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. 18412093 filed on 01/12/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have 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
Applicants’ election without traverse of (species IA with figure 5 and species IIA with figure 4) claims 1, 2, 5, 8, 11-15 in the reply filed on 6/10/2026 is acknowledged.
Allowable subject matter
Claim 13 and 14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim
(Independent claim 1), 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: Ha et al. (US Pat US 2024/0153418 A1).
With respect to dependent claims 13-14, the cited prior art does not anticipate or make obvious, inter alia, the step of: “the support member has a plurality of concave portions and a plurality of convex portions, the plurality of concave portions are attached to the plate via a first adhesive, and a bolting structure of a set is attached to at least one of the plurality of convex portions via a second adhesive”.
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 1, 2, 5, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Ha et al. (US 2024/0153418 A1).
Regarding independent claim 1, Ha et al. teach a display apparatus comprising,
a display panel (fig. 18, element PNL [0146]) having a curvature (fig. 4, display
module 100 includes display panel element PNL having curvature shape [0078]);
a cover member (fig. 18, element WD [0146]) attached to a display surface of the
display panel (fig. 18, element WD attached to display surface of element PNL); and
a support member (fig. 18, elements PT & SM1 [0066] [0108] discloses that plate element PT comprises metal and element SM comprises of plate material which is the same as SM1 [0146]) attached to a rear surface of the display panel (figs. 4 & 18),
the support member being flexible in a curvature direction of the display panel (fig. 4).
Regarding claim 2, Ha et al. teach a display apparatus, wherein
the support member has at least one concave portion (fig.18) and at least one convex portion (fig. 18).
Regarding claim 5, Ha et al. teach the display apparatus, wherein,
when the curvature direction of the display panel is a vertical direction (fig. 4, curvature direction is a vertical direction),
an extension direction of the at least one concave portion and the at least one convex portion of the support member is a horizontal direction (fig. 4, direction of concave portion and convex portion of the support member elements PT and SM is a horizontal direction).
Regarding claim 8, Ha et al. teach a display apparatus, wherein
a sectional shape of each of the at least one convex portion of the support member is rectangular (fig.18, sectional shape of one convex portion of the support member elements PT & SM1 is rectangular).
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, 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 11, 12 & 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ha et al. (US 2024/0153418 A1) in view of Lee et al. (US 2023/0217800 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Ha et al. teach all the limitations as discussed above.
Ha et al. do not explicitly teach the display apparatus further comprising an optical film provided between the display panel and the cover member.
However, Lee et al. is a pertinent art which teaches a display apparatus comprising a polarizing film (fig. 4, element 440 [0113]) provided between the display panel (fig. 4, element 100 [0106] and the cover member (fig. 4, element 450 [0068]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the display apparatus of Ha et al. to provide a polarization film between the display panel and the cover member as taught by Lee et al. in order to prevent external light incident on and reflected from the display panel from being visible to the user’s field of view [0114].
Regarding claim 12, Ha et al. teach all the limitations as discussed above.
Ha et al. do not explicitly teach the display apparatus comprising a plate provided between the display panel and the support member.
However, Lee et al. is a pertinent art which teaches a display apparatus comprising a plate (fig. 4, element 420 [0107]) provided between the display panel (fig. 4, element 100 [0106]) and the support member (fig. 4, element 200 [0060]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the display apparatus of Ha et al. to provide a plate between the display panel and the support member as taught by Lee et al. in order to absorb tensile and compressive stresses applied to the display panel when the apron is bent or unfolded [0109].
Regarding claim 15, Ha et al. modified by Lee et al. teach the display apparatus is part of a dashboard in a vehicle [0170].
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 ARIFUR RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571) 895-1534. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern Time). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, GAUTHIER STEVEN B, 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. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at (866) 217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call (800) 786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or (571) 272-1000.
/ARIFUR RAHMAN/
Examiner, Art Unit 2813
/SHAHED AHMED/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2813
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