determining the touch coordinate from among the expected touch coordinates comprises applying a source voltage to the first terminal and a ground voltage to the second terminal, and measuring a first voltage at the third terminal and a second voltage at the fourth terminal while the source voltage is applied to the first terminal and the ground voltage is applied to the second terminal, wherein determining the touch coordinate further comprises calculating a single difference between the first and second voltages while the source voltage is applied to the first terminal and the ground voltage is applied to the second terminal, in response to determining that the number of touches is two, as recited in claim 1. App. Br. 11-12. Claim 13 contains analogous limitations. App. Br. 23. Specifically, the Appellants argue: 4 Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016,122 the disciosure oi Kraus cited by the Examiner does not teach or suggest determining a touch coordinate in any manner. Rather, the voltage application and measurement process described with reference to FIG. 5 of Kraus is related to determining a number of touches (e.g., single-touch or multi-touch), as made clear in the flowchart of FIG. 6B (e.g., steps 614, 618 and 620) and in col. 8, lines 48-58, which explain that the circuit shown in FIG. 5 "allows the measurement circuit 320 to distinguish a single touch from a set of two or more touches" (emphasis added). In contrast, Claims 1 and 13 essentially claim determining the touch coordinate from among the expected touch coordinates using first and second voltages measured at third and fourth terminals. Determining a total number of touches is not analogous to determining (e.g., identifying) a touch coordinate from among expected touch coordinates. App. Br. 11-12. The Examiner relies on Figure 5 of Kraus as teaching or suggesting these limitations. Final Act. 8-9. See, also, Ans. 7 ("Kraus teaches to determine the touch coordinates using a single voltage applying process in which source and ground voltages are respectively applied to the first and second terminals of a first touch electrode."). The disputed limitations in independent claims 1 and 13 each relate to determining a touch coordinate. Figure 5 of Kraus relates to determining a number of touches. See Kraus 8:48-56 ("FIG. 5 presents an equivalent circuit according to the present invention that addresses the multiple-touch problem ... This new arrangement allows the measurement circuit 320 to distinguish a single touch from a set of two or more touches."). Upon this record, we do not sustain the rejection of independent claims 1 and 13. We also do not sustain the rejections of dependent claims 3-9, 14--16, and 20-22. 5 Appeal2014-006310 Application 13/016,122 As the argument discussed above in relation to claims l and 13 is dispositive of this appeal, we find it unnecessary to address Appellants' other arguments. DECISION The rejections of claims 1, 3-9, 13-16, and 20-22 are reversed. REVERSED 6 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation