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 .
Remarks
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 10/19/23. Examiner acknowledged that claims 1-20 are pending.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/19/23, 02/28/24, 10/02/24, 11/19/24, 12/04/25 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 10-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha (US 2020/0235463) in view of Park (US 2017/0285844).
Regarding Claim 1, Cha teaches an electronic device comprising: a housing (Fig. 1: 150) forming an exterior of the electronic device (Fig. 1: 100); a second display (fig. 1: 110) facing in a direction, wherein the second display comprises a conductive pattern (Fig. 1: 113); a metal part (Fig. 1: 150a) electrically connected to the conductive pattern; and a wireless communication circuit (Fig. 1: 131; [0052] “the first conductive region 113a may be electrically connected with the ground region of the PCB 130”; NOTE: it’s obvious that 131 is grounded through 130 in order for the circuit to work electrically) electrically connected to at least one of the metal part or the conductive pattern.
Cha does not teach a first display ; a second display facing in a direction different from that of the first display.
Park is in the field of mobile phone (abstract) and teaches a first display (Fig. 12: 1290-2) ; a second display (Fig. 12: 1290-1) facing in a direction different from that of the first display.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to modify the device of Cha with a first display as taught by Park in order to allow messages to be seen on either face depending on which face is facing the user since this allows the user to see the incoming messages [0932].
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the metal part forms a portion of the exterior of the electronic device (Cha Fig. 1:150a is part of the exterior housing).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 2, further comprising: a camera, wherein the metal part is connected to the camera (Cha [0037] “The plurality of components may include, for example, an application processor (AP), a communication processor (CP), a display driver integrated circuit (IC) (DDI), or a communication circuit (or a wireless circuit) 131”; [0104] “The processor 1120 may include…an image signal processor (ISP) of a camera”).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the second display further comprises a plurality of layers (Park Fig. 23: 2300) and the conductive pattern comprises a layer of the plurality of layers (Cha Fig. 2: 113 includes 113a, 113b).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device 2 of claim 1, wherein the conductive pattern is configured to shield the second display from electromagnetic interference (Cha [0034] “conductive sheet layer 113 may prevent electro-magnetic interference between vertically positioned components by shielding an electromagnetic wave generated from the components”).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a front surface and a rear surface facing in a direction opposite to the front surface, wherein the first display is disposed on the front surface, and the second display and the metal part are disposed on the rear surface (Park Fig. 12).
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a side comprising a conductive part, wherein the side extends along an edge of the first display and forms a side surface of the electronic device, and wherein at least one of the metal part or the conductive pattern is electrically connected to the conductive part of the side (Cha Fig.1 : 150a extends all around the housing).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the housing is configured to allow the first display to be folded (Cha Fig. 12: the display folds at the top from one side to the other).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a matching circuit disposed on an electrical path electrically connecting at least one of the metal part or the conductive pattern to the wireless communication circuit (Park [0751] “an antenna matching element (e.g., an impedance matching element) 4802 for antenna matching may be additionally configured after ACF bonding 4801 between the conductive pattern”).
Regarding Claims 11-13, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a matching circuit disposed on an electrical path electrically connecting the metal part and the conductive pattern (Park [0751] “an antenna matching element (e.g., an impedance matching element) 4802 for antenna matching may be additionally configured after ACF bonding 4801 between the conductive pattern”).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the metal part or the conductive pattern is electrically grounded ([0052] “the first conductive region 113a may be electrically connected with the ground region of the PCB 130”).
Regarding Claim 15, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 1, further comprising: a printed circuit board (Fig. 1: 130) accommodated in the housing and having the wireless communication circuit (Fig. 1: 131) disposed thereon, wherein at least one of the metal part or the conductive pattern is electrically connected to the wireless communication circuit through a flexible conductive part ([0041] “The antenna pattern 161 may be printed and formed on a flexible PCB (FPCB)… the first antenna radiator 160 may be electrically connected with the first region 113a of the conductive sheet layer 113 through a conductive pad 150b”) disposed on the printed circuit board.
Claim(s) 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha in view of Park (WO 2021246687 A1).
Regarding Claim 16, Cha teaches an electronic device comprising: the housing (Fig. 1: 150) comprises a first side (Fig. 1: 170), a second side (fig. 1: 110), and a side part (Fig. 1: 150) disposed between the first side and the second side; a display (Fig. 1: 110) disposed on the second side of the housing, wherein the display comprises a conductive pattern (Fig. 1: 113); a metal part (Fig. 1: 150a) disposed on the second side of the housing; and a wireless communication circuit (Fig. 1: 131; [0052] “the first conductive region 113a may be electrically connected with the ground region of the PCB 130”; NOTE: it’s obvious that 131 is grounded through 130 in order for the circuit to work electrically), wherein the side part comprises a conductive part (Fig. 1: 150a is conductive), and wherein the conductive part of the side part, the conductive pattern of the display, and the metal part are electrically connected to the wireless communication circuit (Fig. 1: 131; [0052] “the first conductive region 113a may be electrically connected with the ground region of the PCB 130”; NOTE: it’s obvious that 131 is grounded through 130 in order for the circuit to work electrically).
Cha does not teach a housing configured to be foldable along an axis, wherein the housing is configured to fold inward when the housing is in a folded state and the second side forms an exterior of the electronic device when the housing is in the folded state.
Park is in the field of mobile phone (abstract) and teaches a housing configured to be foldable along an axis, wherein the housing is configured to fold inward when the housing is in a folded state and the second side forms an exterior of the electronic device when the housing is in the folded state (Fig. 1a: 115 folded along axis A).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claim invention to modify the device of Cha with the folding of the phone as taught by Park in order to allow the phone to fold making it smaller.
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 16, wherein the display comprises a plurality of layers and the conductive pattern comprises a layer of the plurality of layers (Cha Fig. 2: 111 and 113 have multiple layers).
Regarding Claim 18, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 17, wherein the conductive pattern is configured to shield the display from electromagnetic interference (Cha [0034] “conductive sheet layer 113 may prevent electro-magnetic interference between vertically positioned components by shielding an electromagnetic wave generated from the components”).
Regarding Claim 19, the combination of Cha and Park teach the electronic device of claim 16, wherein the conductive part of the side part is electrically connected to the metal part (Cha Fig. 1: 150a is rectangular), and the conductive pattern of the display is electrically connected to the metal part (Cha Fig. 113 is connected to 150 via ground).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY T LUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7008. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 8:00-6:00.
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/Henry Luong/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844