DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 103
2. 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 of this title, 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.
3. Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon et al. (US 2020/0064541 A1, hereinafter referred as “Jeon”) in view of Patil et al. (US 10,113,903 B1, hereinafter referred as “Patil”).
Regarding claim 1, Jeon discloses a display device (abstract discloses display device) comprising:
a backlight unit (¶0071 discloses backlight unit 300);
a display panel disposed on the backlight unit (¶0064-¶0071 discloses liquid crystal panel 200 is positioned over light guide plate 320/ Backlight unit 300) and including a first display area (¶0064 and ¶0069 discloses active area) and a second display area (¶0064-¶0069 discloses transparent portion 230); and
a first sensor and a second sensor disposed under the display panel (¶0077-¶0078 discloses camera and other optical sensors beneath corresponding transparent portions and backlight holes), wherein the backlight unit includes:
a light guide plate including a first light guide portion disposed under the first display area (¶0071 discloses backlight unit 300 may include a light guide plate 320 disposed below the liquid crystal panel 200) and a second light guide portion disposed under the second display area (Figs. 2, 6, ¶0072 and ¶0082 discloses camera-associated regions D1-D3 also including a light guide plate 320 disposed below the liquid crystal panel 200);
a light source configured to radiate light to the light guide plate (¶0072 discloses the light guide plate 320 receives light from a light source); and
a first reflector disposed on the second light guide portion (¶0112-¶0113 and ¶0121-¶0122 discloses reflective prism portions is provided at the light guide plate 320 adjacent the camera associated dark region).
Jeon doesn’t disclose wherein the first reflector transmits light emitted from the first sensor and reflects light emitted from the second sensor.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Patil discloses wherein the first reflector transmits light emitted from the first sensor and reflects light emitted from the second sensor (Fig. 1 and col. 2, lines 59-62 discloses the light combiner 120 may reflect the first light emitted from the first light emitter 102 and transmit the second light emitted from the second light emitter 112, where the first light emitter 102 is a visible green light emitter and the second light emitter 112 is an infrared light emitter).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jeon for the purpose of providing compact wavelength selective optical routing for plurality of optical modules.
4. Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil and in further view of Zhou (CN 107332948 A, hereinafter referred as “Zhou”).
Regarding claim 2, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 1, wherein the light emitted from the first sensor is emitted to outside by passing through the display panel, reflected from an external object, and received by the first sensor.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhou discloses wherein the light emitted from the first sensor (pg. 5 discloses sensor assembly 73 includes signal transmitter 731 and signaled receiver 732) is emitted to outside by passing through the display panel (Fig. 7 and pg. 5 discloses the transmitted signal passes through the display screen 71 via the through hole), reflected from an external object (pg. 5 discloses the transmitted signal is reflected by an external object), and received by the first sensor (pg. 5 discloses receiver 732 of the same sensor assembly receives the reflected signal through the display).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon for the purpose of providing known proximity/object detection while retaining the sensor beneath the display.
5. Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil and in further view of Onitsuka et al. (US 2022/0260773 A1, hereinafter referred as “Onitsuka”).
Regarding claim 3, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 1, wherein the light source is disposed at one side of the light guide plate, and the light guide plate includes a sloped surface disposed at another side of the light guide plate being opposite to the one side of the light guide plate, and wherein the first reflector is disposed on the sloped surface of the light guide plate.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Onitsuka discloses wherein the light source is disposed at one side of the light guide plate (¶0030 discloses LED board 12 is disposed at the rear end side of the side light-guide plate D1 and introduces light from that rear end), and the light guide plate includes a sloped surface disposed at another side of the light guide plate being opposite to the one side of the light guide plate (¶0031-¶0033 discloses the front and surface D1c, opposite the rear end light entry side, is an inclined surface X that redirects light reaching the front end; ¶0009 discloses placing the light source opposite the inclined reflective end), and wherein the first reflector is disposed on the sloped surface of the light guide plate (¶0060 discloses the reflective film 22 is formed on this inclined surface front end surface D1c).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to redirect guided light in a compact optical path, thereby predictably improving surface efficiency and reducing optical path length.
Regarding claim 4, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 3, wherein the sloped surface of the light guide plate does not overlap an upper surface of the light guide plate.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Onitsuka discloses wherein the sloped surface of the light guide plate does not overlap an upper surface of the light guide plate (Fig. 4, ¶0031 and ¶0060 discloses inclined surface X is the separate front end surface D1c, extending between opposite surface D1b and light emitting surface D1a. As an end face, it meets but does not overlap the light emitting/upper surface D1A).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to preserve the light emitting area while permitting the reflector to be direct light at the plate boundary.
6. Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka and still in further view of Lee et al. (US 2012/0188482 A1, hereinafter referred as “Lee”).
Regarding claim 5, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 3, wherein a thickness of the light guide plate decreases toward the other side of the light guide plate along the sloped surface of the light guide plate.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Onitsuka discloses sloped surface of the light guide plate (¶0030-¶0033 and ¶0060 discloses the front end inclined surface opposite the rear end light source).
Jeon as modified still doesn’t disclose wherein a thickness of the light guide plate decreases toward the other side of the light guide plate along the sloped surface.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lee discloses wherein a thickness of the light guide plate decreases toward the other side of the light guide plate along the sloped surface (Fig. 2 and ¶0037 discloses guiding surface 321 has a thickness d1 from the guiding surface 321 to the bottom surface 33... thickness d2 from the emission surface 323 to the bottom surface 33 may be smaller than the thickness d1 from the guiding surface 321 to the bottom surface 33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to reduce the light guide profile while maintaining sufficient thickness for receiving and guiding light.
Regarding claim 6, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 3, further comprising a first light-transmitting member disposed between the sloped surface of the light guide plate and the display panel.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Onitsuka discloses a sloped surface of the light guide plate (¶0031 and ¶0060 discloses inclined end surface X carrying reflective film 22).
Jeon as modified still doesn’t disclose a first light-transmitting member disposed between the sloped surface and the display panel.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lee discloses a first light-transmitting member disposed between the sloped surface and the display panel (¶0036, ¶0038-¶0041 discloses optical sheets 20 between the inclined surface 322 and panel 10).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to reduce light leakage and improves LCD luminance.
7. Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Lee and still in further view of Yin et al. (US 2021/0294015 A1, hereinafter referred as “Yin”).
Regarding claim 7, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 6, wherein the first light-transmitting member is disposed between a second light-emitting unit of the second sensor and the first reflector.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yin discloses wherein the first light-transmitting member (32) is disposed between a second light-emitting unit (31) of the second sensor and the first reflector (33) (Fig. 2, ¶0042 and ¶0047 discloses Film layer 33 disposed on the side of the light guide member 32 away from the backlight and reflects light emitted by light source 31. Thus, light from source 31 propagates through member 32 before reaching film 33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to condense or diffuse the light emitted into the sensor transmission path, thereby reducing the dark area brightness difference over the under-display sensor.
8. Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove (US 2020/0389575 A1), and still in further view of Hou et al. (US 2022/0321747 A1, hereinafter referred as “Hou”).
Regarding claim 8, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 3, wherein the first sensor includes a first light-emitting unit and an infrared camera, and the second sensor includes a second light-emitting unit and an RGB camera.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Gove discloses wherein the first sensor includes a first light-emitting unit and an infrared camera (¶0030-¶0033 discloses device includes Illuminator 108 which may be a IR/NIR LED and first and second cameras; ¶0037 discloses first camera 204 as an NIR camera), and the second sensor includes an RGB camera (¶0037 discloses the second camera 206 is an RGB camera).
Jeon as modified still doesn’t disclose the second sensor includes a second light-emitting unit.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hou discloses the second sensor includes a second light-emitting unit (¶0055 and ¶0073 discloses the LED chips surround the camera lens and may be connected to the camera FPCB or photosensitive element for coordinated control).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to supply active NIR illumination or infrared sensing and local visible illumination at the RGB camera region, while retaining a compact full screen camera arrangement.
9. Claim(s) 9 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove, still in further view of Hou, and still in further view of O et al. (US 2018/0196219 A1, hereinafter referred as “O”).
Regarding claim 9, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 8, further comprising: a first substrate on which the first sensor is disposed; and a second substrate on which the second sensor is disposed.
However, in the same field of endeavor, O discloses a first substrate on which the first sensor is disposed (¶0042 discloses first substrate carries the image sensor of the first camera module); and a second substrate on which the second sensor is disposed (¶0043 discloses second substrate carries the image sensor of the second camera module).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to permit independent sensor mounting and optical access alignment (¶0046-¶0048).
Regarding claim 13, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 9, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed in parallel to each other, and the first substrate and the second substrate are adjacent to each other in a first direction toward a side portion or a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.
However, in the same field of endeavor, O discloses wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed in parallel to each other (¶0166 discloses second substrate 400 on the upper surface of first substrate 300, inherently providing parallel facing substrate planes), and the first substrate and the second substrate are adjacent to each other in a first direction toward a side portion or a second direction perpendicular to the first direction (¶0166 discloses second substrate 400 above first substrate 300 and second image sensor 210 higher than first Image sensor 110).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to package the camera modules with either side by side or vertically offset positioning selected according to available device space and the cameras’ different focal length.
10. Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove, still in further view of Hou, and still in further view of O and still in further view of Motohara (US 2015/0318924 A1, hereinafter referred as “Motohara”).
Regarding claim 10, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 9, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed to intersect each other.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Motohara discloses the first substrate and the second substrate are disposed to intersect each other (Fig. 11 and ¶0062-¶0063 discloses first substrate 1A and second plane 20B of second substrate 20A are perpendicular).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to reduce the modules longitudinal and vertical footprint while retaining separate mounting surfaces for the optical components.
11. Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove, still in further view of Hou, still in further view of O, still in further view of Motohara, and still in further view of Yamagishi (US 2009/0296093 A1, hereinafter referred as “Yamagishi”).
Regarding claim 11, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 10, wherein the second light-emitting unit is adjacent to the infrared camera, and the first light-emitting unit is adjacent to the RGB camera.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yamagishi discloses wherein the second light-emitting unit is adjacent to the infrared camera (Fig. 6 and ¶0055-¶0056 discloses second emitter 110’ adjacent to first receiver 111), and the first light-emitting unit is adjacent to the RGB camera (Figs. and ¶0055-¶0056 discloses first emitter 110 adjacent to second receiver 111’).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to compactly position two optical channels while compensating for positional variation and reducing measurement error (¶0056-¶0057).
12. Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove, still in further view of Hou, and still in further view of O, still in further view of Motohara, and still in further view of Zhao et al. (US 2017/0045339 A1, hereinafter referred as “Zhao”).
Regarding claim 12, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 10, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor emit light in intersecting directions.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhao discloses wherein the first sensor and the second sensor emit light in intersecting directions (¶0019-¶0021 discloses that screens are depicted by crossing arcs having different emission directions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to cover a common sensing region from different axes, thereby providing compact two directional optical sensing.
13. Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Onitsuka, still in further view of Gove, still in further view of Hou, still in further view of O, and still in further view of Lin et al. (US 2010/0231779 A1, hereinafter referred as “Lin”).
Regarding claim 14, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 13, wherein the first sensor and the second sensor overlap at least partially in the first direction.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Lin discloses wherein the first sensor and the second sensor overlap at least partially in the first direction (Fig. 2 and ¶0016-¶0020 discloses first image sensor 31 and second image sensor 32 in dual-camera module 100 overlap in projection along the aligned central axis direction).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon for the purpose of shortening the overall camera module dimension as a benefit of its folded and aligned sensor arrangement (¶0023).
13. Claim(s) 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Cheng (US 2019/0293975 A1, hereinafter referred as “Cheng”).
Regarding claim 17, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 1, wherein an opening area of a first pixel of the first display area has an area different from an opening area of a second pixel of the second display area.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cheng discloses wherein an opening area of a first pixel of the first display area has an area different from an opening area of a second pixel of the second display area (¶0043-¶0045 discloses first and second display regions have different light transmittances; ¶0046 discloses RGBW pixels in one region and RGB pixels in the other; and ¶0048 discloses increasing the aperture ratio of one distillation by increasing light transmitting area or reducing the black matrix area).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to increase light transmission through the sensor associated display area while maintaining normal display operation.
Regarding claim 18, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 1, wherein a second pixel of the second display area includes a 2-1 pixel that outputs red, green, and blue light, and a 2-2 pixel that outputs white light.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cheng discloses wherein a second pixel of the second display area includes a 2-1 pixel that outputs red, green, and blue light, and a 2-2 pixel that outputs white light (¶0046 discloses RGBW pixel continuing red, green, blue, and white pixels. The RGB sub pixels correspond to the claimed 2-1 pixel and the white sub pixel cars fun to the claim 2-2 pixel).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon since the white sub pixel increases light transmission and helps compensate for reduced luminance or transmission caused by the underlying sensor structure.
14. Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Cheng, and in further view of Levermore et al. (US 2013/0020933 A1, hereinafter referred as “Levermore”).
Regarding claim 19, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 18, wherein an area of the 2-1 pixel is smaller than an area of the 2-2 pixel.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Levermore discloses wherein an area of the 2-1 pixel (¶0073-¶0075 discloses blue, red and green light pixels) is smaller than an area of the 2-2 pixel (¶0076 discloses a fourth sub pixel that emits near white light and may omit a color filter; ¶0089 discloses the aperture size of the fourth, white subpixel is larger than first, second, and third color sub pixel).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to obtain the desired luminance at a lower current density, thereby improving efficiency and display lifetime.
15. Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon in view of Patil, in further view of Hou.
Regarding claim 20, Jeon as modified doesn’t disclose the display device of claim 1, further comprising an optical sheet disposed on the backlight unit, wherein the optical sheet includes an opening corresponding to the second display area.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hou discloses further comprising an optical sheet disposed on the backlight unit (¶0033-¶0037 disclose optical film 21 associated with the backlight and including a reflective sheet, the light guide plate and diffusion sheet), wherein the optical sheet includes an opening (¶0038 discloses through hole 20 extending through the optical film components) corresponding to the second display area (¶0041 discloses transparent camera area 14 of the display panel corresponding to through-hole 20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Jeon in order to provide an unobstructed camera optical path while allowing the surrounding display to retain normal full screen operation.
Allowable Subject Matter
16. Claims 15-16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PRIYANK J SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3732. The examiner can normally be reached on 10:00 - 6:00 M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ghebretinsae, Temesghen can be reached on (571) 272-3017. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PRIYANK J SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626
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