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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/26/2023, 9/16/2024, 1/3/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi (JP 2007165748A) in view of Lee (US 2022/0406975).
Regarding claim 1, Wakabayashi discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), a display panel (10, [17], [18]) comprising:
a plurality of active area pixels (OLED elements P, [20]) disposed in an active area (11, [20]) of the display panel (10, [18]), each of the active area pixels (OLED elements P, [20]) including one or more active area sub-pixels configured to emit light to display an image on the display panel (10, [18]) ([17]); and
a plurality of bezel area pixels (positive protection diode DH/negative protection diode DL, [24]) disposed in a bezel area (14, [20]) of the display panel (10, [17], [18]), one or more of the bezel area pixels (positive protection diode DH/negative protection diode DL, [24]) each including one or more bezel area sub-pixels (positive protection diode DH/negative protection diode DL, [24]) configured not to emit light ([54]),
wherein the bezel area sub-pixels (positive protection diode DH/negative protection diode DL, [24]) comprise:
a first bezel area sub-pixel (positive protection diode DH, [24]) having a first electrode (262, [41]) and a second electrode (29H, [41]), the first electrode (262, [41]) electrically connected to a common node (data line 16, [24]) and the second electrode (29H, [41]) electrically connected to a first power supply line (LH, [24]); and
a second bezel area sub-pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) having a third electrode (29L, [41]) and a fourth electrode (261, [41]), the third electrode (29L, [41]) electrically connected to the common node (data line 16, [24]) and the fourth electrode (261, [41]) electrically connected to a second power supply line (LL, [24]) different from the first power supply line (LH, [24]).
Wakabayashi does not explicitly disclose a bezel area of the display panel surrounding at least a part of the active area.
Lee teaches, in at least figures 1, 2, 6, and related text, the device comprising a bezel area of the display panel (NDA, [64]) surrounding at least a part of the active area (DA, [64]), for the purpose of providing a display device that may be capable of improving aesthetics, reducing an amount of resin used in a frame area, and reusing the resin by minimizing the frame area ([5]).
Wakabayashi and Lee are analogous art because they both are directed to display device and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Wakabayashi with the specified features of Lee because they are from the same field of endeavor.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the structure disclosed in Wakabayashi to have the bezel area of the display panel surrounding at least a part of the active area, as taught by Lee, for the purpose of providing a display device that may be capable of improving aesthetics, reducing an amount of resin used in a frame area, and reusing the resin by minimizing the frame area ([5], Lee).
Regarding claim 2, Wakabayashi in view of Lee discloses the display panel of claim 1 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), electrostatic is discharged from the common node (data line 16, [24]) to the first power supply line (LH, [24]) via the first bezel area sub-pixel (positive protection diode DH, [24]) or to the second power supply line (LL, [24]) via the second bezel area sub-pixel (positive protection diode DL, [24]).
Regarding claim 3, Wakabayashi in view of Lee discloses the display panel of claim 1 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), the common node (data line 16, [24]) is electrically connected to a common voltage connected to electrodes (264, [41]) of the active area sub-pixels (OLED elements P, [20]) (figure 4).
Regarding claim 4, Wakabayashi in view of Lee discloses the display panel of claim 1 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), the common node (data line 16, [24]) is electrically connected to a data line driving data voltages to electrodes (264, [41]) of the active area sub-pixels (OLED elements P, [20]) (figure 4).
Regarding claim 5, Wakabayashi in view of Lee discloses the display panel of claim 1 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), each of the active area sub-pixels (OLED elements P, [20]) include an organic light-emitting diode ([20]) or a micro-LED.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi (JP 2007165748A) in view of Lee (US 2022/0406975), and further in view of Jung (US 2020/0302841).
Regarding claim 8, Wakabayashi in view of Lee discloses the display panel of claim 1 as described above.
Wakabayashi in view of Lee does not explicitly disclose a driver disposed on a rear surface of the display panel in the active area, wherein the driver controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels.
Jung teaches, in at least figure 2B and related text, the device comprising a driver (150, [74]) disposed on a rear surface of the display panel (100’, [71]) in the active area, wherein the driver (150, [74]) controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels (130-1/130-1/130-3, [57]), for the purpose of providing structure of an LED display panel in which driving circuits for driving micro LEDs can be easily repaired ([2]).
Wakabayashi, Lee, and Jung are analogous art because they all are directed to display device and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Wakabayashi in view of Lee with the specified features of Jung because they are from the same field of endeavor.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the structure disclosed in Wakabayashi in view of Lee to have the driver disposed on a rear surface of the display panel in the active area, wherein the driver controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels, as taught by Jung, for the purpose of providing structure of an LED display panel in which driving circuits for driving micro LEDs can be easily repaired ([2], Jung).
Claim(s) 9-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wakabayashi (JP 2007165748A) in view of Jung (US 2020/0302841).
Regarding claim 9, Wakabayashi discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), a display device comprising:
a display panel (10, [17], [18]) including:
at least one first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) disposed in a first area (11, [20]); and
at least one second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) disposed in a second area (14, [20]); and,
wherein the first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) includes at least one sub-pixel (OLED elements P, [20]), wherein each of the at least one sub-pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) thereof has a first electrode (264, [41]) at one side and a second electrode (29, [41]) at the other side thereto,
wherein the second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) includes at least one sub-pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]), wherein each of the at least one sub-pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) thereof has a first electrode (262, [41]) at one side and a power supply electrode (29L, [41]) at the other side thereto,
wherein the first electrode (262, [41]) of the sub-pixel of the second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) is connected to a ground (LL, [24]) (the limitation of “connected to a ground” has not patentable weight because it is interpreted as operational property)
and the power supply electrode (29L, [41]) is connected to a power supply line (data line 16, [24]),
wherein the first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) and the second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) operate at voltages of different potentials (voltage of data line 16 for P and electrostatic voltage for DL), respectively ([20], [24], figures).
Wakabayashi in view of Lee does not explicitly disclose a driver disposed on a rear surface of the display panel in the active area, wherein the driver controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels.
Jung teaches, in at least figure 2B and related text, the device comprising a driver (150, [74]) disposed on a rear surface of the display panel (100’, [71]) in the active area, wherein the driver (150, [74]) controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels (130-1/130-1/130-3, [57]), for the purpose of providing structure of an LED display panel in which driving circuits for driving micro LEDs can be easily repaired ([2]).
Wakabayashi and Jung are analogous art because they both are directed to display device and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Wakabayashi with the specified features of Jung because they are from the same field of endeavor.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the structure disclosed in Wakabayashi to have the driver disposed on a rear surface of the display panel in the active area, wherein the driver controls amount of light emitted from the active area sub-pixels, as taught by Jung, for the purpose of providing structure of an LED display panel in which driving circuits for driving micro LEDs can be easily repaired ([2], Jung).
Regarding claim 10, Wakabayashi in view of Jung discloses the display device of claim 9 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), the at least one sub-pixel of the first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) is configured to emit light of one color of red ([50]), green ([50]), blue ([50]), and white.
Regarding claim 11, Wakabayashi in view of Jung discloses the display device of claim 9 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), the voltages of the different potentials (voltage of data line 16 for P and electrostatic voltage for DL, [20], [24], figures) include a data voltage (voltage of data line 16 for P, [20], figures) applied to the first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]), and a voltage of an impact power generated due to static electricity (electrostatic voltage for DL, [4], [24], figures) applied to the second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]).
Regarding claim 12, Wakabayashi in view of Jung discloses the display device of claim 9 as described above.
The claimed limitation of "the driver is configured to apply a data voltage set during a first control period to each of the at least one sub-pixel of the first pixel to cause each sub-pixel to emit light corresponding to a generated coordinate value for a pulse width set during a second control period" has not patentable weight because it is interpreted as operation property.
Regarding claim 13, Wakabayashi in view of Jung discloses the display device of claim 9 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), the first area (11, [20]) is a display area and the second area (14, [20]) is a bezel area.
Regarding claim 14, Wakabayashi in view of Jung discloses the display device of claim 9 as described above.
Wakabayashi further discloses, in at least figures 1-5 and related text (translated text), a spare area (the limitation of “a spare area” is interpreted as an area) is disposed around each of the first pixel (OLED elements P, [20]) and the second pixel (negative protection diode DL, [24]) (figures).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1 and 6 that recite "an anode disposed on a bank layer so as to cover an upper surface and one side wall of the bank layer, a diffuser window layer disposed on the anode and the bank layer, a conductive layer disposed on the anode, an active layer disposed on the conductive layer, a sidewall diffuser layer disposed on the diffuser window layer so as to surround the conductive layer and the active layer, and a cathode disposed on the sidewall diffuser layer and the active layer" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1 and 6.
Claim 7 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1 and 7 that recite "an anode disposed on a bank layer so as to cover an upper surface and both side wall surfaces of the bank layer, a diffuser window layer disposed on the anode, a conductive layer disposed on the anode, an active layer disposed on the conductive layer, a sidewall diffuser layer disposed on the diffuser window layer so as to surround the conductive layer and the active layer, and a cathode disposed on the sidewall diffuser layer and the active layer" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1 and 7.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/TONG-HO KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811