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 .
Claim Objection
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 16, the limitation of “an upper surface of the bank on the first pattern line is flat” is unclear language. It is not clear what is meant by this limitation. Appropriate correction is needed.
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.
Claims 1-8,14-20 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR (KR 100504530 B1) in view of Lee et al (US 20170110522)
Regarding claim 1, KR teaches a display apparatus (at least Fig.4) comprising: a substrate (lowest layer) a pattern portion(region below 5/6) disposed on the substrate and is concave between the plurality of subpixels; and a reflective portion (the peripheral sides in the non-display area of :lower layer within the multilayer 3 as disclosed in KR: To form an insulating film 9, like the first reflective electrode (3) and 3g as shown in Figure 3f for the upper substrate where the irregularities that are formed. The material used as the reflective film 3 is chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), tungsten (W), gold (Au), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), etc. of metal, it may be used an alloy thereof or a multi-layer (multi-layer)) on the pattern portion, wherein the plurality of light emission regions (pixels) include a light emission area (shown by arrows) and a non-light emission area (on the two sides) adjacent to the light emission area, and the pattern portion is disposed in a periphery of the non-light emission area (as shown by boundaries below).
PNG
media_image1.png
163
427
media_image1.png
Greyscale
KR does not teach the display apparatus having a plurality of pixels having a plurality of subpixels.
Lee teaches a display device wherein the light emission section corresponds to a plurality of pixels having a plurality of subpixels (see Abstract and at least in [0049]) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to use sub-pixels within the light emission area of KR, in order to achieve a color display.
Regarding claim 2, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus wherein the pattern portion surrounds the light emission area in the form of a slit or a trench (trench shown below 5/6 in the Drawing of KR).
Regarding claim 3, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, wherein the plurality of light emitting regions (- -subpixels- -) include an overcoat layer (7-2 in KR ) on the substrate and a pixel electrode (upper most layers of 3 in KR) on the overcoat layer, and the pattern portion is concave in the overcoat layer, the pattern portion includes a bottom surface (bottom surface is the portion shown by the arrow that contacts the conductive element
PNG
media_image2.png
119
130
media_image2.png
Greyscale
, and the bottom surface of the pattern portion is disposed to be closer to the substrate than the pixel electrode in the light emission area.
Regarding claim 4, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus; wherein a width of the pattern portion is reduced from the reflective portion toward the substrate (triangular shape below 5/6 that has vortex towards substrate of KR).
Regarding claims 5 and 20, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus (at least Fig.4), wherein the pattern portion includes an inclined surface connected to the bottom surface, and the inclined surface of the pattern portion is an obtuse angle
PNG
media_image3.png
97
129
media_image3.png
Greyscale
with the bottom surface (angles shown by the extended lines above).
Regarding claim 6, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, further comprising a bank 216c ([0102] in Lee) covering an edge of the pixel electrode (from the teachings of Lee, in the combined structure of KR in view of Lee), wherein the overcoat layer (7-2 of KR) includes a second layer covering the inclined surface of the pattern portion (from the teachings of KR), and the bank covers the second layer covering the inclined surface and is in contact with a portion of the bottom surface of the pattern portion (from the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee), wherein each of the second layer and the bank on the bottom surface of the pattern portion is discontinuous (from the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee).
Regarding claim 7, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, wherein the plurality of subpixels include a circuit area (horizontal and vertical lines DVL, DL and GL in NEA of Fig.2 of Lee) in the non-light emission area (NEA), and the pattern portion includes a first pattern line disposed in a first direction between the circuit area and the light emission area and a second pattern line disposed in a second direction crossing the first direction (horizontal and vertical lines DVL, DL and GL in NEA of Fig.2 and [0049]-[0050] of Lee) in the non-light emission area (NEA) in the combined structure of KR in view of Lee).
Regarding claim 8, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, further comprising a bank (216c of Lee) covering an edge of the pixel electrode (disclosed in Lee and from the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee), and the bank is disconnected from the second pattern line (from the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to provide the connections of the various signal lines in order to drive the display device and to prevent a short circuit).
Regarding claim 14, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, wherein the plurality of subpixels include a first subpixel and a second subpixel for emitting light of a color different from that of the first subpixel ([0120]-[0122] in Lee), and the second pattern line is disposed between the first subpixel and the second subpixel (from the teachings of DL in Fig.2 of Lee, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to use the second pattern line between the first and second subpixels in order to drive the display device and to prevent a short circuit).
Regarding claim 15, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, further comprising a bank (216c in Lee) covering an edge of the pixel electrode. Further regarding the bank is disposed only in the first pattern line, since the bank and pattern lines are disposed in the non-display area, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to position the pattern line in the non-display area co-inciding with the bank in order to drive the device without interrupting the light emission path.
Regarding claim 16, KR in view of Lee teaches a display apparatus, further comprising a bank (216c in Lee) covering an edge of the pixel electrode, and an upper surface of the bank on the first pattern line is flat.
Regarding claim 17, KR teaches a display apparatus (Fig.4) comprising: a substrate and a light emitting element layer a light emission area (shown by arrows) and a peripheral area (side of the light emission areas without the arrows) in the periphery of the light emission area, and includes a reflective portion 3 provided in the light emitting element layer in the peripheral area of each of the plurality of subpixel areas, and the light emitting element layer is concave on a pattern portion that is concave (region below 5/6 in KR) n the peripheral area.
KR does not teach a plurality of sub-pixel areas.
Lee teaches a display device wherein the light emission section corresponds to a plurality of subpixels areas (see Abstract and at least in [0049]) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to use sub-pixels within the light emission area of KR, from the teachings of Lee, in order to achieve a color display.
Regarding claim 18, KR in view of Lee teaches the display apparatus, wherein the pattern portion surrounds the light emission area in the form of a slit or a trench (trench below 5/6 in Fig. 4 of KR).
Regarding claim 19, KR in view of Lee teaches the display device, wherein the light emitting element layer includes: a pixel electrode 3 (in KR) in the light emission area; a light emitting layer 5 on the pixel electrode and the peripheral area; on the light emitting layer, wherein the plurality of subpixels include an overcoat layer (7-2 in KR) between the substrate (lowest layer in Fig.4 of KR) and the pixel electrode, and the pattern portion is formed to be concave in the overcoat layer.
KR in view of Lee (disclosed in [0117] Lee) teaches a reflective cathode electrode (from the teachings of reflective cathode 213 of Lee, in place of KR’s reflective anode) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to replace the reflective anode (in KR) by the reflective cathode (in Lee) in the combined structure of KR in view of Lee such that the reflective portion is a portion of the reflection (cathode) electrode, in order to prevent a light leakage ([0117] in Lee).
Regarding claim 24, KR in view of Lee teaches the display device, wherein the plurality of subpixels include a light extraction portion (lower layer from multilayer 3 in KR, see in KR: like the first reflective electrode (3) and 3g as shown in Figure 3f for the upper substrate where the irregularities that are formed. The material used as the reflective film 3 is chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), tungsten (W), gold (Au), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), etc. of metal, it may be used an alloy thereof or a multi-layer (multi-layer) ) overlapped with the light emission area, having a plurality of concave portions, and a depth of the pattern portion is deeper than that of each of the plurality of concave portions.
Claims 9-11, 13 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR (KR 100504530 B1) in view of Lee et al (US 20170110522) and further in view of Koo et al (KR 20150077261 A)
Regarding claim 9, KR in view of Lee teaches the plurality of subpixels include an overcoat layer (7-2 in KR in the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee) on the substrate and a pixel electrode on the overcoat layer, but does not teach the plurality of subpixels include a light extraction portion overlapped with the light emission area, and the pattern portion is disposed to be adjacent to the light extraction portion and the light extraction portion is disposed on the overcoat layer and includes a plurality of concave portions.
Koo teaches a display device (Fig.1a) wherein the plurality of subpixels include a light extraction portion 170A overlapped with the light emission area and the light extraction portion is disposed on the overcoat layer 133A and includes a plurality of concave portions.It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to use the reflective cathode electrode and a light extraction portion on the overcoat layer, from the teachings of Koo, such that the pattern portion is disposed to be adjacent to the light extraction portion in the device of KR in view of Lee in order to increase the light extraction efficiency (see in Koo: However, the organic light emitting diode display 100A according to the embodiment of the present invention increases the light extraction efficiency by applying the overcoat layer 160A and the step difference reducing layer 170A instead of the micro cavity effect).
Regarding claim 10, KR in view of Lee and Koo teaches the display apparatus, wherein the pattern portion includes a bottom surface and an inclined surface connected to the bottom surface, and the inclined surface of the pattern portion surrounds the plurality of concave portions (from KR in the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee and Koo).
Regarding claim 11, KR in view of Lee and Koo teaches the display apparatus, wherein the overcoat layer includes: a first layer (7-2 in KR) including the plurality of concave portions; and a second layer (reflective electrode of Hong in the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee and Hong) between the first layer and the pixel electrode (from the teachings of transparent conductive electrode 141A of Koo).
Regarding claim 13, KR in view of Lee and Koo teaches the display apparatus, wherein the pattern portion includes a bottom surface and an inclined surface between the bottom surface and the light extraction portion, the second layer partially covers the inclined surface, and an end of the second layer is in contact with the bottom surface (from the teachings of Fig.4 of KR).
Regarding claim 21, KR in view of Lee teaches the display device, wherein the overcoat layer includes: a first layer (7-2 indicated in Fig.4 of KR) between the substrate and the pixel electrode; and a second layer (lowest of the multi-layer 3 of KR) between the first layer and the pixel electrode, and is in contact with a portion of the bottom surface of the pattern portion.
KR in view of Lee does not teach: the second layer partially covers the inclined surface of the pattern portion.
Koo teaches an additional second layer (Fig.1a) over the anode, whereas the cathode is reflective, such that the additional second layer 170A is seen to extend to the right end and/or the left end, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to modify the device of KR in view of Lee, such that the cathode is reflective and the second layer covers the pattern portion of KR in view of Lee, in order to increase the light extraction efficiency (see in Koo: However, the organic light emitting diode display 100A according to the embodiment of the present invention increases the light extraction efficiency by applying the overcoat layer 160A and the step difference reducing layer 170A instead of the micro cavity effect).
Regarding claim 22, KR in view of Lee and Koo teaches display apparatus, further comprising a bank (216c in Lee) covering an edge of the pixel electrode, wherein the bank is extended to cover an inclined surface of the second layer covering the inclined surface of the pattern portion and is in contact with a portion of the bottom surface of the pattern portion (from the combined teachings of KR in view of Lee and Koo), wherein the plurality of subpixels include a first subpixel and a second subpixel for emitting light of a color ([0120]-[0122] in Lee), different from that of the first subpixel, and the bank disposed between the first subpixel and the second subpixel is disconnected from the pattern portion.
Regarding claim 23, KR in view of Lee and Koo a display apparatus, further comprising a bank covering an edge of the pixel electrode, wherein the bank is extended to cover an inclined surface of the second layer covering the inclined surface of the pattern portion and is in contact with a portion of the bottom surface of the pattern portion, and the light emitting layer is in contact with an inclined surface of the second layer covering the inclined surface of the pattern portion and is partially in contact with the bottom surface of the pattern portion (from teachings of bank layer in Lee, in the combined structure of KR in view of Lee and Koo).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR in view of Lee et al and Koo and further in view of Miyamoto (US 20150090992 A1)
Regarding claim 12, KR in view of Lee and Koo teaches the second layer is partially overlapped with the light emission area but does not teach an upper surface of the second layer is flat.
Miyazawa teaches a display device wherein an upper surface of the second layer is flat (upper surface of CC and IS2 that is flat in Fig.3 and 4) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date the application was filed, to use the shape as disclosed in Miyazawa in the device of KR in view of Lee and Koo in order to improve the light extraction efficiency ([0011]).
Other art
US 20190348624 A1
KR 102332108 B1:
PNG
media_image4.png
637
277
media_image4.png
Greyscale
1.US 11552270 B2/US 20210159445 A1;
2.US 20220069038 A1
3.CN 114613811 A;
4. KR 20190038320 A/CN 109585672 A
5.US 11031450 B2
6. US 20190348624 A1
7. US 20150263235 A1
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Fatima N Farokhrooz/
Examiner, Art Unit 2875
Prosecution Insights