DETAILED ACTION
In response to RCE filed 4/2/2026. Claims 1, 4, 6-7, and 9-10 are pending. Claim 6 is amended. Claim 8 was cancelled.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/2/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 4, and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue et al. (JP 2019-019054) in view of Fisher et al. (US 20150140301).
Inoue discloses a vehicle display device that has excellent impact resistance. Concerning claim 1, Inoue discloses the vehicle display device comprises a cover glass that is attached to a display panel (FIG. 2; para. 0012-0036). However, Inoue is silent to a cover glass having the properties as claimed. With respect to claim 4, the display panel can be a touch panel which would include the layers to allow to function as a touch panel (para. 0047); as such, the touch panel would intrinsically detect a contact position. However, Inoue is silent to a cover glass having the properties as claimed.
Fisher discloses a thin glass laminate for use in electronics and automotive , wherein each glass sheet has a thickness not exceeding 0.5 mm with a PVB adhesive disposed therebetween, resulting in a pummel value from 7 to 10 (para. 0021-0069). Examiner notes that since the pummel value of the laminate is the same and the materials for each layer are the same, the PVB of Fisher would have the claimed pummel value. Given that the PVB layers are the same and as such, have the claimed pummel values. With respect to claim 9, the glass outer glass sheets are Gorilla Glass® which are chemically tempered. The thin glass laminate of Fisher allows for high adhesion between the glass sheets and the PVB layer that allows for high penetration resistance and post-breakage glass retention properties (para. 0009 and 0067). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the thin glass laminate of Fisher as the cover glass for Inoue.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 7 allowed. The prior art is silent to the combination of elements as claimed. Namely, the specific combination of the pummel values and the thickness of each glass layer as claimed along with the relationship between each layer as claimed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/2/2026 regarding the art rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant asserts that the PVB of the Fisher reference is not necessarily the same as that disclosed in the instant claims and disclosure because PVB adhesion can be altered by pressure, temperature, moisture amount at the time at adhesion, and presence or absence of additives in PVB. While this may be true, Applicant has not shown how the PVB of Fisher differs with respect to the claimed PVB given that the pummel adhesion is within the claimed range. Further, Applicant has not shown that these conditions or processes with respect to the PVB of Fisher are present. As such, the rejection is maintained for the above reasons.
Conclusion
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PRASHANT J. KHATRI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1783
/PRASHANT J KHATRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783