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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to application No. 18381501 filed on 10/18/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS has been considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of 10-13, 15-18 in the reply filed on 01/28/2026 is acknowledged.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 12, 17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim (independent claim 10), but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The closest prior art known to the Examiner is listed on the PTO 892 forms of record.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Lee et al. (US 2023/0358653).
With respect to dependent claim 12, the cited prior art does not anticipate or make obvious, inter alia, the step of: “wherein the cover member comprises at least one rear printed part, and the support member is attached to the at least one rear printed part of the cover member through the fixing layer”.
With respect to dependent claim 17, the cited prior art does not anticipate or make obvious, inter alia, the step of: “wherein the display panel comprises a printed circuit board on a lower side of the display panel, and the support member on a plane extends to upper, left, and right sides of the display panel except for a direction toward the printed circuit board on the lower side of the display panel”.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 10-11, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2023/0358653).
Regarding Independent claim 10, Lee et al. teach a display apparatus comprising:
a display panel (Fig. 7, element PNL, paragraph 0074) having an active area (Fig. 6, element AA, paragraph 0116) and a non-active area (Fig. 6, element NAA, paragraph 0116);
a cover member (Fig. 7, element WC, paragraph 0118) disposed on the display panel;
a support member (Fig. 7, elements PF, CP, MP, paragraph 0118) disposed under the display panel; and
a fixing layer (Fig. 7, element ADL_1, paragraph 0121) configured to attach the support member to the cover member,
wherein an area of the support member is larger in size than an area of the display panel (Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 11, Lee et al. teach wherein the support member comprises polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (paragraph 0124).
Regarding claim 13, Lee et al. teach wherein the support member covers a side surface of the display panel (Fig, 7, covers bottom surface which is a side surface).
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 of this title, 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 15, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2023/0358653).
Regarding claim 15, Lee et al. teach a plate (Fig. 8, element 110a, paragraph 0080) disposed on a lower side of the support member, wherein the plate comprises aluminum (Before the effective filling date of the invention it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to select a known metal such as aluminum, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the base of its suitability, for its intended use involves only ordinary skill in the art. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416).
Regarding claim 18, Lee et al. teach wherein a thickness of the support member is larger than a thickness of the display panel, and a thickness of the cover member is larger than the thickness of the support member (Fig. 7, the thickness of layers are known to have ranges and can be varied. Accordingly, the thickness is an art recognized variable. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to vary, through routine optimization, the thicknesses and arrive at the claimed limitation. Furthermore, the applicant has not presented persuasive evidence that the claimed thickness is for a particular purpose that is critical to the overall claimed invention.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2023/0358653) in view of Han et al. (US 2023/0354686).
Regarding claim 16, Lee et al. teach wherein the display panel comprises an organic light emitting element (paragraph 0122), an encapsulation part (paragraph 0127).
Lee et al. do not explicitly disclose a touch part.
Han et al. teach a display device comprising a touch part (paragraph 0103-0104).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the teachings of Lee et al. according to the teachings of Han et al. with the motivation to sense an input by an active-type input device (paragraph 0103).
Cited Prior Art
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant.
Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHED AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-3477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Gauthier can be reached on 571-270-0373. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAHED AHMED/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2813
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