DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, with corresponding claims 1-10, in the reply filed on 06/09/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: DISPLAY APPARATUS COMPRISING SEPARATION AREA BETWEEN PLURALITY OF EXTENSION AREAS AT CORNER AREA OF DISPLAY PANEL
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.
(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 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2024/0032393 A1; hereinafter “Kim”).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a display apparatus comprising: a display panel (a display panel 10) including: a substrate (a substrate 100) including a center area (a central area CA); and a corner area (a corner area CNA) arranged at a corner of the center area (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 65-67), the corner area including: a plurality of extension areas (extension areas EA); and a separation area (a separation area VA) between the plurality of extension areas extending in a direction away from the center area (Figs. 3 and 5 and paragraphs 100-105); and a resin layer (a resin layer 500) arranged on the display panel, the resin layer including: a plurality of resin layer extension areas (resin layer extension areas 500EA) overlapping the plurality of extension areas (Figs. 7-8 and paragraphs 166-174).
Regarding claim 7, Kim teaches wherein the resin layer has a modulus of about 0.7 gigapascal to about 1.5 gigapascals (paragraph 170, about 0.8 GPa).
Regarding claim 8, Kim teaches wherein the resin layer has a thickness of about 130 micrometers to about 170 micrometers (paragraph 171, about 110 µm).
Regarding claim 9, Kim teaches wherein the display panel further includes: a display element (a display element DPE); and an encapsulation layer (an encapsulation layer 300) which covers the display element and including at least one inorganic encapsulation layer (a first inorganic encapsulation layer 310) and at least one organic encapsulation layer (an organic encapsulation layer 320), wherein the resin layer is arranged on the encapsulation layer (Figs. 6-7 and paragraphs 132 and 142).
Regarding claim 10, Kim teaches further comprising: a cover window (a cover window CW) arranged on the resin layer; and an adhesive layer (an adhesive layer 600) arranged between the resin layer and the cover window, wherein the cover window and the adhesive layer overlap the separation area, and the resin layer does not overlap the separation area (Fig. 8 and paragraphs 178-179).
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al. (US 2023/0292583 A1; hereinafter “Park”).
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a display apparatus comprising: a display panel (a display panel 10) including: a substrate (a substrate 100) including a center area (a central area CA); and a corner area (a corner area CNA) arranged at a corner of the center area (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 66-68), the corner area including: a plurality of extension areas (extension areas EA); and a separation area (a separation area SA) between the plurality of extension areas extending in a direction away from the center area (Figs. 6A and 7 and paragraphs 160-163); and a resin layer (an organic protective layer 420 formed of epoxy-based resin) arranged on the display panel, the resin layer including: a plurality of resin layer extension areas (portions of 420 extending over extension areas EA) overlapping the plurality of extension areas (Figs. 7-8A and 9A and paragraphs 142-143).
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2022/0085342 A1; hereinafter “Kim 342”).
Regarding claim 1, Kim 342 teaches a display apparatus comprising: a display panel (a display panel 10) including: a substrate (a substrate 100) including a center area (a front display area FDA); and a corner area (a corner display area CDA) arranged at a corner of the center area (Figs. 1-2 and paragraphs 67-77), the corner area including: a plurality of extension areas (a 4plurality of strip portions STP); and a separation area (a through-portion PN) between the plurality of extension areas extending in a direction away from the center area (Figs. 4-5A and paragraphs 120-122); and a resin layer (an organic encapsulation layer 320 formed of acrylic resin) arranged on the display panel, the resin layer including: a plurality of resin layer extension areas (portions of 320 extending over the plurality of strip portions STP) overlapping the plurality of extension areas (Figs. 5A and 6 and paragraphs 98-99).
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim.
Regarding claim 2, while Kim does not explicitly teach that a side surface of the resin layer has an angle of about 80 degrees to about 100 degrees with respect to an upper surface of the substrate, Kim teaches the resin layer 500 formed on the substrate 100 and various side surfaces of the resin layer 500 having various angles with respect to an upper surface of the substrate 100 as shown in Fig. 7. Then, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adjust the angle of the side surface of the resin layer 500 with respect to the upper surface of the substrate 100 from Kim as a routine skill in the art to obtain the desired angle, including the claimed angle of about 80 degrees to about 100 degrees, as a design choice of the resin layer 500.
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.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lim et al. (US 2020/0233144 A1) teaches a polyfunctional acrylate resin including various combination of organic materials similar to the limitation of claim 3 (See paragraph 98).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL B WHALEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3418. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sue Purvis can be reached on (571)272-1236. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL WHALEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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