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 .
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 12 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Ju (US. Pub: 2019/0237521 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 28, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) a display panel, comprising: a base substrate (101); a light-emitting substrate (see fig. 5 below), provided on a side of the base substrate, wherein the light-emitting substrate comprises a plurality of sub-pixels (SP; [0049]; abstract); and a light-shielding layer group (510; [0083]), provided on a side of the light-emitting substrate away from the base substrate (101), wherein the light-shielding layer group (510) comprises at least two light-shielding layers (511, 512; [0095]-[0097]), a light-shielding layer comprises a plurality of light-shielding portions (see fig. 5 below), an orthographic projection of a light-shielding portion of each of the light-shielding layers (511, 512) on the base substrate at least partially overlaps with each other (see fig. 5 below), and the orthographic projection of the light-shielding portion (510) on the base substrate does not overlap with an orthographic projection of a sub-pixel on the base substrate (see fig. 5 below).
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Regarding claim 2, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) a distance between two adjacent light-shielding layers (511, 512) increases as a distance between a light-shielding layer close to or far away from the base substrate (101) and the base substrate increases.
Regarding claim 3, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) the light-shielding portion (510) is located on at least one side of the sub-pixel (SP) along a second direction (see fig. 5), the second direction is a peep-proof direction, and the second direction is parallel to a surface of the base substrate (101) close to the light-emitting substrate (see fig. 5).
Regarding claim 12, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) the light-shielding layer group (510) further comprises at least two spacing layers (511, 512), and a spacing layer (521) is provided between two adjacent light-shielding layers.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 10, 26 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ju (US. Pub: 2019/0237521 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) the display panel further comprises: an encapsulation layer (109, 501); [0081]) group, provided on a side of the light-emitting substrate away from the base substrate (see fig. 5 above), wherein at least a portion of a film layer of the encapsulation layer (501) group is reused as the light-shielding layer group, or the encapsulation layer group (109, 501) is provided between the light-emitting substrate and the light-shielding layer group.
Ju does not expressly disclose a thickness of the light-shielding layer is greater than or equal to 1 μm and less than or equal to 3 m.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to consider forming a thickness of the light-shielding layer of Ju greater than or equal to 1 μm and less than or equal to 3 m, since it has been held that a mere change in size of a component is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 26, Ju does not expressly disclose the display panel further comprises: a color film layer, provided on a side of the light-shielding layer group away from the base substrate, wherein the color film layer comprises a plurality of light-filtering portions, an overlapping portion is provided between two adjacent light-filtering portions, and an orthographic projection of the overlapping portion on the base substrate at least partially overlaps with the orthographic projection of the light-shielding portion on the base substrate.
However, it is well-known in the art to form display panel comprises a color film layer, provided on a side of the light-shielding layer group away from the base substrate, wherein the color film layer comprises a plurality of light-filtering portions, an overlapping portion is provided between two adjacent light-filtering portions, and an orthographic projection of the overlapping portion on the base substrate at least partially overlaps with the orthographic projection of the light-shielding portion on the base substrate as evident by Xu et al. (US. Pub: 2021/0375999 A1~ hereinafter “Xu”) at least fig. 4 ([0058]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the display delay device of Ju with the color filter teaching of Xu for the purpose of having a display device that emits light of different color.
Regarding claim 27, Xu discloses (in at least figs. 3 and 6) the display panel further comprises: a color film layer (31), provided on a side of the light-shielding layer group (321) away from the base substrate, wherein the color film layer (31) comprises a plurality of light-filtering portions (see at least fig. 6) and a light-blocking portion (32), the light-blocking portion (32) is provided between two adjacent light-filtering portions (31), and an orthographic projection of the light-blocking portion (32) on the base substrate at least partially overlaps with the orthographic projection of the light-shielding portion (321) on the base substrate. The reason for combining is the same as for claim 16.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 13-14, 17-18, 20 and 22-25 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.
Regarding claim 4, Ju discloses (in at least fig. 5) the plurality of sub-pixels (SP) comprise a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, and a third sub-pixel with different colors ([0020]; see fig. 4); a plurality of first sub-pixels (SP; Red) and a plurality of second sub-pixels ( are alternately arranged along a first direction to form a first pixel row (see fig. 4), but fails to disclose a plurality of third sub-pixels are arranged along the first direction to form a second pixel row, a plurality of first pixel rows and a plurality of second pixel rows are alternately arranged along the second direction, and a gap is provided between the first pixel row and the second pixel row; the light-shielding portion is configured as a strip shape extended along the first direction, and the orthographic projection of the light-shielding portion on the base substrate at least partially overlaps with an orthographic projection of the gap on the base substrate; the first direction is parallel to the surface of the base substrate close to the light-emitting substrate, and the first direction intersects with the second direction. Claims 5 and 6 are objected due to their dependency upon claim 4.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest the light-shielding layer group comprises three light-shielding layers, comprising a first light-shielding layer, a second light-shielding layer and a third light-shielding layer sequentially arranged in a direction from the light-emitting substrate to the base substrate; the first light-shielding layer comprises a plurality of first light-shielding portions, the second light-shielding layer comprises a plurality of second light-shielding portions, and the third light-shielding layer comprises a plurality of third light-shielding portions; an orthographic projection of a first light-shielding portion, an orthographic projection of a second light-shielding portion, and an orthographic projection of a third light-shielding portion on the base substrate overlap with each other; and the at least two spacing layers comprises: a first spacing layer, provided between the first light-shielding layer and the second light-shielding layer; and a second spacing layer, provided between the second light-shielding layer and the third light-shielding layer, wherein a refractive index of the first spacing layer is less than or equal to a refractive index of the second spacing layer. Claims 14, 17-18, 20 and 22-25 are objected due to their dependency upon claim 13.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELMITO BREVAL whose telephone number is (571)270-3099. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th~ 7:30-5:30.
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ELMITO BREVAL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2875
/ELMITO BREVAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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