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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a as being anticipated by KIRA SHUICHI et al (JP 2020154336 A)
Regarding Claim 1,
KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12) An electronic device, comprising: a panel having an active area (3B) and a peripheral area (where 1,2 are located) adjacent to the active area; a protective substrate (4) disposed opposite to the panel (8); and a first light-shielding structure (1,2) disposed on a surface of the protective substrate (4) and corresponds to the peripheral area, wherein a portion of the first light-shielding structure (1 and 2) overlapping the peripheral area has at least one opening (the gaps in between 1 and 2).
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.
Claim(s) 2-9,19,20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIRA SHUICHI et al (JP 2020154336 A) in view of YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi (US 20200394768 A1)
Regarding Claim 2,
KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12) wherein the first light-shielding structure comprises a first portion (2) and a second portion (1) adjacent to the first portion, a thickness of the first portion (2) is less than a thickness of the second portion (1), the first portion (2) is closer to the active area than the second portion (1), the first portion (2) has the at least one opening (gaps between 1 and 2), and a width of the first portion (2) is at least greater than or equal to 1 millimeter.
YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi discloses width of the light shielding layer is at least greater than or equal to 1 millimeter (TABLE 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify KIRA SHUICHI et al to include YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi’s width of the light shielding layer is at least greater than or equal to 1 millimeter motivated by the desire to shield desired light.
Regarding Claim 3,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi discloses wherein the thickness of the first portion is between 100 micrometers and 8000 micrometers (shown in Table 1).
Regarding Claim 4,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi discloses wherein the thickness of the second portion is between 200 micrometers and 16000 micrometers (see Table 1).
Regarding Claim 5,
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (This sub portion 1 is far away from this active area)]In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure below) wherein the first portion (2) of the first light-shielding structure (1,2) has a plurality of openings, the first portion (2) comprises n sub-portions arranged in sequence, n is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, a first sub-portion (2) among the n sub-portions is closest to the active area (3B), a second sub-portion (1) among the n sub-portions is adjacent to a side of the first sub-portion far away from the active area, a spacing between two adjacent openings in the first sub-portion is a first pitch, a spacing between two adjacent openings in the second sub-portion is a second pitch, and the first pitch is smaller than the second pitch.
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Regarding Claim 6,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein a difference between the second pitch and the first pitch is less than or equal to 20 micrometers.
Regarding Claim 7,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein in an arrangement direction of the first portion (2) and the second portion (1), the widths of at least two of the n sub-portions are different.
Regarding Claim 8,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein the first portion (2) comprises n sub-portions arranged in sequence, n is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, a first sub-portion (1) among the n sub-portions is closest to the active area, a second sub-portion among the n sub-portions is adjacent to a side of the first sub-portion far away from the active area, and a transmittance of the first sub-portion is greater than a transmittance of the second sub-portion.
Regarding Claim 9,
In addition to KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein the difference between the transmittance of the first sub-portion (2) and the transmittance of the second sub-portion (1) is less than or equal to 10%.
Regarding Claim 19,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein the first portion of the first light-shielding structure (2) has a plurality of openings, and in a normal direction of the protective substrate, a depth of at least one of the plurality of openings is smaller than the thickness of the first portion.
Regarding Claim 20,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al YOSHIZAWA; Hirotoshi, Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein the first portion of the first light-shielding structure (2) has a plurality of openings, and in a normal direction of the protective substrate, a depth of at least one of the plurality of openings is equal to the thickness of the first portion.
Claim(s) 10-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIRA SHUICHI et al (JP 2020154336 A) in view of Fuji (US 10928667)
Regarding Claim 10,
Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses everything as disclosed above.
Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al does not disclose a second light-shielding structure disposed in the peripheral area of the panel, wherein in a top-view direction of the electronic device, a part of the second light-shielding structure overlaps the first light-shielding structure.
Fuji discloses (Fig. 2A) a second light-shielding structure (5) disposed in the peripheral area of the panel, wherein in a top-view direction of the electronic device, a part of the second light-shielding structure overlaps the first light-shielding structure (6).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al to include Fuji’s second light-shielding structure (5) disposed in the peripheral area of the panel, wherein in a top-view direction of the electronic device, a part of the second light-shielding structure overlaps the first light-shielding structure (6) motivated by the desire to reduce reflectance from the first light shielding region (Column 4, lines 25-30)
Regarding Claim 11,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein the at least one opening (7) of the first light-shielding (5) structure overlaps the second light-shielding structure (6).
Regarding Claim 12,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein a profile of an inner edge of the second light-shielding (6) structure substantially corresponds to a profile of an inner edge of the first light-shielding structure (5).
Regarding Claim 13,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein a profile of an inner edge of the second light-shielding (6) structure does not correspond to a profile of an inner edge of the first light-shielding structure (5).
Regarding Claim 14,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein the first light-shielding structure (5) has a plurality of openings, and a dimension of the first opening (7) among the plurality of openings closer to the active area (7) is larger than a dimension of the second opening among the plurality of openings farther away from the active area.
Regarding Claim 15,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses further comprising a third light-shielding structure (5) disposed between the first light-shielding structure (2) and the protective substrate, wherein a transmittance of a part of the third light-shielding structure closer to the active area is higher than a transmittance of another part of the third light-shielding structure farther away from the active area (ABSTRACT).
Regarding Claim 16,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein the part of the third light-shielding structure (the left element 5) closer to the active area has a first thickness, the another part of the third light-shielding structure (the left element 5) farther away from the active area has a second thickness, and the first thickness is smaller than the second thickness.
Regarding Claim 17,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Fuji (Figure 2B) discloses wherein the part of the third light-shielding structure (5) closer to the active area has a relatively large light-transmitting area, and the another part of the third light-shielding structure farther away from the active area has a relatively small light-transmitting area.
Regarding Claim 18,
In addition to Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al and Fuji, Hirotoshi, KIRA SHUICHI et al discloses (Drawing 1 to Drawings 12 also see pasted figure above) wherein the first portion of the first light-shielding structure (2) has a plurality of openings, a density of a part of the plurality of openings closer to the active area is higher than a density of another part of the plurality of openings farther away from the active area.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUCY P CHIEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8579. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM PST M-F.
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/LUCY P CHIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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