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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
1. 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 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.
2. Claims 1-13 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by You et al. (US 2024/0040919).
Regarding claim 1, You teaches that a display panel (Fig. 2, 4 and abstract), comprising a planar display area and a curved display area adjacent to the planar display area (see pages 3, paragraphs 57 – pages 4, paragraphs 72 and Fig. 2, 4, 6, where teaches a planar display area and a curved display area that is adjacent to the planar display area), the curved display area comprises a plurality of side curved sub-areas located on a peripheral side of the planar display area and a corner curved sub-area located between adjacent side curved sub-areas of the plurality of side curved sub-areas (Fig. 2, 6, 9, page 1, paragraphs 5 - 15 and pages 3, paragraphs 49 – pages 4, paragraphs 75, where teaches the curved display area comprises four curved sub-areas that are located on side of device, four corners curved sub-area), and the display panel further comprises: a panel body including a display portion located in the planar display area and the curved display area (Fig. 2, 4, 5 and pages 3, paragraphs 49 – pages 4, paragraphs 75, where teaches display panel or module comprises panel body having a display portion located in the planar display area and the curved display area), a back plate provided on a side of the display portion and located in the planar display area and the curved display area (Fig. 2, 4, 5 and pages 3, paragraphs 49 – pages 4, paragraphs 75, where teaches a back plate for providing on a side of the display module and located in the planar display area and the curved display area), and a bending protecting layer disposed on a side of the back plate away from the display portion and located at least in the corner curved sub-area (Fig. 5, 8, 9, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82, where teaches a bending protecting layer disposed on a side of the back plate away from the display function layer (display portion and corner curved area)), material of the bending protecting layer comprises a plastic metal material (pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 25 and Fig. 3, 5, where teaches the protective layer is the hardness of material as like metal, copper, stainless steel etc.).
Regarding claim 2, You teaches that the bending protecting layer is further located in the plurality of side curved sub-areas (Fig. 2, 6, 9, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82).
Regarding claim 3, You teaches that the bending protecting layer is further located in the planar display area (Fig. 2, 6, 9, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82).
Regarding claim 4, You teaches that a groove is provided on a side of the back plate away from the display portion, and the bending protecting layer is provided in the groove (Fig. 2, 6, 9, page 1, paragraphs 5 - 15 and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82).
Regarding claim 5, You teaches that the display panel further comprises a composite functional layer, and the bending protecting layer is disposed between the back plate and the composite functional layer (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56).
Regarding claim 6, You teaches that the composite functional layer comprises a metal layer disposed on a side of the bending protecting layer away from the back plate, and plasticity of the bending protecting layer is greater than plasticity of the metal layer (page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 2, 6, 8, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82).
Regarding claim 7, You teaches that material of the bending protecting layer and material of the metal layer each comprise at least one of copper and aluminum (pages 2, paragraphs 20 – 25 and Fig. 3, 5, where teaches the protective layer is the hardness of material as like metal, copper, stainless steel etc.).
Regarding claim 8, You teaches that the composite functional layer further comprises a buffer layer disposed between the metal layer and the bending protecting layer (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56), and a first adhesive layer disposed between the buffer layer and the bending protecting layer (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56), and a thickness of the metal layer is less than or equal to a thickness of the first adhesive layer (pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 79, Fig. 1, 2, 7, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56).
Regarding claim 9, You teaches that the panel body further comprises a binding portion on a side of the composite functional layer away from the bending protecting layer (Fig. 5, 8, 9, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82), and a support back plate disposed between the binding portion and the composite functional layer (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56), and a thickness of the support back plate is greater than a thickness of the back plate (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 53 – pages 4, paragraphs 73).
Regarding claim 10, You teaches that the display panel further comprises a cover plate provided on a side of the display portion away from the back plate (Fig. 2, 6, 9, page 1, paragraphs 5 - 15 and pages 3, paragraphs 49 – pages 4, paragraphs 75), a portion of the cover plate in the curved display area is bent toward the display portion (page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 2, 6, 7 and pages 3, paragraphs 49 – pages 4, paragraphs 75), and the display portion, the back plate, and the bending protecting layer are attached to the cover plate at least in the corner curved sub-area (Fig. 5, 8, 9, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82), an orthographic projection (90 degree) of the bending protecting layer on the cover plate is in an orthographic projection of the back plate on the cover plate (Fig. 2, 6, 8, abstract, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82), and a boundary of the orthographic projection of the bending protecting layer on the cover plate is spaced from a boundary of the orthographic projection of the back plate on the cover plate (Fig. 2, 6, 8, pages 3, paragraphs 46 - 53, and pages 4, paragraphs 63 – pages 5, paragraphs 82).
Regarding claim 11, You teaches that the display panel further comprises an adhesive layer disposed between the cover plate and the display portion, and the adhesive layer has a thickness of less than 175 microns (Fig. 1, 2 and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 53).
Regarding claim 12, You teaches that the bending protecting layer comprises a support sub-layer and an adhesive sub-layer stacked (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56), and the support sub-layer is adhered to a side of the back plate away from the display portion through the adhesive sub-layer (abstract, page 1, paragraphs 5 – 15, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56).
Regarding claim 13, You teaches that a thickness of the bending protecting layer is greater than or equal to 5 microns (Fig. 1, 2, 3 and pages 3, paragraphs 42 – 56).
Regarding claim 15, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 2.
Regarding claim 17, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 3.
Regarding claim 18, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 4.
Regarding claim 19, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 5.
Regarding claim 20, You teaches all the limitation as discussed in claims 1 and 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claim 14 is 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 prior art of record fails to disclose the limitation “the thickness of the bending protecting layer is less than or equal to 10 microns, in a case that a compression amount of the display portion in the curved display area is less than or equal to 300 microns, the thickness of the bending protecting layer is greater than 10 microns and less than or equal to 20 microns, in a case that the compression amount of the display portion in the curved display area is greater than 300 microns and less than or equal to 500 microns, and the thickness of the bending protecting layer is greater than or equal to 15 microns and less than or equal to 30 microns, in a case that the compression amount of the display portion in the curved display area is greater than 500 microns” as specified the claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
AN et al. (US 2019/0152831) discloses Curved Display Device and Manufacturing Method and Thereof.
Park et al. (US 2019/0239372) discloses Glass Protective Film Assembly for Covering a Curved Surface of a Portable Display.
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J.L
December 27, 2025
John J Lee
/JOHN J LEE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649