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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 3-4, filed 01 June 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 7 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive, particularly in that it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the PDLC layer of Zhang by the guest-host LC structure of Firka, as the shutter operation of Firka teaches away from the display functionality of Zhang. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of additional prior art.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-10 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (US 2021/0405407) in view of Firka et al. (US 2019/0079334), and in further view of Akcasu (US 11,054,680).
Regarding claim 1, Sun discloses a display module (see figures 1-2 and 4B, for instance), comprising a first polarizer (102), a color film layer (1019), a substrate (1014), a second polarizer (103), and a backlight module (2012), which are stacked in sequence, wherein the first polarizer (102) is provided with a first light-transmitting hole (102a) penetrating in a thickness direction thereof; the color film layer (1019) is provided with a light-transmitting region (corresponding to 102a), the light-transmitting region corresponds to a position of the first light-transmitting hole (102a), and a control electrode (1017) is provided in the light-transmitting region; the substrate (1014) is provided with a liquid crystal display region (1012) and an aperture adjustment region (10a), a position of the aperture adjustment region (10a) corresponds to the position of the first light-transmitting hole (102a), the liquid crystal display region (1012) is spaced apart (via 1023) from the aperture adjustment region (10a), and a material of liquid crystals located in the liquid crystal display region (1012; [0077]) is different from a material of liquid crystals located in the aperture adjustment region (1011; [0075]-[0076]; [0082]), the substrate (1014) has a driving circuit (1015), the driving circuit is connected to the control electrode (1017; [0054]), and the driving circuit drives the liquid crystals (1011) to deflect so as to adjust an aperture ([0082]). However, Sun does not expressly disclose wherein the aperture adjustment region is filled with guest host liquid crystals, wherein the control electrode comprises a plurality of aperture electrodes and electrode driving wires spaced apart, and each of the aperture electrodes is connected to the driving circuit through the corresponding electrode driving wire, and each of the aperture electrodes is a closed-loop electrode, and the plurality of apertures are disposed coaxially.
Firka discloses a display module (see figure 5, for instance), wherein the aperture adjustment region (8) is filled with guest host liquid crystals ([0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the guest-host LC material as Firka in the aperture adjustment region of Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to help blend or harmonize the appearance of the aperture adjustment region with the surrounding portions of the device, as taught by Firka ([0047]).
Akcasu discloses a display module (see figures 2-3B, for instance), wherein the substrate (300) has a driving circuit (314), the driving circuit (314) is connected to the control electrode (304-1…304-n), and the driving circuit (314) drives the liquid crystals (303) to deflect so as to adjust an aperture (column 4, lines 63-64), wherein the control electrode comprises a plurality of aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) and electrode driving wires (312-1…312-n) spaced apart, and each of the aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) is connected to the driving circuit (314) through the corresponding electrode driving wire (312-1…312-n), and each of the aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) is a closed-loop electrode (see figure 3A of Akcasu), and the plurality of apertures are disposed coaxially (see figure 3A of Akcasu).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the driving circuit to drive the coaxially disposed control electrodes as Akcasu in the device of Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to apply its function in multiple wavelength applications, such as simple aperture control for cameras, and even all the way to the aperture sizes of wavelengths of the light where diffraction related applications can be performed, which brings a great flexibility and opens up a wide range of applications with ease and low price, as taught by Akcasu (column 4, lines 53-62).
Regarding claim 2, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the display module according to claim 1, wherein an orthographic projection area of the aperture adjustment region (10a) on the substrate is not smaller than an orthographic projection area of the first light-transmitting hole (102a) in the substrate (1014).
Regarding claim 3, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the display module according to claim 1, further comprising: a liquid crystal retaining wall (1023), wherein the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is a closed annular retaining wall, an inside region defined by the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is the aperture adjustment region (10a), a region outside the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is the liquid crystal display region (10b), and the liquid crystal display region (10b) is separated from the aperture adjustment region (10a) through the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023).
Regarding claim 7, Sun discloses an electronic device (see figures 1-2 and 4B, for instance), comprising: a display module (1000) comprising a first polarizer (102), a color film layer (1019), a substrate (1014), a second polarizer (103), and a backlight module (2012), which are stacked in sequence; and a camera module (200) provided on a side of the display module (1000) close to a backlight module (2012), a viewfinder window (20a) of the camera module (200) corresponding to an aperture adjustment region (10a) of the display module, so as to photograph according to an aperture adjusted by the aperture adjustment region (10a); wherein the first polarizer (102) is provided with a first light-transmitting hole (102a) penetrating in a thickness direction thereof; the color film layer (1019) is provided with a light-transmitting region (corresponding to 102a), the light-transmitting region corresponds to a position of the first light-transmitting hole (102a), and a control electrode (1017) is provided in the light-transmitting region; the substrate (1014) is provided with a liquid crystal display region (1012) and an aperture adjustment region (10a), a position of the aperture adjustment region (10a) corresponds to the position of the first light-transmitting hole (102a), the liquid crystal display region (1012) is spaced apart (via 1023) from the aperture adjustment region (10a), and a material of liquid crystals located in the liquid crystal display region (1012; [0077]) is different from a material of liquid crystals located in the aperture adjustment region (1011; [0075]-[0076]; [0082]), the substrate (1014) has a driving circuit (1015), the driving circuit is connected to the control electrode (1017; [0054]), and the driving circuit drives the liquid crystals (1011) to deflect so as to adjust an aperture ([0082]). However, Sun does not expressly disclose wherein the aperture adjustment region is filled with guest host liquid crystals, wherein the control electrode comprises a plurality of aperture electrodes and electrode driving wires spaced apart, and each of the aperture electrodes is connected to the driving circuit through the corresponding electrode driving wire, and each of the aperture electrodes is a closed-loop electrode, and the plurality of apertures are disposed coaxially.
Firka discloses a display module (see figure 5, for instance), wherein the aperture adjustment region (8) is filled with guest host liquid crystals ([0045]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the guest-host LC material as Firka in the aperture adjustment region of Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to help blend or harmonize the appearance of the aperture adjustment region with the surrounding portions of the device, as taught by Firka ([0047]).
Akcasu discloses a display module (see figures 2-3B, for instance), wherein the substrate (300) has a driving circuit (314), the driving circuit (314) is connected to the control electrode (304-1…304-n), and the driving circuit (314) drives the liquid crystals (303) to deflect so as to adjust an aperture (column 4, lines 63-64), wherein the control electrode comprises a plurality of aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) and electrode driving wires (312-1…312-n) spaced apart, and each of the aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) is connected to the driving circuit (314) through the corresponding electrode driving wire (312-1…312-n), and each of the aperture electrodes (304-1…304-n) is a closed-loop electrode (see figure 3A of Akcasu), and the plurality of apertures are disposed coaxially (see figure 3A of Akcasu).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the driving circuit to drive the coaxially disposed control electrodes as Akcasu in the device of Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to apply its function in multiple wavelength applications, such as simple aperture control for cameras, and even all the way to the aperture sizes of wavelengths of the light where diffraction related applications can be performed, which brings a great flexibility and opens up a wide range of applications with ease and low price, as taught by Akcasu (column 4, lines 53-62).
Regarding claim 8, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the electronic device according to claim 7, wherein an orthographic projection area of the aperture adjustment region (10a) on the camera module is not smaller than an area of the viewfinder window of the camera module (200).
Regarding claim 9, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the electronic device according to claim 7, wherein an orthographic projection area of the aperture adjustment region (10a) on the substrate is not smaller than an orthographic projection area of the first light-transmitting hole (102a) in the substrate.
Regarding claim 10, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the display module further comprises a liquid crystal retaining wall (1023), wherein the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is a closed annular retaining wall, an inside region defined by the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is the aperture adjustment region (10a), a region outside the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023) is the liquid crystal display region (10b), and the liquid crystal display region (10b) is separated from the aperture adjustment region (10a) through the liquid crystal retaining wall (1023).
Regarding claim 14, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses a photography control method, applied to the electronic device according to claim 7, the method comprising: acquiring an aperture adjustment instruction ([0063]); adjusting an aperture adjustment region (10a) according to the aperture adjustment instruction to obtain a target aperture; and photographing (via 200) according to the target aperture.
Regarding claim 15, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the photography control method according to claim 14, wherein the adjusting an aperture adjustment region (10a) according to the aperture adjustment instruction to obtain a target aperture comprises: determining an aperture region of the aperture adjustment region (10a) according to the aperture adjustment instruction; and controlling the deflection of the guest host liquid crystal corresponding to the aperture region to obtain the target aperture ([0063]).
Regarding claim 16, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the photography control method according to claim 15, wherein the controlling the deflection of the guest host liquid crystal corresponding to the aperture region (10a) to obtain the target aperture comprises: applying a target voltage (via 10161, 1017) to the aperture region (10a); and driving, according to the target voltage, the guest host liquid crystal to deflect by a target angle to obtain the target aperture (10a).
Claim(s) 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Firka, and in further view of Akcasu, and in further view of Aoki et al. (US 2022/0368785).
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Sun in view of Firka and in further view of Akcasu discloses the display module according to claims 4 and 11. However, Sun in view of Firk and in further view of Akcasu does not expressly disclose wherein the driving circuit comprises: a plurality of conductive columns provided on the substrate and spaced apart from the aperture adjustment region, each of the electrode driving wires being connected to a corresponding conductive column; and a display driving chip provided on the substrate and close to a side of the plurality of conductive columns facing the aperture adjustment region, each of the electrode driving wires being connected to the display driving chip through a corresponding conductive column.
Aoki discloses a display module (see figures 1-3 and 9, for instance), wherein the driving circuit comprises: a plurality of conductive columns (L1-L6) provided on the substrate and spaced apart from the aperture adjustment region (RE1-RE6), each of the electrode driving wires (RL1-RL6) being connected to a corresponding conductive column (L1-L6); and a display driving chip (6) provided on the substrate and close to a side of the plurality of conductive columns facing the aperture adjustment region (PCA), each of the electrode driving wires (RL1-RL6) being connected to the display driving chip (6) through a corresponding conductive column (L1-L6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use driving structure as Aoki in the aperture adjustment region of Sun. The motivation for doing so would have been to use an IPS structure in the aperture adjustment region to widen the light control angles for photography, as taught by Aoki ([0172]).
Conclusion
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/NATHANAEL R BRIGGS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871 7/20/2026
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