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
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 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (USPN 2016/0226013).
With regard to claim 10,
Liu et al. disclose a display panel, comprising: a light-emitting layer (26), comprising multiple light-emitting unit groups (corresponding to 42) arranged along a first direction, the light-emitting unit group comprising at least one light-emitting unit (44), the multiple light-emitting unit groups comprising one visual center unit group (42M), a rest of the multiple light-emitting unit groups being respectively located on two sides of the visual center unit group (see fig. 6); an adjustment layer (50), being disposed on one side of a backlight surface of the light-emitting layer, the adjustment layer comprising multiple adjustment unit groups (corresponding to 42), the adjustment unit groups being disposed corresponding to the light-emitting unit groups (by definition), a side surface of the adjustment unit group in contact with the light-emitting unit group being an inclined surface with an inclination angle to make a light-emitting surface of the light-emitting unit in the light-emitting unit group be deflected by a preset angle (See fig. 4); wherein, the light-emitting surfaces of the light-emitting units in the light-emitting unit groups located on two sides of the visual center unit group are inclined toward the visual center unit group (see fig. 6).
With regard to claim 11,
Liu et al. disclose the display panel according to claim 10, wherein in any two of the adjustment unit groups, the inclination angle of one adjustment unit group close to the vision center unit group is smaller than the inclination angle of the other adjustment unit group farther from the vision center unit group (See fig. 6).
With regard to claim 12,
Liu et al. disclose the display panel according to claim 10, wherein the display panel comprises an array substrate, the adjustment layer comprises the array substrate (See figures).
With regard to claim 13,
Liu et al. disclose the display panel according to claim 12, wherein the array substrate comprises a substrate layer (36), a control device layer (48) disposed on the substrate layer, and a passivation layer (50) disposed on one side of the control device layer away from the substrate layer; in a direction perpendicular to the light-emitting layer, thicknesses of the substrate layer and the control device layer corresponding to the different adjustment unit groups are same (See figures), the passivation layer corresponding to the different adjustment unit groups has multiple passivation unit groups, one side of the different passivation unit groups facing the light emitting unit has different inclination angles (see figures).
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.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (as above).
With regard to claim 14,
Liu et al. disclose the display panel according to claim 13, wherein a material of the passivation layer comprises a dielectric (see paragraph 40). While Liu et al. do not explicitly disclose the passivation layer to be, silicon nitride is disclosed as a material to be used (paragraph 31) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to incorporate this material as the material of passivation layer (50) in order to reduce the needed materials.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9, 15-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art does not disclose nor render obvious, in combination with the other limitations of the claims a display panel having emitting groups and corresponding adjustment layer groups having heights as claimed. Claim 1 is therefore allowed. Claims 2-9 are allowed due to their dependence upon claim 1. Additionally, the prior art fails to disclose or render obvious in combination with the other limitations of the claims a display panel having emitting groups and corresponding adjustment layer groups where the groups have refractive indices as claimed. In particular, while the prior art does disclose refractive indices increasing from a central portion within groups, this is not disclosed among groups, as defined. Claim 15 is therefore allowed. Claims 16-20 are allowed due to their dependence upon claim 15.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN 2021/0208715, 20218/0065588, 10454051, 2024/0373725, 2010/0238648.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christopher Raabe whose telephone number is (571)272-8434. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0530-1430.
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/CHRISTOPHER M RAABE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875