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 .
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election of Species I on 6/30/26, drawn to claims 1-13, without traverse, is acknowledged. Claims 17-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Okumoto (US 20150200333 A1)
Regarding claim 1, Okumoto teaches a display device (at least Fig.1) comprising: a base layer 20 comprising an inner hole (air holes 21); a pixel circuit layer 52 (TFT, [0137]) disposed on the base layer and comprising a pixel circuit; and a light emitting element 60 disposed on the pixel circuit layer.
Regarding claim 2, Okumoto teaches a display device (at least Fig.1), wherein the inner hole forms an air-pocket (air holes 21) in the base layer 20.
Regarding claim 3, Okumoto teaches a display device (at least Fig.1), wherein the inner hole forms an interface with an inner surface of the base layer.
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 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by
Wang (US 20240215333 A1/WO 2022247167 A1)
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a display device (at least Fig.13b,14b,15b,16a-16d) comprising: a base layer 10 (base substrate) comprising an inner hole H1/H2; a pixel circuit layer (transistor 101, pixel region 100) disposed on the base layer and comprising a pixel circuit; and a light emitting element (73) disposed on the pixel circuit layer.
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches a display device (at least Fig.13b,14b,15b), wherein the pixel circuit layer further comprises lower lines
(
11-first active layer; 12-first gate electrode; 13-first source electrode; 14-first drain electrode; 15-connection electrode; 20-drive structure layer; 21-first capacitor electrode; 22-second capacitor and portions from Fig.6 below:
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164
188
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Greyscale
),
at least a portion of the lower lines forming the pixel circuit, the display device further comprises a line-free area (wherein H1/H2 holes are located and only insulating layers 91-94 (Fig.6) are disposed around the holes) in which the lower lines are not disposed, and the inner hole and the line-free area do not overlap with each other in a plan view.
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 before the effective filing date.
Claims 5-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang and further in view of Shin (US 20220336707 A1)
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches the invention set forth in claim 4 above, but is silent regarding a first electrode and a second electrode spaced apart from each other on the pixel circuit layer; and an electrode-free area defined by a space between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the light emitting element is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode in a plan view, and the electrode-free area is entirely disposed in the line-free area in a plan view.
Shin teaches a display device (Fig.8) wherein the light emitting element has features of a first electrode ALE1 and a second electrode ALE2 spaced apart from each other on the pixel circuit layer PCL; and an electrode-free area defined by a space between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the light emitting element LD is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode in a plan view, and the electrode-free area is entirely disposed in the line-free area in a plan view (the area below the spacing of ALE1 and ALE2).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use an inorganic light emitting element, as disclosed in Shin, in the device of Wang, in order to achieve cheaper manufacturing.
Regarding claim 6, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the electrode-free area overlaps the light emitting element LD in a plan view (Fig.8 in Shin).
Regarding claim 7, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the inner hole is disposed between the lower lines and the electrode-free area in a plan view (from the combined teachings of Wang in view of Shin, wherein the OLED of Wang is modified to be an LD in Shin; wherein Wang and Shin’s drawings are shown below
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377
328
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).
Regarding claim 8, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the pixel circuit comprises a driving transistor (lower right side of Shin), and the inner hole is disposed between the driving transistor and an emission area (LD area of Shin), in which the light emitting element is disposed, in a plan view.
Regarding claim 9, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the inner hole comprises a first inner hole, a second inner hole, and a third inner hole, the pixel circuit comprises a first pixel circuit, a second pixel circuit, and a third pixel circuit, and the first inner hole, the second inner hole, and the third inner hole are arranged in a first direction parallel to a direction the first pixel circuit, the second pixel circuit, and the third pixel circuit are sequentially arranged (500 in Fig.2 and [0058]-[0059] of Wang that corresponds to multiple adjacent pixels P).
Regarding claim 10, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the emission area comprises a first emission area, a second emission area, and a third emission area arranged in the first direction, the first inner hole is disposed between the first pixel circuit and the first emission area in a plan view, the second inner hole is disposed between the second pixel circuit and the second emission area in a plan view, and the third inner hole is disposed between the third pixel circuit and the third emission area in a plan view (from the combined teachings of Wang in view of Shin, that applies to multiple emission areas).
Regarding claim 11, Wang in view of Shin teaches a display device, wherein the inner hole has a shape extending in the first direction (H1/H2 in x or y direction in Wang).
Claim Objection
Claims 12-13 are objected 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.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
For claim 12, the prior art of record neither shows nor suggests the limitation of “wherein the inner hole comprises more than one sub-inner holes sequentially arranged in the first direction.”.
For claim 13, the prior art of record neither shows nor suggests the limitation of “wherein the inner hole comprises more than one sub-inner holes sequentially arranged in a second direction different from the first direction.”.
The allowable subject matter refers to the features of Applicant’s Figure 16 and 17, wherein the sub-inner holes are disposed in the x direction and y direction respectively, that is not taught in the closest prior art of record nor would it be obvious to modify those references to include such limitation.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Fatima Farokhrooz whose telephone number is (571)-272-6043. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday- Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, James Greece can be reached on (571) 272-3711.
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/Fatima N Farokhrooz/
Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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