Appeal Number: 2006-1372
Application Number: 09/197,767
Claims 54, 58, 62, and 66 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Sato in view of Okita, Miyawaki, Yamazaki, and Fukunaga
Claims 1, 2, 5, 22 through 27, 40, 47, 48, 51, 52, 55, 56, 59, 60, 63, 64, 67, 68, 71,
and 72 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Fukunaga in
view of Liu, and Izumi.
Reference is made to the Examiner's Answer (mailed June 16, 2005) for the
examiner's complete reasoning in support of the rejections, and to appellants’ Brief (filed
March 17, 2005) and Reply Brief (filed August 18, 2005) for appellants’ arguments
thereagainst.
OPINION
We have carefully considered the claims, the applied prior art references, and the
respective positions articulated by appellants and the examiner. As a consequence of our
review, we will reverse the obviousness rejections of claims 1 through 5, 16, 22 through
27, 40, and 46 through 74.
The examiner begins (Answer, pages 3 and 9) by rejecting claims 1, 5, 16, 22
through 27, 40, 46, 47, 51, 55, 59, 63, 67, 68, 71, and 72 over Liu in view of Fukunaga
and Izumi. The examiner asserts (Answer, pages 4 and 10) that although Liu’s device
has a transparent pixel electrode, it would have been obvious “to form Liu’s pixel
electrode either as a transparent electrically conductive film or as a reflective electrical
conductive film, depending upon the desired display device type for the liquid crystal
display device, as taught by Izumi.”
As pointed out by appellants (Brief, page 9), Liu’s objective is to create a better
transmissive display. In particular, Liu discloses (column 1, lines 32-39) that present
high resolution active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) result in low aperture
ratios, which requires a brighter backlight, which consumes extra power. Liu teaches
(column 2, lines 36-38) that “a need exists for AMLCD pixel and transistor design that
provide . . . [a] high pixel aperture ratio.” Liu further discloses (column 6, lines 27-29)
that the high aperture ratio achieved by his design “allows use of a lower power backlight
and improves the display brightness and efficiency.” To make Liu’s pixel electrode
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