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 § 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) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hack et al. (US. Pub: 2020/0373360 A1~hereinafter “Hack”) in view of Brown Elliot (US. Pub: 2012/0287148 A1~hereinafter “Brown”).
Regarding claim 1, Hack discloses (in at least fig. 3) a light emitting substrate (substrate), comprising light emitting elements (310, 320) of multiple types ([0012]); wherein the light emitting elements of different types are configured to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges ([0012]; i.e. the light blue and deep blue components).
Hack does not expressly disclose the light emitting elements of a respective type of the light emitting elements of multiple types are substantially evenly distributed in the light emitting substrate.
Brown discloses (in at least fig. 1A) a light emitting substrate comprised of, in part, light emitting elements (122; [0062]) of multiple types are substantially evenly distributed in the light emitting substrate (120) in order to provide a uniform luminance and to eliminate hotspots.
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 device of Hack with the light emitting elements arrangement of Brown in order to provide a uniform luminance and to eliminate hotspots.
Regarding claim 2, Hack discloses (in at least fig. 3) the light emitting elements (310, 320) of different types are configured to emit light of a blue color but different wavelength ranges ([0012]; i.e. the light blue and deep blue components).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of the light emitting substrate are arranged in an array comprising rows and columns (see at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7); and the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in at least one row of the array.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown does not expressly disclose a respective percentage of light emitting elements of the respective type in each of a plurality of areas of the light emitting substrate is substantially the same; and each area of the plurality of areas in the light emitting substrate includes at least 10 light emitting elements.
However, Hack discloses (in at least [0012]) the light emitting elements of different types are configured to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges (i.e. the light blue and deep blue components). Brown also discloses (in at least fig. 1) the light emitting components (122) are evenly distributed.
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 respective percentage of light emitting elements of the respective type in each of a plurality of areas of the light emitting substrate of Hack as modified by Brown substantially the same; and each area of the plurality of areas in the light emitting substrate includes at least 10 light emitting elements in order to provide a display device that eliminate hotspots with uniform luminance. Furthermore, it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in each row of the array.
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of the light emitting substrate are arranged in an array comprising rows and columns (see figs. 3, 6 and 7); and the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in at least one column of the array (see figs. 6 and 7).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in each column of the array.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6 and 7 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of the light emitting substrate are arranged in an array comprising rows and columns (see figs. 6 and 7); and the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in at least one row of the array and in at least one column of the array (see figs. 6 and 7).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6-8 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting elements (122) of multiple types are alternately arranged in each row of the array and in each column of the array.
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6- 9 and 10 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting substrate comprises light emitting elements (122) of N number of types, N being an integer equal to or greater than 2; and a percentage of light emitting elements of a n-th type in each of a plurality of areas in the light emitting substrate is substantially the same, 2≤n≤N.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6-7, 9 and 10 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) the light emitting substrate (120) comprises light emitting elements (122; 310, 320) of a first type and light emitting elements of a second type; wherein the light emitting elements of the first type and the light emitting elements of the second type are configured to emit a blue light (see at least [0012] Hack).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6-9 and 10 Brown; fig. 3, [0012] Hack) the light emitting elements (310, 320) of the first type are configured to emit a blue light having a wavelength in a range of 447 nm to 448 nm ([0012]); and the light emitting elements of the second type are configured to emit a blue light having a wavelength in a range of 452 nm to 453 nm ([0012]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6-7, 9 and 10 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) a display apparatus, comprising the light emitting substrate of claim 1, and a display panel (160) configured to receive light emitted from the light emitting substrate.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6- 9 and 10 Brown; fig. 3 Hack) a color conversion layer ([0057]; [0100] Brown; at least fig. 5 Hack) wherein the color conversion layer comprises: a plurality of color conversion blocks configured to convert light emitted from the light emitting substrate into a light of a different color (see at least fig. 5 Hack); and a plurality of light transmissive blocks configured to allow the light emitted from the light emitting substrate to transmit through without color conversion (see at least fig. 11 Hack).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Hack as modified by Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1, 3, 6-9 and 10 Brown; fig. 2 Hack) one or more driving circuits (see at least figs. 1A and 10 Brown) configured to adjust driving currents respectively provided to the light emitting elements of multiple types (see at least figs. 1A and 10).
Claim(s) 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brown Elliot (US. Pub: 2012/0287148 A1~hereinafter “Brown”) in view of Hack et al. (US. Pub: 2020/0373360 A1~hereinafter “Hack”).
Regarding claim 16, Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1A and 13) a splicing screen display apparatus, comprising a plurality of display units (best seen in at least figs. 1A and 13); wherein the plurality of display units comprise a plurality of display panels (fig. 13; [0118]-[0120]), and a plurality of light emitting substrates configured to provide light to the plurality of display panels (see fig. 13); a respective display unit of the plurality of display units (see at least figs. 1A and 13) comprises a respective display panel of the plurality of display panels (1300A, 1300B) and a respective light emitting substrate of the plurality of light emitting substrates (see fig. 13); and the plurality of display panels are spliced together to display an image (as evident by at least figs. 1A and 13); wherein the respective light emitting substrate comprises light emitting elements of multiple types (122; 1304, 1306, 1308, 1320, 1312); and light emitting elements of a respective type of the light emitting elements of multiple types (122; 1304, 1306, 1308, 1320, 1312) are substantially evenly distributed in the light emitting substrate.
Brown does not expressly disclose light emitting elements of different types are configured to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges.
Hack in the same field of a display device discloses (in at least fig. 3) light emitting elements (310, 320) of different types are configured to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges ([0012]; i.e. the light blue and the deep blue components).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the light emitting elements of Brown with the light emitting elements of Hack in order to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges. Also, it has been held that simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is obvious.
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Brown as modified by Hack discloses (in at least figs. 1A, 3, 6-10 and 13 Brown; figs. 5-11 Hack) the plurality of display units further include a plurality of color conversion layers configured to convert light emitted from the plurality of light emitting substrates; a respective display unit of the plurality of display units comprises a respective color conversion layer of the plurality of color conversion layers; the respective color conversion layer comprises: a plurality of color conversion blocks configured to convert a light emitted from the light emitting substrate into a light of a different color; and a plurality of light transmissive blocks configured to allow the light emitted from the light emitting substrate to transmit through without color conversion (see fig. 11 Hack).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Brown as modified by Hack discloses (in at least figs. 1A, 3, 6-10 and 13 Brown; figs. 5-11 Hack) the respective display unit further comprises one or more driving circuits configured to adjust driving currents respectively provided to the light emitting elements of multiple types; and the one or more driving circuits are configured to independently adjust driving currents, with respect to each type of the multiple types, provided to the light emitting elements of multiple types.
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Brown as modified by Hack discloses (in at least figs. 1A, 3, 6-10 and 13 Brown; figs. 5-11 Hack) the plurality of display units comprise driving circuits of multiple types (see at least fig. 1A); a respective display unit comprises a respective driving circuit of each type (see at least fig. 1A); driving currents in each of the plurality of display units are independently adjustable by the driving circuits of multiple types (fig. 1A; [0055]; [0062]); and a color coordinate of light emitted from each of the plurality of display units are independently adjustable by the driving circuits of multiple types (see at least fig. 1A; [0062]).
Regarding claim 20, Brown discloses (in at least figs. 1A, 3, 6-10 and 13) a method of operating a display apparatus comprising a light emitting substrate and a display panel configured to receive light emitted from the light emitting substrate (120); wherein the light emitting substrate includes light emitting elements (122) of multiple types; and light emitting elements (122) of a respective type of the light emitting elements of multiple types are substantially evenly distributed in the light emitting substrate; wherein the method comprises to adjust driving currents respectively provided to the light emitting elements of multiple types (see at least fig. 1A).
Brown does not expressly disclose driving the light emitting elements of different types to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges.
Hack in the same field of a display device discloses (in at least fig. 3) driving the light emitting elements of different types (310, 320) to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges ([0012]; i.e. light blue and deep blue).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace the light emitting elements of Brown with the light emitting elements of Hack in order to emit light of a same color but different wavelength ranges. Also, it has been held that simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is obvious.
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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