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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s traversal of the election/restriction requirement is found persuasive and the restriction requirement is fully withdrawn. Claims 1-20 have been examined on the merits.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 8, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20200081344 (Ishikawa et al).
Concerning claim 1, Ishikawa discloses a display device comprising (Fig. 1): a substrate (6); and a light emitting device on the substrate (Fig. 1), wherein the light emitting device comprises: a first electrode (5), a red auxiliary layer (8) on the first electrode, a red light emitting layer (9) on the red auxiliary layer ([0023]), and a second electrode (10) on the red light emitting layer, and the red light emitting layer and/or the red auxiliary layer comprises a compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 ([0050], note that the formula represented by Formula 1 is known in the art as Pigment Red 177 (PR 177)) and/or a compound represented by Chemical Formula 2:
Chemical Formula 1
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188
281
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300
742
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Continuing to claim 2, Ishikawa discloses wherein an amount of the compound represented by Chemical Formula 1 and/or the compound represented by Chemical Formula 2 in the red light emitting layer and/or the red auxiliary layer is 1 wt% to 50 wt% based on a total weight of the red light emitting layer and/or the red auxiliary layer ([0051]).
Considering claim 8, Ishikawa discloses a display device comprising (Fig. 1): a substrate (6); and a light emitting device on the substrate, wherein the light emitting device comprises: a first electrode (5), a green auxiliary layer (8) on the first electrode, a green light emitting layer (9) on the green auxiliary layer ([0023]), and a second electrode (10) on the green light emitting layer, and the green light emitting layer and/or the green auxiliary layer comprises at least one selected from compounds represented by Chemical Formula 3 ([0042], note that the formula represented by Formula 3 is known in the art as Pigment Yellow 150 (PY 150)) to Chemical Formula 6:
Chemical Formula 3
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211
501
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Chemical Formula 4
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252
492
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Chemical Formula 5
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282
557
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Chemical Formula 6
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279
447
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.
Referring to claim 9, Ishikawa discloses wherein the at least one selected from the compounds represented by Chemical Formula 3 to Chemical Formula 6 in the green light emitting layer and/or the green auxiliary layer is 1 wt% to 50 wt% in amount based on a total weight of the green light emitting layer and/or the green auxiliary layer ([0040]).
Claim(s) 15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 8916274 (Lee et al).
Regarding claim 15, Lee discloses a display device comprising (Fig. 2): a substrate (1); and a light emitting device on the substrate (Fig. 2), wherein the light emitting device comprises: a first electrode (2) , a blue light emitting layer (42) on the first electrode, and a second electrode (3) on the blue light emitting layer, and the blue light emitting layer comprises at least one selected from compounds represented by Chemical Formula 3, Chemical Formula 4, Chemical Formula 7 (col. 4 lines 19-22, note that the formula represented by Formula 8 is known in the art as copper phthalocyanine) or Chemical Formula 8
Chemical Formula 3
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211
501
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Chemical Formula 4
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252
492
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Chemical Formula 7
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257
444
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Chemical Formula 8
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324
417
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Pertaining to claim 17, Lee discloses a display device comprising (Fig. 2): a substrate (1); and a plurality of light emitting devices on the substrate (Fig. 2), wherein the light emitting device comprises: a first electrode (2) , a hole control layer (41) on the first electrode (col. 3 lines56-65), a respective one of a red light emitting layer (42), a green light emitting layer (42), or a blue light emitting layer (42) on the hole control layer, an electron control layer (44 +45) on the red light emitting layer, green light emitting layer, and blue light emitting layer and a second electrode (3) on the electron control layer (Fig. 2), and wherein the electron control layer or the hole control layer comprises at least one selected from compounds represented by Chemical Formula 8 to Chemical Formula 11 (col. 3 lines 56-65, note that the formula represented by Formula 8 is known in the art as copper phthalocyanine):
Chemical Formula 8
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324
417
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Chemical Formula 9
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131
362
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Chemical Formula 10
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125
356
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Chemical Formula 11
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124
340
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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.
Claim(s) 3-7 and 10-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200081344 (Ishikawa et al) in view of US 20220238841 (Lee et al, hereafter referred to as Lee’841).
As to claims 3 and 10 (with these claims being similar in scope), Ishikawa discloses forming the light emitting device.
Ishikawa does not disclose wherein the light emitting device further comprises: a capping layer on the second electrode; and an encapsulation layer on the capping layer. However, Lee’841 discloses a display device configuration (Fig. 2A) in which a light emitting device is formed, covered with an inorganic absorption layer (500), a capping layer (600), encapsulation layer (700), and reflection control layer (900). Lee’841 discloses that the incorporation of these layer over the light emitting elements yields display apparatuses that have excellent spectral characteristics because external light reflectance is reduced to improve visibility, light efficiency is high, and a color coordinate change according to a viewing angle is reduced ([0160]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the aforementioned layers of Lee into the invention of Ishikawa in order to improve visibility and light efficiency in the display device.
Concerning claims 4 and 11 (with these claims being similar in scope), Ishikawa in view of Lee’841 disclose wherein the light emitting device further comprises an inorganic absorption layer (Lee’841 500) arranged between the capping layer and the encapsulation layer or arranged between the capping layer and the second electrode (Lee’841 Fig. 2A and [0078]), and the inorganic absorption layer comprises bismuth (Lee’841 [0079]).
Continuing to claims 5 and 12 (with these claims being similar in scope), Ishikawa in view of Lee’841disclose wherein the display device is free of polarization layer (Lee’841 [0026]).
Considering claims 6 and 13 (with these claims being similar in scope), Ishikawa in view of Lee’841 disclose wherein the display device is free of color filter (Lee’841 [0027]).
Referring to claims 7 and 14 (with claims being similar in scope), Ishikawa in view of Lee’841 further comprising: a reflection control layer (Lee’841 900) on the encapsulation layer; and a low-reflection inorganic layer (500) on the light emitting device, wherein the reflection control layer comprises a pigment and/or a dye ([0086]).
Claim(s) 16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 8916274 (Lee et al) as applied to claims 15 and 17 above, and further in view of US 20180287068 (Ha et al).
Regarding claims 16 and 18, Lee discloses forming the light emitting layers (the collection of the transport layers and emitting layers being contained in the collective light emitting layer) but is silent as to the composition of the light emitting layer by wt %.
Lee does not disclose wherein an amount of the at least one selected from compounds represented by Chemical Formula 3, Chemical Formula 4, Chemical Formula 7, and Chemical Formula 8 is 1 wt% to 50 wt% based on a total weight of the blue light-emitting layer or wherein an amount of the at least one selected the compounds represented by Chemical Formula 8 to Chemical Formula 11 in the electron control layer and/or the hole control layer is 1 wt% to 50 wt% based on a total weight of the electron control layer and/or the hole control layer. However, Ha discloses the incorporation of the compound represented by Chemical Formula 8 (note that the formula represented by Formula 8 is known in the art as copper phthalocyanine) into a light emitting layer component (a hole injection layer) and that the wt % of the compound in the layer is between 0.1 to 50 wt% and that a hole injection layer formed under these conditions can prevent hole injection characteristics from deteriorating ([0110]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the wt% of the compound in the claimed layers such that it is 1 wt% to 50 wt% based on a total weight in view of the teachings of Ha.
Claim(s) 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 8916274 (Lee et al) in view of US 20060125380 (Nagara et al).
Pertaining to claim 19, Lee discloses a display device comprising (Fig. 2): a substrate (1); and a plurality of light emitting devices on the substrate (Fig. 2), wherein the light emitting device comprises: a first electrode (2) , a hole control layer (41) on the first electrode (col. 3 lines56-65), a red light emitting layer (42), a green light emitting layer (42), and a blue light emitting layer (42) on the hole control layer, an electron control layer (44 +45) on the red light emitting layer, green light emitting layer, and blue light emitting layer and a second electrode (3) on the electron control layer (Fig. 2), and . . ., and a green auxiliary layer between the green light emitting layer and the hole control layer, . . ., the green auxiliary layer comprising a compound represented by Chemical Formula 3 (col. 5 lines 1-28), and the blue light emitting layer (col. 4 lines 19-22, note that the formula represented by Formula 8 is known in the art as copper phthalocyanine) comprising a compound represented by Chemical Formula 8:
Chemical Formula 1
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281
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Chemical Formula 3
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211
501
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Chemical Formula 8
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324
417
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Lee does not disclose a red auxiliary layer between the red light emitting layer and the hole control layer or the red auxiliary layer comprising a compound represented by Chemical Formula 1. However, Nagara discloses the use of a buffer layer (similar to the buffer layer/auxiliary layer formed over the green light emitting device which includes anthracene derivatives similar to the compound of Chemical Formula 1) over light emitting layers in a display device in order to prevent other light emitting layers from being damaged ([0105]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to form a red auxiliary layer between the light emitting layer and hole control layer in order to protect the light emitting layers from damage as disclosed by Nagara.
As to claim 20, Lee in view of Nagara disclose wherein the display device is free of both polarization layer and color filter (Lee, note that there is no mention of the use of a polarization layer nor color filter in the manufacture of the device).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20070029539 disclose the addition of dyes to light emitting layers ([0075]-[0080]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VALERIE N NEWTON whose telephone number is (571)270-5015. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHAD DICKE can be reached at (571) 270-7996. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VALERIE N NEWTON/ Examiner, Art Unit 2897 08/26/26
/CHAD M DICKE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897