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
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 10 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liao 2019/0230803.
Regarding claim 1, Liao discloses a display device (Title), comprising: a fixed housing (142, Fig 2), a slide housing (144 including 1441 including opposite side 146, Figs 32, 2), a slide assembly (1444 including 1464, Fig 32), a connection assembly (12, Fig 2), and a flexible display panel (16, Fig 2); wherein the flexible display panel comprises a planar display portion (flat/planar portion of 16, Fig 2) and a curved display portion (curved edges/ends of 16, Fig 2), wherein the planar display portion is connected to the fixed housing (once assembled as in Fig 37), the curved display portion partially covers an edge (edge of 142, Fig 2), away from the fixed housing (once assembled, Figs 2, 37), of the slide housing (Figs 2, 37), one end of the curved display portion extends to a first side of the slide housing (once assembled as in Fig 37 for example) and is connected to the planar display portion (as in Fig 2), and the other end of the curved display portion extends to a second side (Figs 2, 37), opposite to the first side (Figs 2, 37), of the slide housing (Figs 2, 37); the slide housing is slidably connected to the fixed housing (Figs 39, 40), and the slide housing is capable of sliding relative to the fixed housing in a first direction away from the fixed housing (direction away as depicted in Fig 40 for example) or in a direction opposite to the first direction (as in Fig 38); the slide assembly comprises a first slideway (1444, Fig 35 and/or including R2, R4 of 125 Fig 7) and a second slideway (1464, Fig 35 and/or including R1, R3 of 125, Fig 7), wherein the first slideway and the second slideway are disposed on the slide housing (see Fig 35 for example), and the first slideway and the second slideway extend from the first side to the second side of the slide housing (see Figs 2, 35); and the connection assembly comprises a first slide structure (124, Fig 4) and a second slide structure (126, Fig 4), wherein the first slide structure is connected to a central region (146 and/or including 147, Figs 36, 37) on a backside of the curved display portion (once assembled, Fig 37) and is assembled on the first slideway (once assembled Figs 35-37), the second slide structure is slidably connected to an edge region (where 146 contacts 16, Fig 37) on the backside of the curved display portion (Fig 37) and is assembled on the second slideway (at 126, Fig 37), the central region comprises a middle point (148, Figs 36, 43) of the flexible display panel in a second direction (upward direction, Figs 36, 37, 43), the edge region comprises an edge of the flexible display panel in the second direction (edge region of 16 protrudes upward in Fig 37), and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction (see Figs 35-43).
Regarding claim 2, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, wherein the first slideway and the slide housing form a T-shaped space at a first cross-section (Fig 2), the first slide structure comprises a T-shaped slide structure matching with the space (Fig 17), the T-shaped slide structure is disposed in the T-shaped space (Fig 32), and one end of the T-shaped slide structure is connected to the central region on the backside of the curved display portion (Fig 32), wherein the first cross-section is perpendicular to an extension direction of the first slideway (Figs 2, 17, 32).
Regarding claim 10, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, wherein the slide housing comprises a first sub-housing (1442, Fig 32), a second sub-housing (underside of 1461, Fig 33), and a third sub-housing (underside of 142, Fig 15); wherein the first sub-housing and the third sub-housing are disposed on both sides of the second sub-housing respectively (once assembled, Figs 2, 17), the second sub-housing is connected to the first sub-housing and the third sub-housing (Fig 17), a number of the first slideways is two (in the form of R2/R4, Fig 7), and the two first slideways are disposed at a connection position (at/near 1258, Fig 7) between the first sub-housing and the second sub-housing (once assembled, Fig 17) and a connection position between the third sub-housing at a connection position (at/near 1254, Fig 7) and the second sub-housing respectively (Fig 17).
Regarding claim 14, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, wherein the second slideway comprises a slideway body (body of 1461, Fig 33) and a U-shaped groove disposed on the slideway (grooves between 1464, Fig 33); wherein the U-shaped groove comprises a first portion (one side of 1465, Fig 33), a second portion (other side of 1465, Fig 33), and a third portion connected to the first portion and the second portion (connecting portion between 1465, Fig 33), wherein the first portion and the second portion are parallel to the first direction (Fig 33), and the third portion is disposed at an end (Fig 33), away from the fixed housing (once assembled Fig 35), of the slideway body (Fig 35); and the slideway body is connected to an edge of the slide housing (Figs 34, 35).
Regarding claim 15, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 14, wherein positioning holes and screw holes are disposed in the edge of the slide housing (Figs 26-31); and the second slideway further comprises fixing screws (at 1463, Fig 33), positioning protrusions disposed on the slideway body (screws that fit 1462, Fig 33), and fixing through holes, wherein the positioning protrusions are disposed in the positioning holes (1462, Fig 33), and the fixing screws pass through the fixing through holes in the slideway body and are threadedly connected to the screw holes in the edge of the slide housing (once assembled Figs 33, 34).
Regarding claim 16, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 14, wherein a number of the second slideways is two (in the form of R1/R3, Fig 7), and the two second slideways are disposed at two edges of the slide housing in the second direction (as in Fig 35 for example).
Regarding claim 17, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, further comprising: a cover plate (1442, Fig 32); wherein the cover plate is fixedly connected to the slide housing (Fig 32); and the cover plate comprises a back plate disposed outside a side (at portion 1443, Fig 32), away from the slide housing (Fig 32), of a first portion of the curved display portion, wherein the back plate is attached to the first portion (Fig 35, 37), and the first portion is a portion of the curved display portion disposed on the second side of the slide housing (Fig 37).
Regarding claim 18, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 17, wherein the cover plate further comprises a curved portion (curved portion of 1442, Fig 32), wherein the curved portion is coupled to an edge of the back plate (Fig 32), and the curved portion covers a portion of the curved display portion partially covering the edge of the slide housing (Figs 32-37).
Regarding claim 19, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, wherein numbers of the slide assemblies and the slide housings are both two (Figs 2-7), wherein the first slideway and the second slideway of the two slide assemblies are disposed on the two slide housings respectively (see Figs 2-9), and the two slide housings are disposed on two sides of the fixed housing (Figs 2-7).
Regarding claim 20, Liao discloses the display device according to claim 1, further comprising: a fifth slideway (15, Fig 19) and a slider (155, Fig 17); wherein the fifth slideway is disposed on the fixed housing (Fig 17), and the fifth slideway extends in a direction parallel to the first direction (Figs 17, 18); and the slider is fixedly connected to the slide housing (Figs 17, 18), and the slider is assembled on the fifth slideway (Figs 17-19).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 and 11-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The dependent claims listed below, in combination with the remaining
elements of the independent claim(s) from which they directly/indirectly depend,
are not taught, or adequately suggested in the prior art of record.
Claim 3. The display device according to claim 2, wherein the first slideway comprises two first U-shaped plates; wherein each of the first U-shaped plates comprises a first strip plate, a connection plate, and a second strip plate, wherein the connection plate is connected to the first strip plate and the second strip plate, the first strip plate is disposed on the first side of the slide housing, and the
second strip plate is disposed on the second side of the slide housing; and the two first U-shaped plates are arranged along the second direction, a first spacing is defined between the first U-shaped plates in the second direction, and the two first U-shaped plates and the slide housing enclose the T-shaped space. *Claims 4-9 depend either indirectly or directly from claim 3 and are therefore allowable for at least the same reason.
Claim 11. The display device according to claim 10, wherein the first slideway comprises two second U-shaped plates, wherein each of the second U-shaped plates comprises a first strip plate, a connection plate, and a second strip plate, wherein the connection plate is connected to the first strip plate and the second strip plate, the first strip plates of the two second U-shaped plates are parallel to each other, and the second strip plates of the two second U-shaped plates are parallel to each other; and the connection plates of the two second U-shaped plates of one first slideway are connected to an edge of the first sub-housing and an edge of the second sub-housing respectively, and the connection plates of the two second U-shaped plates of the other first slideway are connected to an edge of the third sub-housing and an edge of the second sub-housing respectively.
Claim 12. The display device according to claim 10, wherein each of the first sub-housing, the second sub-housing, and the third sub-housing comprises a linkage and a plurality of restriction strips, wherein one end of the plurality of restriction strips is connected to the linkage, the linkage of the first sub-housing, the linkage of the second sub-housing, and the linkage of the third sub-housing are end-to-end connected; and the fixed housing comprises a plate body and a plurality of strip grooves disposed in the plate body, wherein the plurality of restriction strips are one-to-one engaged in the plurality of strip grooves, and length directions of the restriction strips and the strip grooves are parallel to the first direction.
Claim 13. (Original) The display device according to claim 2, wherein the first slideway comprises a first sub-slideway disposed on a first side of the slide housing, a second sub-slideway disposed on a second side of the slide housing, and two third U-plates covering edges of the slide housing; wherein the first sub-slideway and the second sub-slideway are parallel to the first direction, and the third U-plate is connected to the first sub-slideway and the second sub-slideway; and each of the first sub-slideway and the second sub-slideway comprises two strip support plates, wherein a first gap is defined between the two strip support plates in the second direction, the two strip support plates are parallel to each other, a second gap is defined between the two strip support plates and the slide housing, a third gap is defined between the third U-shaped plate and an edge of the slide housing, and a fifth gap is defined between the two third U-shaped plates.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure: see PTO 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from
the examiner should be directed to RASHEN E MORRISON whose telephone
number is (571)272-8852. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/RASHEN E MORRISON/Examiner, Art Unit 2841 /IMANI N HAYMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2841