DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions and Response to Amendment
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on October 2, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim 15 has been amended in the response filed on October 2, 2025. Claim 16 is canceled and new claim 21 has been added. Claims 1-15 and 17-21 are now pending of which claims 12-15 and 17-20 are withdrawn and claims 1-11 and 21 are now under consideration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 7 is dependent on claim 1 and recites that the functional layer comprises the optical layer, and the adhesive layer functions as the optical layer. However, claim 1 only refers to one optical layer and there is no antecedent basis for two optical layers.
Appropriate correction or clarification is required.
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.
4. Claims 1-11 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2021/0273205 A1) in view of Schwartz et al. (US 2021/0163802 A1).
Lee et al. disclose a display device DD with a flat or curved display surface. The display device DD may be a rigid display device or may be a flexible display device and may include a foldable display device or a bendable display device that is rollable, bendable, foldable, etc. (meeting the limitations of claim 9). The display device DD may be applied to a mobile phone terminal as shown in the Examples or to a large-sized electronic device, such as a television set and a display monitor, and a small and medium-sized electronic device, such as a tablet computer, a car navigation unit, a game unit and a smart watch (meeting the limitations of claim 21). The display device DD (equivalent to the display device of the claimed invention) may include a display panel DP (equivalent to the display panel of the claimed invention), an input sensor ISL (e.g., input sensing layer), an anti-reflector RPP (e.g., anti-reflective layer) (equivalent to the function layer and/or the optical layer of the claimed invention), and a window WP (equivalent to the window of the claimed invention). One of more of the components of the display panel DP, the input sensor ISL, the anti-reflector RPP and the window WP may be provided or formed through successive processes or may be provided or formed separately from each other and subsequently attached to each other by a fixing member such as an adhesive member ADS (equivalent to the adhesive layer disposed between the functional layer and the window of the claimed invention). The display device DD may further include a protective member disposed on a lower surface of the display panel DP. The protective member and the display panel DP may be coupled to each other by the adhesive member ADS and the window WP may further include a functional coating layer disposed on a front surface of the base layer WP-BS which is opposite to the rear surface thereof. The functional coating layer may include an anti-fingerprint layer, an anti-reflective layer and/or a hard coating layer (meeting the limitations of claim 10). (see Abstract, Figures, and paragraphs 0053-0076).
Lee et al. do not teach that the adhesive layer disposed between the functional layer and the window has a thermal decomposition starting temperature of about 300°C or higher and a thermal decomposition peak temperature of about 350°C or higher.
However, Shwartz et al. disclose dual cure transfer films that include a siloxane-based matrix formed by thermal curing of a siloxane with thermally curable groups, a silsesquioxane with UV-curable groups that is dispersed within the siloxane-based matrix, and a UV photoinitiator. The transfer film is an adhesive and can be cured by UV radiation to form a non-tacky cured layer, where the non-tacky cured layer is optically transparent. In preferred embodiments at least one siloxane comprising thermally curable groups comprises a siloxane with epoxy functional groups (meeting the limitations of claim 8); and the at least one silsesquioxane comprising UV-curable groups comprises a (meth)acrylate functional silsesquioxane. In optical applications, a wide range of material layers are used, some of these are adhesive, but often other types of layers are used. Transfer films have been developed, where the coating is “pre-made” as a film and the film is transferred to the substrate surface. In some cases, the transfer film is curable, so that after the film is transferred it can be cured on the substrate surface so that it adheres strongly to the substrate surface. The Examples show that siloxane dual-cure resin formulations were prepared and tested. The materials were applied to substrates, thermally and UV cured, and the optical, adhesive and thermal decomposition properties were evaluated. Pieces of the fully cured resins (about 10 mg each) were placed in a tared aluminum pan inside a Q500 Thermogravimetric Analyzer from TA Instruments (New Castle, Del.). The heating rate selected was 10° C./min up to 550° C. The decomposition temperatures were defined by the temperatures at which the cured resin has decomposed to 95% (Td5%), 90% (Td10%) and 80% (Td20%) of its original weight. The results are shown in Table 6 and show that the decomposition temperatures range from 309-456oC. The Examples show that the films were set to a 30 micrometer setting (meeting the limitations of claim 6); (See Abstract, Examples and paragraphs 0004, 0008, 0091, and 0092, 0105, and Table 6).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to use a siloxane-based transfer film in the display device disclosed by Lee et al. given that Schwartz et al. specifically teach that transfer film with siloxane with epoxy functional groups can be used in optical applications as adhesives so that after the film is transferred it can be cured on the substrate surface so that it adheres strongly to the substrate surface.
With regards to the limitation that the first storage modulus of the adhesive layer at 60°C is in a range of about 10 KPa to about 50 Kpa and a second storage modulus of the adhesive layer at a temperature in a range of about 150°C to about 200°C is about 0.7 times or less the first storage modulus, as recited in claim 4 and 5, the Examiner takes the position that a limitation is inherent in the adhesive transfer films taught by Schwartz et al. given that the chemical composition of the adhesive as taught try Schwartz et al. and that of the claimed invention are identical.
With regards to the limitations that the edge of the adhesive layer, the functional layer, and the edge of the display panel are aligned with each other, that on a plane perpendicular to a thickness direction, an area of the adhesive layer is greater than an area of the window, that a cross section parallel to a thickness direction, an edge of the window is disposed further inward than an edge of the
protective adhesive layer, as recited in claims 2, 3, and 11, the Examiner takes the position that aesthetic changes which do not have a mechanical function cannot be relied upon to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. In this case, the changes in shape does not result in a product which is distinct from the reference display device.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEEBA AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-1504. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7am-6pm.
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/SHEEBA AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787