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
Restriction/Election
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 12/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Specification Objection
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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-AlA 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, 4 and 8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kwon (KR 20160038959, machine-translation provided).
Regarding Claim 1
FIG. 7 of Kwon discloses a display device comprising: a lower inorganic barrier layer (e.g., SiO/SiN 102a); pad electrodes (310-350) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other; an upper inorganic barrier layer (e.g., SiO/SiN 102b) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and covering the pad electrodes; an upper organic base layer (e.g. BCB 116) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (125) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (150) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower organic base layer (PI 100) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer, the lower organic base layer comprising a first portion (upper) defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion (lower) disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings.
Regarding Claim 4
FIG. 7 of Kwon discloses the contact openings are spaced apart from each other.
Regarding Claim 8
FIG. 7 of Kwon discloses the light emitting element layer includes light emitting elements; and the pad opening is disposed in a display area that has the light emitting elements disposed therein in a plan view (FIG. 5).
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2021/0280753), in view of Song (KR 20170050388, machine-translation provided).
Regarding Claim 1
FIG. 2 of Kim discloses a display device comprising: a lower inorganic barrier [0078] layer (115); pad electrodes (163) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other (FIG. 1); an upper inorganic [0080] barrier layer (170) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and covering the pad electrodes; an upper organic [0085] base layer (190) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (310) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (350) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower organic [0077] base layer (110) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer.
Kim is silent with respect to “pad electrodes disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer” and “the lower organic base layer comprising a first portion defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings”.
FIG. 10 of Song discloses a similar display device comprising: pad electrodes (120-210) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer (105) and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other; and the lower organic base layer (e.g. polyimide 100) comprising a first portion defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to modify the device of Kim, as taught by Song. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Kim in the above manner for purpose of forming a flexible display device having improved substrate utilization yield (Abstract of Song).
Claims 1-3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim, in view of Kitae (WO 2009019864, machine-translation provided).
Regarding Claim 1
FIG. 2 of Kim discloses a display device comprising: a lower inorganic barrier [0078] layer (115); pad electrodes (163) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other (FIG. 1); an upper inorganic [0080] barrier layer (170) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and covering the pad electrodes; an upper organic [0085] base layer (190) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (310) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (350) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower organic [0077] base layer (110) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer.
Kim is silent with respect to “pad electrodes disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer” and “the lower organic base layer comprising a first portion defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings”.
FIG. 13 of Kitae discloses a similar display device, wherein the pad electrodes (10-14) are spaced apart from each other; and the lower organic base layer (resin 12) comprising a first portion defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to modify the device of Kim, as taught by Kitae. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Kim in the above manner for purpose of reducing size, weight and thickness (Advantage of Kitae).
Regarding Claim 2
FIG. 7 of Kitae discloses the contact openings are disposed in a pad opening area comprising an area surrounded by an outer edge of the pad opening in a plan view.
Regarding Claim 3
FIG. 7 of Kitae discloses the pad electrodes are disposed in the pad opening area in the plan view.
Claims 5 and 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon, in view of Song2 (CN 110767722, machine-translation provided).
Regarding Claim 5
Kwon discloses Claim 4.
Kwon is silent with respect to “the first portion of the lower organic base layer comprises protrusion portions disposed between adjacent contact openings of the contact openings”.
FIG. 9 of Song2 discloses a similar display device, wherein the first portion (PVX) of the lower organic base layer (PVX+PLN) comprises protrusion portions disposed between adjacent contact openings of the contact openings.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to modify the device of Kwon, as taught by Song2. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Jeong in the above manner for purpose of improving compensating precision and lowering noise interference (Abstract of Song2).
Regarding Claim 7
FIG. 9 of Song2 discloses a thickness of each of the contact openings is less than a thickness of the pad opening in a cross sectional view.
Claims 5-7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon, in view of Abe (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2019/0265824).
Regarding Claim 5
Kwon discloses Claim 4.
Kwon is silent with respect to “the first portion of the lower organic base layer comprises protrusion portions disposed between adjacent contact openings of the contact openings”.
FIG. 4 of Abe discloses a similar display device, wherein the first portion (23) of the lower organic (one of ordinary skill in the art would understand the layers 13 and 23 can be made by organic materials) base layer (13+23) comprises protrusion portions disposed between adjacent contact openings of the contact openings.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to modify the device of Kwon, as taught by Abe. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Jeong in the above manner for purpose of improving performance ([0005] of Abe).
Regarding Claim 6
With respect to “a thickness of each of the protrusion portions is in a range of about 0.1 micrometer to about 2 micrometer in a cross sectional view”, said thickness is related to the size and manufacturability of the device. Therefore, said thickness is considered to be a result effective variable. The claim to a specific thickness therefore constitutes an optimization of ranges. In re Huang, 100 F.3d 135, 40 USPQ2d 1685, 1688 (Fed. Cir. 1996). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the parameters as claimed, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art (MPEP 2144.05).
Regarding Claim 7
FIG. 4 of Abe discloses a thickness of each of the contact openings is less than a thickness of the pad opening in a cross sectional view.
Claims 1, 9 and 10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwon377 (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2019/0131377), in view of Kim34 (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2017/0352834).
Regarding Claim 1
FIG. 4 of Kwon377 discloses a display device comprising: a lower inorganic barrier [0049] layer (110); pad electrodes (610-650) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other (FIG. 1); an upper inorganic [0055] barrier layer (120) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and covering the pad electrodes; an upper organic [0067] base layer (310) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (330) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (430) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower base layer (700+710) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer, the lower base layer comprising a first portion (710) defining contact openings respectively exposing the pad electrodes penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, and a second portion (700) disposed under the first portion, the second portion defining a pad opening exposing the contact openings.
Kwon377 is silent with respect to the upper base layer is “an upper organic base layer” and the lower base layer is “a lower organic base layer”.
FIG. 14 of Kim34 discloses a similar display device comprising: a lower inorganic [0101] barrier layer (112); an upper inorganic [0102] barrier layer (301) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer; an upper organic [0040] base layer (155) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (700) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (600) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower organic [0050] base layer (300) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to modify the device of Kwon377, as taught by Kim34, because such material substitution or replacement would have been considered a mere substitution of art-recognized equivalent values, MPEP 2144.06. The ordinary artisan would have been motivated to modify Kwon377 in the above manner for purpose of forming display device that is light weight, strong, and flexible ([0003] of Kim34).
Regarding Claim 9
FIG. 4 of Kwon377 discloses each of the pad electrodes comprises: a first electrode layer (630) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer (110); and a second electrode layer (650) disposed under the first electrode layer, wherein an electric conductivity of the second electrode layer is less than an electric conductivity of the first electrode layer [0054].
Regarding Claim 10
FIG. 10 of Kwon377 discloses a driving part (610) disposed under the lower organic base layer, the driving part is electrically connected to each of the pad electrodes exposed by the contact openings, wherein the driving part is electrically connected to the second electrode layer.
Pertinent Art
FIG. 7 of Jeong (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2020/0273397) discloses a display device comprising: a lower barrier layer (1020); pad electrodes (142) disposed on the lower barrier layer and penetrating the lower inorganic barrier layer, wherein the pad electrodes are spaced apart from each other; an upper inorganic [0174] barrier layer (1810) disposed on the lower inorganic barrier layer and covering the pad electrodes; an upper organic [0188] base layer (1820) disposed on the upper inorganic barrier layer; a circuit layer (1850) disposed on the upper organic base layer; a light emitting element layer (300) disposed on the circuit layer; and a lower organic [0154] base layer (1010) disposed under the lower inorganic barrier layer. Also Moon (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2018/0175268)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHENG-BAI ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-3904. The examiner can normally be reached on 11am – 7pm EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chad Dicke can be reached on (571)270-7996. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHENG-BAI ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897