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 .
Status of the Application
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s application 18/500,226 filed on November 02 2023 in which claims 1 to 20 are pending.
Drawings
The drawings submitted on November 02 2023 have been reviewed and accepted by the Examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), filed on November 02 2023 is 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 § 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 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.
(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.
(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 1-19 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Im et al. ( PCT publication number WO 2021/215833; the US publication 2023/0155067 A1 will be used in the rejection for reference).
Regarding claim 1, Im teaches in Figures 1- 19 and related text e.g. a display device (Fig.17) comprising:
a first light emitting element (LD1; Fig.17H; ¶ 0163) disposed in a first light emitting area (A1; ¶ 0239);
a second light emitting element (LD2; ¶ 0163) disposed in a second light emitting area (LD2; ¶ 0163);
a first contact electrode (CNE1; ¶ 0126) electrically connected to a first end portion of the first light emitting element (right side of LD1; Fig.17H);
a second contact electrode (CNE2; ¶ 0178) electrically connected to a second end portion of the first light emitting element (left side of LD1; Fig.1H);
a third contact electrode (CNE3; ¶ 0174) electrically connected to a first end portion of the second light emitting element (left side of LD2; Fig. 17H); and
a connection electrode (CTE; ¶ 0174) electrically connected to the second contact electrode (CNE2) and bypassing the first contact electrode (CNE1) to be electrically connected to the third contact electrode (CN3: CNE2 and CNE3 are connected through CTE1; Fig.17 and Fig.18).
Regarding claim 2, Im teaches the connection electrode (CTE1) and the first contact (CNE1; Fig.17H) are placed on a same level (same level; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 3, Im teaches the first contact electrode (CNE1) and the second contact electrode (CNE2) are disposed on the same layer (same level; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 4, Im teaches an insulating layer (INS3; Fig.17H; ¶ 0221) disposed between the first contact electrode (CNE1) and the second contact electrode (CNE2).
Regarding claim 5, Im teaches a non-light emitting area (area with BNK1; Fig.17H; ¶ ¶ 0178) disposed between the first light emitting area (LD1) and the second light emitting area (LD2).
Regarding claim 6, Im teaches wherein the first contact electrode (CNE1), the second contact electrode (CNE2), and the third contact electrode (CNE3) do not overlap the non-light emitting area (does not overlap with each CNE2 and CNE3; Fig. 17H).
Regarding claim 7, Im teaches wherein the connection electrode overlaps the non-light emitting area (CTE is overlaps BNK1; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 8, Im teaches electrodes (EL1 and EL2; Fig.17H; ¶ 0126) spaced apart from each other in the first light emitting area (Part of the LD1; Fig.17H) and the second light emitting area (part of LD2; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 9, Im teaches electrodes wherein the first light emitting element (LD1; Fig.17H) and the second light emitting element (LD2; Fig.17H) are disposed between the electrodes (EL1 and EL2).
Regarding claim 10, Im teaches a fourth contact electrode (CNE4; Fig.17H; ¶ 0271) electrically connected to a second end portion of the second light emitting element (right side of LD2; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 11, Im teaches in Figures 1- 19 and related text e.g. a display device (Fig.17) comprising:
a first light emitting area (A1; Fig.17H; ¶ 0238), a second light emitting area (A2, Fig.17H; ¶ 0238), and a non-light emitting area (BNK1, Fig.17H; ¶ 0221) between the first emitting area (A1) and second light emitting area (A2; Fig.17H).
a first light emitting element (LD1; Fig.17H; ¶ 0163) disposed in the first light emitting area (A1; ¶ 0239);
a second light emitting element (LD2; ¶ 0163) disposed in the second light emitting area (LD2; ¶ 0163);
a first contact electrode (CNE1; ¶ 0126) electrically connected to a first end portion of the first light emitting element (right side of LD1; Fig.17H);
a second contact electrode (CNE2; ¶ 0178) electrically connected to a second end portion of the first light emitting element (left side of LD1; Fig.1H);
a third contact electrode (CNE3; ¶ 0174) electrically connected to a first end portion of the second light emitting element (left side of LD2; Fig. 17H); and
a first connection electrode (CTE; ¶ 0174) electrically connecting the second contact electrode (CNE2) and the third contact electrode (CN3: CNE2 and CNE3 are connected through CTE1; Fig.17 and Fig.18), wherein the first contact electrode (CNE1), the second contact electrode (CNE2), and the third contact electrode (CNE3) do not overlap the non-light emitting area (non-light emitting area formed between LD1 and LD2 as shown in Fig.18A from top view).
Regarding claim 12, Im teaches wherein the first connection electrode (CTE1; Fig.17) extends to cross the non-light emitting layer (between LD1 and LD2; Fig.17).
Regarding claim 13, Im teaches the first connection electrode (CTE1), the first contact (CNE1; Fig.17H), second contact electrode (CNE2), and the third electrode (CNE3) are disposed on the same layer (same level; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 14, Im teaches a fourth contact electrode (CNE4; Fig.17H; ¶ 0271) electrically connected to a second end portion of the second light emitting element (right side of LD2; Fig.17H).
Regarding claim 15, Im teaches wherein the fourth contact electrode does not overlap the non-limiting area (CNE4 does not overlap with non- light area; Fig.18A).
Regarding claim 16, Im teaches a third light emitting disposed in the fist light emitting area (LDr; ¶0130) formed in the first light emitting area (A1; Fig.18A).
Regarding claim 17, Im teaches a fifth contact electrode (EL2_2; Fig.17H) electrically connected to a first end portion of the third light emitting element (Connected to CN3 of LDr; Fig.17 and Fig.18).
Regarding claim 18, Im teaches wherein the fifth contact electrode (EL2_2) does not overlap the non-light emitting area (non-emitting area; Fig.18A).
Regarding claim 19, Im teaches a second connection electrode electrically connecting the fourth contact electrode (CNE4; Fig.17) and the fifth contact electrode (EL2_2; are both connected to a power supply VSS; Fig.6C; ¶ 0280).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 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 and any intervening claims.
Claim 20 is objected to since the prior art reference does not teach the following limitation: “wherein the second connection electrode extends to cross the non-light emitting area” with the rest of each of the limitations of claim 17 AND claim 14 AND claim 11.
All the limitations of claims 17 and 14 must included with claim 20 into claim 11 to be allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mounir S Amer whose telephone number is (571)270-3683. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:30.
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, Eva Montalvo can be reached at (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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.
/Mounir S Amer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818