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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicants’ election without traverse of Group I, Species A, claims 1-14, figures 1-9 and 11A-11B in the reply filed on September 28, 2026, is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 15-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 3, 2026, was considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2020/0013330 A1) (“Samsung I”), in view of Li et al. (US 2022/0052032 A1) (“Samsung II”).
Regarding claim 1, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
a substrate (101) including a display area (DA) and a non-display area (NA),
the non-display area (NA) including a pad area (PA);
a transistor (121/105 et al.) and a conductive pattern (122) on the substrate (101) in the display area (DA);
a via layer (113) on the transistor (121/105 et al.) and the conductive pattern (122) to cover the transistor (121/105 et al.) and the conductive pattern (122);
a plurality of pads (CP1) on the substrate (101) in the pad area (PA); and
a dummy pattern (113) on the substrate (101) in the pad area (PA), and spaced from the plurality of pads (CP1),
wherein the via layer (113 in DA) and the dummy pattern (113 in PA) comprise a same material (113 in DA is the same material as 113 in PA).
Kim does not teach:
a first alignment electrode and a second alignment electrode on the via layer and spaced from each other;
a light emitting element between the first alignment electrode and the second alignment electrode;
a first electrode and a second electrode that are spaced from each other, and electrically connected to the light emitting element.
This is because Samsung I shows:
Using OLEDs instead of micro-LEDS.
However, Kim teaches in ¶ 0060
In the following embodiments, there is exemplified a case where an organic light emitting display panel is applied as a display panel, but the present disclosure is not limited, and other types (or kinds) of display panels such as a liquid crystal display panel, a quantum nano emitting display panel, a micro-LED, a field emission display panel, and an electrophoretic display panel may be applied as the display panel.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art based upon the teachings of Samsung I to use another Samsung reference which teaches micro-LEDs.
Samsung II teaches:
a first alignment electrode (ELT1) and a second alignment electrode (ELT2) on the via layer (Samsung I, which can be one of the ILD layers of Samsung II, ¶ 0156, where there can be “at least one interlayer insualting layer (ILD)”. The term “at least one means there can be more than one, but must have one, i.e. one or more) and spaced from each other (ELT1 and ELT2 are so spaced);
a light emitting element (LD) between the first alignment electrode (ELT1) and the second alignment electrode (ELT2);
a first electrode (CNE1) and a second electrode (CNE2) that are spaced from each other (they are so spaced), and electrically connected to the light emitting element (CNE1 and CNE2 are electrically connected to LD).
As stated above it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to swap out the OLED of Samsung I for the micro-LED of Samsung II because Samsung I teaches that one of ordinary skill in the art would know how to do this. Samsung II teaches how to connect the micro-LED to the transistors beneath the OLED.
Regarding claim 2, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
wherein the via layer (113 in DA) and the dummy pattern (113 in PA) are in a same layer (113).
Regarding claim 3, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
wherein the dummy pattern (113 in PA) is adjacent to an edge of each of the plurality of pads (edges of 123).
Regarding claim 4, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
wherein the dummy pattern (113 in PA) is between two adjacent pads (at least two 123s) of the plurality of pads (123).
Regarding claim 14, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
further comprising (detailed below):
a color conversion layer on the light emitting element and configured to change a wavelength of light emitted from the light emitting element; and a color filter on the color conversion layer (¶ 0132, where one can include a light conversion layer and a color filter on the LED. Based upon this paragraph it would have been obvious that the light conversion layer could be closer to the LED, and the color filter could be on the light conversion layer).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-13 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 5, Samsung I teaches in figure 20 et al.:
a passivation layer (112) located between the substrate (101) and the via layer (113 in DA) in the display area (DA), and located between the substrate (101) and the dummy pattern (113 in PA) in the pad area (PA);
a first insulating layer (151) on the via layer (113 in DA) in the display area (DA); and
Samsung I, and Samsung II do not teach:
a second insulating layer located on the first insulating layer in the display area, and located on the dummy pattern and the passivation layer in the pad area.
Regarding claims 6-13,
Claims 6-13 are dependent on claim 5, and are allowable for the reasons of claim 5 above.
Conclusion
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/VINCENT WALL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
