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 .
This Office Action is in response to Amendment filed on June 23, 2026.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-9 and 11-14 are 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.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, it is not clear how the recited “active layer” is structurally related to the “second touch electrodes”, because the claim first recites on lines 11-12 of claim 1 and lines 14-15 of claim 11 that “an active layer… comprising a plurality of second touch electrodes…”, thereby indicating that the second touch electrodes are one of the components of the active layer. However, the newly added limitation later recites that “the second touch electrodes are formed by a conductive treatment of a part of the active layer”, suggesting that the second touch electrodes are subsequently formed from the active layer. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the second touch electrodes are originally included within the active layer, are subsequently formed from the active layer, or are separate structures from the active layer. Claims 2-5 depend on claim 1 and claims 12-14 depend on claim 11, therefore, claims 2-5 and 12-14 are also indefinite.
Regarding claim 7, it is not clear how the second touch electrode are formed, because the claim recites “forming a plurality of second touch electrodes in the active layer” on line 13, thereby indicating that the second touch electrodes are formed in a different manufacturing step. However, the newly added limitation later recites that “the second touch electrodes are formed by a conductive treatment of a part of the active layer” without specifically claiming the conductive treatment as a manufacturing step or explaining whether the previously recited forming step includes the conductive treatment. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the second touch electrodes are formed by the recited forming step or by a separate conductive treatment step. Claims 8-9 depend on claim 7, therefore, claims 8-9 are also indefinite.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-9, and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Zhou (US 2022/0376212, Foreign priority: Feb. 10, 2020 (CN)) in view of Kim et al. (US 2017/0068372, hereinafter Kim), and further in view of Chen et al. (CN 105045434; hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou discloses for an organic light-emitting display device comprising a substrate (OLED device, Fig. 3) that
a plurality of pixel units, because it is inherent that the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning device and the embodiment 100 of Fig. 3 represents each pixel of the plurality of pixels, each of the pixel units comprising a thin-film transistor (transistor with the conductive channel 153/insulating layer pattern 16/gate pattern 17/source pattern 191/drain pattern 192, Fig. 3) and
an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device (Fig. 3), the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) comprising a channel portion (channel 153, Fig. 3), a gate electrode (gate pattern 17, Fig. 3), and a source/drain electrode (source pattern 191, drain pattern 192, Fig. 3),
wherein the organic light-emitting display device (Fig. 3) further comprises:
a light-shielding layer (light-shielding metal block 12, Fig. 3) disposed on the substrate (substrate 11, Fig. 3) and located under and electrically connected to the thin-film transistor (12 connected to the source pattern 191, Fig. 3);
a plurality of first touch electrodes (transparent conductive block 13, Fig. 3), being transparent (transparent conductive block 13), because the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning display panel and each pixel is represented by Fig. 3, and therefore, it would be arranged in an array and there would be a plurality of the transparent conductive block 13 by Zhou, which correspond to the plurality of first touch electrodes in the claimed invention, and spaced apart from the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) on a surface of the substrate (11, Fig. 3) on which the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) is disposed;
a buffer layer (buffer layer 14, Fig. 3) covering the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) and the first touch electrodes (13, Fig. 3); and
an active layer (153, Fig. 3) disposed on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) and comprising the channel portion of the thin-film transistor (conductive channel 153), and
a plurality of second touch electrodes (first conductive block 151, Fig. 3) spaced apart from the channel portion (153, Fig. 3), because the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning display panel and each pixel is represented by Fig. 3, and therefore, it would be arranged in an array and there would be a plurality of the first conductive block 151 by Zhou, which correspond to the plurality of second touch electrodes in the claimed invention,
wherein each of the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) is disposed opposite to each of the first touch electrodes (13, Fig. 3), because Applicant does not specifically claim what orientation the OLED device has, the transparent conductive block 13 is positioned at upper portion and the first conductive block 151 is positioned at lower portion of the device, therefore, they are disposed opposite to each other (Fig. 3), and is transparent, because “the transparent conductive block 13 and a semiconductor material forming the first conductive block 151 are both transparent materials…” (emphasis added, [0036]),
wherein the second touch electrodes are formed by a conductive treatment of a part of the active layer and are disposed in a same layer as the channel portion of the thin-film transistor, as the newly added limitation is discussed in 35 U.S.C 112(b) rejections above.
Zhou does not explicitly disclose that the first touch electrodes extend in row and are arranged in column, the second touch electrodes extend in column and are arranged in row, the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes are arranged to cross each other to form a mutual-capacitive touch device.
However, Kim discloses for a touch pressure detectable touch input device that the capacitance type touch sensor panel 100 (Fig. 1a) includes the plurality of drive electrodes 10 and the plurality of receiving electrodes 20 (Fig. 8a), and the plurality of drive electrodes and the plurality of receiving electrodes are made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or antimony tin oxide (ATO) ([0049]), and therefore, the drive electrode 10 and the receiving electrode 20 by Kim can correspond to the first and second touch electrodes in the claimed invention, respectively; the drive electrodes 10 extend in row and are arranged in column and the receiving electrodes 20 extend in column and are arranged in row (see attached Fig. 8a of Kim below); and because they are disposed in the first glass layer 261 (Fig. 7), i.e., dielectric layer and arranged to cross each other, therefore, it is well-known in the art that at each intersection, the two electrodes – drive and receiving electrodes by Kim – would form a tiny capacitor, i.e., the mutual capacitance.
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Both Zhou and Kim teach an OLED touch display device, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that an array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in rows and another array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in columns to form the mutual capacitance, as disclosed by Kim et al., in order to enhance touch sensitivity of the capacitance type touchscreen display device.
Further regarding claim 1, Zhou in view of Kim differs from the claimed invention by not showing that there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent rows of the first touch electrodes, and/or there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent columns of the second touch electrodes.
However, Chen discloses for a touch display panel that the panel includes the first touch electrode wiring 13 connected to the first touch electrode 15 and the second touch electrode line 21 connected to the second touch electrode 23 (Fig. 1); since the first touch electrode wiring 13 extends in a row direction, while the second touch electrode line 21 extends in a column direction (Fig. 1), the first touch electrode wiring 13 and the second touch electrode line 21 by Chen correspond to the first touch electrode and the second touch electrode in the claimed invention, respectively (see attached Fig. 1 below); Chen further discloses that three pixel units 3 are arranged between adjacent rows of the first touch electrode wiring 13 (see attached Fig. 5 of Chen, rotated view) and between adjacent columns of the second touch electrode line 21 (see attached Fig. 3 of Chen), thus, Chen teaches that a plurality of pixel units, including at least two pixel units, can be formed between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes. Therefore, in view of Chen, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that at least two of the pixel units between adjacent touch electrodes can be configured for the touch display panels, in order to improve touch sensitivity, touch resolution, and signal detection performance.
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that at least two of pixel units of OLED touch display device can be configured between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes, as disclosed by Chen, in order to improve the performance of the capacitance type touch display device.
Regarding claim 2, Zhou further discloses for the organic light-emitting display device of claim 1 that a functional film layer (passivation layer 21, Fig. 3) and a pixel definition layer (pixel definition layer 24, Fig. 3) disposed on the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3), and the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) disposed on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3), because Applicant does not specifically claim it is “directly” disposed on the buffer layer, and covering the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) and the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3), wherein the OLED display device (Fig. 3) comprises a lower electrode layer (pixel electrode pattern 23, Fig. 3), an organic light-emitting module (light-emitting layer 25, Fig. 3), and an upper electrode layer (cathode layer 26, Fig. 3) disposed sequentially from bottom to top (Fig. 3), wherein the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is located on a surface of the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) away from the substrate (11, Fig. 3) and is electrically connected to the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor (Fig. 3), and light emitted by the OLED display device is emitted in a direction toward the substrate, because the display panel structure by Zhou would be a typical bottom-emitting OLED device, as the same structure in the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 3, Zhou further discloses for the organic light-emitting display device of claim 2 that the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is a transparent cathode layer, because “a material of the pixel electrode pattern 23 may be a metal such as indium tin oxide, silver, or indium zinc oxide” ([0042]) and indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used as a transparent electrode material as the same material (ITO) used in the claimed invention ([0029] of present application), the upper electrode layer (26, Fig. 3) is an anode layer, and the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is connected to the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) through the source electrode (191, Fig. 3), wherein an orthographic projection of the light-shielding layer on the substrate covers orthographic projections of the channel portion (153, Fig. 3) and the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) on the substrate (11, Fig. 3). Examiner notes that Applicant does not specifically claim what “cathode layer” and “anode layer” are made of and/or what material’s composition they have, therefore, the claimed limitation “cathode layer” and “anode layer” specifies an intended use or field of use of electrically conductive electrodes without specifically claiming material’s composition of cathode and anode layers.
Regarding claim 4, Zhou further discloses for the organic light-emitting display device of claim 1 that the channel portion of the thin-film transistor (153, Fig. 3) comprises a semiconductor channel (153, Fig. 3) and contact portions located at two ends of the semiconductor channel (second conductive block 152 and third conductive block 154, Fig. 3), a gate insulating layer (16, Fig. 3) is disposed on a side of the semiconductor channel (top-side of channel 153, Fig. 3) away from the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3), and the gate electrode (17, Fig. 3) is disposed on the gate insulating layer (16, Fig. 3), wherein the drain electrode (192, Fig. 3) is connected to one of the contact portions (154, Fig. 3), and the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) is connected to the other contact portion (152, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5, Chen further discloses that the pixel units (pixel units 3, Figs. 3 and 5) are arranged in an array.
Regarding claim 7, Zhou further discloses for a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device that
forming a plurality of pixel units arranged in an array on a substrate (11, Fig. 3), because it is inherent that the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning device and the embodiment 100 of Fig. 3 represents each pixel of the plurality of pixels, and each of the pixel units comprises a thin-film transistor (transistor with the conductive channel 153/insulating layer pattern 16/gate pattern 17/source pattern 191/drain pattern 192, Fig. 3) and an organic light-emitting diode display device (Fig. 3),
wherein the manufacturing method further comprises: forming a light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) on the substrate (11, Fig. 3);
forming, using a transparent metal material (transparent conductive block 13, Fig. 3), a plurality of first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3) spaced apart from the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) on a surface of the substrate (11, Fig. 3) provided with the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3), because the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning display panel and each pixel is represented by Fig. 3, and therefore, it would be arranged in an array and there would be a plurality of the transparent conductive block 13 by Zhou, which correspond to the plurality of first touch electrodes in the claimed invention;
forming a buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) on the substrate (11, Fig. 3) such that the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) covers the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) and the first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3);
depositing an active layer (interlayer medium layer 18 having 152/153/154, Fig. 3) on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) and patterning the active layer to form a channel portion (153, Fig. 3) and a touch area corresponding to the first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3);
forming a plurality of second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) in the active layer (interlayer medium layer 18 having 152/153/154, Fig. 3) corresponding to the touch area (13, Fig. 3), because the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning display panel and each pixel is represented by Fig. 3, and therefore, it would be arranged in an array and there would be a plurality of the first conductive block 151 by Zhou, which correspond to the plurality of second touch electrodes in the claimed invention, and forming a semiconductor channel (153, Fig. 3) and contact portions (152/154, Fig. 3) in the channel portion;
forming a functional film layer (passivation layer 21, Fig. 3) and the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) provided with the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) and the channel portion (153, Fig. 3); and
forming a pixel definition layer (24, Fig. 3) and the organic light-emitting diode display device (23/25/26, Fig. 3) on the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3),
wherein the second touch electrodes are formed by a conductive treatment of a part of the active layer and are disposed in a same layer as the channel portion of the thin-film transistor, as the newly added limitation is discussed in 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections above.
Zhou does not explicitly disclose that the first touch electrodes extend in row and are arranged in column, the second touch electrodes extend in column and are arranged in row, the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes are arranged to cross each other to form a mutual-capacitive touch device.
However, Kim discloses for a touch pressure detectable touch input device that the capacitance type touch sensor panel 100 (Fig. 1a) includes the plurality of drive electrodes 10 and the plurality of receiving electrodes 20 (Fig. 8a), and the plurality of drive electrodes and the plurality of receiving electrodes are made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or antimony tin oxide (ATO) ([0049]), and therefore, the drive electrode 10 and the receiving electrode 20 by Kim can correspond to the first and second touch electrodes in the claimed invention, respectively; the drive electrodes 10 extend in row and are arranged in column and the receiving electrodes 20 extend in column and are arranged in row (see attached Fig. 8a of Kim above); and because they are disposed in the first glass layer 261 (Fig. 7), i.e., dielectric layer and arranged to cross each other, therefore, it is well-known in the art that at each intersection, the two electrodes – drive and receiving electrodes by Kim – would form a tiny capacitor, i.e., the mutual capacitance.
Both Zhou and Kim teach an OLED touch display device, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that an array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in rows and another array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in columns to form the mutual capacitance, as disclosed by Kim et al., in order to enhance touch sensitivity of the capacitance type touchscreen display device.
Further regarding claim 7, Zhou in view of Kim differs from the claimed invention by not showing that there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent rows of the first touch electrodes, and/or there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent columns of the second touch electrodes.
However, Chen discloses for a touch display panel that the panel includes the first touch electrode wiring 13 connected to the first touch electrode 15 and the second touch electrode line 21 connected to the second touch electrode 23 (Fig. 1); since the first touch electrode wiring 13 extends in a row direction, while the second touch electrode line 21 extends in a column direction (Fig. 1), the first touch electrode wiring 13 and the second touch electrode line 21 by Chen correspond to the first touch electrode and the second touch electrode in the claimed invention, respectively (see attached Fig. 1 above); Chen further discloses that three pixel units 3 are arranged between adjacent rows of the first touch electrode wiring 13 (see attached Fig. 5 of Chen above, rotated view) and between adjacent columns of the second touch electrode line 21 (see attached Fig. 3 of Chen above), thus, Chen teaches that a plurality of pixel units, including at least two pixel units, can be formed between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes. Therefore, in view of Chen, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that at least two of the pixel units between adjacent touch electrodes can be configured for the touch display panels, in order to improve touch sensitivity, touch resolution, and signal detection performance.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that at least two of pixel units of OLED touch display device can be configured between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes, as disclosed by Chen, in order to improve the performance of the capacitance type touch display device.
Regarding claim 8, Zhou further discloses for the method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device of claim 7 that the step of forming the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) in the active layer (18, Fig. 3) corresponding to the touch area comprises:
performing an electrically conductive treatment on a portion of the active layer corresponding to the touch area by a dry process to form the second touch electrode, because thin-film deposition techniques such as sputtering or electron-beam deposition are widely used to deposit metal electrodes and it is vacuum (i.e., dry) based techniques;
wherein the step of forming the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) and the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) provided with the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) and the channel portion (152/153/154, Fig. 3) comprises:
forming a plurality of contact holes (first/second/third through holes 18a/18b/18c, Fig. 3) in the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3), so that a source electrode (191, Fig. 3) included in the thin-film transistor is connected to the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) through one of the contact holes (18c, Fig. 3) and a drain electrode (192, Fig. 3) and the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) included in the thin-film transistor are connected to two ends of the channel portion (152/154, Fig. 3) through the other contact holes (18a and 18b, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou further discloses for the method of manufacturing the organic light-emitting display device of claim 8 that the step of forming the pixel definition layer (24, Fig. 3) and the organic light-emitting diode display device (23/25/26, Fig. 3) on the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) comprises:
forming a via hole (fourth through hole 22a, Fig. 3) in the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3), and the via hole (22a, Fig. 3) extending through part of the functional film layer (upper portion of 21, Fig. 3) to the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor;
forming a transparent lower electrode layer (pixel electrode pattern 23, Fig. 3) on a surface of the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) away from the substrate (11, Fig. 3), because “a material of the pixel electrode pattern 23 may be a metal such as indium tin oxide, silver, or indium zinc oxide” ([0042]) and indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used as a transparent electrode material as the same material (ITO) used in the claimed invention ([0029] of present application), wherein the lower electrode (23, Fig. 3) is connected to the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor through the via hole (22a, Fig. 3);
forming an organic light-emitting module (25, Fig. 3) on the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3); and
forming an upper electrode layer (26, Fig. 3) on the organic light-emitting module (25, Fig. 3); wherein the organic light-emitting diode display device is controlled by the thin-film transistor to emit light in a direction toward the substrate, because the display panel structure by Zhou would be a typical bottom-emitting OLED device, as the same structure in the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 11, Zhou further discloses for an organic light-emitting display device comprising a substrate (11, Fig. 3) comprising that
a plurality of pixel units, because it is inherent that the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning device and the embodiment 100 of Fig. 3 represents each pixel of the plurality of pixels, each of the pixel units (Fig. 3) comprising a thin-film transistor (transistor with the conductive channel 153/insulating layer pattern 16/gate pattern 17/source pattern 191/drain pattern 192, Fig. 3) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device, the thin-film transistor comprising a channel portion (152/153/154, Fig. 3), a gate electrode (17, Fig. 3), and a source/drain electrode (191/192, Fig. 3),
wherein the organic light-emitting display device (Fig. 3) further comprises: a light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) disposed on the substrate (11, Fig. 3) and located under the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) and electrically connected to the thin-film transistor, because the light-shielding metal block 12 is electrically connected to the transistor through the source pattern 191 (Fig. 3);
a plurality of first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3), because the display panel by Zhou would include a plurality of pixels to be used as a functioning display panel and each pixel is represented by Fig. 3, and therefore, it would be arranged in an array and there would be a plurality of the transparent conductive block 13 by Zhou, which correspond to the plurality of first touch electrodes in the claimed invention, each of the first touch electrodes being transparent (transparent conductive block 13), and spaced apart from the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) on a surface of the substrate (11, Fig. 3) on which the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) is disposed;
a buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) covering the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) and the first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3); and
a functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) disposed on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3);
a pixel definition layer (24, Fig. 3) disposed on the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3); and
an active layer (18, Fig. 3) disposed on the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3) and comprising the channel portion (153, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) and a plurality of second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) spaced apart from the channel portion (153, Fig. 3),
wherein each of the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) is disposed opposite to each of the first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3) and overlaps each of the first touch electrode (13, Fig. 3) with respect to the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3), and each of the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3) is transparent, because “the transparent conductive block 13 and a semiconductor material forming the first conductive block 151 are both transparent materials…” (emphasis added, [0036]);
wherein the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) covers the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) and the second touch electrode (151, Fig. 3), and the organic light-emitting diode display device (Fig. 3) comprises a lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3), an organic light-emitting module (25, Fig. 3), and an upper electrode layer (26, Fig. 3) disposed sequentially from bottom to top (Fig. 3),
wherein the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is located on a surface of the functional film layer (21, Fig. 3) away from the substrate (11, Fig. 3) and is electrically connected to the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3), and light emitted by the organic light-emitting diode display device is emitted in a direction toward the substrate, because the display panel structure by Zhou would be a typical bottom-emitting OLED device, as the same structure in the claimed invention,
wherein the second touch electrodes are formed by a conductive treatment of a part of the active layer and are disposed in a same layer as the channel portion of the thin-film transistor, as the newly added limitation is discussed in 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections above.
Zhou does not explicitly disclose that the first touch electrodes extend in row and are arranged in column, the second touch electrodes extend in column and are arranged in row, the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes are arranged to cross each other to form a mutual-capacitive touch device.
However, Kim discloses for a touch pressure detectable touch input device that the capacitance type touch sensor panel 100 (Fig. 1a) includes the plurality of drive electrodes 10 and the plurality of receiving electrodes 20 (Fig. 8a), and the plurality of drive electrodes and the plurality of receiving electrodes are made of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or antimony tin oxide (ATO) ([0049]), and therefore, the drive electrode 10 and the receiving electrode 20 by Kim can correspond to the first and second touch electrodes in the claimed invention, respectively; the drive electrodes 10 extend in row and are arranged in column and the receiving electrodes 20 extend in column and are arranged in row (see attached Fig. 8a of Kim above); and because they are disposed in the first glass layer 261 (Fig. 7), i.e., dielectric layer and arranged to cross each other, therefore, it is well-known in the art that at each intersection, the two electrodes – drive and receiving electrodes by Kim – would form a tiny capacitor, i.e., the mutual capacitance.
Both Zhou and Kim teach an OLED touch display device, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that an array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in rows and another array of the touch electrodes can be arranged in columns to form the mutual capacitance, as disclosed by Kim et al., in order to enhance touch sensitivity of the capacitance type touchscreen display device.
Further regarding claim 11, Zhou in view of Kim differs from the claimed invention by not showing that there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent rows of the first touch electrodes, and/or there are at least two of the pixel units configured between adjacent columns of the second touch electrodes.
However, Chen discloses for a touch display panel that the panel includes the first touch electrode wiring 13 connected to the first touch electrode 15 and the second touch electrode line 21 connected to the second touch electrode 23 (Fig. 1); since the first touch electrode wiring 13 extends in a row direction, while the second touch electrode line 21 extends in a column direction (Fig. 1), the first touch electrode wiring 13 and the second touch electrode line 21 by Chen correspond to the first touch electrode and the second touch electrode in the claimed invention, respectively (see attached Fig. 1 above); Chen further discloses that three pixel units 3 are arranged between adjacent rows of the first touch electrode wiring 13 (see attached Fig. 5 of Chen above, rotated view) and between adjacent columns of the second touch electrode line 21 (see attached Fig. 3 of Chen above), thus, Chen teaches that a plurality of pixel units, including at least two pixel units, can be formed between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes. Therefore, in view of Chen, one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that at least two of the pixel units between adjacent touch electrodes can be configured for the touch display panels, in order to improve touch sensitivity, touch resolution, and signal detection performance.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that at least two of pixel units of OLED touch display device can be configured between adjacent rows and/or columns of touch electrodes, as disclosed by Chen, in order to improve the performance of the capacitance type touch display device.
Regarding claim 12, Zhou further discloses for the organic light-emitting display device of claim 11 that the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is a transparent cathode layer, the upper electrode layer (26, Fig. 3) is an anode layer, and the lower electrode layer (23, Fig. 3) is connected to the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) through the source electrode (191, Fig. 3), wherein an orthographic projection of the light-shielding layer (12, Fig. 3) on the substrate (11, Fig. 3) covers orthographic projections of the channel portion (153, Fig. 3) and the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) on the substrate. Examiner notes that Applicant does not specifically claim what “cathode layer” and “anode layer” are made of and/or what material’s composition they have, therefore, the claimed limitation “cathode layer” and “anode layer” specifies an intended use or field of use of electrically conductive electrodes without specifically claiming material’s composition of cathode and anode layers.
Regarding claim 13, Zhou further discloses for the organic light-emitting display device of claim 11 that the channel portion (153, Fig. 3) of the thin-film transistor (transistor 153/16/17/191/192, Fig. 3) comprises a semiconductor channel (153, Fig. 3) and contact portions (152/154, Fig. 3) located at two ends of the semiconductor channel (153, Fig. 3), a gate insulating layer (16, Fig. 3) is disposed on a side of the semiconductor channel (top-side of the channel 153, Fig. 3) away from the buffer layer (14, Fig. 3), and the gate electrode (17, Fig. 3) is disposed on the gate insulating layer (16, Fig. 3), wherein the drain electrode (192, Fig. 3) is connected to one of the contact portions (154, Fig. 3), and the source electrode (191, Fig. 3) is connected to the other contact portion (152, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 is rejected for the same reason discussed in claim 5 above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 7 and 11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JAY C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/WOO K LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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