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 election with traverse of Species I including claims 1 – 15, 17, in the reply filed on 04/10/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 16, 19 are canceled.
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, 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li ( Pub. No. CN 111564476 A ), herein after Li, in view of So ( Pub. No. US 20150048322 A1 ), herein after So.
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Regarding Independent Claim 1, Li teaches a display substrate, comprising:
a base substrate ( Li, FIG. 18, 10; [0100], substrate 10 ) and
a display unit ( Li, FIG. 2; [0090], Figure 2 … a display unit ), on the base substrate ( Li, FIG. 18, 10 ) and comprising a display region ( Li, FIG. 2, 100; [0090], a display area 100 ), wherein the display region ( Li, FIG. 2, 100 ) comprises a plurality of sub-pixels ( Li, FIG. 2, P1, P2, P3, P4; [0090], first sub-pixel P1, second sub-pixel P2, third sub-pixel P3, and fourth sub-pixel P4 ), each sub-pixel of the plurality of sub-pixels ( Li, FIG. 2, P1, P2, P3, P4 ) comprises a driving transistor ( Li, FIG. 1, T2; [0089], second transistor T2 is a driving transistor ) and a light-emitting device ( Li, FIG. 1, OLED; [0089], The light-emitting element is an OLED ), and the driving transistor ( Li, FIG. 1, T2 ) is configured to control magnitude of a driving current ( Li, FGI. 1; [0089], The second transistor T2, under the control of the data signal received at its gate electrode, generates a corresponding current at its second terminal … The OLED emits light of corresponding brightness in response to the current at the second terminal of the second transistor T2 ) flowing through the light-emitting device ( Li, FIG. 1, OLED ), and comprises a gate electrode ( Li, FIG. 1, gate of T2 ), a first pole and a second pole ( Li, FIG. 11; [0122], Figures 3 to 18, … the second active layer 21, the second gate electrode 22, the second source electrode 23, and the second drain electrode 24 form the second transistor T2 ); the light-emitting device ( Li, FIG. 1, OLED ) is configured to receive the driving current and be driven by the driving current to emit light ( Li, FGI. 1; [0089], The OLED emits light of corresponding brightness in response to the current at the second terminal of the second transistor T2 ), and comprises a first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70; [0120], The transparent conductive layer includes at least an anode 70, which is formed in the display area 100 ), and the first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) is connected ( LI, [0120], the connection between the anode 70 and the drain electrode of the second transistor T2 in each sub-pixel is achieved ) to the first pole ( Li, FIG. 11, 24; [0122], the second drain electrode 24 ) of the driving transistor ( Li, FIG. 1, T2 );
the display unit ( Li, FIG. 2 ) further comprises a pixel definition layer ( Li, FIG. 18, 71; [0121], pixel definition layer 71 ), and the pixel definition layer ( Li, FIG. 18, 71 ) defines opening regions ( [0121], the pixel definition layer 71 in each sub-pixel forms a pixel opening that exposes the anode 70) of the plurality of sub-pixels ( Li, FIG. 2, P1, P2, P3, P4 );
two adjacent sub-pixels among the plurality of sub-pixels ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, P1, P2, P3, P4 ) of the display unit are respectively an upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, P1 ) and a lower sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, a lower P1 below upper P1 ), and a direction perpendicular to an arrangement direction of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, P1 ) and the lower sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, a lower P1 below upper P1 ) is a reference direction ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, the direction along up to low );
a first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, P1 ) comprises a first edge ( Li, FIG. 2, bottom edge of anode 70 ) close to the lower sub-pixel and a second edge ( Li, FIG. 2, left or right side edge of anode 70 ) which intersects with the first edge ( Li, FIG. 2, bottom edge of anode 70 ) of the first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) and is located on a first side ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, left or right side of anode 70 ) of the first edge ( Li, FIG. 2, bottom edge of anode 70 ) of the first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) in the reference direction ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, the direction along up to low );
an opening region ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 71, 72; [0121], the pixel definition layer 71 in each sub-pixel forms a pixel opening that exposes the anode 70. Subsequently, an organic light-emitting layer 72 is formed within the aforementioned pixel opening, and the organic light-emitting layer 72 is connected to the anode 70 ) of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, P1 ) comprises a first edge ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, bottom edge of 72 ) close to the lower sub-pixel and a second edge ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, left or right side edge of 72 ) which intersects the first edge of the opening region ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 71, 72 ) and is located on a first side ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, left or right side of 72 ) of the first edge ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, bottom edge of 72 ) of the opening region ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, left or right side of 72 ) in the reference direction ( Li, FIG. 2, FIG. 11, FIG. 16, the direction along up to low ); and
a distance between the first edge ( Li, FIG. 2, bottom edge of anode 70 ) of the first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, P1 ) and the first edge ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, bottom edge of 72 ) of the opening region ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 71, 72 ) of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, P1 ) is a first distance, a distance between the second edge ( Li, FIG. 2, left or right side edge of anode 70 ) of the first electrode ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 70 ) of the upper sub-pixel and the second edge ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, left or right side edge of 72 ) of the opening region ( Li, FIG. 16, FIG. 18, 71, 72 ) of the upper sub-pixel ( Li, FIG. 2, P1 ) is a second distance,
Li fails to disclose:
the first distance is greater than the second distance.
However, So teaches:
the first distance ( So, FIG. 1, the distance between “ bottom edge of opening 93 or 95 ” and “ bottom edge of electrode 73 or 75 ” ) is greater than the second distance ( So, FIG. 1, the distance between “ left or right side edge of opening 93 or 95 ” and “ left or right side edge of electrode 73 or 75 ” ) ( So, FIG. 1, ; [0049], when forming the openings (e.g., 91, 93 and/or 95), a misalignment margin of a mask used to form an organic emission layer is increased such that a defect due to the misalignment may be minimized; [0063], the boundary line of the first opening 91 is positioned apart from the boundary line of the first electrode 71 by a predetermined distance, for example, at least 4 µm, which is a greater distance than a range that the mask M may be moved when it is misaligned. In other words, if the mask M is moved like that shown in FIG. 6 and overlaps the first electrode 71, the first opening 91 is positioned far enough away from the boundary line of the first electrode 71 such that the light blocking part M1 of the mask M does not cover the first opening 91 ).
Li and So are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are forming OLED display. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li ( OLED has opening inside electrode ), to incorporate the teachings of So ( OLED has opening inside electrode, and “ the distance between top or bottom edges of opening and electrode ” is greater than “ the distance between left or right side edges of opening and electrode ”; and the light blocking part does not cover the opening ), to implement the first distance is greater than the second distance. Doing so would provide “ specific misalignment margin to minimize the defect ” and “ light blocking part does not cover the opening, and therefore the transistors in the light blocking part will not be irradiated by light ”, and therefore low defect and high reliability transistors in OLED can be improved.
Regarding Independent Claim 22, Li and So teach the display substrate as claimed in claim 1, on which this claim is dependent, Li further teaches: comprising:
A display apparatus ( Li, [0002], Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) is an active light-emitting display device; [0003], OLED technology is increasingly being used in transparent displays ), comprising the display substrate according to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-15, 17-18, and 20-21 are 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Da-Wei Lee whose telephone number is 703-756-1792. The examiner can normally be reached M -̶ F 8:00 am -̶ 6:00 pm.
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/DA-WEI LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2817
/ALI NARAGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
Prosecution Insights