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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/28/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment dated 12/28/2025, in which claims 1-2 were amended, claims 4, 9-21 were withdrawn, has been entered.
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 1-3, 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. (US Pub. 20190348641) in view of Kim (US Pub. 20140118902) and Guangnan (CN112967607A) and Fang et al. (US Pub. 20170151756).
Regarding claim 1, Jung et al. discloses in Fig. 2A, Fig. 4, Fig. 9A, Fig. 9B a display apparatus comprising:
a display panel [DM] including at least one curved portion;
a cover window [WM] covering a first surface of the display panel [DM]; and
an adhesive member [AM] arranged between the display panel [DM] and the cover window [WM], wherein a portion of the adhesive member [AM] is arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the curved portion [corner portion] of the display panel [DM], and another portion of the adhesive member [AM] is arranged to correspond to a rest of the display panel [DM],
wherein the display panel includes a main display area [DA-U], subsidiary display areas [DA-S], and corner display areas [DA-M],
wherein the subsidiary display areas [DA-S] are connected to sides of a periphery of the main display area [DA-U], respectively, and the corner display areas [DA-M] are arranged between the subsidiary display areas [DA-S],
wherein the display panel [DM] is disposed under the cover window [WM], the curved portion of the display panel [DM] is curved toward a direction away from the cover window [WM] and includes the corner display areas [DA-M],
Jung et al. fails to disclose
the adhesive member comprises a plurality of different adhesive members arranged, wherein one of the plurality of different adhesive members is a liquid optically clear resin and arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the curved portion of the display panel, and another of the plurality of different adhesive members is a solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive and arranged to correspond to a rest of the display panel;
and the liquid optically clear resin is arranged on the corner display areas.
Kim discloses in Fig. 6, Fig. 9, paragraph [0074]-[0076], [0079]
the adhesive member [810 and 820] or [813 and 823] comprises a plurality of different adhesive members arranged, wherein one of the plurality of different adhesive members is a first optically clear resin [820 or 823] and arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the corner portion of the display panel [210], and another of the plurality of different adhesive members is a second optically clear adhesive [810 or 813] arranged to correspond to a rest of the display panel [210];
and the first optically clear resin [820 or 823] is arranged on the corner display areas.
Kim further discloses in paragraph [0046] that an optically clear adhesive can either be a semi-solid optically clear adhesive or a liquid optically clear adhesive.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the finite number of predictable solutions for the first optically clear adhesive and the second optically clear adhesive: the first optically clear resin and the second optically clear adhesive are different solid/semi-solid optically clear adhesives; the first optically clear adhesive and the second optically clear adhesive are different liquid optically clear resins; the first optically clear adhesive is a solid/semi-solid liquid optically clear adhesive and the second optically clear adhesive is a liquid optically clear resin; or the first optically clear adhesive is a liquid optically clear resin and the second optically clear adhesive is a solid/semi-solid liquid optically clear adhesive. Absent unexpected results, it would have been obvious to try the first optically clear adhesive is a liquid optically clear resin and the second optically clear adhesive is a solid/semi-solid liquid optically clear adhesive to yield suitable for the first optically clear adhesive and the second optically clear adhesive.
For further support for an adhesive member comprising a liquid adhesive and a solid adhesive, Guangnan is cited.
Guangnan discloses in Fig. 3, paragraph [0015], [0019], [0024], [0043], [0055]-[0057], [0060]-[0061], [0078], [0081]
the adhesive member [13] comprises a plurality of different adhesive members arranged, wherein one of the plurality of different adhesive members [3a/131] is a liquid adhesive and arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the corner portion of the display panel, and another of the plurality of different adhesive members [13b/132] is a solid adhesive arranged to correspond to another portion(s) of the display panel.
Jung et al. discloses the corner portion is a portion of the curved portion. Thus, combination of Kim, Guangnan and Jung et al. would result to “a first optically clear resin and arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the curved portion of the display panel.”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Kim, and Guangnan into the method of Jung et al. to include the adhesive member comprises a plurality of different adhesive members arranged, wherein one of the plurality of different adhesive members is a liquid optically clear resin and arranged to correspond to at least a portion of the curved portion of the display panel, and another of the plurality of different adhesive members is a solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive and arranged to correspond to a rest of the display panel. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Jung et al. in the above manner for the purpose of providing suitable configuration of adhesive member to prevent a smearing phenomenon, a bruising phenomenon or a polling phenomenon without luminance deterioration of the display device even when the external force is applied to the display panel of the display device, to improve the viscosity of the corners of the display and prevent the display from coming off during transportation and testing, thereby improving the yield of the display [paragraph [0018] of Kim, paragraph [0057], [0061], [0078], [0081] of Guangnan].
Jung et al. fails to disclose
wherein a portion of the solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive is arranged on the corner display areas to cover an outer side of the liquid optically clear resin to prevent the liquid optically clear resin from flowing to an outside.
Kim discloses in Fig. 8, paragraph [0078]
wherein a portion of the solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive [812] is arranged on the corner display areas to cover an outer side of the liquid optically clear resin [822].
Fang et al. discloses in Fig. 3, Fig. 4, paragraph [0032]-[0035]
wherein a portion of a solid or semi-solid adhesive [31] is arranged on bonding regions to cover an outer side of a liquid adhesive [32] to prevent the liquid adhesive from flowing to an outside.
Jung et al. and Guangnan suggests the bonding regions are the corner display areas; the solid or semi-solid adhesive is the solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive; the liquid adhesive is the liquid optically clear resin, and the liquid optically clear resin is arranged on the corner display areas. Thus, the combination of Jung et al. and Guangnan and Fang et al. would result to “wherein a portion of the solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive is arranged on the corner display areas to cover an outer side of the liquid optically clear resin to prevent the liquid optically clear resin from flowing to an outside.”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Fang et al. and Kim and Guangnan into the method of Jung et al. to include wherein a portion of the solid or semi-solid optically clear adhesive is arranged on the corner display areas to cover an outer side of the liquid optically clear resin to prevent the liquid optically clear resin from flowing to an outside. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Jung et al. in the above manner for the purpose of ensuring a sufficient adhesive strength and a sufficient deformation resistance of the adhesive bonded structure at the corner display areas, thereby preventing the adhesive bonded structure at the corner display areas from tackless and crack, increasing the appearance rating of the adhesive bonded structure at the corner display areas, and an external force may be uniformly dispersed on the non-display region [paragraph [0033]-[0034] of Fang et al., paragraph [0078] of Kim].
Regarding claims 2-3, 5-7, Kim discloses in Fig. 6, Fig. 9
wherein the plurality of different adhesive members [813 and 823] include a first adhesive member [813] and a second adhesive member [823],
wherein the first adhesive member [813] is arranged in the main display area and the subsidiary display areas, and the second adhesive member [823] is arranged in the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [813] surrounds the second adhesive member [823];
wherein the second adhesive member [823] and a portion of the first adhesive member [813] are arranged to correspond to the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [813] is arranged on a periphery of the corner display areas, and the second adhesive member [823] is arranged on a center of the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [810 or 813] and the second adhesive member [820 or 823] each are arranged in a same layer.
Guangnan also discloses in Fig. 3
wherein the plurality of different adhesive members [13] include a first adhesive member [132] and a second adhesive member [131], wherein the first adhesive member [132] is arranged in the subsidiary display areas, and the second adhesive member [131] is arranged in the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [132] surrounds the second adhesive member [131];
wherein the second adhesive member [131] and a portion of the first adhesive member [132] are arranged to correspond to the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [132] is arranged on a periphery of the corner display areas, and the second adhesive member [131] is arranged on a center of the corner display areas;
wherein the first adhesive member [132] and the second adhesive member [131] each are arranged in a same layer.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al. (US Pub. 20190348641) in view of Kim (US Pub. 20140118902) and Guangnan (CN112967607A) and Fang et al. (US Pub. 20170151756) as applied to claim 2 above and further in view of Li et al. (US Pub. 20230178526).
Regarding claim 8, Jung et al., Kim and Guangnan fails to disclose
wherein the corner display area includes a plurality of strip portions, and wherein the second adhesive member is arranged between the plurality of strip portions.
Li et al. discloses in Fig. 1, Fig. 11, Fig. 37A-37B, paragraph [0065], [0082]-[0083], [0133]-[0134]
wherein the corner display area includes a plurality of strip portions [106], and wherein the second adhesive member [182] is arranged between the plurality of strip portions [106].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Li et al. into the method of Jung et al., Kim and Guangnan and Fang et al. to include wherein the corner display area includes a plurality of strip portions, and wherein the second adhesive member is arranged between the plurality of strip portions. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Jung et al., Kim and Guangnan and Fang et al. in the above manner for the purpose of facilitating folding of a 2D display panel film into a 3D compound film curvature, for example along corners or a dome shaped display; providing trench (or seam) hiding techniques to reduce optical emission artifacts such as glowing at trench edges, and optical reflection artifacts such as visible trenches (white) in display off-state or visible trenches (dark) in display on-state [paragraph [0057], [0061], [0131], [0133] of Li et al.].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-3, 5-8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Overall, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive. The claims stand rejected.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited art discloses similar materials, devices and methods.
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/SOPHIA T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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