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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-6 & 8-20 in the reply filed on 08/17/2026 is acknowledged.
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 15-17 & 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM et al (US Pub. 2015/0060790) in view of WOO et al. (US Pub. 2022/0246710).
Regarding claim 15, KIM teaches a display device comprising:
a plurality of unit pixel areas (Fig. 1-3, a plurality of unit pixel areas are positioned in the pixel region 10);
a first thin film transistor in a unit pixel area from among the plurality of unit pixel areas (Fig. 2-3 and Para [0060 & 0071]), and comprising a first active layer 140 on a substrate 10 (Fig. 3);
a second thin film transistor in the unit pixel area, and comprising a second active layer 140 (another one of the TFTs taught in Fig. 1-3 and associated text);
a plurality of conductive layers (e.g. 180, 220, 240, 260, 320, 340, 560) in the unit pixel area, and comprising a plurality of wires and conductive patterns electrically connected to the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor (Fig. 1-3 and associated text);
a valley portion (openings 580a and/or 580b) surrounding the unit pixel area, and penetrating at least some of a plurality of insulating layers (120, 160, 200) overlapping with the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor (Fig. 3); and
a plurality of stacked structures in the valley portion (note the plurality of stacked structures), and comprising one or more patterns at the same layer as those of the plurality of conductive layers, and the plurality of insulating layers, and are stacked (Fig. 3, also see Fig. 5-7).
PNG
media_image1.png
886
980
media_image1.png
Greyscale
KIM is silent on wherein the second active layer is at a layer different from that of the first active layer.
However, WOO discloses a display device, wherein a second active layer is at a layer different from that of the first active layer. This has the advantage of reducing circuitry footprint to perhaps optimize pixel density and light emission area. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to modify the invention of KIM with the active regions, as taught by WOO, so as to obtain an improved display device.
Regarding claim 16, the combination of KIM and WOO teaches the display device of claim 15, wherein the plurality of unit pixel areas are located along a first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction, and wherein the valley portion comprises a portion extending in the first direction and the second direction (KIM’s Fig. 1-4 & WOO’s Fig. 13 and respective texts).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of KIM and WOO teaches the display device of claim 16, wherein a stacked structure from among the plurality of stacked structures is located in an area where the portion of the valley portion extending in the first direction and the portion of the valley portion extending in the second direction cross each other (KIM’s Fig. 1-4 & WOO’s Fig. 13 and respective texts).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of KIM and WOO teaches the display device of claim 15, wherein a stacked structure from among the plurality of stacked structures comprises one or more of: a plurality of metal patterns at the same layer as those of the plurality of conductive layers, respectively; and a plurality of insulating patterns at the same layer as those of the plurality of insulating layers, respectively (KIM’s Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of KIM and WOO teaches the display device of claim 15, wherein a stacked structure from among the plurality of stacked structures does not overlap with the conductive patterns and the wires electrically connected to any one of the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor (KIM’s Fig. 1-3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
Claim 18 is 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 TIMOR KARIMY whose telephone number is (571)272-9006. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 8:30 AM -5:00 PM.
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 at (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TIMOR KARIMY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
