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
This action is responsive to application No. 18395804 filed on 12/26/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS has been considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 16-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim (independent claim 1), 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The closest prior art known to the Examiner is listed on the PTO 892 forms of record.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Lee et al. (KR 20200082764 A).
With respect to dependent claims 16-19, the cited prior art does not anticipate or make obvious, inter alia, the step of: “further comprising a spread control layer disposed on the primary protective film”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Claims 1-10, 12-15, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (KR 20200082764 A).
Regarding independent claim 1, Lee et al. teach a display device comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 5, element 101) including a display area (Fig. 5, element AA) and a non-display area (Fig. 5, element NA);
a planarization layer (Fig. 5, element 118) disposed over the substrate;
a bank (Fig. 5, element 128) disposed over the planarization layer;
a dam (Fig. 5, elements D) disposed over the substrate in the non-display area;
a hydrogen adsorption layer (Fig. 5, element 150) configured to cover an upper portion and a side surface of the dam; and
an encapsulation layer (Fig. 5, element 140) disposed over the planarization layer and an upper portion of the bank and having an organic film (Fig. 5, element 144) positioned inside the dam (specification discloses “the flow of the organic encapsulation film material is controlled and the organic encapsulation film 144 remains inside the dam pattern D”).
Regarding claim 2, Lee et al. teach wherein the dam comprises: a first dam positioned inward (Fig. 5, element D closer to element AA); and a second dam (Fig. 5, element D further away from element AA) positioned outward, and wherein at least one of the first and second dams is configured as a single-layer or multilayer structure (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 3, Lee et al. teach wherein the dam has a frame shape that surrounds the display area (Fig. 5 discloses element D structurally analogous to the instant application).
Regarding claim 4, Lee et al. teach wherein the encapsulation layer comprises: a primary protective film (Fig. 5, element 142) disposed over the planarization layer and the upper portion of the bank; and a secondary protective film (Fig. 5, element 146) disposed on the organic film, wherein the organic film disposed on the primary protective film.
Regarding claim 5, Lee et al. teach wherein the hydrogen adsorption layer includes one of titanium (Ti) (specification discloses titanium), scandium (Sc), vanadium (V), lead (Pd), niobium (Nb), zirconium (Zr), yttrium (Y), tantalum (Ta), cerium (Ce), lanthanum (La), samarium (Sm), and uranium (U).
Regarding claim 6, Lee et al. teach wherein the hydrogen adsorption layer has a frame shape that surrounds the display area (Fig. 5 discloses element 150 structurally analogous to the instant application).
Regarding claim 7, Lee et al. teach wherein the primary protective film comprises: a first primary protective film made of silicon nitride (SiNx); and a second primary protective film disposed on the first primary protective film and made of silicon oxide (SiOx) (specification discloses “the first and second inorganic encapsulation films 142 and 146 may be made of the same material, and each may have multiple layers”, additionally the specification discloses silicon oxide and silicon nitride material).
Regarding claim 8, Lee et al. teach wherein the hydrogen adsorption layer is disposed from an inner side surface of the second dam to an inner side surface of the first dam (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 9, Lee et al. teach wherein the hydrogen adsorption layer is disposed from an outer side surface of the second dam to an inner side surface of the first dam (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 10, Lee et al. teach wherein the hydrogen adsorption layer is disposed from an outer side surface of the second dam to a side surface of the planarization layer (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 12, Lee et al. teach wherein the second primary protective film and the organic film are spaced apart from an inner side surface of the first dam (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 13, Lee et al. teach wherein the first primary protective film extends to the non-display area to cover the dam and the hydrogen adsorption layer (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 14, Lee et al. teach wherein the first primary protective film has lower surface roughness than the second primary protective film (Lee teach the same material as the instant application, accordingly the properties would be the same).
Regarding claim 15, Lee et al. teach wherein the organic film is disposed on the second primary protective film and does not contact the first primary protective film (Fig. 5, since the primary protective is film is multilayer, the organic film would only contact the upper/second primary protective film).
Regarding claim 20, Lee et al. teach wherein a gate-in-panel (GIP) part is positioned in the non-display area, and the GIP part comprises an oxide thin-film transistor (Fig. 4, transistor associated with element 205a, specification discloses transistors can be formed of oxide semiconductor).
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 of this title, 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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (KR 20200082764 A).
Regarding claim 11, Lee et al. teach wherein the first primary protective film further extends to the non-display area than the second primary protective film (Fig. 5, the extension of the insulating films would be an obvious design choice that a person skilled in the art could set as appropriate taking into consideration design dimension parameters and the like. See In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHED AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-3477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHAHED AHMED/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2813