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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 13 recites the limitation “the driving assembly” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (CN 114889532 A) in view of Cho et al. (US 2023/0247783 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a display device comprising:
a first housing (see annotated Fig. 2 below), wherein the first housing comprises a fixed portion (fixed supporting plate 120 and annotation A) and a sliding portion (sliding supporting plate 210 and annotation B) slidably connected to the fixed portion (from p. 4, ¶ 3: “[T]he sliding supporting plate 210 is slidingly connected to the fixed supporting plate 120 and can be telescopic along the first direction.”);
a second housing, wherein the second housing is fixedly connected to a side of the fixed portion away from the sliding portion, and an angle between the first housing and the second housing is less than 180 degrees (see annotated Fig. 2 below);
a roller (roller 113), wherein the roller is disposed between the first housing and the second housing (see annotated Fig. 2 below), and the roller is rotatably connected to at least one of the first housing and the second housing (from p. 5, ¶ 2: “[T]he roller 113 is rotatably connected to the lower base 100.”);
a stressed member (sliding block 112), wherein the stressed member is disposed in the second housing and is fixedly connected to an end portion of a tension belt (connecting piece 114; see annotated Fig. 2 below); and
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a flexible display panel (flexible screen 300), wherein the flexible display panel comprises a curled display portion wound on the roller and a first planar display portion and a second planar display portion disposed at two sides of the curled display portion, the first planar display portion is connected to the sliding portion (210 and annotation B) in the first housing, and the second planar display portion is connected to the stressed member (112) in the second housing (see annotated Fig. 2 below).
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Li fails to disclose that the tension belt is wound around a pulley assembly comprising a pulley block that is connected to the fixed portion and the sliding portion.
Cho discloses a display device (see Fig. 13A) having a sliding portion (second housing 320) slidably connected to a fixed portion (first housing 310), a pulley assembly comprising a pulley block (fixed pulley 311 and movable pulley 321) connected to the fixed portion (310; see ¶ 0127) and the sliding portion (320; see ¶ 0128), and a tension belt (tension transmitting member 500) wound around the pulley block (see ¶¶ 0127-0129).
Cho is considered to be analogous art because it is in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention. Therefore it would have been obvious to a POSITA, prior to the effective filing date of the present application, to incorporate the pulley block and tension belt assembly of Cho into the display device of Li in order to improve tension management of the flexible display panel throughout the extension and retraction of the sliding portion. Placing the pulley block of Cho in the first housing would help to prevent the display panel’s layers from separating, eliminate wrinkles and distortions, and facilitate smooth and stable extension and retraction (see Cho, ¶¶ 0014-0017).
Regarding claim 12, Li in view of Cho teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as stated above. Li in view of Cho further teaches the display device according to claim 1, wherein the display device further comprises a driving component fixed in the second housing (Li: see p. 4, ¶ 5 describing a driving motor) and connected to the stressed member (Li: 112; connected via drive assembly 220 and flexible screen 300), and the driving component is configured to drive the stressed member to move along a direction perpendicular to the roller (Li: see p. 5, ¶ 1).
Examiner Note: The output end of the driving motor is fits with first gear 221 to move rack 222, flexible screen 300, and sliding block 112. While the driving motor is not directly connected to sliding block 112, it is still nonetheless considered to be connected.
Regarding claim 15, Li in view of Cho teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as stated above. Li further teaches fixing the display device in a cabin of a vehicle (see Abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11, 14, and 16-20 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 claim 2, the prior art neither teaches nor suggests that an end portion of the tension belt away from the stressed member is connected to a bracket in the movable pulley or a bracket in the fixed pulley.
Li in view of Cho teaches a pulley block comprising at least one fixed pulley (Cho: fixed pulley 311) and at least one movable pulley (Cho: movable pulley 321), a bracket in the at least one movable pulley is fixedly connected to the sliding portion (Cho: movable pulley 321 is connected to second housing 320, thus some sort of bracket connecting the two is inherent), a bracket in the at least one fixed pulley is fixedly connected to the fixed portion (Cho: fixed pulley 311 is connected to first housing 310, thus some sort of bracket connecting the two is inherent), and the at least one movable pulley is closer to the roller than the at least one fixed pulley (Cho: see Fig. 13A showing movable pulley 321 located closer than fixed pulley 311 to drum 410) and the tension belt (Cho: 500) is wound around a pulley in the at least one movable pulley and a pulley in the at least one fixed pulley (Cho: see Fig. 13A and ¶¶0127-0129).
Li in view of Cho, however, does not disclose that an end portion of the tension belt away from the stressed member is connected to a bracket in the movable pulley or a bracket in the fixed pulley. Instead, Cho teaches that an end portion of the tension belt is connected to second member fixing part 372, which is separate from the pulleys.
Claims 3-6 and 16-20 depend, either directly or indirectly, on claim 2 and would be allowable for at least the reasons stated above.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art neither teaches nor suggests first and second steering shafts arranged in the particular configuration recited in the claim.
Claims 8-11 depend, either directly or in directly, on claim 7 and would be allowable for at least the reasons stated above.
Regarding claim 14, the prior art neither teaches nor suggests a coil spring having one end of its winding core connected to the second planar display portion and a fixed member fixed to the stressed member.
Li discloses a coil spring (coil spring shaft 111), however the coil spring is not positioned between the stressed member (112) and the second planar display portion (see Fig. 2).
Claim 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art neither teaches nor suggests a driving motor configured to drive a transmission shaft to rotate such that the transmission member drives the stressed member to move along a length direction of the transmission shaft.
Li discloses a driving motor (see p. 4, ¶ 5 describing a driving motor) and a transmission member (first gear 221) attached to a transmission shaft (first gear 221 must inherently be attached to a rotating shaft). However, the stressed member is driven to move in the y-direction as shown in Fig. 2. The y-direction would be perpendicular to the length direction of first gear’s 221 transmission shaft.
Conclusion
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/R.T.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2841 /IMANI N HAYMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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