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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 contains the limitation “the first voltage line may at least partially overlap the second voltage line in a vertical direction”. This limitation renders the claim indefinite as it is not clear if the structure that follows the “may” is required by the claim or not and what precise structural limitations would be required. For examining purposes, said limitation will be disregarded as the broadest reasonable interpretation of the limitation is that it is not required.
Claims 2-22 are similarly rejected as they incorporate the unclear subject matter of claim 1 without remedy.
Claims 4, 8 and 19 recite the limitation “the first insulating layer”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The claim shall be read as referring to an insulating layer.
Claims 9 and 10 recites the limitation “the metal wire”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The claim shall be read as referring to a metal wire.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-11 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park (US 2016/0190228 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Park discloses a display device (the embodiment of Fig 3, with reference to Fig 1C per ¶244) comprising: a display element disposed on a substrate (160) and including a pixel electrode (184), a common electrode (190), and an intermediate layer including an organic material (188) interposed between the pixel electrode and the common electrode; a first voltage line (344) that supplies a common voltage (ELVSS) to the display elements and surrounds the entire display area; a second voltage line (130) that supplies a driving voltage (ELVDD) to the display element and is disposed to correspond to one side of the display area; wherein the first voltage line and the second voltage line are disposed on different layers (best illustrated in Fig 1C, where 334 corresponds to 134b and 130 corresponds to 130b), all edges of the common electrode are electrically connected to the first voltage line (per ¶7 and as is convention in the art, ELVSS supplies voltage to the cathode), and the first voltage line may at least partially overlap the second voltage line in a vertical direction.
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Regarding claim 2, Park discloses that the common electrode and the first voltage line are connected to each other through a conductive layer (the fingers of 130 that extend to each pixel), and the conductive layer has a same material as the pixel electrode (¶166).
Regarding claim 3, Park discloses that the substrate includes a display area (DA), a peripheral area (PA) around the display area, and a pad area located in the peripheral area, the second voltage line is disposed between one side of the display area and the pad area (per Fig 3, the connection between the driving elements and ELVDD, per ¶152).
Regarding claim 4, Park discloses a driving circuit (114 per ¶115 & ¶116) located on the substrate in the peripheral area and transmitting an electric signal to the display area, wherein the driving circuit is covered by an insulating layer, as the peripheral components will be covered by an insulating bezel to fabricate the display.
Regarding claim 5, Park discloses a first insulating layer (any one of 176. 178 or 180) disposed between the substrate and the pixel electrode, a second insulating layer (any of 178, 180 or 182 above the layer selected to be the first insulating layer) disposed between the first insulating layer and the pixel electrode.
Regarding claim 6, Park discloses an interlayer insulating layer (178) disposed between the substrate (160) and the first insulating layer (180), wherein the second voltage line (130b) disposed on the interlayer insulating layer.
Regarding claim 8, Park discloses a metal wire (172) disposed on a first insulating (178) layer (178), and wherein the metal wire contacts the pixel electrode.
Regarding claim 9, Park discloses a metal wire disposed between the first voltage line and the common electrode (the sections of 134 which extend into the DA outside of the outer ring of 134).
Regarding claim 10, the first voltage line has a same structure as a metal wire.
Regarding claim 11, the second voltage line (¶155) has a same material as a source electrode and a drain electrode of the thin-film transistor(¶127), both being of the same material as data line 120.
Regarding claim 17, Park discloses that the common electrode has at least four edges (to define the rectangular display area), and at least four edges of the common electrode are electrically connected to the first voltage line (as electrical connection extends to the entirety of a conductor).
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.
Claim(s) 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kamiya (US 2017/0365813 A1).
Park discloses an encapsulation including an inorganic layer and an organic layer for protecting the organic light emitting element (¶9) but does not further detail said encapsulation.
Kamiya discloses a display device (Fig 5) having a first inorganic encapsulation layer (128), an organic encapsulation layer (130), and a second inorganic encapsulation layer (132) sequentially stacked on the organic light-emitting device, wherein the first inorganic encapsulation layer and the second inorganic encapsulation layer contact each other outside the organic encapsulation layer.
The encapsulation of Kamiya represents a standard method of encapsulating an OLED display. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the encapsulation of Kamiya to encapsulate the display disclosed by Park as a matter of using a known and standard means in the art to protect a display device.
Regarding claim 19, Kamiya discloses a first partition (120) located on the substrate in the peripheral area (118) and spaced apart from an insulating layer (156), wherein the first inorganic encapsulation layer and the second inorganic encapsulation layer extend to the outside of the first partition.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL P SHOOK whose telephone number is (571)270-7890. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Mon-Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WILLIAM KRAIG can be reached at (571)272-8660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL P SHOOK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
