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, drawn to claims 1-10, in the reply filed on 1/22/26 is acknowledged. Claims 11 to 20 have been withdrawn from consideration.
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 1-4 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda (US 20230240117 A1) in view of Oh (US 20210175476 A1)
Regarding claim 1, Fukuda teaches a display device (at least Fig.3 and 4) comprising:
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a first pixel electrode LE1 ([0045]) disposed in a first emission area SP1 on a substrate 11; an insulating layer 12 ([0049]) covering an edge of the first pixel electrode; a first light-emitting layer OR1a ([0091]) disposed on the first pixel electrode and the insulating layer; a first common electrode UE1 ([100]) disposed on the first light-emitting layer;
a bank (partition 6, [0089]) disposed on the insulating layer and surrounding the first emission area;
a first organic pattern OR1b ([0052]) surrounding the first emission area on the bank and including a same material as a material of the first light-emitting layer;
and a first electrode pattern UE1b surrounding the first emission area on the first organic pattern and including a same material as a material of the first common electrode UE1a,
wherein the bank comprises: a first bank 61 disposed on the insulating layer and in contact with the first common electrode; (Further, the first upper electrode UE1a is in contact with a side surface of the lower portion 61; Fig.4 and 5);
a second bank 62a ([0073]) which is disposed on the first bank and including a tip structure (Fig.4 and 5) protruding toward the first emission area and separates the first common electrode and the first electrode pattern from each other;
and a third bank 62b disposed on the second bank but does not teach it having relatively low reflection characteristics.
Oh teaches a covering on a bank 194 (Fig.4) formed between light emission sub-pixels 120, wherein the bank is covered with a upper bank 196 having low reflection characteristics ([0063],[0071]) and it would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to use the property for the third/upper bank in Fukuda, as disclosed in Oh, in order to minimize deterioration in visibility ([0063] of Oh).
Regarding claim 2, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches a display device, wherein the third bank includes copper (Cu) alloy oxide ([0063] and [0071] of Oh) ( - - or copper oxide (CuOx) - -).
Regarding claim 3, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches explicitly teaches a low reflection layer on the bank between the light emission sections, with examples of a single-layered or multi-layered structure using at least one of TiO.sub.x, CuN.sub.x, CuMg, CuS, AlON, AlTiN, MoTaO.sub.x, or MoTiON.CuMg ([0063], [0071], wherein at least one of CuMg, AlON, refer to all the components as claimed, that is, the copper (Cu) alloy oxide includes copper-magnesium-aluminum oxide (CuMgAlOx) (as Oh discloses CuMg as well as AlO (in AlON)), therefore, from the teachings of Oh, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a combination of CuMg, AlON, by routine experimentation or simulation, since where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering a result effective variable, involves only routine skill in the art, in order to minimize deterioration in visibility.
Regarding claim 4, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches a display device, wherein the first bank 61 has a portion 600 that includes a copper (Cu) (in [0105] and last line of [0112],[0121] of Fukuda), and the second bank 621 includes titanium (Ti) ([0105] in Fukuda), but does not teach a copper alloy for the first bank. However, Fukuda discloses copper for a part of the bank, therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a copper alloy by routine experimentation, since where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the of a result effective variable, involves only routine skill in the art, in order to prevent corrosion ([0122] in Fukuda).
Regarding claim 7, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches a display device, wherein a side surface of the first bank 61 is recessed inward from a side surface of the second bank (since the second bank 62 protrudes out).
Regarding claim 8, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches a display device, further comprising: a second pixel electrode LE3 disposed in a second emission area SP3 on the substrate; a second light-emitting layer OR3a disposed on the second pixel electrode; and a second common electrode UE3a
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disposed on the second light-emitting layer.
Regarding claim 9, Fukuda in view of Oh teaches a display device, wherein the first and second common electrodes are electrically connected to each other through the first bank ([0067] in Fukuda).
Regarding claim 10, Fukuda in view of Oh and Kang teaches a display device further comprising: a second organic pattern OR3b surrounding the second emission area SP3 on the first electrode pattern UE1b and including a same material as a material of the second light-emitting layer OR3a; and a second electrode pattern UE3b surrounding the second emission area on the second organic pattern Or3b and including a same material as a material of the second common electrode UE3a.
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Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda (US 20230240117 A1) in view of Oh (US 20210175476 A1) and further in view of Kang (CN 112038366 A)
Regarding claim 5, Fukuda in view of Oh, teaches the invention set forth in claim 4 above, but is silent regarding the first bank is made of the copper (Cu) alloy includes copper- magnesium-aluminum (CuMgAl).
Kang teaches a display device with bank materials made of copper (Cu) alloy that includes copper- magnesium-aluminum (CuMgAl):
Disclosed in Kang: A plurality of partition walls 145 may include a metal material having a high stiffness and a high thermal conductivity, but is not limited thereto. For example, a plurality of partition walls 145 may include stainless steel, Al, Cu, Ag, Mg alloy, one material of Mg-Li alloy and Al alloy, but not limited to this and it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a copper alloy as disclosed in Kang, in the partition wall of Fukuda in view of Oh, in order to improve thermal conductivity.
Regarding claim 6, Fukuda in view of Oh and Kang teaches an alloy of Cu (CuMgAl), but does not teach the composition ratio of copper (Cu) in the copper-magnesium-aluminum (CuMgAl) is 90 at% or more, however, since the composition of the alloy (CuMgAl) is already disclosed in Fukuda in view of Oh and Kang (in Kang); it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use 90% or more of copper by routine experimentation and simulation, in the device of Fukuda in view of Oh and Kang, in order to optimize the thermal conductivity.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Fatima Farokhrooz whose telephone number is (571)-272-6043. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday- Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, James Greece can be reached on (571) 272-3711.
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/Fatima N Farokhrooz/
Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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