DETAILED ACTION
Non-final rejection sent 2/4/2026 withdrawn and new rejection recited below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 5 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding claim 5, fig. 14 of Lee discloses a ratio of a distance between adjacent two of the solid units CD1P, which are each in a corresponding group of adjacent two of the groups of arrangement arrays CD1, to a width of a bottom wall of the first groove (width of CD1 left to right in fig. 15) is less than 1/8, and a ratio of a maximum dimension of each of the solid units CD1P to the width of the bottom wall of the first groove (width of CD1) is less than or equal to ¼ .
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 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee (US 2022/0285463) (“Lee”).
With regard to claim 5, figs. 6 and 14-15 of Lee discloses a display panel DP comprising a display area DA and a non- display area NDA located on at least one side of the display area DA; the display panel DP further comprising: a substrate 100; a light-emitting layer 220 disposed on one side of the substrate 100, the light-emitting layer 220 comprising a plurality of light-emitting portions 220 disposed in the display area DA; a first refractive layer 510 disposed on a side of the light-emitting layer 220 which is away from the substrate 100, the first refractive layer 510 comprising a plurality of openings 510OP arranged in array in the display area DA and corresponding to the plurality of light-emitting portions 220, and a first groove (valley between CD1P in fig. 14) arranged in the non-display area NDA; and a second refractive layer 520 disposed on a side of the first refractive layer 510 which is away from the substrate 100, the second refractive layer 520 filling the plurality of openings 510OP, and a refractive index of the second refractive layer 520 being greater (“refractive index of the second layer 520 may be greater than that of the first layer 510”, par [0085]) than a refractive index of the first refractive layer 510; wherein the first groove (valley between CD1P) comprises a plurality of solid units CD1P spaced apart and a plurality of interconnected microgrooves (valley between CD1P), each of the microgrooves (valley between CD1P) is disposed between every adjacent two of the solid units CD1P, and the second refractive layer 520 fills (520 between CD1P in fig. 15) the microgrooves (trench between CD1P) and covers the solid units CD1P, wherein the first groove (trench in CD) comprises a plurality of groups of arrangement arrays arranged in sequence in a direction away from the display area DA, each of the groups of arrangement arrays comprises ones of the solid units CD1P and ones of the microgrooves (valley between CD1P) arranged in sequence, the ones of the solid units CD1P in the group of arrangement arrays and the ones of the solid units in an adjacent one of the groups of arrangement arrays CD1P are staggered with respect to each other, and the ones of the microgrooves (valley between CD1P) in the group of arrangement arrays and the ones of the microgrooves (valley between CD1P) in the adjacent one of the groups of arrangement arrays are staggered with respect to each other; wherein a ratio of a distance between adjacent two of the solid units CD1P, which are each in a corresponding group of adjacent two of the groups of arrangement arrays CD1, to a width of a bottom wall of the first groove (width of CD1 left to right in fig. 15) is less than 1/8, and a ratio of a maximum dimension of each of the solid units CD1P to the width of the bottom wall of the first groove (width of CD1) is less than or equal to ¼ .
With regard to claim 7, fig. 14 of Lee discloses that the groups of arrangement arrays CD1 comprise three or more groups of arrangement arrays (three rows of CD1P).
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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 2022/0285463) (“Lee”).
With regard to claim 6, fig. 14 of Lee discloses a distance between the adjacent two of the solid units CD1P, which are each in the corresponding group of the adjacent two groups of arrangement arrays CD1, and a maximum size of each of the solid units CD1P.
Lee does not explicitly disclose the distance between the adjacent two of the solid units is less than or equal to 5 microns, and the maximum size of each of the solid units is less than or equal to 10 microns.
However, fig. 14 of Lee does disclose a small spacing between the plurality of patterns CD1P and a plurality of patterns CD1P with a maximum size.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the spacing between the patterns of Lee at less than 5 microns and the maximum size of the patterns as 10 microns in order to control the second layer from extending to the pad portion. See par [0158] of Lee.
Moreover, there is no evidence indicating the ranges of less than or equal to 5 microns or less than or equal to 10 microns is critical and the Federal Circuit has held that it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable range of a result-effective variable within given prior art conditions by routine experimentation. See MPEP § 2144.05 II. Note that the specification contains no disclosure of either the critical nature of the claimed dimensions or any unexpected results arising there from. Where patentability is said to be based upon particular chosen dimensions or upon another variable recited in a claim, the Applicants must show that the chosen dimensions are critical. In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 1578, 16 USPQ2d 1934, 1936 (Fed. Cir. 1990); In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1469-71, 43 USPQ2d 1362, 1365-66 (Fed. Cir. 1997).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4, 8-14, 17-24 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The primary reason for the allowance of claims 1 and 14 is that Lee (US 2022/0285463) (“Lee”) does not disclose that the microgrooves are gradually reduced in a direction from adjacent to the display area to away from the display area.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN T LIU whose telephone number is (571)272-6009. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:30pm.
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, Yara J Green can be reached at 571 270-3035. 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.
/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
Prosecution Insights