DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/26/26, 11/19/2024 were filed after the mailing date of the application. 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 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.
Claims 1-4, 7, 16, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Du et al., US. Pub. No. 20220005909.
Regarding claim 1, Du discloses (Figs. 3A-9M):
a base substrate 1000, comprising a display region and a first bezel region (where bonding region 1200) located on a side of the display region,
a display structure layer (Fig. 4) located on the base substrate of the display region, wherein the display structure layer comprises a plurality of display region metal layers 1125, 1126, 1180 (Fig. 4),
a touch structure layer, located on a side of the display structure layer away from the base substrate (the auxiliary electrode layer 21130, Fig. 7b),
a plurality of contact pads 1210, 1211-1214, located in the first bezel region, wherein at least one contact pad of the plurality of contact pads comprises at least one contact pad metal layer (first contact pad metal layer 1215, and second contact pad metal layer 1217),
a first inorganic insulating layer 1230 (the insulating layer – abstract, [0063]), located in the first bezel region and on a side of the plurality of contact pads away from the base substrate, wherein the first inorganic insulating layer exposes at least part of surfaces of contact pad metal layers 1217 of the plurality of contact pads away from the base substrate (Figs. 3a-3b,
wherein, the contact pad metal layer 1210, 1217 of the at least one contact pad 1217 exposed by the first inorganic insulating layer 1230 and one of the plurality of display region metal layers 1180 of the display structure layer are of a same layer structure (abstract, the contact pad 1217 and the display metal layers 1180 are patterned from the same deposited metal stack, in a single metal deposition and photolithography step forms both the display wiring and pad to reduce process step).
Regarding claim 2, Du discloses the contact pad metal layer 1210 comprises a laminated structure of at least two metal materials (first contact pad layer 1215, second contact pad layer 1217).
Regarding claim 3, Du discloses the contact pad metal layer comprises three-layer laminated structure of Ti Al Ti [0051]
Regarding claim 4, Du discloses wherein the first inorganic layer 1230 covers an edge of the contact pad metal layer 1217 (leave the bonding surface exposed; [0005], [0027]-[0028], [0063]).
Regarding claims 7, Du, Figs. 1-9M, [0011] discloses: wherein the display structure layer comprises a plurality of sub-pixels, at least one of the sub-pixels comprises a light emitting element 2140, and pixel is electrically connected to the light emitting element through a first transfer electrode 2180 and a second transfer electrode 2270 located at a side of the first transfer electrode away from the base substrate, the contact pad metal layer 2212 (Fig. 7B) exposed by the first inorganic insulating layer and the second transfer electrode 2270 (Fig. 8A) are of a same layer structure.
Regarding claim 16, Du discloses the structure comprises a plurality of sub-pixels, at least one of the sub-pixels comprises a pixel circuit, light emitting element, and the pixel is connected with the light emitting element through a first transfer electrode, the contact pad metal layer exposed by the first inorganic layer and the first transfer electrode are of a same layer structure (Fig. 3B).
Regarding claim 19, Du discloses a display apparatus comprising the display panel according to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 17, 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du et al., US. Pub. No. 20220005909, in view of Hack et al, U.S. Pub No. 2018/0090720.
Regarding claim 23, Du discloses (Figs. 7A-7B):
a base substrate 2000, comprising a display region and a first bezel region located on a side of the display region,
a display structure layer TFT/OLED 2160 located on the base substrate of the display region (Figs. 7A-7B),
a touch structure layer (auxiliary electrode layer 21130) located on a side of the display structure layer away from the base substrate,
a plurality of contact pads 2210 located in the first bezel region (layers 2211-2212 located in the bonding region, Fig. 7B),
wherein orthographic projections of the touch structure layer and the color filter layer on the base substrate are not overlapped with orthographic projections of the plurality of contact pads on the base substrate (abstract; Figs. 7A-7B, the electrode layer 21130 and color filter layer 2144 terminating before the contact pad region 2210, they do not vertically overlap the contact pads).
Du fails to disclose a color filter layer located on a side of the touch structure layer away from the base substrate.
Hack discloses a color filter in the OLED display.
It would have been obvious o one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display panel of Du to include the color filte layer taught by Hac because Hack teaches that providing a color filter layer improves color reproduction, display quality and optical performance of the display.
Regarding claim 17, Du discloses (Figs. 7A-7B):
Wherein the touch structure layer comprises a touch buffer layer, a first touch conductive layer, insulating layer, second touch conductive layer, first inorganic insulating layer and the touch buffer layer are the same layer structure,
Du fails to disclose a color filter layer located on a side of the touch structure layer away from the base substrate.
Hack discloses a color filter in the OLED display.
It would have been obvious o one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display panel of Du to include the color filter layer taught by Hac because Hack teaches that providing a color filter layer improves color reproduction, display quality and optical performance of the display.
Claims 5, 6, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du et al., US. Pub. No. 20220005909.
Regarding claim 5, Du fails to disclose the overlapping length. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to acknowledge that the overlapping length constitutes a result-effective variable that would have been optimized through routine experimentation to achieve the desired contact reliability and electrical performance. Therefore, an appropriate overlapping length would have been an obvious matter of routine optimization.
Regarding claim 6, Du discloses a first inorganic insulating layer covering an edge of the contact pad metal layer. Although Du does not expressly disclose an embodiment in which the first inorganic insulating layer does not overlap the edge of the contact pad metal layer, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to vary the geometric relationship between the insulating layer and the contact pad, including providing no overlap, as a matter of routine optimization of the layout geometry. The overlap relationship represents one of several alternative geometric implementations of the insulating layer relative to the contact pad. The present application itself describes overlapping and not overlapping configurations as alternative exemplary implementation modes without identifying the presence or absence of overlap as producing a critical or unexpected technical result.
Regarding claim 8, Du discloses wherein the first bezel region comprises a signal access region, first and second signal access regions, the second is located at a side of the first signal access region away from the display region, the plurality of contact pads comprise a plurality of first contact pads located in the first signal access region and a plurality of second contact pads located in the second signal access region.
However, Du fails to mention a quantity of contact pad metal layer of first contact pads is greater than a quantity of contact pad metal layers of second contact pads. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to select different numbers of metal layers for different contact pads as a matter of routine optimization based on the particular electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing requirements of the respective signal access regions. Optimizing the number of metal layers to achieve the desired connection reliability and electrical performance would have been within the ordinary level of skill in the art.
Examiner Amendment
Claim 11 should be amended to depend on claim 8. Claim 11 is amended to change “according to claim 8” to --- according to claim 9 --- since claim 9 recited limitation of “firs contact pad metal layer, second pad metal layer, third pad metal layer, fourth pad metal layer” and claim 11 recited “a fifth contact metal layer and a sixth contact pad metal layer”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-12 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, since the prior made of record and considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure does not teach or suggest the claimed limitations having wherein the at least one first contact pad comprises a first contact pad metal layer, a second contact pad metal layer, a third contact pad metal layer, and a fourth contact pad metal layer that are sequentially stacked in a direction away from the base substrate.
Claims 13-15 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, since the prior made of record and considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure does not teach or suggest the claimed limitations having the display wherein the first bezel region further comprises a bending region and a fan-out trace region located at a side of the signal access region close to the display region, the fan-out trace region is located at a side of the bending region close to the display region, the fan-out trace region is at least provided with a plurality of touch leading out lines, the bending region is at least provided with a plurality of touch transfer lines, a touch bending connection line of the plurality of touch bending connection lines is electrically connected with a touch leading out line of the plurality of touch leading out lines and a touch transfer line of the touch transfer lines.
Claim 24 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, since the prior made of record and considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure does not teach or suggest the claimed limitations having the display further comprising a first inorganic insulating layer located in the first bezel region and on a side of the contact pads away from the base substate, the first inorganic insulating layer exposes at least part of surfaces of the contact pads, the first inorganic insulating layer and the touch buffer layer are of a same layer structure wherein the first bezel region comprises a first signal access region and a second signal access region, wherein the second signal access region is located at a side of the first signal access region away from the displayer region, the plurality of contact pads comprise a plurality of first contact pads located in the first signal access region and a plurality of second contact pads located in the second signal access region, a quantity of first contact pads is greater than a quantity of second contact pads.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAO P LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1785. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeff Natalini can be reached on 571-272-2266. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/THAO P LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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