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 .
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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 16-24 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on12/22/25.
Claim Interpretation
The following terms are understood as:
The term “overlap”/”overlapping” as being in a plane of or parallel to the display panel.
The term “an outside” is in a direction toward a periphery of the display panel.
The term “inside” is understood as a direction toward a central portion of the display panel.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: CP (¶[0154], l. 4 and cited in other places). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The use of the term “Pem-nut” (¶[p162], l. 7), which is a trade name or a mark used in commerce, has been noted in this application. The term should be accompanied by the generic terminology; furthermore the term should be capitalized wherever it appears or, where appropriate, include a proper symbol indicating use in commerce such as ™, SM , or ® following the term.
Although the use of trade names and marks used in commerce (i.e., trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks) are permissible in patent applications, the proprietary nature of the marks should be respected and every effort made to prevent their use in any manner which might adversely affect their validity as commercial marks; and
Para. [0203], line 7, “1092fully” should be “1092 fully”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee (KR 10-2006-0041598).
With respect to Claim 1, Lee teaches a display device (fig. 1), comprising: a display panel (100); a cover bottom (400) which is disposed on a rear surface (fig. 1, near side of 100) of the display panel and includes a first opening (410); a plate bottom (200) which is disposed to overlap (see fig. 5) the first opening on the rear surface of the display panel; a printed circuit board (500) which is disposed on a rear surface (fig. 1, near side of 200) of the plate bottom and is electrically connected (a circuit board (500) is provided, on which a circuit driving unit for driving the PDP (100) is provided) to the display panel; and a heat dissipation sheet (150) disposed between (see fig. 1) the display panel and the printed circuit board.
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 of this title, 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 2, 7-11, 13, and 14 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 10-2006-0041598) and Lee (US 2006/0268171).
With respect to Claims 2, Lee ‘598 discloses the claimed invention including except for the heat dissipation sheet includes a first heat dissipation sheet disposed between the plate bottom and the printed circuit board. Lee ‘171 teaches the heat dissipation sheet (fig. 2, 140,185) includes a first heat dissipation sheet (85) disposed between the plate bottom (150,180) and the printed circuit board (160) (claim 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Lee ‘598 with the first heat dissipation sheet of Lee ‘171 for the purpose of “accelerat[ing] the dissipation of heat generated from the circuit devices that produce relatively a large amount of heat (¶[0030], ll. 8-10).
With respect to Claims 7 and 8, Lee ‘598 further teaches the heat dissipation sheet includes a second heat dissipation sheet (150) disposed between (see fig. 1) the display panel and the cover bottom (claim 7) and the second heat dissipation sheet has a flat top surface (fig. 1, far side of 150) along the rear surface of the display panel (claim 8).
With respect to Claims 9 and 10, Lee ‘598 discloses the claimed invention except the second heat dissipation sheet extends between one end of the plate bottom and a center portion of the display panel (claim 9) and a second member which bonds the second heat dissipation sheet and the display panel (claim 10). Lee ‘171 teaches the second heat dissipation sheet (fig. 2, 140) extends between one end (fig. 2, shows 140 extending to a periphery of 150, the periphery includes “one end”) of the plate bottom (150) and a center portion (fig. 2 center of 130) of the display panel (130) (claim 9) and a second member (145, ¶[0028], ll. 17-18, “double-sided adhesive tape 145 is attached to the heat transfer sheet 140”) which bonds the second heat dissipation sheet (140) and the display panel (130) (claim 10). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Lee ‘598 and Lee ‘171 for the purpose of providing “a heat transfer sheet 140 is attached on most of the surface of the plasma display panel 130 to rapidly dissipate the heat” (¶[0028], ll. 14-16).
With respect Claims 13 and 14, Lee ‘ 598 discloses the claimed invention except for one end of the second heat dissipation sheet overlaps one end of the first heat dissipation sheet (claim 13) and one end of the second heat dissipation sheet is disposed outside from one end of the first heat dissipation sheet (claim 14). Lee ‘171 teaches one end (fig. 2, left end of 140) of the second heat dissipation sheet (140) overlaps one end (fig. 2, left end of 185) of the first heat dissipation sheet (185) (claim 13) and one end (fig. 2, left end of 40) of the second heat dissipation sheet (140) is disposed outside (see fig. 2, left end of 140 is outside (to the left of left end of 185) from one end (fig. 1, upper end of 185) of the first heat dissipation sheet (85) (claim 14). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Lee ‘598 with the first heat dissipation sheet of Lee ‘171 for the purpose of providing “the heat transfer medium 85 transmits heat from the circuit substrates 60 to the chassis base 50 by making a direct connection therebetween” for increased heat dissipation of the printed circuit board (¶[0007], ll. 2-4) and “a heat transfer sheet 140 is attached on most of the surface of the plasma display panel 130 to rapidly dissipate the heat” (¶[0028], ll. 14-16) to the chassis base for increased heat dissipation of the display panel (note that element 130 is equivalent to 30 and element 140 is equivalent to 40).
Claim 12 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 10-2006-0041598), Lee (US 2006/0268171).and Jeong (KR 2008-0106285)
Lee ‘598 and Lee ‘171 disclose the claimed invention except for one end of the second heat dissipation sheet is disposed inside from one end of the first heat dissipation sheet. Jeong teaches one end (an end of middle 150) of the second heat dissipation sheet (150) is disposed inside (inside is understood as being more in the center of fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Lee ‘598 and Lee ‘171 with the second heat dissipation sheet of Jeong for the purpose of providing the second heat dissipation only in areas of the printed circuit boards to reduce the amount of the second heat dissipation needed for the display device I order to reduce costs. The combination of Lee ‘ 171.and Jeong would have one end the middle heat dissipation sheet 150 if Jeong being on the inside of a first heat dissipation sheet (such as 185) of
Claim 15 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 10-2006-0041598) and Kim (US 7,388,750).
Lee discloses the claimed invention except for the heat dissipation sheet includes any one of graphite, aluminum, and copper. Kim teaches the heat dissipation sheet (130) includes any one of aluminum (col. 3, l. 54), and copper (col. 3, l. 54). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the heat dissipation sheet of Lee with that of Kim for the purpose of providing a heat dissipation sheet made of good thermally conducting material for increased heat transfer from the display panel to the plate bottom.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 3 and all claims dependent thereof are allowable over the art of record because the prior art does not teach or suggest that “the plate bottom is disposed to be spaced apart from the display panel in an area overlapping the printed circuit board and is disposed to be in contact with the display panel at an outside of the printed circuit board and the first heat dissipation sheet is disposed to be in contact with the printed circuit board.”
Claim 5 and all claims dependent thereof are allowable over the art of record because the prior art does not teach or suggest that “the plate bottom extends to an outside of the first opening to overlap a rear surface of the cover bottom and the first heat dissipation sheet extends to an outside of one end of the plate bottom to overlap the rear surface of the cover bottom.”
Claim 11 is allowable over the art of record because the prior art does not teach or suggest that “a third member which bonds the second heat dissipation sheet and the cover bottom and the plate bottom, wherein the third member is disposed only in an area which is in contact with the cover bottom and the plate bottom.”
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of the respective claims are believed to render said claims 3, 5, 11, and all claims dependent thereof patentable over art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KR 10-2006-0053391, 10-2006-0053392, 10-2006-0084191, 10-2006-0086127 disclose the invention as recited in claim 1.
US 2024/0290930, 2024/0290932, 2024/0292579, 2024/0361808, KR 10-202400131577, 10-2024-0133404, 10-2024-013378 are publications of related inventions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J HOFFBERG whose telephone number is (571) 272-2761. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon - Fri 9 AM - 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jayprakash Gandhi can be reached on (571) 272-3740. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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RJH 1/9/2026
/ROBERT J HOFFBERG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2835