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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-7) in the reply filed on 08/05/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 08/05/2025.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The terms “target multi-needle module” and “target station” in claim 1 are unclear. What makes the module or station “target”? Is this specific type of module/station, or is simply the module/station being used? The word target could imply a goal or objective, but its use here is ambiguous. See MPEP 2173.05(r). To overcome this rejection, the Applicant is advised to delete the term target from the claims.
Claim(s) 2-7 is/are rejected as being dependent from claim 1 and therefor including all the limitation thereof.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (CN 113696638 with English Machine Translation Attached) in view of Gmeinwieser (US 2021/0154918).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a printing method for a glass substrate circuit .. (Abstract; [0001] of English Machine Translation Attached), comprising:
performing preparation operation before printing oriented to a printing task, and
scanning, by a measuring system of a printing device for the .., a target substrate, to obtain flatness data of the target substrate (see [0009] of English Machine Translation Attached);
moving, by a motion control system (3), a target multi-needle module including a printer needle and fluid control system to an initial printing point of the target substrate (see [0056] and [0086] of English Machine Translation Attached), and adjusting, by a Z-axis controller, a printing receiving distance of the target multi-needle module based on the received flatness data (i.e. measuring spatial coordinates of a glass substrate and a printing needle with a sensor of a height measurement and auto-following system (7)) (see Figs. 1-2; [0049-0050] and [0061] of English Machine Translation Attached); and
performing, by the target multi-needle module, laminated printing on an upper surface of the target substrate on a target station (base (2)) based on preset air pressure parameters and a target line width (see [0065-0069] of English Machine Translation Attached), to generate a target substrate by curing under the condition that a printing height is within a range of a target height (see Fig. 1; [0073] and [0077-0078] of English Machine Translation Attached);
wherein, the target station comprises a first station (base (2)) and/or a second station .. , the target multi-needle module comprises a first module and/or a second module, the printing height is a cumulative layer height corresponding to the number of printing layers, and the printing task at least comprises determination of the target line width and the target height according to the target substrate (see Fig. 1; [0056-0057] of English Machine Translation Attached).
Zhou does not explicitly teach the printing method for an LED retaining wall of a display panel comprising a transversal LED retaining walls and longitudinal LED retaining walls.
In the same field of endeavor, 3D printing methods, Gmeinwieser teaches a 3D printing method for forming pixels (20) by individual light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (see Fig. 1; [0005] and [0011-0013]), wherein the pixels comprising a transversal LED retaining walls (26) and longitudinal LED retaining walls (see Figs. 1-2; [0057-0058]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the printing method as taught by Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser with selecting printing an LED retaining wall of a display panel as the substrate as such is known in the art of additive manufacturing methods given the discussion of Gmeinwieser above; and doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, with the added benefits of doing so would provide LED display with high-precision printing for retaining wall which meets market demand for efficient, precise LED display manufacturing.
Regarding claim 2, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel, wherein the adjusting, by the Z-axis controller, the printing receiving distance of the target multi-needle module based on the received flatness data comprises: obtaining a vertical distance between each printing point of the target substrate and the target multi-needle module based on the flatness data and a target corresponding relation as an actual value of the printing receiving distance (see [0064-0065] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou); and adjusting, by the Z-axis controller, the actual value of the printing receiving distance into a target value of the printing receiving distance when the target multi-needle module is located at the corresponding printing point; wherein, the target value of the printing receiving distance corresponding to each printing point is the same (see [0064-0067] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou).
Regarding claim 3, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel, wherein the performing the preparation operation before printing comprises: installing printer heads on syringes after filling the syringes with printing materials, and connecting the syringes with fluid control systems by the printer heads; and controlling, by a control terminal, the motion control system to perform mechanical zeroing operation; wherein, the printing materials are matched with a width-height ratio of a formed product of the printing materials, internal diameter parameters of the printer heads are matched with the target line width, and the number of printing layers is set based on the width-height ratio of the target LED retaining wall, the target line width and the target height (see [0056-0059] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou).
Regarding claim 4, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel, wherein before the target multi-needle module is moved by the motion control system to the initial printing point of the target substrate, pre-printing is performed under the preset air pressure parameters till the printer heads deliver the materials stably, and an adsorption apparatus is controlled by the motion control system to leave a pre-printing zone (see [0052] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou).
Regarding claim 7, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches a non-transient computer readable storage medium, storing computer programs thereon, wherein when implemented by a processor, the computer programs implement the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel (see Fig. 2; [0061],[0064-0065],[0077] and [0097] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (CN 113696638 with English Machine Translation Attached) in view of Gmeinwieser (US 2021/0154918) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mellin (US 2021/0362178).
Regarding claim 5, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser teaches the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel as discussed in claim 1 above.
Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches wherein the performing, by the target multi-needle module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the target station based on the preset air pressure parameters and the target line width, to generate the target LED retaining wall by curing under the condition that the printing height is within the range of the target height (see [0011], [0024],[0043] and [0056-0059] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou).
However, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser does not explicitly teach performing, by the second module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the second station based on the preset air pressure parameters and the target line width, to generate the transversal LED retaining walls under the condition that the printing height conforms to the target height.
In the same field of endeavor, 3d printing methods, Mellin teaches an ink jet printing method with dynamically controlled meniscus air pressure (Abstract), comprises a controller (120) for determining a target feed pressure and a recirculation pressure to maintain a target pressure differential at a nozzle and the pressure control ensures consistent ink deposition which directly affecting line width (see Fig. 3 [0019], [0022] and [0024-0026]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to integrate a pressure control mechanism into the printing method as taught by Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser as such is known in the art of additive manufacturing methods given the discussion of Mellin above; and doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, with the added benefits of doing so would provide preset air pressure and line width control system.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (CN 113696638 with English Machine Translation Attached) in view of Gmeinwieser (US 2021/0154918) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mellin (US 2021/0362178) and Graushar (US 6,125,760).
Regarding claim 6, Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser teaches the printing method for the LED retaining wall of the display panel as discussed in claim 1 above.
Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser further teaches, wherein the performing, by the target multi-needle module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the target station (base (2)) based on the air pressure parameters and the target line width, to generate the target LED retaining wall by curing under the condition that the printing height is within the target height range and performing, by the target multi-needle module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the first station (base (2)) or the second station based on the air pressure parameters and the target line width (see [0011], [0024],[0043] and [0056-0059] of English Machine Translation Attached of Zhou). However,
Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser does not explicitly teach that the laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the first station or the second station based on the preset air pressure parameters and the to generate the transversal LED retaining walls under the condition that the printing height conforms to the target height.
In the same field of endeavor, 3d printing methods, Mellin teaches an ink jet printing method with dynamically controlled meniscus air pressure (Abstract), comprises a controller (120) for determining a target feed pressure and a recirculation pressure to maintain a target pressure differential at a nozzle and the pressure control ensures consistent ink deposition which directly affecting line width (see Fig. 3 [0019], [0022] and [0024-0026]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to integrate a pressure control mechanism into the printing method, wherein the laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate on the first station or the second station based on the preset air pressure parameters and the to generate the transversal LED retaining walls under the condition that the printing height conforms to the target heigh, as taught by Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser as such is known in the art of additive manufacturing methods given the discussion of Mellin above; and doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, with the added benefits of doing so would provide preset air pressure and line width control system.
Zhou in view of Gmeinwieser and Mellin does not teach rotating the first station or the second station by 90º, and performing, by the target multi- needle module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate, to generate the longitudinal transversal LED retaining walls under the condition that the printing height conforms to the target height.
In the same field of endeavor, 3d printing methods, Graushar teaches a method for customizing a book using a printer conveyor system (10) (see Fig. 1; column 2, lines 24-30), includes rotating a first station (156) or the second station by 90º and printing with a multi printing heads (112,112) on the upper surface of the target substrate (18) on a target station (see Fig. 4 and Fig. 6; column 5, lines 10-20).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the printing method as taught by Zhou, Gmeinwieser and Mellin in view of Graushar with teach rotating the first station or the second station by 90º, and performing, by the target multi- needle module, laminated printing on the upper surface of the target substrate, to generate the longitudinal transversal LED retaining walls under the condition that the printing height conforms to the target height given the discussion of Graushar above; and doing so is combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results, with the added benefits of doing so would allow for precise angular adjustments of the print station.
Conclusion
The following prior arts made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Cao (US2021/0172734) teaches a three dimensional printing method includes scanning for flatness data and Z-axis adjustment (Abstract; [0026]).
Lebron (US 7,467,858) teaches a method of inkjet printing includes establishing a back pressure corresponding to a desired print mode in a printhead and changing the back pressure in response to changes in print mode and a printing system for printing in a number of distinct print modes (Abstract).
Szyszko (US2016/0207301) a rotary screen printer that operates with a stepper motor for indexing the screen printer. The stepper motor provides a positive rotation and locating of the printing arms. The stepper motor can also have a controlled acceleration and deceleration speed while it indexes.
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/MOHAMED K AHMED ALI/Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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