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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in
Japan (JP 2023-145916) on September 08, 2023. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/17/2024 and 05/02/2025 are
being 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.
Rejection note: Italicized claim limitations are limitations not explicitly disclosed in the primary
reference but disclosed in the secondary reference.
Claims 1-5, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsiang et al. (US 20190172760 A1), in view of Chang et al. (US 20210313308 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Hsiang et al. teaches a display device, comprising:
a first substrate 50 including a plurality of light-emitting elements 11, 12 arranged two-dimensionally (Fig. 3C: 11, 12, 50, paragraph 0023);
Note that only two light-emitting elements 11, 12 of the array of a plurality of light-emitting elements are shown for simplicity in Fig. 3C (see paragraph 022).
and a second substrate stacked on the first substrate 50 (see annotated Fig. 3C: 50, second substrate, paragraph 0023),
Note that the layer surrounding the light-emitting elements 11, 12 is interpreted as the second substrate.
wherein at least the second substrate is transparent,
and the second substrate includes a repair light-emitting element 20 arranged on the second substrate 20 at a position thereon that corresponds to a defective light-emitting element 11 on the first substrate 50, the defective light-emitting element 11 being from among the light-emitting elements 11, 12 (see annotated Fig. 3C: 50, second substrate, 20, 11, 12, paragraph 0024).
Chang et al. teaches a display device, comprising the following limitations not disclosed by Hsiang et al.:
wherein at least the second substrate 29 is transparent (Fig. 1: 29, paragraph 0020).
Note that according to paragraph 0020, the region other than pixel area of the green LED layer 20 is transparent, which implies the substrate 29 included in the layer 20 is also transparent.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have at least the second substrate be transparent. Doing so would ensure the light from the LEDs assembled on the first bottom substrate can pass through without being blocked by the second substrate, as recognized by Chang et al. (paragraph 0020).
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Annotated Fig. 3C of Hsiang et al. (US 20190172760 A1)
Regarding Claim 2, Hsiang et al. fails to explicitly teach the display device according to claim 1, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate have a same configuration.
However, Ono teaches wherein the first substrate 39 and the second substrate 29 have a same configuration (paragraph 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have the first substrate and the second substrate have a same configuration. Doing so would simplify the manufacturing process.
Regarding Claim 3, unlike Hsiang et al., Chang et al. teaches the display device according to claim 2, wherein a first interconnect 37 formed on a surface of the first substrate 39 has a same configuration as a second interconnect 27 formed on a surface of the second substrate 29 (Fig. 1: 29, 291, 39, 291, paragraph 0020, 0024).
Note that both the first interconnect 27 and the second interconnect 29 are discontinuous and includes a plurality of electrodes 271/371 spaced apart from each other (see paragraph 0020, 0024), and thus have the same configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have a first interconnect formed on a surface of the first substrate have a same configuration as a second interconnect formed on a surface of the second substrate. Doing so would simplify the manufacturing process.
Regarding Claim 4, unlike Hsiang et al., Chang et al. teaches the display device according to claim 3, further comprising: a drive circuit 291, 391 connected to the first interconnect 27 and the second interconnect 37, wherein the drive circuit 291, 391 is configured to simultaneously drive the light-emitting elements 31 on the first substrate 39 and a light-emitting element 21 on the second substrate 29 (Fig. 1: 291, 391, 27, 37, 21, 31, 29, 39, paragraph 0019, 0020, 0011).
Note that the drive circuit 271 drives the green light-emitting elements 21 while the drive circuit 271 drives the red light-emitting elements 31. Thus, the drive circuit 271, 371 should be configured to simultaneously drive the light-emitting elements 31 on the first substrate 39 and a light-emitting element 21 on the second substrate 29 in order to display a color image in the display panel.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have a drive circuit connected to the first interconnect and the second interconnect, wherein the drive circuit is configured to simultaneously drive the light-emitting elements on the first substrate and a light-emitting element on the second substrate. Doing so would ensure the light-emitting elements on the first substrate and a light-emitting element on the second substrate are simultaneously turned on.
Regarding Claim 5, unlike Hsiang et al., Chang et al. teaches the display device according to claim 1, wherein the second substrate 29 includes a plurality of light-emitting elements 21 formed on the second substrate 29 at positions thereon that do not overlap with positions of the plurality of light-emitting elements 31 on the first substrate 39 (Fig. 1: 21, 31, 29, 39, paragraph 0011).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have the second substrate include a plurality of light-emitting elements formed on the second substrate at positions thereon that do not overlap with positions of the plurality of light-emitting elements on the first substrate. Doing so would ensure the plurality of light-emitting elements formed on the second substrate do not block the light from the plurality of light-emitting elements on the first substrate.
Regarding Claim 7, Hsiang teaches the display device according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting elements are each a micro light-emitting diode (LED) (paragraph 0002).
Regarding Claim 8, Hsiang et al. teaches a repair method for repairing a defective light-emitting diode (LED) 11 in a display mounted with a plurality of micro LEDs 11, 12, the repair method comprising: stacking a second transparent substrate on a first substrate 50 including the defective LED 11, and mounting a repair LED 20 on the second transparent substrate at a position thereon that corresponds to the defective LED 11 (see annotated Fig. 3C: 50, second substrate, 20, 11, 12, paragraph 0024).
While Hsiang et al. fails to explicitly teach the second substrate is transparent, Chang et al. teaches a display device, wherein the second substrate 29 is transparent (Fig. 1: 29, paragraph 0020, 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have combined the teachings of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al., in order to have the second substrate be transparent. Doing so would ensure the light from the LEDs assembled on the first bottom substrate can pass through without being blocked by the second substrate, as recognized by Chang et al. (paragraph 0020).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 6, the prior art of record fails to explicitly disclose, teach or suggest the display device according to claim 3, wherein the first interconnect and the second interconnect each include a plurality of data lines and a plurality of scan lines, the first substrate includes the light-emitting elements at intersections between the plurality of data lines and the plurality of scan line, and the second substrate includes a repair light-emitting element at an intersection of: a selected data line that is selected from the plurality of data lines; and a selected scan line that is selected from the plurality of scan lines.
Note that Hsiang et al. only teaches a second interconnect 30, 40 on the second substrate that includes a plurality of data lines 30 and a plurality of scan lines 40 intersecting each other but does not teach a first interconnect on the first substrate 50 (see Fig. 3C). Further, While Chang et al. teaches a first interconnect 37 on the first substrate 39 (see Fig. 1: 37, 39), it does not explicitly teach the first interconnect includes a plurality of data lines and a plurality of scan lines intersecting each other. Thus, the combination of Hsiang et al. and Chang et al. fails to render obvious the above limitations of Claim 6.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAMNA F IQBAL whose telephone number is 571-272-1587. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8.30 am - 5.30 pm EST.
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/HAMNA FATHIMA IQBAL/Examiner, Art Unit 2817 07/10/2026
/Kretelia Graham/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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