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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/2/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant argues that the cited art fails to teach the new added limitations. This is persuasive and a new rejection is presented below in response to this amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 8, 9, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 8,828,763) in light of Lin (US 2002/0121220) and Mizutani (US 2005/0005996).
Claims 8 and 16: Lee teaches a process of forming a display apparatus via inkjet deposition (Abst.) comprising the steps of: moving a printhead in a first direction to supply droplets to pixels (the x direction in Fig. 9); moving the printhead in a second direction (the y direction) wherein the second direction movement corresponds to pixels on the substrate (i.e. claimed wherein a distance is a multiple of a natural number of distance between pixels and claimed moving a distance from one coating region to the next coating region in claim 16); and moving the printhead back in the direction opposite of the first direction to supply droplets to pixels (Fig. 9; 12:3-21).
Lee teaches that the printhead comprises a plurality of nozzles where multiple nozzles correspond to each color (7:17-31), but fails to teach selectively operating on some of the nozzles on each pass. Mizutani teaches a process of forming colored pixel regions on an electroluminescent display device (Abst.; ¶¶ 0002, 0004) and explains that the printhead having multiple nozzles corresponding to the various colors (¶ 0070) is operated in a manner so that only some of the nozzles deposit while others are inactive during a pass of the printhead (¶¶ 0123, Fig. 14) so that the process can be more finely controlled (¶ 0102, e.g.). Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have operated the printhead of Lee in a manner where only certain nozzles corresponding to the desired color(s) were operated while other nozzles are inactive with the predictable expectation of success.
Lee teaches moving the printhead rather than moving the substrate. Lin teaches a process of inkjet printing and explains that either the printhead or the substrate can be moved relative to the other (¶ 0007). The simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have moved the substrate relative to the printhead rather than the printhead relative to the substrate in the process of Lee with the predictable expectation of success.
Claim 9: Lee teaches that pixels of the same color are adjacent to each other in the first direction (i.e. each of 310 is one color, each of 320 is another color, etc.) (Fig. 9; 7:17-31).
Claim 20: Mizutani teaches that particular nozzles can be operated continuously (see, e.g., Fig. 8 where the nozzle is operated continuously for 36 mark positions). Additionally, Mark teaches that each nozzle is operated when it is needed to supply a particular color (¶ 0072). Where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have operated a given set of nozzles for a particular color continuously depending on the configuration of the pixels on the substrate with the predictable expectation of success.
Claims 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2018/0164640) in light of Lee and Lin.
Claims 8-12 and 16: Kim teaches a process of forming a display apparatus (Abst.; ¶¶ 0088, 0171-200) comprising the steps of: providing a substrate having an array of pixel wells (Figs. 2-3 and 7, e.g.) and using an inkjet process to deposit phosphors in each of the pixel wells (¶ 0027), wherein the phosphors comprise quantum dots and a titanium dioxide scattering material (¶¶ 0093, 0098, 0112).
Kim fails to teach the claimed movement steps for performing the inkjet deposition. Lee teaches a process of forming a display apparatus via inkjet deposition (Abst.) comprising the steps of: moving a printhead in a first direction to supply droplets to pixels (the x direction in Fig. 9); moving the printhead in a second direction (the y direction) wherein the second direction movement corresponds to pixels on the substrate (i.e. claimed wherein a distance is a multiple of a natural number of distance between pixels); and moving the printhead back in the direction opposite of the first direction to supply droplets to pixels (Fig. 9; 12:3-21). Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, because Kim does not limit the inkjet process used and because Lee teaches a suitable inkjet process for filling pixels, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have used the process of Lee as the means for inkjet deposition in Kim with the predictable expectation of success.
Lee teaches that the printhead comprises a plurality of nozzles where multiple nozzles correspond to each color (7:17-31), but fails to teach selectively operating on some of the nozzles on each pass. Mizutani teaches a process of forming colored pixel regions on an electroluminescent display device (Abst.; ¶¶ 0002, 0004) and explains that the printhead having multiple nozzles corresponding to the various colors (¶ 0070) is operated in a manner so that only some of the nozzles deposit while others are inactive during a pass of the printhead (¶¶ 0123, Fig. 14) so that the process can be more finely controlled (¶ 0102, e.g.). Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have operated the printhead of Lee in a manner where only certain nozzles corresponding to the desired color(s) were operated while other nozzles are inactive with the predictable expectation of success.
Lee teaches moving the printhead rather than moving the substrate. Lin teaches a process of inkjet printing and explains that either the printhead or the substrate can be moved relative to the other (¶ 0007). The simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is prima facie obvious. MPEP § 2143. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have moved the substrate relative to the printhead rather than the printhead relative to the substrate in the process of Lee with the predictable expectation of success.
Claims 13 and 14: Kim teaches that a color filter and a planarization layer (i.e. encapsulation layer) are formed on the pixels (¶¶ 0088; 0193).
Claim 15: Kim teaches arranging the substrate on a light emitting panel (¶ 0195; Fig. 7).
Claims 17 and 18: Kim, as modified by Lee, teaches that moving in the second direction moves the printhead over a second column of pixels in the array (i.e. another coating region in the second direction) and then that the printhead moves back in the first direction in that second column (i.e. claimed plurality of coating regions adjacent to the coating regions in the first direction).
Claim 19: Kim, as modified by Lee, teaches that the discharge part comprises nozzles, as discussed above, but fails to teach that any of the coating regions are a different size. However, Lee explains that the process is suitable for any number of pixels (12:21-34) and one of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that Kim does not limit the size of the pixel array because different arrays are needed for different display devices. Where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have performed this process on any pixel array, including one where the last printing region contained fewer pixels than the previous regions with the predictable expectation of success depending on the size of the pixel array.
Claim 20: Mizutani teaches that particular nozzles can be operated continuously (see, e.g., Fig. 8 where the nozzle is operated continuously for 36 mark positions). Additionally, Mark teaches that each nozzle is operated when it is needed to supply a particular color (¶ 0072). Where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. MPEP § 2144.05(II)(A). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to have operated a given set of nozzles for a particular color continuously depending on the configuration of the pixels on the substrate with the predictable expectation of success.
Conclusion
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/ROBERT A VETERE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712