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 .
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of the amendment filed 12/31/2025. Claim 1 is amended, and claims 1-5 and 7-13 are currently pending.
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 1-5 and 7-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pat. No. 8,002,451 to Ha et al. (hereinafter Ha) in view of KR 10-2018-0107639 to Yoon et al. (hereinafter Yoon) and CN 201680087242 to Horiguchi, et al. (hereinafter Horiguchi).
Regarding claim 1, Ha discloses a display apparatus (Fig. 12), comprising: a light-transmitting structural plate (portion of diffusion plate 60 not including lens pattern 63, Figs. 3 & 12) having a first side (side of diffusion plate 60 distal from light sources 70, Figs. 3 & 12) and a second side (side of diffusion plate 60 proximal to light sources 70, Figs. 3 & 12) opposite to each other; a plurality of first optical microscopic structures (linear portions 64 and curved portions 65 forming lens pattern 63, Fig. 3 & 12) regularly arrayed (Figs. 3 & 12) and formed on the second side, each of the first optical microscopic structures having a cross-section shaped as semi-elliptical (“the lens pattern 63 may also be formed as an end of an ellipsoidal lens which is repeated at regular intervals”; col. 6, ll. 3-23) or convexly-curved curved surfaces with a cross-section of an ellipse (“the lens pattern 63 may also be formed as an end of an ellipsoidal lens which is repeated at regular intervals”; col. 6, ll. 3-23); a base plate (reflective plate 80, Fig. 12) separating from the second side by a space (space between 60 and 80, Fig. 12); and a plurality of light emitting elements (light sources 70, Fig. 12) located inside the space and disposed on the base plate, the light emitting elements being respectively configured to emit a light ray to the light-transmitting structural plate.
Ha discloses the claimed invention as cited above though does not explicitly disclose an optical film located on the first side of the light-transmitting structure and a color conversion layer spaced apart from the first optical microscopic structures and located between the optical film and the light-transmitting structural layer, the color conversion layer being configured to convert a color of the light ray.
Yoon discloses an optical film (“back coating layer 50 may be formed by curing a resin layer including a plurality of beads. As another example, the back coating layer 50 may be formed in an emboss pattern having a predetermined surface roughness. It is preferable that the back coating layer 50 has a haze value that does not cause a substantial decrease in light transmittance. It is preferable that the haze value of the back coating layer 50 is smaller than the haze value of the first diffusion layer 40”, Fig. 5) located on the first side of the light-transmitting structure (“a first substrate 61 and a first prism pattern layer 62 disposed on the first substrate 61”, Fig. 5) and a color conversion layer (“the wavelength conversion layer 10 converts the wavelength of light into a specific wavelength, the color reproducibility can be improved”) spaced apart from the first optical microscopic structures and located between the optical film and the light-transmitting structural layer (Fig. 5), the color conversion layer being configured to convert a color of the light ray.
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide a semi-ellipse microstructure color conversion as taught by Yoon with the system as disclosed by Ha. The motivation would have been to control thickness uniformity and thus optical uniformity in display layers ([0066]).
Ha does not explicitly disclose a color conversion layer in direct contact with the first side of the light transmitting structural plate.
Horiguchi discloses a light-transmitting structural plate (a uniform thickness of prism sheet 23 not including triangular prisms, Fig. 7) having a first side (top with respect to Fig. 7) and a second side opposite to each other (bottom with respect and where triangular prisms protrude in Fig. 7), a plurality of first optical microscopic structures regularly arrayed (triangular prisms of prism sheet 23, Fig. 7) and formed on the second side, an optical film (condensation part 21, Fig. 7) located on the first side of the light-transmitting structure and a color conversion layer (phosphor film 22, Fig. 7) spaced apart from the first optical microscopic structures and located between the optical film and the light-transmitting structural layer (Fig. 7), the color conversion layer being in direct contact with the first side of the light-transmitting structural plate (Fig. 7) configured to convert a color of the light ray (“the phosphor film 22 of color switching function change amount of wavelength of light (e.g., a portion of blue light emitted from the LED33 is converted into the amount of red light and/or green light”).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide a color conversion layer in direct contact with the structural plate as taught by Horiguchi with the system as disclosed by Ha. The motivation would have been to control the angle of incidence into the color conversion layer and thus control the degree to which color is converted (“a prism film 23 to change the optical path before the incident to the phosphor film 22 so that the light from the phosphor film 22, so that the light incident surface 221 into the light path of the inside of the phosphor film 22 becomes long”).
Regarding claim 2, Ha discloses each of the first optical microscopic structures has a base connected with the light-transmitting structural plate (inherent to a geometry of ellipsoidal lenses with linear portions 64 arrange to intersect along a plane substantially orthogonal to an ellipse axis, Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 3, Ha discloses adjacent two of the bases are in contact with each other (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 4, Ha discloses each of the first optical microscopic structures has a surface connected with a corresponding one of the bases, adjacent two of the surfaces are in contact with each other at corresponding two of the bases (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 5, Ha discloses a distance on a plane parallel with the light-transmitting structural plate between adjacent two of the surfaces increases in a direction away from the light-transmitting structural plate (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 7, Ha discloses each of the bases defines a width, each of the first optical microscopic structures defines a height relative to a corresponding one of the bases, the height is larger than the width (“a length of a long axis of the virtual oval may be "a" while a length of a short axis of the virtual oval may be "b." In this case, a ratio (a/b) of the length "a" of the long axis to the length "b" of the short axis may be about 2.2 to about 3.5” & “the distance between every two adjacent lenses of the lens pattern 63 is defined as a pitch P.sub.1 (see FIG. 2), the pitch P1 of the lens pattern 63 may be about 160 µm to about 250 µm. In addition, a height h1 of the lens pattern 63 and the pitch P.sub.1 of the lens pattern 63 may satisfy the following inequality: about 0.8 ≤ h1/(2xP1) ≤ 1.35.”; Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 8, Ha discloses the heights of the first optical microscopic structures are equal (Fig. 3 & 12).
Regarding claim 9, Ha discloses each of the first optical microscopic structures has a tip defining a corresponding one of the heights, a distance between tips of adjacent two of the optical microscopic structures in contact with each other is equal to the width of one of the bases (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 10, Ha discloses the widths of the first optical microscopic structures are equal (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 11, Ha discloses each of the first optical microscopic structures is a symmetrical structure (Figs. 3 & 12; col. 6, ll. 3-62).
Regarding claim 12, Ha discloses the first optical microscopic structures and the light-transmitting structural plate are of an integrally formed structure (Figs. 3 & 12).
Regarding claim 13, Ha discloses a plurality of second optical microscopic structures regularly arrayed and formed on the first side (moire pattern embodiment of surface 61 and elliptical lens pattern 63, Fig. 5).
Yoon discloses a binding layer 31 intervening a first side of the substrate 61 and the wavelength conversion layer 40 (Fig. 5). For this reason, a plurality of second structures disclosed in Ha could be modified, in view of Ha to include a color conversion layer spaced from the first plurality of second structures.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 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.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER STANFORD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872