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 on 3-10-26 has been entered and fully considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 21 recites the limitation "isolated from the bridge pattern" in line 34 (the final line). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The examiner notes that it appears that claim 21 was intended to comprise limitations from claims 1, 4, 6, and 7 (eg. see page 13 of the applicant’s remarks), and so appears to be merely missing the limitation “a bridge pattern connecting the plurality of first touch electrodes” (as in claim 4).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang et al. (US 2021/0257577) in view of Lim et al. (US 2021/0210565).
Regarding claim 1, Bang (Fig. 1, 3, and 5-8) discloses a display device, comprising:
a substrate (100) including an active area (DA) and an inactive area (NDA) which encloses the active area (as seen in Fig. 1), the inactive area including first, second, third and fourth inactive areas respectively disposed at first, second, third and fourth edges of the substrate (the first, second, third and fourth inactive areas corresponding to the bottom, top, left, and right edges, respectively, as seen in Fig. 6);
a plurality of pixels (P) disposed in the active area (as seen in Fig. 6) and including a light emitting diode (OLED, seen in Fig. 5);
a common voltage line (WP2, but also including CL1, see “WP2 may include a wiring WL” and CL1 “may overlap the wiring WL, and the wiring WL, the first connecting conductive layer CL1… may be electrically connected to one another” discussed in [0163]) enclosing a side of the active area corresponding to the second, third and fourth inactive areas (as seen in Fig. 6, WP2 is in NDA and encloses the left, top, and right sides of DA) and open to the active area corresponding to the first inactive area in the plan view (seen in Fig. 6, the bottom side of WP2 is open);
a dam (DAM) disposed on the common voltage line in the inactive area (as seen in Fig. 8, DAM is on top of WP2) and overlapping at least a portion of the common voltage line (eg. in the Z direction of Fig. 8);
an inorganic encapsulation layer covering the dam (310 covers DAM as seen in Fig. 8, see also “first inorganic encapsulation layer 310… may extend to the dam portion DAM” as discussed in [0168]);
a touch buffer layer (320, called an “organic encapsulation layer”) disposed on the inorganic encapsulation layer (as seen in Fig. 8, 320 is above 310);
a touch insulating layer (43, called a “touch insulating layer” in [0147]) on the touch buffer layer (as seen in Fig. 8, 330 is above 320);
a plurality of touch electrodes (TSL) including a plurality of first touch electrodes (including 410 and 411) extending along a first direction (vertically in Fig. 3) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (including 420 and 421) extending along a second direction (horizontally in Fig. 3), the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes formed to cross each other (as seen in Fig. 3);
a thin film transistor (TFT) disposed on the substrate in the active area (as seen in Fig. 7) and including an active layer (Act), a gate electrode (GE), a source electrode (SE), and a drain electrode (DE); and
a connection electrode (CM) that electrically connects the thin film transistor and the light emitting diode (“CM may be connected to the drain electrode DE” discussed in [0132] and “OLED may be electrically connected to the connecting electrode CM” discussed in [0134], see also Fig. 7),
wherein the source electrode (SE) and drain electrode (DE) are disposed directly on a first layer (both disposed directly on layer 114, as seen in Fig. 7);
wherein the connection electrode is disposed directly on a second layer (CM is disposed directly on layer 115, as seen in Fig. 7);
wherein the common voltage line (specifically the portion CL1) is disposed directly on the second layer (as seen in Fig. 8, CL1 is disposed directly on layer 115, eg. on the right) and is formed of a same material as the connection electrode (“CL1 may include a same material as that of the connecting electrode CM” discussed in [0152]), and
wherein the common voltage line has one end disposed on one side of the first inactive area and another end disposed on another side of the first inactive area (as seen in Fig. 6, the left end of WP2 is disposed on the left side of the first active area at the bottom of NDA, while the right end of WP2 is disposed on the right side).
However, while Bang teaches wherein the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes are formed to cross each other, Bang fails to teach or suggest “a mesh pattern.”
Lim (Fig. 5) discloses a display device comprising:
a plurality of touch electrodes (TDU) including a plurality of first touch electrodes (TE and BE2) extending along a first direction (vertically in Fig. 5) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (RE and BE1) extending along a second direction (horizontally in Fig. 5), the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes formed to cross each other and arranged in a mesh pattern (“the first sensing electrodes RE, the second sensing electrodes TE, the first connectors BE1 and the second connectors BE2 may have a mesh pattern” discussed in [0171]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang so the first touch electrodes and the second touch electrodes are arranged in a mesh pattern as taught by Lim because this allows the display pixels to not overlap the touch electrodes, improving luminance of the display (see [0177]).
Regarding claim 2, Bang and Lim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses wherein the common voltage line has a U-shape in which one side corresponding to the first inactive area is open in a plan view (WP2 is an upside-down U-shape, with the bottom side open in the plan view seen in Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Bang and Lim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses wherein the common voltage line is disposed in the inactive area (WP2 is inside inactive area NDA) and is electrically connected to the light emitting diode disposed in the active area (WP2 carries the ELVSS voltage, as discussed in [0111], which is connected to the bottom of OLED as seen in Fig. 5A).
Claims 4-6 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang and Lim as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Choi et al. (US 2018/0286937).
Regarding claim 4, Bang and Lim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses the display device comprising:
a bridge pattern (411) connecting the plurality of first touch electrodes (“first connecting electrodes 411 between adjacent first sensing electrodes 410” discussed in [0068]);
an encapsulation unit (TFE) covering the active area (eg. TFE covers the display elements as discussed in [0061]) and a part of the inactive area (as seen in Fig. 8); and
wherein the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes are disposed on the encapsulation unit (“TSL including touch electrodes may be on the thin film encapsulation layer TFE” discussed in [0062]).
However, Bang and Lim fail to teach or suggest an auxiliary line connected to the common voltage line that is “disposed on the encapsulation unit.”
Choi (Fig. 5-9) discloses a display device comprising:
a substrate (110) including an active area (DA) and an inactive area (PA) which encloses the active area (as seen in Fig. 5 and 7);
a common voltage line (741a and 741b);
a plurality of touch electrodes (31) including a plurality of first touch electrodes (31b) extending along a first direction (horizontally in Fig. 5) and a plurality of second touch electrodes (31a) extending along a second direction (vertically in Fig. 5);
a bridge pattern (31c) connecting the plurality of first touch electrodes (“touch electrodes 31b connected to each other through a connection line 31c” discussed in [0073]);
an encapsulation unit (180) covering the active area and a part of the inactive area (as seen in Fig. 5, 180 covers DA and extends into the PA regions); and
an auxiliary line (210) disposed on the encapsulation unit (“210 may be disposed on the thin film encapsulation layer 180” also discussed in [0063]) and connected to the common voltage line (“210a of the auxiliary wiring 210 may be in contact with the first common voltage line 741a, and the other end part 210b of the auxiliary wiring 210 may be in contact with the second common voltage line 741b” discussed in [0063]),
wherein the plurality of first touch electrodes are disposed on the encapsulation unit (as seen in Fig. 6 and Fig. 9, 31 is on top of 180).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang and Lim so an auxiliary line connected to the common voltage line is disposed on the encapsulation unit as taught by Choi because this improves display performance by “minimizing a voltage drop of a common voltage and improving luminance uniformity” (see [0008]).
Regarding claim 5, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, and Choi further discloses wherein the auxiliary line (210, seen in Fig. 5 and 6) is formed of a same material as the bridge pattern (31c, which is part of 31) and is disposed on a same layer as the bridge pattern (“31 and the auxiliary wiring 210 may be disposed on the same layer and may be formed of the same material” discussed in [0072]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, and Choi for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 6, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, and Choi further discloses wherein the auxiliary line is disposed in both of the active area and the inactive area (as seen in Fig. 7), wherein the auxiliary line includes:
a first auxiliary line disposed in the inactive area (eg. the vertical auxiliary line 210 on the right in Fig. 9, which is in the inactive area at the bottom of Fig. 7) and connected to the common voltage line (210 is connected to 741a with 210a, as seen in Fig. 9); and
a second auxiliary line (eg. the horizontal auxiliary line 210 in Fig. 9) disposed in the active area (eg. as seen in Fig. 7) and connected to the first auxiliary line (eg. connected to the top of the first auxiliary line, shown on the left of Fig. 9), the second auxiliary line electrically isolated from the bridge pattern (210 is isolated from the bridge pattern in 310 by 215, as seen in Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, and Choi for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 15, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses wherein the touch insulating layer is disposed on the bridge pattern (seen in Fig. 4, touch insulating layer 43 is disposed on CML1, which includes the bridge pattern 411, see “the first connecting electrodes 411… may be included in one of the first conductive layer CML1” discussed in [0072]), wherein the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes are disposed on the touch insulating layer (as seen in Fig. 4, CML2 is disposed on 43, and “each of the first sensing electrodes 410… the second sensing electrodes 420… may be included in… the second conductive layer CML2” discussed in [0072]).
Choi additionally teaches wherein the second auxiliary line (eg. the horizontal portion of 210 that is on top of 180) is disposed to be opposite to the plurality of first touch electrodes with the touch insulating layer therebetween (as seen in Fig. 9, the top portion of 210 is opposite the touch electrodes 31, with a touch insulating layer 215 in between).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, and Choi for the same reasons as discussed above.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang, Lim, and Choi as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2022/0302203).
Regarding claim 11, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the second auxiliary line is disposed with a mesh pattern in the active area.
Lee discloses a display device wherein an auxiliary line (VSM) connected to a common voltage line (VSL, provided with a “low potential voltage” as discussed in [0070]) is disposed with a mesh pattern in the active area (“second voltage auxiliary wires VSM may be connected to the plurality of second voltage wires VSL in a mesh shape in the display area DPA” as discussed in [0261]).
Therefore, the combination of Bang, Lim, and Choi discloses wherein the mesh pattern of the second auxiliary line overlaps with a mesh pattern of the plurality of touch electrodes (Lim teaches the touch electrodes have a mesh pattern as discussed above, see [0171], while Lee teaches the auxiliary line has a mesh pattern as discussed above, see [0261], and Choi further discloses wherein the auxiliary line overlaps with the plurality of touch electrodes, seen in the upper left of Fig. 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang, Lim, and Choi so the second auxiliary line is disposed with a mesh pattern in the active area as taught by Lee because this reduces the visibility of the line, improving image quality.
Claims 13, 14, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang, Lim, and Choi as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2023/0135268).
Regarding claim 13, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses the display device comprising a high potential voltage line (WP1, “WP1 may be configured to transfer the first power voltage ELVDD” discussed in [0111]) disposed in the inactive area enclosing one side of the active area (eg. enclosing the bottom side of DA, as seen in Fig. 6, see also “WP1 may extend corresponding to the fourth boundary line BL4” discussed in [0112]).
However, Bang, Lim, and Choi fail to teach or suggest wherein the first auxiliary line is disposed on the high potential voltage line and overlapping with the high potential voltage line.
Kim (Fig. 1, 4, and 5) discloses a display device comprising:
a substrate (100) including an active area (DA) and an inactive area (NDA) which encloses the active area (“NDA may be an area not providing an image and may entirely surround the display area DA” discussed in [0051]);
a plurality of pixels (Pr, Pg, Pb) disposed in the active area (as seen in Fig. 1) and including a light emitting diode (OLED, seen in Fig. 4);
a common voltage line (10, which includes individual elements 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, see [0086] and Fig. 5) enclosing a side of the active area corresponding to the second, third and fourth inactive areas (seen in Fig. 15, common voltage line 13, 14, and 15 is in the inactive area NDA and encloses the left, top and right sides of DA) and open to the active area corresponding to the first inactive area in the plan view (eg. open on the bottom, as seen in Fig. 5);
an auxiliary line connected to the common voltage line (240 is “electrically connected” to 14 as discussed in [0088]);
a high potential voltage line (21, providing a “driving voltage” as discussed in [0090]) disposed in the inactive area enclosing one side of the active area (eg. in the “non-display area NDA” as discussed in [0090], enclosing the bottom side of the active area DA, as seen in Fig. 5), wherein the first auxiliary line (240) is disposed on the high potential voltage line and overlapping with the high potential voltage line (as seen in Fig. 5, 240 overlaps 21).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang, Lim, and Choi so the first auxiliary line is disposed on the high potential voltage line and overlapping with the high potential voltage line as taught by Kim because this provides “improved display quality” by improving the voltage drop on the auxiliary line (see [0160]).
Regarding claim 14, Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Kim further discloses wherein the high potential voltage line (21) is disposed to be more adjacent to one side of the active area than the common voltage line (as seen on the bottom of Fig. 5, 21 is closer to active area DA than the common voltage line 11 and 12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 17, Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Kim further discloses wherein the high potential voltage line (21) is disposed in the first inactive area (21 is inside NDA as discussed in [0090] and as seen in Fig. 5) to enclose one side of the active area (eg. to enclose the bottom side of DA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 18, Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses wherein the high potential voltage line includes:
a first high potential voltage line (WP1) adjacent to the active area (as seen in Fig. 6, adjacent to the bottom of DA);
a second high potential voltage line (PAD1) adjacent to a pad portion of the display device (PAD1 is adjacent to the pad portion, labelled PAD in Fig. 6); and
a third high potential voltage line (unlabeled, but shown as a connecting line between PAD1 and WP1) connecting the first high potential voltage line and the second high potential voltage line (see also [0115] which discusses how “the controller may provide the first power voltage ELVDD (see FIG. 5A) to the first voltage wiring portion WP1 via a first pad PAD1,” and so PAD1 and WP1 are electrically connected).
Additionally, Kim discloses wherein, in a corner area of the first inactive area in which both of the first high potential voltage line (21) and the common voltage line (11) are disposed (eg. the bottom left corner), the first high potential voltage line is disposed to be closer to the inside than the common voltage line (as seen in Fig. 5, 21 is closer to the inside than 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 19, Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Kim further discloses wherein the first auxiliary line is opposite to the first high potential voltage line with an insulating layer therebetween (as seen in Fig. 5, 240 is opposite to 21, and overlaps with it, and so must be insulated from each other as they carry different power voltage, eg. 240 carries ELVSS as discussed in [0073], while 21 carries ELVDD, see [0084], see also [0106] which discusses how “240 is arranged on the interlayer insulating layer 105” and [0122] which discusses how the insulating layer 410 “completely cover the auxiliary line 240,” so 240 is insulated both above and below).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim for the same reasons as discussed above.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang and Lim as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hou et al. (US 2023/0036030).
Regarding claim 16, Bang and Lim disclose a display device as discussed above, and Bang further discloses wherein the first inactive area is parallel to the second inactive area (the bottom side is parallel to the top, as seen in Fig. 6), wherein the third inactive area is parallel to the fourth inactive area (the left and right sides are also parallel), and wherein the common voltage line is disposed along the second to fourth inactive areas (eg. the top, left and right sides, as seen in Fig. 6) and encloses a remaining portion excluding a part of the active area adjacent to the first inactive area (enclosing the top, left, and right sides of DA, except for the portion adjacent to the bottom, as seen in Fig. 6).
However, Bang and Lim fail to teach or suggest the specific width of the common voltage line.
Hou (Fig. 2 and 10) discloses a display device comprising:
a substrate (101) including an active area (called a “active display region” in Fig. 2) and an inactive area (called a “frame region”) which encloses the active area (as seen in Fig. 2);
a common voltage line (GND) enclosing a side of the active area corresponding to the second, third and fourth inactive areas (seen in Fig. 10, GND surrounds the left, bottom, and right sides of the active display region, see also “the ground line GND surrounds the active display region” discussed in [0128]) and open to the active area corresponding to the first inactive area in the plan view (GND is open on the top side of the active display region, see Fig. 10); and
wherein the common voltage line is disposed along the second to fourth inactive areas (as discussed above, 20 is along the bottom, left, and right sides of the frame region, as seen in Fig. 10) with a constant line width (“the line width of the ground line GND is… equal to 50 μm” discussed in [0128]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang and Lim so the common voltage line has a constant line width as taught by Hou because this allows for a narrow frame design (see [0128]).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Senda et al. (US 2017/0287994).
Regarding claim 20, Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim disclose a display device as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the common voltage line is formed of a same material on a same layer as the high potential voltage line.
Senda (Fig. 4) discloses a display device wherein the common voltage line is formed of a same material on a same layer as the high potential voltage line (“the first driving voltage line ELVDD, the compensation control line GC, and the second driving voltage line ELVSS may be in the same layer and may include the same material” discussed in [0054], see also Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Bang, Lim, Choi, and Kim so the common voltage line is formed of a same material on a same layer as the high potential voltage line as taught by Senda because this reduces manufacturing complexity.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3-10-26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues on pages 9-13 of the remarks that Bang and Lim fail to teach or suggest a connection electrode and a common voltage line that are disposed directly on the same layer and formed of the same material. The examiner respectfully disagrees.
The previous version of the claims included alternative language and so to avoid complications and prevent misunderstandings, only the limitation requiring the common voltage line, source electrode, and drain electrodes to be on the same layer was discussed. However, after the amendments to the claims, Bang has been interpreted differently (as discussed in the rejection above), but still teaches each of the current claim limitations. More specifically, the common voltage line is now interpreted to include both elements WP2 and CL1, as they are electrically connected to each other and transmit the same power voltage ELVSSS (see [0163]). Therefore, Bang properly teaches wherein the source electrode (SE) and drain electrode (DE) are disposed directly on a first layer (both disposed directly on layer 114, as seen in Fig. 7) and wherein the connection electrode (CM) and common voltage line (CL1) are disposed directly on a second layer (CM is disposed directly on layer 115, as seen in Fig. 7, while as seen in Fig. 8, CL1 is disposed directly on layer 115, eg. on the right), and the connection electrode (CM) and common voltage line (CL1) are formed of a same material (“CL1 may include a same material as that of the connecting electrode CM” discussed in [0152]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 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 7, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above.
Choi additionally teaches an embodiment (Fig. 5-6) wherein the first auxiliary line is disposed in the inactive area to enclose the active area (eg. as seen in Fig. 5, the auxiliary line 210 is in the inactive area NDA to enclose the left and right sides of DA).
However, claim 7 is dependent upon claim 6, and as discussed above, claim 6 requires the embodiment of Fig. 7-9 of Choi in order to teach a first auxiliary line disposed in the inactive area (eg. the vertical auxiliary line 210 on the right in Fig. 9, which is in the inactive area at the bottom of Fig. 7) and a second auxiliary line (eg. the horizontal auxiliary line 210 in Fig. 9) disposed in the active area (eg. as seen in Fig. 7) and connected to the first auxiliary line (eg. connected to the top of the first auxiliary line, shown on the right of Fig. 9).
The two different embodiments of Choi are not combinable, as the first embodiment of Choi (Fig. 2-4) requires the auxiliary lines to go from the inactive area to inside the display area, and then back to the inactive area (as well as requiring the touch panel to be above the auxiliary lines as seen in Fig. 3), while the second embodiment of Choi (Fig. 5-6) requires the auxiliary lines to remain completely outside of the display area (as well as requiring the touch electrodes of the touch panel to be in the same layer as the auxiliary lines, as seen in Fig. 6).
Therefore, none of the currently cited references of record teaches or suggests both “wherein the auxiliary line is disposed in both of the active area and the inactive area” and “wherein the first auxiliary line is disposed in the inactive area to enclose the active area” when combined with each of the other claim limitations.
Claims 8 and 9 are dependent upon claim 7, and so would be allowable for the same reasons as discussed above.
Regarding claim 10, Bang, Lim, and Choi disclose a display device as discussed above, however fail to teach or suggest wherein the second auxiliary line is disposed in the active area excluding an area in which the bridge pattern is disposed.
Choi teaches an embodiment (Fig. 5) wherein the auxiliary line is not in an area in which the bridge pattern is disposed, but fails to also teach the second auxiliary line is disposed in the active area at the same time (210 is only in the region NDA). Choi additionally teaches an embodiment wherein the auxiliary line is disposed in the active area (eg. Fig. 2 or Fig. 7), but fails to teach wherein the second auxiliary line is disposed excluding an area in which the bridge pattern is disposed (in Fig. 2, it is unclear wherein 310 the bridge pattern is located, while in Fig. 7, 210 clearly overlaps the bridge pattern 31c in the upper left).
Therefore, none of the currently cited references of record teaches or suggests “wherein the second auxiliary line is disposed in the active area excluding an area in which the bridge pattern is disposed” when combined with each of the other claim limitations.
Claim 21 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 21 recites limitations substantially identical to those of combined claims 1, 4, 6, and 7, and so would be allowable for the same reasons as discussed above.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN M BLANCHA whose telephone number is (571)270-5890. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 9-5.
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/JONATHAN M BLANCHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2623