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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kang et al. (USPN 2022/0223820).
With regard to claim 18,
Kang et al. disclose a display device comprising: a display panel (1) comprising a substrate (100) and a plurality of pixels (PX) on the substrate, the substrate comprising a display area (DA) and a peripheral area (PA) arranged outside the display area, wherein the plurality of pixels is arranged in the display area; and a cover window (CW) disposed on the display panel, wherein the cover window comprises a flat area (FP) having a flat surface and a curved area (CP, SP) having a curved shape and overlapping a portion of the display area and a portion of the peripheral area (see fig. 7), and a portion of the curved area overlapping the peripheral area has a thickness decreasing as being away from the flat area (See fig. 6).
With regard to claim 19,
Kang et al. disclose the display device of claim 18, wherein the display panel comprises corner areas (CDA), and the display area comprises a front display area (FDA), a corner display area bent in each of the corner areas, and a side display area (SDA) arranged at a side of the front display area between the corner areas (see fig. 1).
With regard to claim 20,
Kang et al. disclose the display device of claim 19, wherein the peripheral area comprises a first peripheral area (PA corresponding to CDA) arranged outside the corner display area in each of the corner areas, and a second peripheral (PA corresponding to SDA) area arranged outside the side display area, the curved area comprises a first curved area (SP, corresponding to SDA) overlapping the side display area and a second curved area (SP, corresponding to PA) overlapping the first peripheral area, and the second curved area has a thickness decreasing as being away from the first curved area (See fig. 7).
With regard to claim 21,
Kang et al. disclose the display device of claim 18, wherein each of the display panel and the cover window is circular (See paragraph 69).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art does not disclose nor render obvious, in combination with the other limitations of the claims, a display device where the cover window has first and second curved area thicknesses in the corner areas as claimed. In particular, the closed prior art (cited above), discloses the configuration in the side areas, but is silent as to the corner areas. Claims 1, 12 are therefore allowed. Claims, 2-11, 13-17 are allowed due to their dependence upon claim 1 or 12.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN 2020/0379595, 2023/0015869, 2021/0325932, 2019/0069425, 2017/0179433, 2014/0168090, 2022/0246878.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christopher Raabe whose telephone number is (571)272-8434. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0530-1430.
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/CHRISTOPHER M RAABE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875