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 November 14, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim 8 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 November 14, 2025.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 28, 2023 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 § 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.
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(s) 1, 2, and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Lee et al (US Pub 2017/0358637).
In re claim 1, Lee et al discloses an optical sensor (i.e. see at least Figure 14) comprising: a lower substrate (i.e. SUB1); a plurality of lower electrodes (i.e. see at least paragraph 0149 disclosing at least sensing electrodes in the touch sensing portion TSP) on the lower substrate; an organic photoelectric conversion layer (i.e. OLED) that is provided in common on the plurality of lower electrodes and includes a hole transport layer (i.e. see at least paragraph 0271), an active layer (i.e. EML), and an electron transport layer (i.e. see at least paragraph 0274) in this order from the lower substrate side; a conductive adhesive (i.e. BR2) that is provided between each of the plurality of lower electrodes and the organic photoelectric conversion layer and electrically connects each of the plurality of lower electrodes to the organic photoelectric conversion layer (i.e. it is well known in the art that all material have some conductive property and the material used for BR2 may be the same as the material used for BR1 (see at least paragraph 0158), for example, an organic material coated with a single-layer or multilayer inorganic material); a light-transmitting upper electrode (i.e. FSE) provided on the organic photoelectric conversion layer; and a light-transmitting upper substrate (i.e. SUB2) provided on the upper electrode (i.e. it is well known in the art that all material have some light-transmitting property; as the claim does not specify the degree of light-transmittance, the term “light-transmitting” is a mere label).
Furthermore, Lee et al discloses the use of a conductive adhesive (CA) to bond SUB1 and SUB2 (i.e. see at least paragraph 0086). Even though Lee et al discloses the conductive adhesive is between the OLED and SUB2 side, it is within one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have the conductive adhesive be between SUB1 and OLED side.
In re claim 2, Lee et al discloses the use of an anisotropic conductive adhesive (i.e. see at least paragraph 0028).
In re claim 4, Lee et al discloses wherein the upper substrate includes a light-transmitting sealing layer (i.e. cushion layer - see at least paragraph 0214) and a light-transmitting substrate laminated on the sealing layer in this order from the lower substrate side (i.e. it is well known in the art that all material have some light-transmitting property; as the claim does not specify the degree of light-transmittance, the term “light-transmitting” is a mere label).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 5-7 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY HO whose telephone number is (571)270-1432. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM, Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marlon Fletcher can be reached at 571-272-2063. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817