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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Specie I (Figs. 1-6), claims 1-2, 5 and 10 in the reply filed on December 10th, 2025 is acknowledged. Non-elected invention and species, claims 3-4, 6-9 and 11-20 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Action on merits of Species 1, claims 1-2, 5 and 10 as follows.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 31st, 2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 07/31/2023 are acceptable.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito (JP 2008/235066, hereinafter as Ito ‘066) in view of Matsushima (US 2015/0171327, hereinafter as Mats ‘327).
Regarding Claim 1, Ito ‘066 teaches a display device comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 1a, (1); [0033]);
a first electrode (2; [0035]) provided on the insulating layer;
a rib (6a/6b; [0036]) provided on the insulating layer, and comprising an opening which overlaps the first electrode (2) (see Fig. 1c), and
a trench which does not overlap the first electrode (see Fig. 1c);
an organic layer (8; [0045]) which includes a light emitting layer and covers the first electrode (2) and the rib (6a/6b);
a filling member provided in the trench (see para. [0050]); and
wherein the organic layer includes: a first portion which covers the first electrode; a second portion which covers, of the rib, a portion located between the opening and the trench; and a third portion located in the trench and spaced apart from the second portion (see Figs.1e and 1f).
Thus, Ito ‘066 is shown to teach all the features of the claim with the exception of explicitly the features: “an insulating layer provided on the substrate; and a second electrode which covers the organic layer, the rib and the filling member”.
Mats ‘327 teaches an insulating layer (Fig. 11, (226); [0069]) provided on the substrate (225; [0069]); and a second electrode (217; [0071]) which covers the organic layer (215; [0071]), the rib (214; [0071]) and the filling member (214e; [0071]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Ito ‘066 by having an insulating layer provided on the substrate; and a second electrode which covers the organic layer, the rib and the filling member for the purpose of improving the image quality of the organic EL display panel (see para. [0006]-[0007]) as suggested by Mats ‘327.
PNG
media_image1.png
766
492
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Figs 1a-f (Ito ‘066)
PNG
media_image2.png
328
474
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Figs 11 (Mats ‘327)
Regarding Claim 2, Ito ‘066 teaches the filling member covers the third portion (see Fig. 1f; para. [0050]).
Regarding Claim 5, Ito ‘066 teaches the trench comprises: an upper portion having a first width; and a lower portion having a second width greater than the first width (see Fig. 1c).
Regarding Claim 10, Ito ‘066 teaches the trench is provided at least between the subpixels which are adjacent to each other in the first direction (see Fig. 2c).
Mats ‘327 teaches a plurality of subpixels (Fig. 2, (14a); [0041]) which are arranged in a first direction and a second direction intersecting with the first direction and each of which includes the first electrode (Fig. 4, (12); [0046]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following patents are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to semiconductor devices:
Kang et al. (US 2015/0001485 A1)
Chen et al. (US 2013/0134449 A1)
Sugimoto (US 2012/0181525 A1)
Yoshida et al. (US 2010/0213827 A1)
For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DZUNG T TRAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-3911. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8 AM-5PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sue Purvis can be reached on (571) 272-1236. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DZUNG TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893