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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed by the Applicant on 8/12/26 is acknowledged.
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, cited previously) in view of Kim (US 20190165326 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;
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 621 ([0073]) which is directly 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 622 directly disposed on the second bank.
Fukuda does not teach the third bank having relatively low reflection characteristics and spaced apart from a color filter that is disposed on the first electrode pattern.
Kim teaches a display device wherein a color filter CF1 (Fig.9 or 7) that is disposed on the first electrode pattern and wherein the third bank (top most bank layer 130) having relatively low reflection characteristics ([0077] and [0084]) and spaced apart from a color filter 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 low reflection property for the third/upper bank in Fukuda, from the teachings of Kim, in order to absorb the unneeded light ([0077],[0084]).
Further although Kim does not explicitly teach the second bank directly on first bank 120, however Fukuda already teaches the limitations of the first, second and third banks (recitation of directly) as claimed, whereas Kim teaches the top most third bank to have low reflective characteristics, that is analogous to the top most third bank of Fukuda, since the low reflective characteristics are more affective for the top layer of bank layers, therefore from the teachings of Kim, it would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to use the low reflection property of the top bank layers of Kim, in the third/upper bank in Fukuda, in order to absorb the unneeded light.
Regarding claim 4, Fukuda in view of Kim 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 Kim 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 Kim 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 Kim 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 Kim 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 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda (US 20230240117 A1, cited previously) in view of Kim (US 20190165326 A1) and further in view of Oh (US 20210175476 cited previously)
Regarding claim 2, Fukuda in view of Kim teaches the invention set forth in claim 1 above but is silent regarding the third bank includes copper (Cu) alloy oxide and ( - - or copper oxide (CuOx) - -).
Oh teaches the third bank includes copper (Cu) alloy oxide ([0063] and [0071] of Oh) ( - - or copper oxide (CuOx) - -) 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 the material, as disclosed in Oh, in the device of Fukuda in view of Kim, in order to achieve a low reflection material.
Regarding claim 3, Fukuda in view of Kim and 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.
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuda (US 20230240117 A1, cited previously) in view of Kim and further in view of Kang (CN 112038366 A, cited previously)
Regarding claim 5, Fukuda in view of Kim, 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 Kim, in order to improve thermal conductivity.
Regarding claim 6, Fukuda in view of Kim 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 Kim 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 Kim and Kang, in order to optimize the thermal conductivity.
Response to Arguments
The arguments filed by the Applicant on 8/12/26 is acknowledged; however, it is moot in light of new grounds of rejection for the amended claims. Further Examiner notes that many prior art teach various versions of the bank layers, to have the low reflection characteristics, some teach the top most layer to have low reflective characteristics and some other teach the surrounding bank portions to have low reflection characteristics, therefore, from the general teachings in the art, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the low reflection characteristics on the third bank of Fukuda.
Some examples of various versions of low reflection bank layers are disclosed below, in addition to Kim above that has been used to teach the color filter as amended, and also the top most bank layer with low reflection characteristics.
In US 20180006274 A1, bank layer 215f has low reflection
In JP 2021520024 A-bank layer 311 has low reflection
In Kim that is used above, and its counterparts CN 109860230 A and KR 20180025466 A have top most bank layer 310 as the low reflection bank layer.
Therefore, from the teachings of Kim and the prior art examples cited above, it is a matter of choice to design a specific portion of the bank layer to have low reflection characteristics, in order to absorb the unneeded light.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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
Prosecution Insights