The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the embodiment of figure 6 in the reply filed on 12/18/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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 of this title, 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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon et al. (2015/0155779) in view of Jang et al. (10,686,148).Regarding claim 1, Kwon et al. teach in figures 2, 5 and related text a display apparatus comprising:
a substrate 30 comprising:
a main area 10 in which a plurality of pixels 12 are arranged; and
a sub area on an opposite side to the main area;
a first connection wiring (any of the vertical depicted wirings connected to element 140) configured to transmit a driving voltage to the plurality of pixels 12 and having at least a portion extending in a first direction;
a driving unit 140 configured to supply the driving voltage to the plurality of pixels 12 through the first connection wiring; and
a feedback wiring 190 configured to transmit a feedback voltage Vfbp (see related text) between the plurality of pixels 12 and the first connection wiring (via feedback controller 232) to the driving unit 140, wherein the driving unit 140 is configured to adjust the driving voltage, based on the feedback voltage.
Kwon et al. do not teach the semiconductor structure of the claimed apparatus, wherein:
a substrate comprising a bending area bent around a bending axis from outside the main area; and
an interlayer insulating layer on the substrate wherein the first connection wiring is formed on the interlayer insulating layer and the feedback wiring is in direct contact with a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer in at least a portion of the sub area, and
a first organic insulating layer on the interlayer insulating layer.
Jang et al. teach in figure 13 and related text a semiconductor structure of an apparatus, comprising:
a substrate (see figure 4) comprising a bending area bent 102 around a bending axis from outside the main area 101; and
an interlayer insulating layer 156 on the substrate wherein the feedback wiring 157 (the name of said wiring) is in direct contact with a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer 156 in at least a portion of the sub area, and
a first organic insulating layer 160 on the interlayer insulating layer 156.
Kwon et al. and Jang et al. are analogous art because they are directed to display devices and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Kwon et al. because they are from the same field of endeavor.It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the semiconductor structure of the claimed apparatus comprising a substrate comprising a bending area bent around a bending axis from outside the main area; and an interlayer insulating layer on the substrate wherein the first connection wiring is formed on the interlayer insulating layer and the feedback wiring is in direct contact with a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer in at least a portion of the sub area, and a first organic insulating layer on the interlayer insulating layer, as taught by Jang et al., in Kwon et al.’s device, in order to improve the device characteristics by using flexible substrate and in order to obtain practical semiconductor structure wherein the various wirings are electrically separated from each other, thus preventing short circuiting the device, respectively.
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Kwon et al. do not teach in figures 2 and 5 that the feedback wiring comprises: a first sub feedback wiring in direct contact with a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer in at least a portion of the sub area; and a second sub feedback wiring in direct contact with a top surface of the first sub feedback wiring.
Kwon et al. teach in related text using conductive layer 120 having sub-wirings.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the feedback wiring comprises: a first sub feedback wiring in direct contact with a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer in at least a portion of the sub area; and a second sub feedback wiring in direct contact with a top surface of the first sub feedback wiring, as taught by Jang et al., in Kwon et al.’s device, in order to improve the conductivity of the device.
Regarding claims 3 and 12, in the combined device, the first connection wiring comprises: a (1-1)-th sub connection wiring having a same layered structure as the first sub feedback wiring on the interlayer insulating layer and including a same material as that of the first sub feedback wiring; and a (1-2)-th sub connection wiring being in direct contact with the top surface of the (1-1)-th sub connection wiring, having a same layered structure as the second sub feedback wiring and including the same material as that of the second sub feedback wiring.
Regarding claim 4, Jang et al., and thus the combined device, teach in figure 13 and related text a first conductive layer 157 (the left side) between the interlayer insulating layer 156 and the first organic insulating layer 160, in the main area; and a second conductive layer 157 (the right side) on (on a bottom surface thereof) the first organic insulating layer.
Regarding claim 5, in the combined device, the first sub feedback wiring has a same layered structure as that of the first conductive layer and includes a same material as that of the first conductive layer, and the second sub feedback wiring has a same layered structure as that of the second conductive layer and includes a same material as that of the second conductive layer.
Regarding claim 6, Kwon et al. teach in figure 2 and related text a second connection wiring (any of the horizontal depicted wirings connected under element 140) configured to transmit a common voltage to the main area on the interlayer insulating layer, at least a portion of the second connection wiring being spaced apart from the first connection wiring (any of the vertical depicted wirings connected to element 140) in a second direction crossing the first direction by a first length in a plan view.
Regarding claim 7, Kwon et al. teach in figure 2 and related text that the feedback wiring is between the first connection wiring and the second connection wiring in the plan view.
Regarding claim 8, Kwon et al. teach in figure 2 and related text that the feedback wiring comprises: a first portion (arbitrarily chosen) having a single layer structure in the sub area; and a second portion (arbitrarily chosen) connecting the first portion and the driving unit to each other. Kwon et al. do not teach that the second portion is having a multi-layer structure. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the second portion of a multi-layer structure in prior art’s device, in order to improve the conductivity of the device.
Regarding claim 9, Kwon et al. teach in figure 2 and related text that the second portion extends in the first direction by a second length in the plan view, and the second length is greater than the first length (since the second portion is arbitrarily chosen).
Regarding claim 10, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the second portion extends in the first direction by a second length in the plan view, and the second length is at least 200 micrometers (pm) and less than 300 pm in prior art’s device in order to optimize the device characteristics of the device.
Regarding claim 13, Kwon et al. and Jang et al. do not teach that the first organic insulating layer is under the first portion, and a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer is in direct contact with a bottom surface of the second portion. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the first organic insulating layer is under the first portion, and a top surface of the interlayer insulating layer is in direct contact with a bottom surface of the second portion in prior art’s device in order to simplify the processing the steps of making the device by forming the first and second portions adjacent to the interlayer insulating layer.
Regarding claims 14 and 15, Jang et al., and thus the combined device, teach in figures 3-8 and related text that the first and second connection wirings are divided into a plurality of connection wirings in the bending area.
Regarding claim 16, Jang et al., and thus the combined device, teach in figure 13 and related text a second organic insulating layer (the right part of element 160) on the first connection wiring and the feedback wiring, in the sub area.
Regarding claim 17, Jang et al., and thus the combined device, teach in figure 13 and related text that the interlayer insulating layer 156 comprises an opening corresponding to the bending area and exposing the substrate (the area under the opening).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ORI NADAV whose telephone number is 571-272-1660. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 7 AM to 4 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lynne Gurley can be reached on 571-272-1670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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O.N. /ORI NADAV/
2/5/2026 PRIMARY EXAMINER
TECHNOLOGY CENTER 2800