The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, all the elements recited in the connection structure of claim 1, must be shown in one figure or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
There is no support in the specification for the claimed limitation of “wherein the connection unit comprises a first connection member, a second connection member, and a binding member arranged on a base substrate and arranged along a first direction; the input pin comprises a plurality of input sub-pins arranged along a second direction; and the first direction intersects with the second direction”, as recited in claim 1.
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 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 of this title, 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 1-15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gu et al. (12,310,204) in view of Jin et al. (2019/0140202).Regarding claims 1, 12, 13 and 20, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text a display device, comprising the display panel a comprising the display substrate comprising a
connection structure electrically coupled to an input pin 25 of a display driver integrated circuitry, comprising
a connection unit (the entire structure), wherein the connection unit comprises a first connection member (the right vertical part of 21), a second connection member (the left vertical part of 21), and a binding member (the horizontal part of 21) arranged on a base substrate 010 (see figure 4) and arranged along a first direction; the input pin 25 comprises a plurality of input sub-pins arranged along a second direction; and the first direction intersects with the second direction;
wherein the first connection member comprises a plurality of first connectors 22, the second connection member comprises a plurality of second connectors,
the binding member (the horizontal part of 21) comprises a plurality of binding pins (see figures 9 and 37), the input pin 25 is electrically coupled to the second connector through the first connector, the second connector is electrically coupled to the binding pin,
the connection unit comprises a plurality of metal layers and a plurality of insulation layers, the second connector comprises a second connection line, the second connection line comprises at least two second connection line portions electrically coupled to each other, the at least two second connection line portions are formed by at least two metal layers in the plurality of metal layers respectively, and at least two insulation layers in the connection unit are arranged on a side of the at least two metal layers away from the base substrate;
wherein an extension direction of the binding pin is the first direction;
wherein the first connector 22 comprises a first connection line, the first connection line comprises a first one of first connection line portions and a second one of first connection line portions electrically coupled to each other, the first one of first connection line portions is formed by a first metal layer, the second one of first connection line portions is formed by a second metal layer;
wherein the first connection line further comprises a third one of first connection line portions, and the third one of first connection line portions is formed by a third metal layer.
Gu et al. do not explicitly state using a binding member comprises a plurality of binding pins.
Jin et al. teach in figure 19 and related text using a binding member B22 comprises a plurality of binding pins.
Jin et al. and Gu et al. are analogous art because they are directed to display devices and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gu et al. because they are from the same field of endeavor.It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to use a binding member comprises a plurality of binding pins, as taught by Jin et al., in Gu et al.’s device, in order to be able to operate the device by using external connections.
Regarding the claimed limitations of “the first one of first connection line portions is formed by a first metal layer, the second one of first connection line portions is formed by a second metal layer; …. and the third one of first connection line portions is formed by a third metal layer”, these are process limitations which would not carry patentable weight in this claim drawn to a structure, because distinct structure is not necessarily produced.
The formation of the connection lines by three metal layers does not produce a structure which is different from a structure which is formed using only one metal layer.
Note that a “product by process” claim is directed to the product per se, no matter how actually made, In re Hirao, 190 USPQ 15 at 17 (footnote 3). See also In re Brown, 173 USPQ 685; In re Luck, 177 USPQ 523; In re Fessmann, 180 USPQ 324; In re Avery, 186 USPQ 161; In re Wertheim, 191 USPQ 90 (209 USPQ 554 does not deal with this issue); and In re Marosi et al., 218 USPQ 289, all of which make it clear that it is the patentability of the final product per se which must be determined in a “product by process” claim, and not the patentability of the process, and that an old or obvious product produced by a new method is not patentable as a product, whether claimed in “product by process” claims or not. Note that the applicant has the burden of proof in such cases, as the above case law makes clear.
Regarding claim 2, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first connector comprises a first connection line, the first connection line comprises at least two first connection line portions (vertical and horizontal portions) electrically coupled to each other, the at least two first connection line portions are formed by at least two metal layers of the plurality of metal layers respectively, and the first connection line is electrically coupled to the second connection line.
Regarding claim 3, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first connection line further comprises at least one first connection line portion, and all the first connection line portions of the first connection line are electrically coupled to each other, and the at least one first connection line portion is formed by at least one metal layer in
the plurality of metal layers other than the at least two metal layers.
Regarding claim 4, Gu et al. teach in figure 10 and related text that the connection unit comprises the first metal layer (above T6), a first insulation layer (un-numbered), a second metal layer S2, a second insulation layer (un-numbered), a third metal layer 14 and a third insulation layer (un-numbered), arranged one on another along a direction away from the base substrate, the second connection line comprises a first one of second connection line portions and a second one of second connection line portions electrically coupled to each other, the first one of second connection line portions is formed by the first metal layer, and the second one of second connection line portions is formed by the second metal layer.
Regarding claim 5, Gu et al. do not teach that a thickness of the first insulation layer is greater than 3000 angstroms and less than or equal to 4000 angstroms, a thickness of the second insulation layer is greater than or equal to 4000 angstroms and less than or equal to 6000 angstroms, and a thickness of the third insulation layer is greater than or equal to 600 angstroms and less than or equal to 2000 angstroms.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form a thickness of the first insulation layer is greater than 3000 angstroms and less than or equal to 4000 angstroms, a thickness of the second insulation layer is greater than or equal to 4000 angstroms and less than or equal to 6000 angstroms, and a thickness of the third insulation layer is greater than or equal to 600 angstroms and less than or equal to 2000 angstroms in prior art’s device in order to adjust the device characteristics according to the requirements of the application at hand.
Regarding claim 6, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first connector comprises a first connection line, the first connection line comprises a first one of first connection line portions and a second one of first connection line portions electrically coupled to each other, the first one of first connection line portions is formed by the first metal layer, the second one of first connection line portions is formed by the second metal layer, the first one of first connection line portions is electrically coupled to the first one of second connection line portions, and the second one of first connection line portions is electrically coupled to the second one of second connection line portions.
Regarding claim 7, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first connection line further comprises a third one of first connection line portions (arbitrarily chosen), the third one of first connection line portions is electrically coupled to the first one of first connection line portions and the second one of first connection line portions, and the third one of first connection line portions is formed by the third metal layer.
Regarding claim 8, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first metal layer is a shielding layer (Located above the symbol T6), the second metal layer is a gate metal layer (un-numbered), and the third metal layer is a source/drain metal layer.
Regarding claim 9, Gu et al. teach in figure 1 and related text that the first insulation layer comprises a buffer layer and a gate insulation layer arranged one on another along a direction away from the base substrate, the second insulation layer is an interlayer dielectric layer, and the third insulation layer is a passivation layer.
Regarding claim 10, Jin et al. teach in figure 19 and related text that the binding pin B22 comprises a binding connection line electrically coupled to the second connection line and comprising a first binding connection line portion 197 and a second binding connection line portion (another 197) electrically coupled to each other.
Prior art does not explicitly state that the first binding connection line portion is formed by the second metal layer, and the second binding connection line portion is formed by the third metal layer.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form the first binding connection line portion by the second metal layer, and the second binding connection line portion by the third metal layer, in prior art’s device in order to simplify the processing steps of making adjust the device.
Regarding claim 11, Jin et al. teach in figure 19 and related text that an extension direction of the binding pin is a first direction, but does not teach that a length of the second connector along the first direction is greater than 0.07 mm and less than or equal to 0.09 mm. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form a length of the second connector along the first direction is greater than 0.07 mm and less than or equal to 0.09 mm in prior art’s device in order to adjust the device characteristics according to the requirements of the application at hand.
Regarding claim 14, Jin et al. teach in figure 19, and thus prior art, a flexible circuitry board, wherein pins of the flexible circuitry board are bound to binding pins.
Regarding claim 15, prior art does not teach that a distance between a first edge of each pin of the flexible circuitry board and a cutting edge of the flexible circuitry board is greater than or equal to 10 m and less than or equal to 30 m, the first edge is an edge of the pin close to the cutting edge, and the cutting edge is an edge of the flexible circuitry board closest to the first connection member.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to form a distance between a first edge of each pin of the flexible circuitry board and a cutting edge of the flexible circuitry board is greater than or equal to 10 m and less than or equal to 30 m, the first edge is an edge of the pin close to the cutting edge, and the cutting edge is an edge of the flexible circuitry board closest to the first connection member, in prior art’s device in order to adjust the device characteristics according to the requirements of the application at hand.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ORI NADAV whose telephone number is 571-272-1660. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 7 AM to 4 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lynne Gurley can be reached on 571-272-1670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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O.N. /ORI NADAV/
6/10/2026 PRIMARY EXAMINER
TECHNOLOGY CENTER 2800
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