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
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)(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 1-2 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim (US 2018/0198089 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a display screen cover plate (Figs 1-14), comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 2 “400”, para 37 ”The display panel 410 may include the display area DA to display an image and the non-display area NDA which displays no image. A portion of the non-display area NDA to which a circuit board is coupled may be referred to as a circuit area CA”) comprising a visible area (DA) and a border area (NDA, CA), wherein the border area is arranged around the visible area (see Fig. 2 “410”); and
a light shielding layer (Fig. 2 “100”; para 49 “light-shielding pattern layer 120”; Fig. 3, para 53 “blocking member 130”) arranged on one side of the substrate (400) and located in the border area (see Fig. 2, 120 is arrange on one side of the substrate; see Fig. 3, 410 is located in CA which is NDA-supported in para 37),
wherein at least part of a surface of one side of the light shielding layer (120, 130) facing away from the substrate (400) is a concave-convex surface (130 has a concave-convex surface as shown in Fig. 4), and an orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the substrate covers at least part of the border area (see 130 covers at least part of the border area non-display area CA in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 2, the display screen cover plate according to claim 1, wherein the display screen cover plate (Fig. 2 “400”) comprises a bending area and a bending line located in the bending area and is capable of being bent with the bending line as an axis (see 420 in Figs. 2 and 3), and an end portion of the bending line is located within the orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the substrate (see end portion of the bending line of 420 is located with the orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface 130 on the substrate 400 in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 18, the display screen cover plate according to claim 1, wherein the concave-convex surface comprises a groove, a depth of the groove being half of a thickness of the light shielding layer (see Figs. 6, 8, 10).
Regarding claim 19, Kim discloses a display module, comprising:
discloses a display screen cover plate (Figs 1-14), comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 2 “400”, para 37 ”The display panel 410 may include the display area DA to display an image and the non-display area NDA which displays no image. A portion of the non-display area NDA to which a circuit board is coupled may be referred to as a circuit area CA”) comprising a visible area (DA) and a border area (NDA, CA), wherein the border area is arranged around the visible area (see Fig. 2 “410”); and
a light shielding layer (Fig. 2 “100”; para 49 “light-shielding pattern layer 120”; Fig. 3, para 53 “blocking member 130”) arranged on one side of the substrate (400) and located in the border area (see Fig. 2, 120 is arrange on one side of the substrate; see Fig. 3, 410 is located in CA which is NDA-supported in para 37),
wherein at least part of a surface of one side of the light shielding layer (120, 130) facing away from the substrate (400) is a concave-convex surface (130 has a concave-convex surface as shown in Fig. 4), and an orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the substrate covers at least part of the border area (see 130 covers at least part of the border area non-display area CA in Fig. 4); and
a display panel located on a same side of the substrate as the light shielding layer (para 36 “the display panel 410 may include first and second substrates”, which means first substate can be considered as “a substate” as set forth above and the second substrate can be considered as “a display panel” located on a same side of the substrate as the light shielding layer), wherein
the display panel comprises a display area and a peripheral area, at least part of the peripheral
area surrounds the display area arranged correspondingly to the visible area in a thickness
direction of the display panel, the peripheral area being arranged correspondingly to the border
area in the thickness direction, and the display area of the display panel emitting light through
the visible area (see Fig. 2 “410”).
Regarding claim 20, Kim discloses a display device, comprising a display module comprising:
discloses a display screen cover plate (Figs 1-14), comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 2 “400”, para 37 ”The display panel 410 may include the display area DA to display an image and the non-display area NDA which displays no image. A portion of the non-display area NDA to which a circuit board is coupled may be referred to as a circuit area CA”) comprising a visible area (DA) and a border area (NDA, CA), wherein the border area is arranged around the visible area (see Fig. 2 “410”); and
a light shielding layer (Fig. 2 “100”; para 49 “light-shielding pattern layer 120”; Fig. 3, para 53 “blocking member 130”) arranged on one side of the substrate (400) and located in the border area (see Fig. 2, 120 is arrange on one side of the substrate; see Fig. 3, 410 is located in CA which is NDA-supported in para 37),
wherein at least part of a surface of one side of the light shielding layer (120, 130) facing away from the substrate (400) is a concave-convex surface (130 has a concave-convex surface as shown in Fig. 4), and an orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the substrate covers at least part of the border area (see 130 covers at least part of the border area non-display area CA in Fig. 4).
; and
a display panel located on a same side of the substrate as the light shielding layer (para 36 “the display panel 410 may include first and second substrates”, which means first substate can be considered as “a substate” as set forth above and the second substrate can be considered as “a display panel” located on a same side of the substrate as the light shielding layer), wherein
the display panel comprises a display area and a peripheral area, at least part of the peripheral
area surrounds the display area arranged correspondingly to the visible area in a thickness
direction of the display panel, the peripheral area being arranged correspondingly to the border
area in the thickness direction, and the display area of the display panel emitting light through
the visible area (see Fig. 2 “410”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2018/0198089 A1).
Kim discloses the claimed invention as set forth above except for wherein the concave-convex
surface and the visible area are arranged at an interval, and a minimum distance from the concave-convex surface to the visible area includes 0.1-0.2mm.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention before the effective filing date choose the claimed range as a minimum distance, since it has been held that wherein the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art, as being motivated to make a miniaturized display device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-16 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, claim is allowable at least for the reason that the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest wherein the orthographic projection of the concave-convex surface on the substrate is symmetrically distributed with the bending line as the axis as set forth in the claimed combination;
Regarding claims 4-14, claims are allowable at least for the reason that the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest wherein the concave-convex surface comprises a first pattern, an orthographic projection of the first pattern in a thickness direction of the substrate protruding and extending toward the visible area, and the first pattern has an opening portion formed by enclosing, an orthographic projection of the opening portion in the thickness direction being arranged away from an opening of the visible area as set forth in the claimed combination; and
Regarding claims 15-16, claims are allowable at least for the reason that the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest wherein the optical adhesive layer (Fig. 2, para 32 “adhesive member 200”) and the light shielding layer (120, 130) that are located on a same side of the substrate (upper side of 400 in Fig. 2), part of the optical adhesive layer (200) is arranged on a side of the light shielding layer (120, 130) away from the substrate (400) is not filled in the concave-convex surface, and an orthographic projection of the optical adhesive layer on the substrate covers at least part of the concave-convex surface as set forth in the claimed combination.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUNCHA P CHERRY whose telephone number is (571)272-2310. The examiner can normally be reached M to F 7am to 3:30pm.
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7/22/2026
/EUNCHA P CHERRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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