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 .
This action is in response to Applicant’s response to election/restriction filed 06/05/2026.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-5, 7-8 and 11-12 in the reply filed on 06/05/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14-24 are pending. Claims 1-5, 7-8 and 11-12 are being examined. Claims 6, 9-10, 13 and 25 are canceled. Claims 14-24 are withdrawn from further consideration. Claims 1-5 and 7 are amended with no new subject matter being introduced.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu (CN 111244293 A).
Considering claim 1, Wu teaches a light-emitting element (i.e., quantum dot light emitting diode) comprising a first electrode (i.e., anode), a second electrode (i.e., cathode), a light-emitting layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode (i.e., quantum dot light emitting layer) and a carrier transport layer disposed between the first electrode and the light-emitting layer (i.e., hole transport layer) (Wu, claim 1). Wu teaches the carrier transport layer includes a plurality of inorganic nanoparticles having carrier transport properties and a ligand which is a monomer by teaching hole transport layer material includes PAMAM dendrimers and metal oxide nanoparticles combined with amino groups on the PAMAM dendrimers (Wu, claim 1). Wu teaches the ligand is a monomer (i.e., PAMAM dendrimer) including at least two coordination functional groups of at least one type, the at least two coordination functional groups being configured to coordinate to the plurality of inorganic nanoparticles (Wu, claim 2 and examples 1-3).
Considering claims 2-3, Wu teaches the ligand is at least one type selected from the group consisting of ligands represented by the claimed General Formula (1) wherein the polar bond group is selected from the claimed groups by teaching a 0th generation PAMAM dendrimer and a 1st generation PAMAM dendrimer (Wu, examples 1-3).
Claims 1 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Su (CN 111244293 A).
Considering claims 1 and 4-5, Su teaches a light-emitting element a comprising a first electrode (i.e., cathode), a second electrode (i.e., anode), a light-emitting layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode (i.e., quantum dot light emitting layer) and a carrier transport layer disposed between the first electrode and the light-emitting layer (i.e., electron transport layer) (Su, claim 1, example 3). Su teaches the carrier transport layer includes a plurality of inorganic nanoparticles having carrier transport properties and a ligand which is a monomer by teaching an electron transport layer containing a zinc oxide nanomaterial wherein the zinc oxide nanomaterial contains nano zinc oxide and carbon quantum dots bonded to the surface of the nano zinc oxide, the carbon quantum dots have a plurality of coordination groups, and metal cations on the surface of the nano zinc oxide are coordinated and bonded with a coordination group (Su, abstract and claim 1).
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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su (CN 111244293 A) in view of Wu (CN 111244293 A).
Considering claim 7, all of the limitations are met by the prior art referenced in meeting claim 5 limitations except for the cathode (i.e., first electrode), the carrier transport layer, the light-emitting layer, and the anode (i.e., second electrode) are provided in this stated order from a lower-layer side.
Su teaches a structure in which an anode, a quantum dot light-emitting layer, an electron transport layer and a cathode are layered in the state order from the lower layer side and does not explicitly teach the claimed structure.
However, Wu teaches a light-emitting element (i.e., quantum dot light emitting diode) comprising a first electrode (i.e., anode), a second electrode (i.e., cathode), a light-emitting layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode (i.e., quantum dot light emitting layer) and a carrier transport layer disposed between the first electrode and the light-emitting layer (i.e., hole transport layer) (Wu, claim 1). Wu teaches a structure wherein the anode is provided as the lower layer and the cathode is provided as the upper layer, he also teaches that as an alternative the structure can be inverted such that the cathode is provided as the lower level and the anode is provided as the upper layer (Wu, last two paragraphs on page 1 of English translation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for the cathode, the carrier transport layer, the light-emitting layer, and the anode to be provided in this stated order from a lower-layer side. One of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to do so because such a structure is known to be suitable for light-emitting elements.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (CN 111244293 A).
Considering claim 8, instant specification discloses method for supplying the ligand solution includes a method for spraying the ligand solution on the ETL material layer and/or applying the ligand solution to the surface of the ETL material layer by spin coating; when the ligan solution is brought into contact with the ETL material layer, the ligands coordinate to the inorganic nanoparticles in the ETL material layer; the ligand solution permeates from the upper surface side of the ETL material layer to the lower surface side; thus, the supply ratio of the ligand decreases from the upper surface side of the ETL material layer to the lower surface side and as a result, the content rate of the ligand on the upper-layer side in the finally formed ETL is greater than the content rate of the ligand on the lower-layer side in the ETL (see instant specification [0103]-[0105]).
Wu teaches various preparation methods including spin coating and/or spraying (Wu, last paragraph on page 3 of English translation).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use any suitable method including spraying and/or spin coating to form the carrier transport layer which would results in the content rate of the ligand on the upper-layer side in the carrier transport layer to be greater than the content rate of the ligand on the lower-layer side in the carrier transport layer. One of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, would have been motivated to do so because spraying and spin coating are known to be suitable methods of forming carrier transport layers and/or electron transport layers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANITA NASSIRI-MOTLAGH whose telephone number is (571)270-7588. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-3:00.
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/ANITA NASSIRI-MOTLAGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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