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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election “with traverse” of election of Group I (Claims 1-9 and 17-20) dated 04/09/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
The elected group I that encompasses claims 1-9 and 17-20, as indicated by Applicant, will be examined; and claims 10-16 are withdrawn from consideration
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.
Claims 1-3 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Sakakibara et al. (US Patent No. 7633745 B2 and Sakakibara hereinafter)
Regarding Claim 1, Sakakibara discloses (figs. 1-4B and annotated fig below) an information handling system comprising: a housing (1) ; a processor (processor for computer) coupled in the housing and operable to execute instructions that process information; a memory (the processor and memory are necessary hardware of the computer for performing computing actions) coupled in the housing and interfaced with the processor, the memory operable to store the instructions and information; and a peripheral display (5) external the housing and interfaced with the processor to present the information as visual images at a display panel included in a display assembly (Col 2, lines 1-10), the display assembly having guides formed on each of opposing vertical sides and a cover (3) configured to engage the guides on a bottom side of the display assembly and to slide in the guides to the top side of the display assembly to enclose a back side of a display panel of the display assembly with the cover (fig.1).
PNG
media_image1.png
481
667
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding Claim 2, Sakakibara discloses (figs. 1-4B and annotated fig below) the information handling system of Claim 1 further comprising: plural geometric structures (7b) extending out along a perimeter of the back side; and a midplane having plural slots (10a) that slidingly engage with the geometric structures to couple the midplane to the back side between the back side and the cover (fig.1).
PNG
media_image2.png
478
684
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Regarding Claim 3, Sakakibara discloses (figs. 1-4B) the information handling system of Claim 2 further comprising: a handle (11a) extending out from the cover; and a latch (8a) coupled to the handle and biased to a latched position that holds the cover in place (fig.2) and an unlatched position that releases the cover to slide off of the midplane and expose the back side (fig.3).
Regarding Claim 17, Sakakibara discloses (figs. 1-4B and annotated fig below) a peripheral display comprising: a display assembly having a display panel configured to
PNG
media_image1.png
481
667
media_image1.png
Greyscale
present information as visual images and having guides formed on each of opposing vertical sides (Col 2, lines 1-10); and a cover (3) configured to engage the guides at a bottom side of the display assembly and to slide in the guides to the top side of the display assembly to enclose a back side of a display panel of the display assembly with the cover (fig.1).
Regarding Claim 18, Sakakibara discloses (figs. 1-4B and annotated fig below) peripheral display of Claim 17 further comprising: a handle (11a) extending out from the cover; and a latch (8a) coupled to the handle and biased to a latched position that holds the cover in place (fig.2) and an unlatched position that releases the cover to slide off of the back side (fig.3).
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakakibara et al in view of Haren et al (US Patent No. 8717755 B2 and Haren hereinafter)
Regarding Claim 9, Sakakibara discloses the information handling system of Claim 1, but fails to disclose an AC-to-DC adapter coupled to the display panel back side and enclosed by the cover, the AC-to-DC adapter having a package with an AC cable port and a DC cable port; and a scalar board coupled to the display panel back side and having a USB Type C port to accept DC power from the DC cable port. However, Haren teaches (figs. 1-6) an AC-to-DC adapter (col 4, lines 55-57) coupled to the display panel (100) back side and enclosed by the cover, the AC-to-DC adapter having a package with an AC cable port and a DC cable port (col 4, lines 48-55); and a scalar board (200) coupled to the display panel back side and having a USB Type C port to accept DC power from the DC cable port (Col 4, lines 40-45). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine an AC-to-DC adapter coupled to the display panel back side as claimed of Haren to device of Sakakibara in order to provide bi-directional data communication when a computing device is communicatively coupled to the display (Haren and Col 4, lins 40-45).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 and 19-20 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.
Regarding claims 4 and 19, the prior art fails to disclose, “a power board coupled to the display panel back side; a switch coupled to the power board and having an on position that enables power transfer from the power board and an off position that disables power transfer from the power board; and a member of the cover aligned to engage the switch to the on position when the cover encloses the back side and disengage the switch to the off position when the cover is less than fully coupled to the midplane to enclose the display panel back side.”
Claims 5-8 and claim 20 are objected being depend on claims 4 and 19.
YUKAWA et al US 20150036277 A1, MATSUI et al US 20130201170 A1, as well as, FENG et al US 20100110619 A1 are all cited as teaching some elements of the claimed invention including a switch coupled to the power board in the backside of the display. However, the prior art, when taken alone, or, in combination, cannot be construed as reasonably teaching or suggesting all of the elements of the claimed invention as arranged, disposed, or provided in the manner as claimed by the Applicant.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROCKSHANA D CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-1602. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8 AM - 4:30 PM ET.
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, Allen L Parker can be reached at 303-297-4722. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ROCKSHANA D CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
Prosecution Insights