DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Election dated 11/12/2025 and 2/5/2026.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 7-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention and species. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/12/2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-16 in the reply filed on 11/12/2025 is acknowledged. An Election of species IA was also made by Applicant on 2/5/2026.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 12/22/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN20231015887.3 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 6-12, 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xia et al [CN-115274783]
► With respect to claim 1, Xia et al (fig 3, whole text document) discloses the claimed A pixel layout structure, comprising:
a plurality of repeating units arranged in an array;
wherein an outer contour of each repeating unit is a rectangle; each repeating unit comprises four pixel units, and each pixel unit comprises a first sub-pixel (G), a second sub-pixel (R), and a third sub-pixel (B) that are adjacent to each other; an outer contour of each pixel unit is a rectangle; a shape of each of the first sub-pixel, the second sub-pixel, and the third sub-pixel is a polygon;
the four first sub-pixels are arranged around a center of the repeating unit; an outer contour of the four first sub-pixels comprises a first edge, a second edge, a third edge, and a fourth edge, the first edge being disposed opposite to the third edge and the second edge being disposed opposite to the fourth edge;
wherein each of the first edge and the third edge is arranged with two corresponding second sub-pixels, and each of the second edge and the fourth edge is arranged with two corresponding third sub-pixels; or
each of the first edge, the second edge, the third edge, and the fourth edge is arranged with a corresponding second sub-pixel and a corresponding third sub-pixel.
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► With respect to claim 9, Xia et al (fig 3 above, whole text document) discloses the claimed display panel comprising a pixel layout structure (fig 3), wherein the pixel layout structure comprising:
a plurality of repeating units arranged in an array;
wherein an outer contour of each repeating unit is a rectangle; each repeating unit comprises four pixel units, and each pixel unit comprises a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, and a third sub-pixel that are adjacent to each other; an outer contour of each pixel unit is a rectangle; a shape of each of the first sub-pixel, the second sub-pixel, and the third sub-pixel is a polygon;
the four first sub-pixels are arranged around a center of the repeating unit; an outer contour of the four first sub-pixels comprises a first edge, a second edge, a third edge, and a fourth edge, the first edge being disposed opposite to the third edge and the second edge being disposed opposite to the fourth edge;
wherein each of the first edge and the third edge is arranged with two corresponding second sub-pixels, and each of the second edge and the fourth edge is arranged with two corresponding third sub-pixels;
or each of the first edge, the second edge, the third edge, and the fourth edge is arranged with a corresponding second sub-pixel and a corresponding third sub-pixel.
► With respect to claims 2 and 10 Xia et al (fig 3) discloses wherein each repeating unit has a first symmetry axis and a second symmetry axis; the four pixel units are a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit, a third pixel unit, and a fourth pixel unit; the first pixel unit and the second pixel unit are arranged symmetrically along the first symmetry axis, the third pixel unit and the fourth pixel unit are arranged symmetrically along the first symmetry axis, the first pixel unit and the third pixel unit are arranged symmetrically along the second symmetry axis, and the second pixel unit and the fourth pixel unit are arranged symmetrically along the second symmetry axis.
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► With respect to claims 3 and 11. Xia et al (fig 3 above) discloses , wherein the four pixel units are a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit, a third pixel unit, and a fourth pixel unit; the second pixel unit is formed by rotating the first pixel unit 90 degrees clockwise around the center of the repeating unit, and the fourth pixel unit is formed by rotating the first pixel unit 180 degrees clockwise around the center of the repeating unit, and the third pixel unit is formed by rotating the first pixel unit 270 degrees clockwise around the center of the repeating unit.
► With respect to claims 4 and 12, Xia et al (fig 3 above) discloses wherein the first sub-pixel has a rectangular shape, the second sub-pixel has a right-angle trapezoid shape, and the third sub- pixel has a right-angle trapezoid shape; or the first sub-pixel has a right triangle shape, the second sub-pixel has a right triangle shape, and the third sub-pixel has a right triangle shape.
► With respect to claims 6 and 14. Xia et al (fig 3 above) discloses wherein any two adjacent repeating units are arranged in an axisymmetric manner.
► With respect to claims 7 and 15. Xia et al (fig 3 above) wherein the area of the first sub-pixel is greater than the area of the second sub-pixel, and the area of the first sub-pixel is greater than the area of the third sub-pixel; and/or a color of the first sub-pixel is one of red, green, and blue; a color of the second sub-pixel is a remaining one of red, green, and blue; and a color of the third sub-pixel is the other of red, green, and blue.
► With respect to claims 8 and 16, Xia et al (fig 3) discloses wherein the four first sub- pixels of the repeating unit are arranged adjacent to each other and in a rectangular shape; and/or, for any two adjacent repeating units, which are a repeating unit A and a repeating unit B, a side of the repeating unit A faces and is adjacent to a side of the repeating unit B, and a sub-pixel on the side of the repeating unit A and a sub-pixel the side of the repeating unit B are in same colors and are arranged adjacent to each other.
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 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia et al [CN-115274783] in view of Liu et al [WO-2019/153949]
► With respect to claims 5 and 13, substantially discloses the claimed pixel structure layout wherein the first sub-pixel has a rectangular shape, the second sub-pixel has a right-angle trapezoid shape, and the third sub-pixel has a right-angle trapezoid shape.
Xia et al does not expressly teaches wherein an acute corner of each right-angled trapezoid is corner-cut.
However, Liu et al (figs 7A & 7B) teaches using a subpixel of trapezoid shape with the acute corner can be either corner-cut or without corner-cut.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for those skilled in the art, in view of Liu et al, to have the shapes of the second and third sub-pixels with the acute corners being corner-cut as being claimed in the process of Xia et al to provide designed sub-pixel shapes as being needed in the pixel structure layout of display panel.
Conclusion
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/THANHHA S PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812