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 with traverse of Invention Group I, Species 1A, 2B, and 3A, and Subspecies I-V in the reply filed on June 16 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that 1) a prima facie case has not been established, 2) distinction within Species Group I is improper, and 3) improper grouping within Species Group III. Items 1) and 3) are not found fully persuasive. Item 2) is found persuasive, thus the election requirement between Species 1A and 1B is withdrawn.
Regarding 1) and 3), the species listed are drawn to mutually exclusive embodiments of the present disclosure, each not sharing the same or corresponding technical feature. For example, Figures 1 and 13 show a pixel arrangement where 110a, 110b, and 110c are stacked vertically, however Figure 13 lacks the subpixels 110a, 110b, and 110c also being directly adjacent to each other. Thus, they lack the same technical feature of the subpixel configuration. As to each Figure of each listed subspecies, for example, Figure 2C shows a common layer 114 provided, and in 2D the common layer is not provided, and in Figure 6C, the shape of the stacked layers is not shared. Further, Figures 3A-3C2, 4, and 5A-5E show different embodiments not sharing the same technical features in regards to shapes and disposition or inclusion of some layers. It is the Examiner’s position that the disclosure makes clear what features are not shared between each figure in each of the listed subspecies. Thus, the election requirement between each group of subspecies is still deemed proper.
As for Species Group III, the Examiner agrees with Applicant that the grouping should have been done according to each aspect of the display, thus Species Group III should have been only between the pixel arrangements of Species 3A-3G, and where Species 3H-3M should have been separated to another group of species and Species 3N removed completely from the election. Thus, Applicant’s election of Species 3A from the remaining Species 3A-3G stands.
The Examiner would also like to note that Applicant’s argument stating that the Examiner has not established that a serious search or examiner burden would exist if restriction were not required does not apply to 371 cases. 371 restrictions are governed by unity of invention rules and not by search/examination burden. The Examiner has demonstrated that unity has been broken according to the unity of invention rules.
Thus, the Restriction/Election requirement is between the following groups and species/subspecies: Invention Groups I and II, Species 1A and 1B in Species Group 1, Species 3A-3G in Species Group 3, and the Figures of each Subspecies Groups 1-V. Applicant has elected Invention Group I, Species 1A, Species 3A, and Figures 2A-2C, 5B, 31B4, 32F, and 30A from Subspecies I-V, respectively, which read on upon claims 1-2, 5-6, and 16-22.
The requirement is deemed proper and is therefore made final.
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 1, 5-6, and 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2018/0166510) and Zhang et al. (“Zhang” US 2023/0389392), as evidenced by Lu (US 2021/0359045).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a display device (Fig. 2-5) comprising:
a first pixel electrode (300 of left sp3 in Fig. 5);
a second pixel electrode (300 of right sp3 in Fig. 5);
a third pixel electrode (300 of middle sp1 in Fig. 5);
a fourth pixel electrode (300 of right sp1 in Fig. 5);
a first EL layer (portion of 530 over first pixel electrode) over the first pixel electrode (300 of left sp3 in Fig. 5);
a second EL layer (portion of 530 over second pixel electrode) over the second pixel electrode (300 of right sp3 in Fig. 5);
a third EL layer (portion of 510 over third pixel electrode) over the third pixel electrode (300 of middle sp1 in Fig. 5);
a fourth EL layer (portion of 510 over fourth pixel electrode) over the fourth pixel electrode (300 of right sp1 in Fig. 5);
an insulating layer (400) between the first EL layer and the second EL layer (portions of 510 over each first and second pixel electrodes, the insulating layer 400 portion 410 separates the EL layer portions), between the second EL layer and the third EL layer, and between the third EL layer and the fourth EL layer (see Fig. 5); and
a common electrode layer (600) [over the common layer],
wherein the first EL layer, the second EL layer, the third EL layer, and the fourth EL layer (530 and 510) are arranged in this order to be adjacent to each other in one direction (see Fig. 2, second direction labeled in Figure 2 and horizontal direction in Fig. 5),
wherein the first EL layer and the second EL layer (530) emit light of the same color (blue light, see Fig. 2 and para. [0047]),
wherein the third EL layer and the fourth EL layer emit light of the same color (red light, see Fig. 2 and para. [0047]), and
wherein the first EL layer and the second EL layer (530) emit light of a color different from the color of the light emitted from the third EL layer and the fourth EL layer (510, 530 emits blue, 510 emits red).
Lee does not disclose a common layer over the first EL layer, the second EL layer, the third EL layer, the fourth EL layer, and the insulating layer.
Zhang discloses, however, a common layer (45/46/47) over all of the light emitting layers of the display device (see Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the common layer of Zhang into the teachings of Lee for the purpose of enhancing the light extraction rate and protect lower layers from damage during manufacture, as evidenced by Lu (Lu, para. [0036]).
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Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses wherein the insulating layer (400) comprises a photosensitive material (420 portion comprises a photosensitive material, see para. [0079]).
Regarding claim 6, Lu discloses wherein the common layer comprises at least one of a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, a hole- blocking layer, an electron-blocking layer, an electron-transport layer, and an electron- injection layer (45/46/47, see para. [0155]).
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses wherein the insulating layer (400) comprises a first insulating layer (410) and a second insulating layer over the first insulating layer (420), and
wherein the first insulating layer (410) comprises a first region over the first EL layer (portion of 530 over first pixel electrode, first region is the portion of 410 directly contacting the first EL layer) and a second region over the second EL layer (portion of 530 over second pixel electrode, second region is the portion of 410 directly contacting the second EL layer), and a third region between the first region and the second region (see Fig. 5, a portion of 410 is between the first and second EL layers, which again are the portions of EL layer 530 directly over the first and second pixel electrodes, see also annotated Fig. 5 below).
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Regarding claim 17, Lee discloses wherein the first region and the first EL layer overlap each other (see annotated Fig. 5 above, overlapping vertically),
wherein the second region and the second EL layer overlap each other (see annotated Fig. 5 above, overlapping vertically),
wherein the third region and the second insulating layer overlap each other (see annotated Fig. 5 above, overlapping vertically), and
wherein the third region does not overlap either of the first EL layer and the second EL layer (see annotated Fig. 5 above, overlapping vertically).
Regarding claim 18, Lee discloses wherein the first region (portion of 410 directly contacting the first EL layer) is in contact with the first EL layer (see annotated Fig. 5), and
wherein the second region (portion of 410 directly contacting the second EL layer) is in contact with the second EL layer (see annotated Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 19, Lee discloses wherein the second insulating layer (420) comprises a photosensitive material (see para. [0079]).
Regarding claim 20, Lee discloses wherein the first insulating layer (410) comprises an inorganic insulating layer (see para. [0078]).
Regarding claim 21, Lu discloses wherein the common layer (45/46/47) is over the first insulating layer (BK, see Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Lee and Zhang discloses an electronic device comprising the display device according to claim 1 (see claim 1 above and electronic display devices of Lee and Zhang, it is also obvious that these displays can be used for various electronic devices).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee, Zhang, and Lu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (“Wang” US 2022/0310723).
Regarding claim 2, Lee further discloses a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, and a fourth transistor (transistors are provided for each subpixel, sp1, sp2, sp3, in the circuit layer 200),
wherein one of a source and a drain of the first transistor is electrically connected to the first pixel electrode,
wherein one of a source and a drain of the second transistor is electrically connected to the second pixel electrode,
wherein one of a source and a drain of the third transistor is electrically connected to the third pixel electrode,
wherein one of a source and a drain of the fourth transistor is electrically connected to the fourth pixel electrode (since a transistor is electrically connected to each of the subpixels, thus their electrodes, Lee teaches this configuration of electrically connecting either the source or the drain of the transistor to the pixel electrodes since the transistor can be a driving, switching, or sensing transistor).
Lee does not explicitly disclose the material of the channel formation region of the transistors.
Wang discloses, however, driving transistors (T1) include a metal oxide in a channel formation region (para. [0151]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the common layer of Wang into the teachings of Lee for the purpose of reducing leakage current (Wang, para. [0151]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Genevieve G Bullard-Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-0609. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.
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/Genevieve G Bullard-Connor/Examiner, Art Unit 2899 /DALE E PAGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2899
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