DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/04/2026 has been entered.
Applicant’s amendment dated 06/04/2026 has been received and entered. By the amendment, claims 1-6 are pending in the application. Claims 7-20 stand withdrawn from consideration.
Applicant’s arguments filed 06/04/2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made as following:
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.
Claims 1, 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isaka et al., US 2018/0053917 A1, in view of Kanou et al., US 2004/0070709 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Sasaki et al. figures 1A-1B and accompanying text which discloses a liquid crystal display (LCD) device 10 comprising:
. a first glass substrate 11
. a display portion 32/31 including a light emitting element 31
. a second glass substrate 12
. a liquid crystal layer 22 contacting one surface of the second substrate, wherein the liquid crystal layer inherently includes a plurality of liquid crystal molecules LC,
Sakaki et al., however, do not disclose a surface of the liquid crystal layer facing the first substrate having a concavo-convex shape. Kanou et al. disclose that an LCD device has a liquid crystal layer 56 that facing a first substrate 40 with a concavo-convex shape including a concavely curved portion and a convexly curved portion (fig. 6). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in a display art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Sakaki et al. liquid crystal layer having a convex/concave shape, as shown by Kanou et al., to obtain a display device with a scattering function ([0008]).
Re claim 4, a sealing portion inherently disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate along an edge of each of the first substrate and the second substrate for coupling/bonding those the first/second substrates to each other (according to an LCD structure).
Re claim 5, wherein the LCD substrates 11, 12 includes a glass substrate ([0096]).
Claims 2, 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isaka et al., US 2018/0053917 A1, in view of Kanou et al., US 2004/0070709 A1, further in view of Sasaki et al., US 2021/0165274 A1.
Re claims 2-3, the modification to Isaka et al. disclose the claimed invention as describe above except for liquid crystal molecules aligned in vertical and/or horizontal direction. Sasaki et al. do disclose a vertical aligned (VA) LCD mode with liquid crystal molecules aligned in a vertical and/or horizontal direction (figs 1A, 1B). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ an VA LCD mode over the Isaka et al. LCD display, as shown by Sasaki et al., to improve a wide-viewing angle over an LCD device.
Re claim 6, the modification to Isaka et al., in view of Sasaki et al would result an average thickness of the liquid crystal layer is in a range from about 1000 nm to about 3000 nm as claimed (Sasaki et al., [0071]).
Conclusion
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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