DETAILED ACTION
The nonfinal rejection sent 9/8/2025 has been withdrawn and a new nonfinal rejection has been recited below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/25/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, applicant argues on pages 8-9 of the arguments that Yamashita does no disclose the limitation “a gas releasing channel is provided in the insulating layer to discharge gas located between the accommodation groove and the conductive layer to outside” because the openings in support member 90 of fig. 4 of Yamashita are not necessarily gas opening. However, fig. 4 of Yamashita the openings in support 90 inherently performs the function of allowing gas to pass through the support member 90, so it would read on the claim language “gas releasing channel”. Applicant also argues on page 10 that Yamashita does not disclose a space between the 90 and 60 and thus does not mention any bas between 90 and 60. However, the claim language “discharge gas located between the accommodation groove and the conductive layer to outside” describes a function limitation of the “gas releasing channel”. So, since an opening in the support member 90 inherently performs the function of allowing gas to pass from one side of the support member 90 to the other, any gas that was present on the inside would be able to be discharged to the outside. Thus, claim 1 remains rejected.
Claims 4 and 6 are rejected for the reasons recited below.
Similarly amended claim 16 is rejected for the same reasons as in claim 1.
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 1-4, 6, 8-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamashita et al. (US 2009/0039495) (“Yamashita”).
With regard to claim 1, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses a display panel 1 comprising: a substrate 10; an insulating layer 90 arranged at one side (top side of 10) of the substrate 10; a conductive adhesive layer 60 arranged at one side (angled sidewall of 90) of the insulating layer 90 away from the substrate 10; and a chip 50 arranged at one side of the conductive adhesive layer 60 away from the substrate 10; wherein: the insulating layer 90 is provided with an accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8), and first electrodes 14a are arranged within the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8); along a direction perpendicular to a plane where the substrate 10 is located, an orthographic projection of the conductive adhesive layer 60 on the substrate 10 covers an orthographic projection of the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10; part of the conductive adhesive layer 60 is in contact with the first electrodes 14a, and the chip 50 is in contact with the conductive adhesive layer 60; a gas releasing channel (openings in 90 in fig. 8) is provided in the insulating layer 90 to discharge gas located between the accommodation groove (channel defined by inner sidewalls of 90 in fig. 8) and the conductive layer 60 to outside
With regard to claim 2, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that along the direction perpendicular to the plane where the substrate10 is located, an orthographic projection of the channel (openings in 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10 and the orthographic projection of the conductive adhesive layer 60 on the substrate partially overlap, and the orthographic projection of the channel (opening in 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10 extends a predetermined distance away from the first electrodes 14a relative to the orthographic projection of the conductive adhesive layer 60 on the substrate 10.
With regard to claim 3, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that the channel (openings in 90 in fig. 8) passes through the insulating layer 90 and exposes part of the substrate 10.
With regard to claim 4, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that size of the channel (openings in 90 in fig. 8) along the direction perpendicular (up and down direction in fig. 4) to the plane where the substrate 10 is located is smaller (top corner opening in 90 in fig. 4) than size (thickness of 90 in the up and down direction in fig. 4) of the insulating layer 90 along the direction perpendicular to the plane where the substrate 10 is located.
With regard to claim 6, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses a display panel 1 comprising: a substrate 10; an insulating layer 90 arranged at one side (top side of 10) of the substrate 10; a conductive adhesive layer 60 arranged at one side (angled sidewall of 90) of the insulating layer 90 away from the substrate 10; and a chip 50 arranged at one side of the conductive adhesive layer 60 away from the substrate 10; wherein: the insulating layer 90 is provided with an accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8), and first electrodes 14a are arranged within the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8); along a direction perpendicular to a plane where the substrate 10 is located, an orthographic projection of the conductive adhesive layer 60 on the substrate 10 covers an orthographic projection of the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10; part of the conductive adhesive layer 60 is in contact with the first electrodes 14a, and the chip 50 is in contact with the conductive adhesive layer 60; a channel (opening in 90 in fig. 8) is provided in the insulating layer 90 for the accommodation groove (channel defined by inner sidewalls of 90 in fig. 8) to communicate with outside; the substrate 10 includes a first surface (top of 10), the first electrodes 14a being arranged at the first surface (top of 10); the insulating layer 90 includes a second surface (top of 90) and a side surface (inner sidewall of 90 in fig. 10), the second surface (top of 90) being parallel to the first surface (top of 10), and the side surface (inner sidewall of 90 in fig. 10) connecting the first surface (top of 10) and the second surface (top of 90); and the channel (opening in 90 in fig. 8) includes an inlet (inner side of opening in 90, fig. 8) and an outlet (outer side and outer top corner of opening in 90, fig. 8), the inlet (inner side of opening in 90, fig. 8) being arranged at the side surface, and the outlet (outer side and outer top corner of opening in 90, fig. 8) being arranged at the second surface (top of 90).
With regard to claim 8, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses in a plane parallel to the substrate 10 and along a direction perpendicular to an extension direction of the channel 10, width of the channel ranges from 4 um to 10 um (“5 um”, par [0084]).
With regard to claim 9, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that the display panel 1 includes at least two channels (two opening on left and right side of 90 in fig. 8), each channel being arranged around the accommodation groove (inside inner sidewall of 90 in fig. 8).
With regard to claim 10, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that the conductive adhesive layer 60 includes at least one centerline (vertical line running down the center of 90 in fig. 8), at least two channels (left and right end openings in 90 in fig. 8) being arranged symmetrically with the centerline (vertical line running down the center of 90 in fig. 8) as a symmetry axis.
With regard to claim 11, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses that signal lines electrically 14 connected to the first electrodes 14a, the signal lines 14 being at least partially arranged between the substrate 10 and the insulating layer 90; wherein: along the direction perpendicular to the plane where the substrate 10 is located, orthographic projections of the signal lines 14 on the substrate 10 and the orthographic projections of the channels (left and right opening in 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10 do not overlap.
With regard to claim 12, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses the display panel 1 includes a display area AA and a non-display area NA; the display area AA includes a driving circuit layer 13, a planarization layer 40, a pixel definition layer 24, and a support layer 21 that are arranged along a direction away from the substrate 11; and the insulating layer 90 is located in the non-display area NA, and the insulating layer NA is arranged in a same layer with at least one of the planarization layer, the pixel definition layer, and the support layer 21.
With regard to claim 13, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses the conductive adhesive layer 60 is an anisotropic conductive film (“anisotropic electrically conductive layer 60”, par [0073]).
With regard to claim 16, figs. 2, 4, and 8 of Yamashita discloses a display device 1 comprising: a display panel 1, wherein the display panel 1 includes: a substrate 10; an insulating layer 90 arranged at one side (top side of 10) of the substrate 10; a conductive adhesive layer 60 arranged at one side (angled sidewall of 90) of the insulating layer 90 away from the substrate 10; and a chip 50 arranged at one side of the conductive adhesive layer 60 away from the substrate 10; wherein: the insulating layer 90 is provided with an accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8), and first electrodes 14a are arranged within the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8); along a direction perpendicular to a plane where the substrate 10 is located, an orthographic projection of the conductive adhesive layer 60 on the substrate 10 covers an orthographic projection of the accommodation groove (channel extending left to right and defined by 90 in fig. 8) on the substrate 10; part of the conductive adhesive layer 60 is in contact with the first electrodes 14a, and the chip 50 is in contact with the conductive adhesive layer 60; and a gas releasing channel (openings in 90 in fig. 8) is provided in the insulating layer 90 to discharge gas located between the accommodation groove (channel defined by inner sidewalls of 90 in fig. 8) and the conductive layer 60 to outside
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamashita et al. (US 2009/0039495) (“Yamashita”).
With regard to claim 5, Yamashita does not explicitly disclose that the predetermined distance is greater than or equal to 1 um.
However, fig. 4 of Yamashita discloses that the height of the support member 90 may be about 5 um. The support member 90 is also formed spaced apart from the wirings 14. See par [0084] of Yamashita.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the distance between the terminal portion and the support member of fig. 4 of Yamashita at a distance of about 1 um in order to make sure that the terminal portion and support member do not overlap and block any connections between electrode and terminals. See par [0084] of Yamashita.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is 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
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/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893