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 1-13, in the reply filed on March 26, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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, 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tabatake (US 2024/0090272 A1) in view of Liu et al. (US 2022/0102448 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tabatake discloses a display device comprising: a first pixel electrode (LE3) disposed in a first emission area on a substrate; an insulating layer (5) covering an edge of the first pixel electrode (LE3); a first emissive layer (OR3a) disposed on the first pixel electrode and the insulating layer; a first common electrode (UE3a) disposed on the first emissive layer; a bank (6) disposed on the insulating layer (5) and surrounding the first emission area, the bank comprising: a first bank (611) disposed on the insulating layer and in contact with the first common electrode (UE2a, Fig. 3); a second bank (612) disposed on the first bank; a third bank (621) disposed on the second bank; and a fourth bank (622) disposed on the third bank; a first organic pattern (OR3b) surrounding the first emission area and including a same material as a material of the first emissive layer, wherein the first to fourth banks include metal materials (¶[0070]). Tabatake is silent in regards to a low-reflection insulating layer disposed on the bank and the first organic pattern on the low-reflection insulating layer.
Liu discloses a display device comprising: a first pixel electrode (200) disposed in a first emission area on a substrate; an insulating layer (300) covering an edge of the first pixel electrode (200); a first emissive layer (600) disposed on the first pixel electrode and the insulating layer; a first common electrode (700) disposed on the first emissive layer; a bank (400) disposed on the insulating layer (300) and surrounding the first emission area: a low-reflection insulating layer (500) disposed on the bank; a first organic pattern (600) surrounding the first emission area on the low-reflection insulating layer (500) and including a same material as a material of the first emissive layer, wherein the first to fourth banks include metal (¶[0032]), the low reflection layer generates an optical interference cancellation effect, thus the reflectivity of the overall structure of the display panel is reduced by cooperation between the metal bank and the low reflection layer, reducing the occurrence of reflection and glare (¶[0034]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filling of the claimed invention to incorporate the low reflection layer as disclosed by Liu in the display device of Tabatake in order to generate an optical interference cancellation effect, thus the reflectivity of the overall structure of the display panel is reduced by cooperation between the metal bank and the low reflection layer, reducing the occurrence of reflection and glare.
Regarding claim 12, Tabatake discloses a display device further comprising: a second pixel electrode (LE2) disposed in a second emission area on the substrate; a second emissive layer (OR2a) disposed on the second pixel electrode; and a second common electrode (UE2a) disposed on the second emissive layer (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 13, Tabatake discloses a display device wherein the first (UE3a) and second (UE2a) common electrodes are electrically connected with each other through the first bank (first common electrode UE3a and second common electrodes UE2a are in direct contact with the first conductive bank 611, Fig. 5, ¶[0081]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim(s) 2, the references of the Prior Art of record fails to teach or suggest the combination of the limitations as set forth in claim(s) 2, and specifically comprising the limitation of the first bank includes aluminum, the second bank includes titanium, the third bank includes titanium oxide or aluminum nitride, and the fourth bank includes titanium or titanium nitride.
Regarding claim(s) 3, the references of the Prior Art of record fails to teach or suggest the combination of the limitations as set forth in claim(s) 3, and specifically comprising the limitation of a thickness of the first bank is greater than a sum of thicknesses of the second to fourth banks.
Regarding claim(s) 4, claims(s) 4 is/are allowable for the reasons given in claim(s) 3 because of its/their dependency status from claim(s) 3.
Regarding claim(s) 5, the references of the Prior Art of record fails to teach or suggest the combination of the limitations as set forth in claim(s) 5, and specifically comprising the limitation of a side surface of the first bank is recessed inward from a side surface of the second bank.
Regarding claim(s) 6, the references of the Prior Art of record fails to teach or suggest the combination of the limitations as set forth in claim(s) 6, and specifically comprising the limitation of the low-reflection insulating layer comprises: a first layer disposed on the fourth bank; a second layer disposed on the first layer; and a third layer disposed on the second layer.
Regarding claim(s) 7-11, claims(s) 7-11 is/are allowable for the reasons given in claim(s) 6 because of its/their dependency status from claim(s) 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Choi et al. (US 2025/0063894 A1) discloses a display device comprising a first pixel electrode disposed on a substrate in a first emission area, an insulating layer covering edges of the first pixel electrode, a first light emitting layer disposed on the first pixel electrode and the insulating layer, a first common electrode disposed on the first light emitting layer, a conductive layer disposed on the insulating layer to surround the first emission area and contact the first common electrode, a first bank disposed on the conductive layer, a second bank disposed on the first bank and including tips protruding from side surfaces of the first bank toward the first emission area, and a third bank disposed on the second bank and including an inorganic material.
Kim et al. (US 2019/0165326 A1) discloses a light-emitting display device including a first substrate, a first electrode layer on the first substrate, a bank layer that has openings exposing part of the first electrode layer, an emissive layer on the first electrode layer, bank grooves formed by recessing the bank layer, a second electrode layer on the emissive layer, and a low-reflectivity layer that lies on the second electrode layer and is positioned to correspond to the bank grooves.
The rejections above rely on the references for all the teachings expressed in the text of the references and/or one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably understood or implied from the texts of the references. To emphasize certain aspects of the prior art, only specific portions of the texts have been pointed out. Each reference as a whole should be reviewed in responding to the rejection, since other sections of the same reference and/or various combinations of the cited references may be relied on in future rejections in view of amendments.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mariceli Santiago whose telephone number is (571) 272-2464. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Han, can be reached on (571) 272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mariceli Santiago/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2879
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