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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/04/2023 was filed before the first action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (2022/0317513).
Re claim 1, Huang teaches a display device (Fig. 1), comprising: a first substrate (BS); a subpixel SA including a light-emitting element (LE) in which a first electrode (AD) configured to reflect visible light [53], a function layer [53] including a light-emitting layer (LEML), and a second electrode (CD) configured to transmit visible light [55] are provided on the first substrate (BS) in that order from the first substrate side (“top side”); a reflective portion provided in part of the subpixel (SA) and having a reflective surface inclined (Fig. 1B) with respect to a surface on the light-emitting element (LE) side of the first substrate (BS); a high refractive index layer that is provided on the second electrode (CD), guides light entering from the second electrode side at an angle equal to or greater than a total reflection critical angle [66], to the reflective surface, and transmits light entering at an angle less than the total reflection critical angle [66]; a second substrate (BS2) provided to face the surface on the light-emitting element side of the first substrate (BS); and a spacer (DAM) configured to form a gap layer having a certain thickness between the second substrate and the high refractive index layer provided at least in a region not overlapping the reflective portion in a plan view [66], and dispose the second substrate away from the reflective portion, wherein a refractive index of the high refractive index layer is higher than a refractive index of the gap layer [66].
Re claim 2, Huang teaches the display device according to claim 1, wherein the reflective portion is provided above the function layer including the light-emitting layer ([66], LE).
Prior art of record
Re claim 34, Huang et al. (2022/0317513) teaches a method for manufacturing a display device (Figs. 1A-12), the method comprising: forming, on a first substrate (BS), a first electrode (AD) that reflects visible light [53]; forming a function layer including a light-emitting layer (LE) after the forming a first electrode (AD); forming a second electrode (CD) that transmits visible light after the forming a function layer [55]; forming a reflective portion having a reflective surface inclined (Fig. 1B) with respect to a surface on a side of the first substrate on which the first electrode is provided [56-66]; forming, after the forming a second electrode (CD), a high refractive index layer, on the second electrode (CD), that guides light entering from the second electrode side at an angle equal to or greater than a total reflection critical angle [56-66], to the reflective surface, and transmits light entering at an angle less than the total reflection critical angle [56-66]; forming a second substrate that faces the surface on the side of the first substrate on which the first electrode is provided after the forming a high refractive index layer [66]. Huang does not explicitly teach forming, after the forming a high refractive index layer and before the forming a second substrate, a spacer that forms a gap layer having a certain thickness between the second substrate and the high refractive index layer provided at least in a region not overlapping the reflective portion in a plan view and having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the high refractive index layer, and disposes the second substrate away from the reflective portion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 7-9, 12, 17, 22 and 26-33 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not anticipate or make obvious the method of claim 34, including each of the limitations and specifically forming, after the forming a high refractive index layer and before the forming a second substrate, a spacer that forms a gap layer having a certain thickness between the second substrate and the high refractive index layer provided at least in a region not overlapping the reflective portion in a plan view and having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the high refractive index layer, and disposes the second substrate away from the reflective portion, for the same reasons as mentioned for claim 34 in the prior art of record above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM S BOWEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3984. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/FERNANDO L TOLEDO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897
/ADAM S BOWEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2897