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 .
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 (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 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 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zha (CN 109817686) in view of Oh et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0085334).
Regarding claim 20, Zha teaches a method for manufacturing a display panel, comprising:
forming a light-emitting substrate (Fig. 1, light emitting substrate 1);
forming a first wavelength conversion layer (212/211) having a plurality of first wavelength conversion patterns (211 and 212) corresponding to the light-emitting structures at a light-exiting side of the light-emitting substrate (Fig. 1), the first wavelength conversion patterns being arranged at the light-exiting side of at least part of the light-emitting structures (Fig. 1); and
forming a second wavelength conversion layer (221/222) having a plurality of second wavelength conversion patterns (221 and 222) on a side of the first wavelength conversion layer away from the light-emitting substrate (Fig. 1).
Zha does not teach comprising a plurality of light-emitting structures, wherein at least one light-emitting structure comprises one or more first light-emitting layers emitting a first waveband light and one or more second light-emitting layers emitting a second waveband light laminated one on another, and a wavelength of the first waveband light is smaller than a wavelength of the second waveband light. However, Oh teaches that a display substrate can be a plurality of light-emitting structures (Oh Fig. 5, PX1, PX2, PX3), wherein at least one light-emitting structure comprises one or more first light-emitting layers (Fig. 8, first layer EL11) emitting a first waveband light and one or more second light-emitting layers (Fig. 8, layer EL12) emitting a second waveband light laminated one on another (Fig. 8), and a wavelength of the first waveband light is smaller than a wavelength of the second waveband light (see paragraph [0097], can be blue and green, or green and red). It would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date that the display substrate of Zha could have had OLEDs with multiple emissive layers as taught by Oh because Oh teaches that this allows for white light (see Zha Abstract and Oh paragraph [0097]).
Regarding claim 21, Zha in view of Oh teaches the method according to claim 20, wherein the forming a first wavelength conversion laver having a plurality of first wavelength conversion patterns corresponding to the light-emitting structures at a light-exiting side of the light-emitting substrate, comprises:
forming a first inorganic encapsulation layer at the light-exiting side of the light-emitting structures (see Oh Fig. 5, inorganic encapsulation layer PS2);
printing a first ink at the light-exiting side of at least part of the light-emitting structures to form the first wavelength conversion patterns (Zha Fig. 2(b), printed ink 610/620);
printing a second ink (Zha Fig. 2(e), printed ink 710/720) on a side of the first wavelength conversion patterns away from the first inorganic encapsulation layer to form an organic encapsulation layer; and
forming a second inorganic encapsulation layer (Oh Fig. 5, second inorganic encapsulation layer PS1) on a side of the organic encapsulation layer away from the first wavelength conversion patterns (Oh Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 22, Zha in view of Oh teaches the method according to claim 21, wherein the printing a first ink at the light-exiting side of at least part of the light-emitting structures, comprises;
printing the second ink containing luminescent particles at the light-exiting side of at least part of the light-emitting structures (see Zha Fig. 2(b), first and second inks 610 and 620).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 6-19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 1-3 and 6-19, the prior art, alone or in combination, fails to teach or suggest first wavelength conversion patterns configured to perform up-conversion on the second waveband light emitted through the second light-emitting layers; and second wavelength conversion patterns being configured to perform down-conversion on light emitted through the first wavelength conversion layer. In particular, all prior art references teach either both up-convert or both down-convert, but not up-conversion followed by down-conversion.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/EVAN G CLINTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2899