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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 30 March 2026 has been entered.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4-5, 13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu (US 2022/0100304).
Regarding independent claim 1, Yu teaches a display panel (Fig. 3) comprising an array layer (Fig. 3; lower portion including TFT 402); and a display device layer (Fig. 3; upper portion including light-emitting unit 401) located at one side of the array layer; wherein, the display device layer includes a plurality of pixels (Fig. 1, Element Q; ¶ [0038]) and a plurality of isolation structures (Fig. 3; projection portions of barrier 201), the plurality of isolation structures being located in peripheral spaces surrounding the plurality of pixels (Fig. 1; the peripheral spaces are shown being occupied by barriers 201); and at least two of the plurality of isolation structures are disposed in peripheral spaces surrounding an individual pixel of the plurality of pixels (Fig. 1; the projection portions are shown disposed in peripheral spaces surrounding an individual pixel).
Regarding claim 4, Yu teaches a distance between any adjacent isolation structures along a direction parallel to a plane where the display panel is located or a distance between the isolation structure and the adjacent pixel is a first distance; and the first distance is greater than the width of the isolation structure, the width of the isolation structure referring to length of the isolation structure along a direction connecting two pixels adjacent to the isolation structure (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5, Yu teaches the isolation structure including two end members in an extension direction of the isolation structure (Fig. 3), a distance between any two adjacent end members being greater than 3 m along the direction parallel to the plane where the display panel is located (¶ [0041]).
Regarding claim 13, Yu teaches the pixel including an anode (Fig. 3, Element 4011; ¶ [0055]); the display panel including a pixel definition layer (Fig. 1, Element 200; ¶ [0038]), the pixel definition layer being located at one side of the anode facing a light emission surface of the display panel (Fig. 3); and the isolation structure including a groove opened in the pixel definition layer (Fig. 3), the groove being located between adjacent pixels along a direction perpendicular to a plane where the display panel is located (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 16, Yu teaches the pixel including an anode (Fig. 3, Element 4011; ¶ [0055]); the display panel including a pixel definition layer (Fig. 1, Element 200; ¶ [0038]), the pixel definition layer being located at one side of the anode facing a light emission surface of the display panel; and the isolation structure includes a barrier wall (201) arranged at the pixel definition layer, the barrier wall being located between adjacent pixels along a direction perpendicular to a plane where the display panel is located.
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.
Claims 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (US 2022/0100304) in view of Kim (US 2019/0074329).
Regarding claim 2, Yu teaches the limitations of independent claim 1 discussed earlier. Figure 2 of Yu shows an array of pixels but fails to exemplify pixels per inch of the display panel being greater than 500.
Kim teaches a display panel having pixels per inch greater than 500 (¶ [0077]) for increasing resolution of the display.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the display panel of Yu with pixels per inch greater than 500 for increasing resolution.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (US 2022/0100304).
Regarding claim 3, Yu teaches the limitations of independent claim 1 discussed earlier but fails to exemplify a width of the isolation structure of 3 µm to 5 µm.
It would have been an obvious choice of design to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the display panel of Yu with an isolation structure having a width of 3µm to 5µm, since 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)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-12 are allowed.
Claims 14-15, and 17-22 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 6 and 10 were allowed in the previous Office Action. Claims 14-15 and 17-22 were addressed in the Non-Final Rejection mailed 26 September 2025.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Quarterman whose telephone number is (571)272-2461. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm.
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, James Greece can be reached at (571) 272-3711. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kevin Quarterman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875 27 June 2026
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