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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/2/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Examiner thanks Applicant for Applicant’s cooperation in the prosecution process and for Applicant’s concise analysis of the prior Office Action 4/3/2026 (Prior Office Action) found in Applicant's Remarks. The Remarks assert that:
There is no motivation to combine Shinohara et al. US 2022/0238813 and Takaya et al. US 2021/0057665.
In regards to the above assertion, Examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071,5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). Shiobara teaches an emitting layer with red-light-emitting layer, an intermediate layer, a blue-light-emitting layer, and a green -light-emitting layer (table 8, [289]). Takaya teaches EL layer with first light-emitting layer 4-1 (fig1A, [33]) emits red and green light, second light-emitting layer 4-2 emits blue light ([34]) and third light-emitting layer 4-3 emits green light (fig1A, [35]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Shiobara and Takaya to adjust the host Perylene moiety or use host EM20 or EM21 with RD21 as the dopant and together with a green dopant as in 4-1 of Takaya used as the layer under the intermediate layer. The motivation can be found in the teachings of Takaya: the teachings of Takaya state the motivation for using a specific host material with added red and green dopant the energy can be efficiently transferred to the red dopant material and achieve high efficiency and balance of light emission (Takaya, [104, 46]).
Examiner respectfully submits that Shinohara and Takaya relate to analogous subject matter and therefore, one having ordinary skill in the art would find motivation to combine the two references.
In light of the discussion above, Examiner respectfully submits that independent claim 1 stand properly rejected and all the claims dependent on claims 1 (i.e.2-20) stand properly rejected as well. Furthermore, Examiner respectfully submits that the Remarks and Amendments have been fully considered, but found to be not persuasive. Therefore, this action is made final.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiobara et al. US 2022/0238813 in view of Takaya et al. US 2021/0057665.
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Re claim 1, Shiobara teaches an organic light emitting element (fig4A) comprising:
an anode (2, fig4A, [147]);
a cathode (5, fig4A, [147]);
a light emission layer (43 red-light-emitting layer in table 8, fig4A, [150]) disposed between the anode and the cathode; and
an adjacent layer (intermediate layer as EM1 or EM15 of table 8) disposed in contact with a side of the light emission layer (43 red-light-emitting layer in table 8, fig4A, [150]), the side facing the cathode (5, fig4A, [147]),
wherein the light emission layer contains a host material (EM1 table 8) and a light emitting dopant material (RD1, table 8),
the adjacent layer contains an adjacent layer material (EM1 band gap 2.92eV or EM15 band gap 3eV, table 8; the band gap of material was given in application table 1 EM1 of Shiobara same structure as AD6 in current application and EM15 of Shiobara same structure as AD8 in current application) having a bandgap of 3.0 eV or less.
Shiobara does not explicitly show a difference between an energy value at a peak wavelength of an emission spectrum of the adjacent layer material and an energy value at a peak wavelength of a longest-wavelength absorption band in an absorption spectrum of the host material is 0.15 eV or less.
Takaya teaches RD 21 (page 16) using the same structure as RD 21 in current application and host Perylene moiety (EM20 and EM21, page 12).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Shiobara and Takaya to adjust the host Perylene moiety or use host EM20 or EM21 with RD21 as the dopant and together with a green dopant as in 4-1 of Takaya. The motivation to do so is to achieve balance of light emission and high efficiency (Takaya, [104, 46]).
Re claim 2, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the difference between the energy value at the peak wavelength of the emission spectrum of the adjacent layer material (Shiobara, EM1 2.62eV or EM15 2.66eV, table 8; the band gap of material was given in application table 1 EM1 of Shiobara same structure as AD6 in current application and EM15 of Shiobara same structure as AD8 in current application) and the energy value at the peak wavelength of the longest-wavelength absorption band in the absorption spectrum of the host material is 0.10 eV or less (Takaya EM20 ~2.61eV and EM21 ~2.68 eV, page 12).
Re claim 3, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein HOMOh>HOMOa, where HOMOh represents an energy level of a HOMO of the host material and HOMOa represents an energy level of a HOMO of the adjacent layer material (Takaya, EM20 HOMOh ~-5.60eV and EM21 HOMOh ~-5.77eV, page 12; Shiobara, EM1 HOMOa ~-6.02eV or EM15 HOMOa ~ -5.84eV).
Re claim 4, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein an emission color is red (Shiobara, red-light-emitting layer using RD21 as in Takaya; Takaya, [46]).
Re claim 5, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the host material includes a perylene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Takaya, adjusted EM20 and EM21, page 12).
Re claim 6, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting dopant material includes a perylene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Shiobara, red-light-emitting layer using RD21 as in Takaya).
Re claim 7, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the adjacent layer material consists of a hydrocarbon (Shiobara, intermediate layer as EM1 or EM15 of table 8).
Re claim 8, Shiobara modified above teaches the organic light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the adjacent layer material includes a pyrene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Shiobara, intermediate layer as EM1 or EM15 of table 8).
Re claim 9, Shiobara modified above teaches a display apparatus comprising: a plurality of pixels, wherein at least one of the plurality of pixels includes the organic light emitting element according to claim 1 and a transistor connected to the organic light emitting element (Shiobara, fig4A or 4B, [136]).
Re claim 10, Shiobara modified above teaches an imaging apparatus comprising: an optical unit that includes a plurality of lenses; an imaging element that receives light that has passed through the optical unit; and a display unit that displays an image taken by the imaging element, wherein the display unit includes the organic light emitting element according to claim 1 (Shiobara, fig6A).
Re claim 11, Shiobara modified above teaches the electronic equipment comprising: a display unit that includes the organic light emitting element according to claim 1; a casing in which the display unit is installed; and a communication unit that communicates with outside and is installed in the casing (Shiobara, fig6B).
Re claim 12, Shiobara modified above teaches a lighting apparatus comprising: a light source that includes the organic light emitting element according to claim 1 (Shiobara, 4, fig4A); and a light-diffusing unit or an optical filter (Shiobara, 7R/G/B, fig4A, [153]) that transmits light emitted from the light source.
Re claim 13, Shiobara modified above teaches a moving body comprising: a lighting unit that includes the organic light emitting element according to claim 1 (Shiobara, 1501, fig8B, [176]); and a body in which the lighting unit is installed (Shiobara, 1500, fig8B, [176]).
Re claim 14, Shiobara modified above teaches an exposure light source for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising the organic light emitting element according to claim 1 (Shiobara, fig6A, [142]).
Re claim 15, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein the difference between the energy value at the peak wavelength of the emission spectrum of the adjacent layer material (Shiobara, EM1 2.62eV or EM15 2.66eV, table 8; the band gap of material was given in application table 1 EM1 of Shiobara same structure as AD6 in current application and EM15 of Shiobara same structure as AD8 in current application) and the energy value at the peak wavelength of the longest-wavelength absorption band in the absorption spectrum of the host material is 0.10 eV or less (Takaya EM20 ~2.61eV and EM21 ~2.68 eV, page 12).
Re claim 16, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein HOMOh>HOMOa, where HOMOh represents an energy level of a HOMO of the host material and HOMOa represents an energy level of a HOMO of the adjacent layer material (Takaya, EM20 HOMOh ~-5.60eV and EM21 HOMOh ~-5.77eV, page 12; Shiobara, EM1 HOMOa ~-6.02eV or EM15 HOMOa ~ -5.84eV).
Re claim 17, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein an emission color is red (Shiobara, red-light-emitting layer using RD21 as in Takaya).
Re claim 18, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein the host material includes a perylene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Takaya, adjusted EM20 and EM21, page 12).
Re claim 19, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein the light emitting dopant material includes a perylene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Shiobara, red-light-emitting layer using RD21 as in Takaya).
Re claim 20, Shiobara modified above teaches the exposure light source according to claim 14, wherein the adjacent layer material includes a pyrene moiety in a molecular structure thereof (Shiobara, intermediate layer as EM1 or EM15 of table 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-22 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.
Specifically, the limitations are material to the inventive concept of the application in hand to form an organic light-emitting element with high luminous efficiency.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/XIAOMING LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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