Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Foreign Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
An information disclosure statement has not been received. If the applicant is aware of any prior art or any other co-pending applications not already of record, he/she is reminded of his/her duty under 37 CFR 1.56 to disclose the same.
Drawings
There are no objections or rejections to the drawings.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “an N-type electrode”. It is unclear what is meant by an N-type electrode in light of the specification which provides that the N-type electrode 14 may be a single-layer, double-layer, or multi-layer metal structure, for example, a laminated structure or an alloy structure such as Ti/Al, Ti/Al/Ti/Au, Ti/Al/Ni/Au, V/Al/Pt/Au, AuGe, and AuGeN. The use of the term N-type denotes a semiconductor material because semiconductors can be N type or P type. Metals cannot be N type. It is unclear how an N-type electrode could actually be N-type when the specification defines the materials make it up to include metals. Additionally, electrodes are more commonly made of metal, not semiconductors. Because of this conflict, one of ordinary skill in the relevant art would not know what structures/steps are covered by the limitation. For these reasons, the claim is indefinite. In the interest of compact prosecution, the limitation an N-type electrode will be interpreted consistent with the specification and the words N-type will be treated as a label, and not an indication of semiconductivity of the electrode.
Claims 2-20 depend from rejected claim 1, include all limitations of claim 1 and therefore are rejected for the same reason.
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 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 pre-AIA 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.
(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 1, 2, 4, 16-17 and 19 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Seo et al. (US Patent Application Publication No 2013/0009197) hereinafter referred to as Seo.
Insofar as definite, per Claim 1 Seo discloses a light emitting diode device (see figures 1-2b), comprising
a substrate (21), an epitaxial structure comprising [0006] a P-type semiconductor layer (27), a light emitting layer (25), and an N-type semiconductor layer (23) stacked sequentially; (see figure 2a).
an N-type electrode (33) connected to the N-type semiconductor layer (23) and comprising a starting electrode (33) and X extension electrodes (33a), X≥2 and X is a positive integer (see figure 1), the X extension electrodes are connected to the starting electrode, and the X extension electrodes are spaced apart along an edge of the starting electrode (as shown in figure 1); (The examiner notes that (33) can be Cr/Au [0074]. This is consistent with the definition in the specification that the N-Type electrode can be a single-layer, double-layer, or multi-layer metal structure (see Applicant’s Specification [0032])
a transparent conductive electrode (29) connected to the P-type semiconductor layer (27);
wherein the transparent conductive electrode (29) is a distributed electrode and comprises Y surrounding electrodes independent to each other, Y≥2 and Y is a positive integer, Y≤X (as shown in figure 1), and a first projection of each of the surrounding electrodes on a horizontal plane surrounds a second projection of an extension end of a corresponding extension electrode on the horizontal plane (as shown in figure 1)
Insofar as definite, per Claim 2 Seo discloses the device of claim 1 (see figures 1-2b), including where a portion of a corresponding surrounding electrode (29, left) is between two adjacent extension electrodes 33a and 33b).
Insofar as definite, per Claim 4 Seo discloses the device of claim 1 (see figures 1-2b), including where the transparent conductive electrode (29) is located on a side of the P-type semiconductor layer (27) away from the light emitting layer (25), and the N-type electrode (33) is located on a side of the N-type semiconductor layer (23) away from the light emitting layer (25). (as shown in figure 2a)
Insofar as definite, per Claim 16 Seo discloses the device of claim 1 (see figures 1-2b), including a light emitting device, wherein the light emitting device adopts the light emitting diode according to claim 1. [0005]
Insofar as definite, per Claim 17 Seo discloses the device of claim 2 (see figures 1-2b), including where
Insofar as definite, per Claim 19 Seo discloses the device of claim 4 (see figures 1-2b), including where
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-15 and 18 20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Cited Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicants are directed to consider additional pertinent prior art included on the Notice of References Cited (PTOL 892) attached herewith.
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant.
Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMI VALENTINE MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-9786. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
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, Eva Montalvo can be reached on (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jami Valentine Miller/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
Prosecution Insights