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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/29/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I and Species A2 and B1 (claims 1-15) in the reply filed on 11/25/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 16-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/25/2025.
Furthermore, claims 1 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant indicated claims 13-14 are included in the elected species, however, claim 13 requires the limitation “a color conversion layer on a side of the first capping layer away from the light emitting substrate” and claim 14 requires the limitation “wherein a center of an orthographic projection of the n1 number of main light emitting elements on a base substrate substantially overlaps with a center of an orthographic projection of a respective color filter block of the plurality of color filter blocks on the base substrate”, which are features not included in the elected species. Therefore, claims 13-14 are withdrawn.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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 8-10 recites the limitation "the control transistor" and “the switching transistor” (see claim 8, ln. 2 and claim 9, ln. 3). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim (i.e., it is unclear as to whether applicant is trying to reference previously cited “first/second light emission control transistor” of claim 1, the cited “switching transistor” of the selection circuit in claim 3, or cite a new control transistor). For the purposes of examination, the limitation “the control transistor” and “the switching transistor” will be interpreted as the control and switching transistors of the selection subcircuit cited in claim 3.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 3-8, 10, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi et al. (CN Publication 113053290/Machine Translation Document 11/03/2025) in view of Sun (US Publication 20170256202).
Regarding independent claim 1, Yi teaches a light emitting substrate (fig. 7, 130), comprising a plurality of subpixels (fig. 2B, 102 and 202);
wherein a respective subpixel of the plurality of subpixels comprises:
n1 number of main light emitting elements (fig. 2A, 202);
n1 number of main pixel driving circuits (fig. 1A, 200) configured to drive light emission in the n1 number of main light emitting elements (machine translation document, page 5 paragraph 3);
n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements (fig. 2A, 102);
n2 number of auxiliary pixel driving circuits (fig. 1B, 100) configured to drive light emission in the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements;
n1 ≥ 1, and n2 ≥ 1 (machine translation document, page 8 paragraphs 3-4);
wherein a respective main pixel driving circuit of the n1 number of main pixel driving circuits comprises a first storage capacitor (fig. 5A, Cs2), a first driving transistor (Tmd), a first light emission control transistor (Tm6/Tm7), and a compensation subcircuit (machine translation document, page 12 paragraph 8);
wherein a respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit of the n2 number of auxiliary pixel driving circuits comprises a second storage capacitor (fig. 4B, Cs1), a second driving transistor (Tsd), a second light emission control transistor (Ts6/Ts7), and a selection subcircuit (machine translation document, page 13 paragraph 6).
Yi does not teach wherein threshold voltage levels of the first driving transistor and the second driving transistor are substantially the same.
Sun teaches wherein threshold voltage levels of the first driving transistor and the second driving transistor are substantially the same (paragraph 0063, “the second driving transistor DT2 has the threshold voltage V which is equal to the threshold voltage V.sub.th1 of the first driving transistor DT1”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the light emitting substrate of Yi and the threshold voltage levels of Sun in order to decrease process difference (Sun paragraph 0065).
Regarding dependent claim 3, Sun further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 1, wherein the selection subcircuit comprises:
a switching transistor (fig. 3a, T1) having a source electrode coupled to the first driving transistor of the respective main pixel driving circuit and a first capacitor electrode of the first storage capacitor of the respective main pixel driving circuit (fig. 3a, 3c of T1 coupled to DT1 and first electrode of C at A), and a drain electrode coupled to a gate electrode of the second driving transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit (fig. 3a, 3b can be configured to connect to second driving transistor of respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit of Yi per MPEP 2144.04); and
a control transistor (T3) having a gate electrode coupled to a gate line (VDD), a source electrode coupled to a control signal line (Vdata), and a drain electrode coupled to a gate electrode of the switching transistor (fig. 3a, 2a can be configured to connect to gate electrode of switching transistor per MPEP 2144.04).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the light emitting substrate of Yi and the selection subcircuit of Sun per the reason(s) stated above in claim 1.
Regarding dependent claim 4, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 3, wherein a gate electrode of the first driving transistor and the first capacitor electrode of the first storage capacitor are connected to a first node (fig. 5A, first capacitor electrode of Cs2 and gate of Tmd connected at first node as shown by dot); and
a gate electrode of the second driving transistor and a first capacitor electrode of the second storage capacitor are connected to the first node through the switching transistor (fig. 4A, gate electrode of Tsd and first capacitor electrode of Cs1 can be rearranged to connect to first node in fig. 5A per MPEP 2144.04).
Regarding dependent claim 5, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 1, wherein the n1 number of main light emitting elements and the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements are configured to emit light of a same color (machine translation document, page 5 paragraph 7).
Regarding dependent claim 6, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 5, wherein the light of the same color has a wavelength in a range of 435 nm to 480 nm (machine translation document, page 5 paragraph 8, blue falls within 435-580 nm wavelength range).
Regarding dependent claim 7, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 1, wherein a respective main light emitting element of the n1 number of main light emitting elements has a first light emitting area (fig. 2B, shapes inside 202a);
a respective auxiliary light emitting element of the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements has a second light emitting area (shapes inside 102a); and
the first light emitting area is greater than the second light emitting area (fig. 7, light emitting areas of 102a are greater than light emitting areas of 202a).
Regarding dependent claim 8, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 1, wherein a source electrode of the control transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit is coupled to a control signal line (fig. 4A, source of Ts3 coupled to Scan(Np-1) via Ts4);
a drain electrode of the control transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit is coupled to the gate electrode of the switching transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit (fig. 4A, drain of Ts3 connected to source of Ts6 which connects to gate of Ts6);
a gate electrode of the control transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit is coupled to a gate line (fig. 4A, gate of Ts3 coupled to SCAN(Np-Y)); and
the gate electrode of the control transistor of the respective auxiliary pixel driving circuit is provided with a same gate scanning signal provided to a data write transistor in the respective main pixel driving circuit (fig. 5A, gate of Ts3 provided with same signal as gate of Tm3).
Regarding dependent claim 10, Yi further teaches the light emitting substrate of claim 8, wherein the second storage capacitor of the auxiliary pixel driving circuit comprises a first capacitor electrode and a second capacitor electrode (fig. 5A);
the first capacitor electrode of the second storage capacitor is coupled to the gate electrode of the switching transistor and to the drain electrode of the control transistor (fig. 5A, first capacitor electrode of Cs1 coupled to gate of drain of Ts3 via Tsd but can be rearranged to couple to gate of Ts6/Ts7 and drain of Tsd per MPEP 2144.04); and
the second capacitor electrode of the second storage capacitor is coupled to a constant voltage supply line (fig. 4A, second capacitor electrode of Cs1 connected to VDD).
Regarding dependent claim 15, Yi further teaches a display apparatus (fig. 1A), comprising the light emitting substrate of claim 1 (fig. 7, 130), and one or more integrated circuits (300) connected to the light emitting substrate (machine translation document, page 5 paragraph 2).
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi in view of Sun as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bok et al. (US Publication 20210191552).
Regarding dependent claim 11, Yi further teaches a display panel (fig. 1A, 100b), comprising the light emitting substrate of claim 1 (fig. 7, 130).
Yi in view of Sun does not teach and a color filter; wherein the color filter comprises a plurality of color filter blocks in a plurality of light transmittance areas, respectively; wherein a respective light transmittance area of the plurality of light transmittance areas at least partially overlaps with light emitting areas of the n1 number of main light emitting elements, and at least partially overlaps with light emitting areas of the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements.
Bok teaches and a color filter (fig. 9C, 182-184);
wherein the color filter comprises a plurality of color filter blocks (182) in a plurality of light transmittance areas, respectively (paragraph 0940);
wherein a respective light transmittance area of the plurality of light transmittance areas at least partially overlaps with light emitting areas of the n1 number of main light emitting elements, and at least partially overlaps with light emitting areas of the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements (fig. 9C, 182 overlaps with ED in MDA which corresponds to n1 number of main light emitting elements and ED in CA which corresponds to n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the display panel of Yi in view of Sun and the color filter of Bok in order to “reduce reflectivity of light (external light) that may be incident from an external source toward the display” (Bok paragraph 0240).
Regarding dependent claim 12, Bok further teaches the display panel of claim 11, wherein an orthographic projection of a respective color filter block of the plurality of color filter blocks on a base substrate completely covers an orthographic projection of the n1 number of main light emitting elements on the base substrate (fig. 9C, 182 completely covers an orthographic projection of MDA which corresponds to n1 number of main light emitting elements), and at least partially overlaps with an orthographic projection of the n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements on the base substrate (fig. 9C, 182 overlapping ED in MDA corresponding to n1 number of light emitting elements can be rearranged to also partially overlap with ED in CA which corresponds to n2 number of auxiliary light emitting elements per MPEP 2144.04).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the display panel of Yi in view of Sun and the orthographic projections of Bok per the reason(s) stated above in claim 11.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 9 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRACE Y CHA whose telephone number is (703)756-5393. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and every other Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached at (469) 295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GRACE CHA/Examiner, Art Unit 2897
/JACOB Y CHOI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897