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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 16/618,932, filed on January 7, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on March 26, 2024 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 § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shi et al (CN 108365094 - for rejection purposes, the US equivalent (US Pub 2019/0246497) is used for citation purposes).
In re claim 1, Shi et al discloses a flexible substrate, comprising: a glass substrate; a first flexible base layer disposed on the glass substrate; a second flexible base layer disposed on the first flexible base layer; and a third flexible base layer disposed on the second flexible base layer (i.e. see at least paragraph 0078 – disclosing a first flexible substrate layer is disposed on surface of the glass substrate, a second flexible substate layer is formed on a surface of the first flexible substrate layer, and a third flexible substrate layer is formed on a surface of the second flexible substrate layer).
In re claim 2, Shi et al discloses wherein the first flexible base layer is a first polyimide layer, the second flexible base layer is a second polyimide layer, and the third flexible base layer is a third polyimide layer (i.e. see at least paragraph 0079).
In re claim 3, it is inherent from Shi et al that the first flexible base layer has a refractive index greater than 1.52 because the material used, in this case, polyimide, is the same material used in the instant application and would inherently have a refractive index greater than 1.52.
In re claim 4, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the first flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 100 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
In re claim 5, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the first flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 10 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
In re claim 6, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the second flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 100 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
In re claim 7, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the second flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 10 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
In re claim 8, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the third flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 100 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
In re claim 9, Shi et al discloses wherein a thickness of the third flexible base layer ranges from 1 µm to 10 µm (i.e. see at least paragraph 0076).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zeng et al (CN 104538420 - for rejection purposes, the US equivalent (US Pub 2016/0343969) is used for citation purposes).
Zeng et al discloses a display panel, comprising: a first flexible substrate (i.e. 200); a metal cathode (i.e. 104) disposed on the first flexible substrate; a light emitting unit (i.e. as the organic layer 103 comprises a hole transport layer and an electron transport layer, it is well known in the art that such layers produce a light emitting unit) disposed on the metal cathode; an organic layer (i.e. 103) disposed on the light emitting unit and the metal cathode; a transparent electrode (i.e. 102) disposed on the organic layer; and a second flexible substrate (i.e. 101) disposed on the transparent electrode (i.e. see at least Figure 1; paragraphs 0039-0046).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY HO whose telephone number is (571)270-1432. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM, Monday-Friday.
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/ANTHONY HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817