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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/17/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 02/19/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 (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 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(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20170133357 A1 hereinafter Kuo in further view of US 20190181196 A1 hereinafter Dai.
For claim 20, Kuo teaches an electronic device comprising a display device (Kuo, fig. 5), the display device comprising: a light emitting elements (fig. 4 numeral 130a) provided on a base layer (fig. 4 numeral 110); a color conversion layer on the light emitting elements and converting a wavelength of a light provided form the light emitting elements (fig. 4 numeral 160); and a bank adjacent to at least part of the color conversion layer (fig. 4 numeral 140a1), wherein a side surface of the bank that faces the conversion layer has a curved surface (fig. 1D numeral 140a4 and 147a4). Kuo is silent regarding the side surface having alternating peaks and valleys such that the peaks are closer to the light emitting elements than the valleys in a plan view.
Dai teaches an array substrate (Dai, fig. 2; fig. 3 – fig. 6) for use in electronic devices including light emitting elements (Par. [0003 – 0004]; fig. 3 numeral P, Par. [0029]). The array substrate includes a bank (fig. 2 numeral 200; fig. 3 - fig. 6 numeral 200) that has curved surfaces (fig. 3 numeral 300) that includes alternating peaks and valleys, wherein the peaks are closer to the light emitting pixels in the plan view (fig. 3 shows the peaks going inwards towards the pixel P; fig. 5 shows curved peaks of the bank 200 closer to the center of pixel P while the valleys of the bank 200 go outward and away from the pixel P in the plan view).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the immediate invention to combine the bank structure in Dai with the light emitting elements and banks in Kuo in order to control the thickness of the device while maintaining contact between layers (Dai, Par. [0046]) and to mitigate stressors present in the device during manufacturing (Dai, Par. [0034]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, and 3 - 19 are allowable primarily because the references of record, alone or in combination, do not anticipate or render obvious the limitations noted therein. For example, independent claim 1’s “…and wherein the quantum dots are adjacent to an edge of the bank such that a coffee-ring effect is provided, and the protrusions extend in the thickness direction and are spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction different from the thickness direction”.
Claims 3 – 19 are allowable primarily as being dependent on an allowable base claim.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant MUST be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance”.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB T NELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-1031. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
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/J.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/MONICA D HARRISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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