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 Objections
Claims 6-12 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
The word “filter” should be changed to --filler--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 16, 17, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN Publication No. 112462981 (Yu), cited by Applicant in view of KR Publication No. 102369369 (Kim).
Yu discloses
1. (Original) A manufacturing method of a display panel, comprising steps of:
providing a backplane 10 / 30, wherein a light emitting device 20 is disposed on one surface of the backplane 10 / 30;
providing a cover 80 opposite to the backplane 10 / 30, and disposing a supporting wall 60 between the backplane 10 / 30 and the cover 80, wherein the supporting wall 60, the backplane 10 / 30, and the cover 80 enclose a cavity 71 / 72 to be injected for accommodating the light emitting device 20; and
injecting a packaging adhesive 70 into the cavity 71 / 72 to be injected.
Yu fails to disclose
curing the packaging adhesive
Kim teaches
A manufacturing method of a display panel, comprising steps of:
filling a packaging adhesive 250 into the cavity (space / gap between backplane 100 and cover 200) and curing the packaging adhesive 250
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to cure the packaging adhesive in Yu. The motivation would be to prevent the internal structure of the light emitting device from being cracked as taught by Kim.
Kim teaches
2. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the cover 200 opposite to the backplane 100, and disposing the supporting wall 300 between the backplane 100 and the cover 200, wherein the supporting wall 300, the backplane 100, and the cover 200 enclose the cavity (space / gap) to be injected for accommodating the light emitting device OLED_A, comprises:
providing the cover 200, and disposing the supporting wall 300 on one surface of the cover 200;
making the surface of the cover 200 provided with the supporting wall 300 opposite to the surface of the backplane 100 provided with the light emitting device OLED_A; and
making the supporting wall 300 in contact with the surface of the backplane 100 provided with the light emitting device OLED_A, wherein the cover 200 and the backplane 100 are separated by a predetermined distance by the supporting wall 300, and the supporting wall 300, the backplane 100, and the cover 200 enclose the cavity (space / gap) to be injected for accommodating the light emitting device OLED_A.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the wall on the cover and then contact the wall with the backplane in Yu. The motivation would be to keep a foreign material 450 generated during the process on the light emitting device as taught by Kim.
Yu discloses
3. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 2, wherein the surface of the backplane comprises:
a display area 10A and a non-display area 10B surrounding the display area 10A, and the light emitting device 20 is disposed on the display area 10A; and
wherein the step of making the supporting wall 60 in contact with the surface of the backplane 10 / 30 provided with the light emitting device 20 comprises:
making the supporting wall 60 in contact with the surface of the backplane 10 / 30 provided with the light emitting device 20, wherein a projection of the supporting wall 60 on the backplane 10 / 30 is covered by the non-display area 10B.
Yu discloses
4. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 3, wherein the display area 10A is a rectangle, and the supporting wall 60 is a frame shape with a square inner hole (Fig. 2).
Yu fails to disclose
5. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 3, wherein the display area is circular, and the supporting wall is an annulus with an inner hole.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a circular support wall rather than a rectangular in Yu. The motivation would be based on a specific use or interface that is not possible with a rectangular wall, and to provide structural and environmental integrity by uniformly distributing mechanical stress. See MPEP 2144.04.
Yu discloses
16. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the backplane 10 / 30, wherein the light emitting device 20 is disposed on the surface of the backplane 10 / 30, comprising:
providing a substrate (not shown), wherein the substrate (not shown) comprises a first surface;
disposing a thin film transistor layer (not shown) on the first surface to form the backplane 10 / 30; and
disposing the light emitting device 20 on a surface of the thin film transistor layer (not shown) facing away from the first surface.
Yu discloses
17. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 16, wherein the light emitting device 20 is a mini-light-emitting-diode (LED) chip or a micro-LED chip.
The combination of references teaches
21. (Currently Amended) A display device, claim 1.
Claim(s) 6-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu in view of Kim as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of CN Publication No. 107844007 (Yin), cited by Applicant.
The combination of references fails to teach
6. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 2, wherein the supporting wall comprises a base and a filter filled in the base.
Yin teaches
A manufacturing method of a display panel, comprising steps of:
wherein the supporting wall 50 / 51 comprises a base 50 and a filter 51 filled in the base 30.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a supporting wall that includes a base and a filler in the modified method of Yu. The motivation would be to so that the packaging adhesive of the display panel edge has a compression support, good adhesion, maintain the package thickness, and prevent edge stress and tearing as taught by Yin.
It would have been obvious to provide a material hardness of the filler greater than the base to protect from edge impacts, mechanical stress, and delamination as a matter of routine engineering design considerations such as suitability. See MPEP 2144.07.
7. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 6, wherein a material hardness of the filter 51 is greater than a material hardness of the base 50.
Yin teaches
8. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 6, wherein the filter 51 is one of an irregular particle, a square particle, and a polyhedral particle.
Yin teaches
9. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 6, wherein the filter 51 is a sphere.
It would have been obvious to provide a certain spherical diameter as a matter of routine engineering design considerations such as to establish a tightly controlled gap-to-particle ratio. See MPEP 2144.04.
10. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 9, wherein a spherical diameter of the filter 51 is 0.4 to 0.6 times the predetermined distance.
It would have been obvious to provide a certain spherical diameter as a matter of routine engineering design considerations such as to establish a tightly controlled gap-to-particle ratio. See MPEP 2144.04.
11. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 10, wherein the spherical diameter of the filter 51 is 0.5 times the predetermined distance.
It would have been obvious to provide certain materials for the base and filler as a matter of routine engineering design considerations such as suitability. See MPEP 2144.07.
12. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 6, wherein material of the base 50 comprises epoxy resin, methyl methacrylate, or silica gel, and material of the filter 51 comprises SiO2 or alumina.
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu in view of Kim as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CN Publication No. 106054465 (Yan), cited by Applicant.
The combination of references fails to teach
13. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 1, wherein a width of a cross section of the supporting wall in a direction perpendicular to the cover gradually decreases from a side close to the cover to another side far away from the cover.
Yan teaches
A manufacturing method of a display panel, comprising steps of:
wherein a width of a cross section of the supporting wall 25 in a direction perpendicular to the cover 22 gradually decreases from a side close to the cover 22 to another side far away from the cover 22.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a supporting wall that has a certain shape in the modified method of Yu. The motivation would be for structural support, shock absorption, and optimal space utilization. An angled wall helps prevent panel damage by absorbing impacts and secure anchoring, and provides the bottom of the wall further away from the light emitting device as taught by Yan.
Yan teaches
14. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 13, wherein the cross section of the supporting wall 25 in the direction perpendicular to the cover 22 is trapezoidal.
Yan teaches
15. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 1, wherein a shape of a cross section of the supporting wall 25 in a direction perpendicular to the cover 22 is one or a combination of a rectangle, a circle, a triangle, a trapezoid, and a T-shape.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu in view of Kim as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of CN Publication No. 114842758 (Li ‘758), cited by Applicant.
The combination of references fails to teach
18. (Original) The manufacturing method of the display panel according to claim 16, wherein the thin film transistor layer has a top gate structure.
Li ‘758 teaches
A manufacturing method of a display panel, comprising steps of:
wherein the thin film transistor layer (of driving circuit layer 22) has a top gate structure.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a top gate structure in the modified method of Yu. The motivation would be top-gate thin-film transistors (TFTs) act as a natural physical and electrical shield for the semiconductor channel, protecting it from manufacturing damage. It also enables self-alignment, which significantly minimizes parasitic capacitance for faster, more power-efficient, and higher-resolution / transmittance display performance as taught by Li ‘758.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu in view of Kim as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CN Publication No. 115000119 (Li ‘119), cited by Applicant.
The combination of references fails to teach
19. (Currently Amended) A manufacturing method of a splicing screen, comprising:
the manufacturing method of the display panel as claimed in claim 1, and further comprising steps of:
removing the supporting wall after forming the display panel to form a borderless display panel; and
splicing a plurality of borderless display panels to form the splicing screen.
Li ‘758 teaches
A manufacturing method of a splicing screen, comprising:
further comprising steps of:
removing the supporting wall 600 after forming the display panel to form a borderless display panel; and
splicing a plurality of borderless display panels to form the splicing screen (Fig. 11).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a splicing screen in the modified method of Yu. The motivation would be it is well-known in the display panel art to provide enough negative tolerance space for seamless splicing, and more precise splicing to form of multiple display panels as taught by Li ‘119. See MPEP 2144.03.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2019/0207144 (Luo), 2018/0342655 (Cho), TW Publication No. 2012-44025 (Lavery) teach a manufacturing method of a display panel including a supporting wall.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERESA M ARROYO whose telephone number is (703)756-1576. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday (8:30 A.M. E.T. - 5:00 P.M. E.T.).
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/TERESA M. ARROYO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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