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 with respect to claim(s) 1-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “a light guide pattern that transitions from coarse to dense in a direction away from the light emitting body” (claim 6) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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.
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 –
Claims 1, 7, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Brien US 4705407.
With regard to claim 1 Brien discloses a display device comprising:
a light emitting body (22, 40 figure 3; column 2 lines 61-65);
a component unit having a plurality of electronic components (movement 17 houses components; 41 establishes that the movement is electric powered by a battery 41 – column 4 lines 1-5); and
a light guide plate (26 figure 2a) including :
a plate portion arranged to face the component unit, and
a protruding portion protruding from the plate portion toward the component unit and including
a side face portion facing the light emitting body and
a slope portion facing the component unit (plate bottom side of 26, movement 17), wherein: the plurality of electronic components are arranged to be spaced apart from the light guide plate in a facing direction (figure 2a); and
at least one of the plurality of electronic components is arranged at a position overlapping the slope portion in plan view from a normal direction of the plate portion. (see 19 figure 3. See circuit diagram figure 4. 19 is electrically connected to 22 and 40. Thus at least one electrical component must overlap the slope portion in plan view).
With regard to claim 7 Brien discloses the display device according to claim 1, further comprising: a light-transmitting plate (13) provided on a front side of the light guide plate (26) and having light transmissivity (column 2 lines 35-37).
With regard to claim 11 Brien discloses a watch comprising: the display device according to claim 1; a watch case (abstract); and a watch module provided inside the watch case (abstract).
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 2, 3, 6, 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brien US 4705407 in view of Winkler US 2006/0083476.
With regard to claim 2 (depends from claim 1) Brien does not disclose the claimed: wherein a side surface facing the light guide plate of at least one of the electronic components arranged at a position corresponding to the slope portion is arranged at a position further away from the plate portion in a facing direction than an end surface facing the light guide plate of least another of the electronic components arranged at a position corresponding to the plate portion.
Winkler teaches slope portions in the region of an LCD/LED display 4 figures 1 and 2.
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Before the earliest effective filing date it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure Brien’s system to comprise: a side surface facing the light guide plate of at least one of the electronic components arranged at a position corresponding to the slope portion is arranged at a position further away from the plate portion in a facing direction than an end surface facing the light guide plate of least another of the electronic components arranged at a position corresponding to the plate portion, as taught in part by Winkler. The reason for doing so would have been to locate the electrical components in a region appropriate for operating the display such that it can be well illuminated and achieve unique aesthetic effects as taught by Winkler.
With regard to claim 3 (depends from claim 1) Brien does not disclose the claimed: further comprising: an LCD arranged to face a front side of the light guide plate; and a circuit substrate on which the plurality of electronic components are mounted and which is arranged to face a back side of the light guide plate.
Winkler teaches a display zone 4 using LCD technology paragraphs 23, 25. Before the earliest effective filing date it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure Brien’s system to comprise: an LCD arranged to face a front side of the light guide plate; and a circuit substrate on which the plurality of electronic components are mounted and which is arranged to face a back side of the light guide plate, as taught by Winkler. The reason for doing so would have been to locate the electrical components in a region appropriate for operating the display such that it can be well illuminated and achieve unique aesthetic effects as taught by Winkler. A reason for doing so would have been to provide electrical components required to provide and operate a LCD display per the known function and design of an LCD display.
With regard to claim 6 (depends from claim 1) Brien does not disclose the claimed: wherein the light guide plate includes a light guide pattern that transitions from coarse to dense in a direction away from the light emitting body.
Winkler teaches optical patterns on the light guide to achieve aesthetic display features.
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Before the earliest effective filing date it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure Brien’s system to comprise: a light guide pattern that transitions from coarse to dense in a direction away from the light emitting body, as taught by Winkler. The reason for doing so would have been to achieve a unique visual aesthetic and to increase density to achieve a firework display or the like, including unique layered techniques that use compound lighting details, as taught by Winkler.
With regard to claim 12 Brien and Winkler teach a watch comprising: the display device according to claim 2; a watch case (abstract - Brien); and a watch module provided inside the watch case (abstract - Brien).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN KAYES whose telephone number is (571)272-8931. The examiner can normally be reached 10-6.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke can be reached at 571-272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEAN KAYES/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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