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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
1. Applicant's election, without traverse, of claims 1-11, 17, and 20 in the “Response to Restriction Requirement” filed on 07/31/2026 is acknowledged and entered by the Examiner.
This office action considers claims 1-20 pending for prosecution, wherein claims 12-16 and 18-19 are withdrawn from further consideration, and claims 1-11, 17, and 20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Notes: when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, as (100; Fig 3A; [0063]) = (element 100; Figure No. 3A; Paragraph No. [0063]). For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. These conventions are used throughout this document.
2. Claims 1-2, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 20170031323 A1; hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a display panel (see the entire document, specifically Fig. 5; [0163+], and as cited below), comprising:
a base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]);
at least a dam ({BH, OL}; Fig. 7; [0033-0035, 0045]), provided on a side of the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]) and comprising a first organic layer (OL; Fig. 7; [0045]); and
an inorganic layer (PAS1; Fig. 7; [0049]), provided on a side of the dam ({BH, OL}; Fig. 7; [0033-0035, 0045]) away from the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]) and in contact with and connected to the first organic layer (OL; Fig. 7; [0045]), wherein the inorganic layer (PAS1; Fig. 7; [0049]) is provided with a first via (see Fig. 7) extending through the inorganic layer (PAS1; Fig. 7; [0049]), and an orthographic projection of the first via on the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]) overlaps an orthographic projection of the first organic layer on the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]).
Regarding claim 2, Kim teaches all of the features of claim 1.
Kim further teaches wherein the orthographic projection of the first via on the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]) is located within the orthographic projection of the first organic layer (OL; Fig. 7; [0045]) on the base plate (SUB; Fig. 7; [0031]).
Regarding claim 17, Kim teaches all of the features of claim 1.
Kim further teaches wherein the display panel comprises a display region (AA; Fig. 7 in view of Fig. 3; [0032]) and a non-display region (HLA; Fig. 7 in view of Fig. 3; [0033]) provided around the display region (AA; Fig. 7 in view of Fig. 3; [0032]), the at least a dam ({BH, OL}; Fig. 7; [0033-0035, 0045]) comprises a plurality of the dams ({BH, OL}; Fig. 7; [0033-0035, 0045]) provided in sequence along a direction from the display region (AA; Fig. 7 in view of Fig. 3; [0032]) to the non-display region (HLA; Fig. 7 in view of Fig. 3; [0033]), and each of the dams ({BH, OL}; Fig. 7; [0033-0035, 0045]) comprises the first organic layer (OL; Fig. 7; [0045]).
Regarding claim 20, Kim teaches all of the features of claim 1.
Kim further teaches a display apparatus (Fig. 7 in view of Figs. 3, 13-14; [0030-0037, 0038-0045, 0064-0065]), comprising the display panel according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim above).
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claim 3 (and claims dependent upon claim 3, namely claims 4-11) is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form, and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
4. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: A search of the prior art failed to disclose or reasonably suggest the limitations “further comprising: a first conductive line, provided on a side of the first organic layer facing to the base plate, wherein the first conductive line is provided with a second via extending through the first conductive line, the first via comprises a first sub-via, and an orthographic projection of the first sub-via on the base plate at least partially overlaps an orthographic projection of the second via on the base plate” of claim 3 (the individual limitations may be found just not in combination).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Omar Mojaddedi whose telephone number is 313-446-6582. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio J. Maldonado, can be reached on 571-272-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OMAR F MOJADDEDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2898
