DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s application, 18/398,720 filed on December 28, 2023 in which claims 1 to 20 are pending.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings submitted on December 28, 2023 have been reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS), filed on December 28, 2023 and February 3, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosed therein has been considered by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of paper submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) which has been placed of record in the file.
Notation
References to patents will be in the form of [C:L] where C is the column number and L is the line number. References to pre-grant patent publications will be to the paragraph number in the form of [xxxx].
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
During examination, a claim must be given its broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in the art. 76 Fed. Reg. 7164 (February 9, 2011). During examination, after applying the broadest reasonable interpretation to the claim, if the metes and bounds of the claimed invention are not clear, the claim is indefinite and should be rejected. Id. at 7165. When a term of degree is used in the claim, the examiner should determine whether the specification provides some standard for measuring that degree. Id. at 7165. If the specification does not provide some standard for measuring that degree, a determination must be made as to whether one of ordinary skill in the art could nevertheless ascertain the scope of the claim (e.g., a standard that is recognized in the art for measuring the meaning of the term of degree). Id. at 7165.
Regarding claims 1, 11 and 20, Applicant recites inter alia “ultra-thin LED electrode assembly” and “ultra-thin LED elements” for which the specification does not provide a standard for measuring “ultra-thin”. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art could not ascertain the scope of the claim as 'ultra-thin' have no recognized standard in the display art. Accordingly, Examiner determines that those skilled in the art would not understand what is claimed when the claim is read in light of the specification and claim 1 is indefinite pursuant to requirements and examination guidelines for 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Regarding claims 3 and 13 which recite inter alia “the ultra-thin LED element is an element in which the layers forming the element are stacked in the z-axis direction, the thickness in the z-axis direction is 0.1 to 3 μm, and the length of a long axis which is any one direction on the x-y plane is 1 to 10 μm’ it is unclear to Examiner that an ultra-thin electrode assembly is inherently defined by an ultra-thin LED element which is 0.1 to 3 microns thick.
Claims 2-10 and 12-19 depend directly or indirectly on claims 1 or 11 and provide no subject matter to cure the defects of claims 1 and 11.
Regarding claim 20, Applicant recites “ultra-thin LED electrode assembly” and “ultra-thin LED elements” for which the specification does not provide a standard for measuring “ultra-thin”. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art could not ascertain the scope of the claim as 'ultra-thin' have no recognized standard in the display art. Accordingly, Examiner determines that those skilled in the art would not understand what is claimed when the claim is read in light of the specification and claim 1 is indefinite pursuant to requirements and examination guidelines for 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed on the notice of references cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joe Schoenholtz whose telephone number is (571)270-5475. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 7 AM to 7 PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ms. Yara Green can be reached at (571) 272-3035. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.E. Schoenholtz/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893