DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group 1 (claims 1-13) in the reply filed on November 17, 2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited within the IDS document (dated September 12, 2023) have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of an informality as follows:
37 CFR 1.84(u)(2) states, in part: “The view numbers must be larger than the numbers used for reference characters.”
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1, 6, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yeon et al. (US 2017/0250316 A1, hereinafter referred to as 'Yeon’).
As to claim 1, Yeon teaches a light-emitting chip (100, figure 3), comprising:
a silicon-based substrate (124, para. 0080) comprising a plurality of sub-pixel openings (126a, 126b, 126c);
a plurality of light-emitting devices (A, B, and C; also numeral 110) arranged on one side of the silicon-based substrate;
wherein the light-emitting devices are in one-to-one correspondence to the sub-pixel openings (as shown in figure 3), and orthographic projections of the light-emitting devices on the silicon-based substrate overlap with the sub-pixel openings; and
a plurality of photoluminescent color films (i.e. phosphor layers, 128, 130, and 132) located in at least part of the sub-pixel openings.
As to claim 6, Yeon teaches the light-emitting devices are micro-sized inorganic light-emitting diodes, as shown clearly in figures 3, 5, and 6.
As to claim 13, Yeon teaches the orthographic projections of the light-emitting devices on the silicon-based substrate fall into the sub-pixel openings. See figure 3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 7, and 9-12 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. (Claims 3-5 and 8 are also objected to as being dependent upon objected claims.)
Cited Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: see the attached form PTO-892 for pertinent cited art.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott B. Geyer (telephone: 571-272-1958). The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 10AM - 4PM (ET). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at: http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christine S. Kim (telephone: 571-272-8458). The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (in U.S.A. or Canada) or 571-272-1000.
/SCOTT B GEYER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812