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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 24 July 2024 has been entered.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (CN 110350106 A).
Note: Citations to Xu refer to the page/line numbers of the attached English translation.
With respect to claim 1: Xu teaches “a display substrate (throughout reference), comprising a display area (AA) and a bezel area (NAA), wherein the bezel area is located at a periphery of the display area (see Figs. 2, 4), and the bezel area is provided with a first barrier structure (300, 600) and a second barrier structure (110); in a direction perpendicular to a plane where the display substrate is located (see Fig. 1), the display substrate comprises a base substrate (100) and a drive structure layer (500), a light emitting structure layer (400), and an encapsulation structure layer (200) sequentially stacked on the base substrate (see Fig. 1), wherein the first barrier structure is disposed between the drive structure layer and the encapsulation structure layer (see Fig. 1), and the second barrier structure is disposed in the drive structure layer (see Fig. 1)”.
With respect to claim 25: Xu teaches “a display device (throughout reference), comprising the display substrate according to claim 1(see above)”.
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.
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.
Claims 2-4, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Jeon et al. (US 2022/0209184 A1).
With respect to claim 2: Xu teaches “The display substrate according to claim 1 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches that the second barrier structure is in a strip shape (see Fig. 4), and extension directions of the second barrier structure are consistent with an extension direction of an edge of the display area (see Fig. 4)”.
Xu does not explicitly state that the first barrier structure is in a strip shape, and extension directions of the first barrier structure are consistent with an extension direction of an edge of the display area”.
However, Jeon teaches a display substrate in which the first barrier structure (104) is in a strip shape (see Fig. 8), and extension directions of the first barrier structure are consistent with an extension direction of an edge of the display area (see Fig. 8).
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to implement both the barrier structures of Xu as strips along the edge of the display area as taught by Jeon in order to prevent the flow of the encapsulation material out of the display area (Jeon paragraph 137).
With respect to claim 3: Xu in view of Jeon teaches “the display substrate according to claim 2 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the first barrier structure comprises a first barrier dam (300) and a second barrier dam (600), and in a direction parallel to the plane where the display substrate is located, the bezel area comprises a first barrier area (area between edge of AA and 300) and a second barrier area (area between 300 and 600), the first barrier area is located between the display area and the first barrier dam (see Fig. 1), and the second barrier area is located between the first barrier dam and the second barrier dam (see Fig. 1); and the second barrier structure is disposed at, at least one position in the first barrier area (see Fig. 1) and the second barrier area”.
With respect to claim 4: Xu in view of Jeon teaches “the display substrate according to claim 3 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein in the direction perpendicular to the plane where the display substrate is located, a size of the first barrier structure is greater than or equal to a size of the second barrier structure (see Fig. 1), and a size of the second barrier dam is greater than or equal to a size of the first barrier dam (see Fig. 1); in an extension direction perpendicular to the edge of the display area, a size of the second barrier dam is greater than or equal to a size of the first barrier dam (see Fig. 1)”.
With respect to claim 19: Xu in view of Jeon teaches “the display substrate according to claim 2 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the second barrier structure comprises at least one strip-like convex structure (see Figs. 1-4), or the second barrier structure comprises at least one strip-like groove structure, or the second barrier structure comprises at least one strip-like convex structure and at least one strip-like groove structure”.
Claims 5-6, 8, 10-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Jeon as applied to claims 1-3 above, and further in view of Han et al. (US 2022/0115473 A1).
With respect to claim 5: Xu in view of Jeon teaches “the display substrate according to claim 3 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the drive structure layer comprises, a first conductive layer (500), and the second barrier structure is disposed in one or more of the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer (see Fig. 1), and the second conductive layer”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein the drive layer structure comprises, a first semiconductor layer, a first gate insulation layer, a second gate insulation layer, a second conductive layer, an interlayer insulation layer, a third conductive layer, a planarization layer, and a fourth conductive layer that are sequentially stacked on the base substrate”.
However, Han teaches a drive layer structure (Figs. 3-5) which comprises a first semiconductor layer (12), a first gate insulation layer (13), a first conductive layer (14/41), a second gate insulation layer (15), a second conductive layer (42), an interlayer insulation layer (16), a third conductive layer (17/18/105), a planarization layer (20/21), and a fourth conductive layer (23) that are sequentially stacked on the base substrate (see Figs. 3, 5)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the drive layer structure taught by Han in the display substrate of Xu in order to provide the transistors and capacitors used to drive the pixels of the display (Han paragraph 82).
With respect to claim 6: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 5 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the second barrier structure is a single-layer structure (see Fig. 2), the second barrier structure comprises a plurality (see Fig. 2) of strip-like (see Fig. 4) convex structures (see Fig. 2), the plurality of strip-like convex structures are disposed in one or more of the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer (see Fig. 2), and the second conductive layer; in the direction perpendicular to the plane where the display substrate is located, a size of any one of the convex structures is consistent (page 5 “Specifically, it can set the buffer film layer 100 of the flexible substrate, the second body 122 is higher than the first body 121 0.5 μm-1 μm. Meanwhile, the height of the convex part 110 can be 0.5 μ m-1 μm”). with a thickness of a film layer (122) on which the convex structure is located (see Fig. 2); or wherein the second barrier structure is a multilayer structure, and the second barrier structure comprises a plurality of strip-like convex structures disposed in a plurality of film layers of the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer, and the second conductive layer”.
With respect to claim 8: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 5 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein in the direction perpendicular to the plane where the display substrate is located, sizes of the plurality of strip-like convex structures are consistent with each other (see Fig. 2), any one of the convex structures comprises sub-convex structures located in the plurality of film layers (see Fig. 1), and orthographic projections of the plurality of sub-convex structures in a same convex structure on the base substrate are at least partially overlapped (see Fig. 1); or wherein in a direction away from the display area, and in any one of the first barrier area and the second barrier area, sizes of the plurality of strip-like convex structures are sequentially increased in the direction perpendicular to the plane where the display substrate is located (see Fig. 3)”.
With respect to claim 10: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 5 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the second barrier structure comprises a first convex structure (see Figs. 2, 3), a second convex structure (see Figs. 2, 3), and a third convex structure (see Figs. 2, 3)”.
Xu does not specifically teach that the convex structures are “disposed in the first semiconductor layer, disposed in the first semiconductor layer and the first conductive layer, disposed in the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer”.
However, Xu requires that the convex structures be disposed for the purpose of reducing the flow rate of organic material 210 of the packaging film 200 (page 4 “Therefore, in the packaging film 200 formation process, the organic material forming the organic layer 210 from the display region AA to non-display region NAA, raised portion 110 effectively reduces the flow rate of the organic material, the gradient of the slope so that the organic material flow caused by reduced, reducing the blocking dam 300 to the display area AA near the slope caused by the display area AA influence. distance so the blocking dam 300 can set the display area AA of the closer, so as to be beneficial to realize a narrow frame”) and in order to accomplish this the convex structures need to be formed in every layer in between the substrate 100 and the packaging film 200 (see Fig. 1; the convex structures are formed in wiring layer 500 and in the two unlabeled layers on either side of the wiring) including every layer that comprises wiring layer 500. Han teaches that such a wiring layer should comprise the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, for the purpose of forming the TFT’s that drive the display pixels, therefore in the combination the raised portions would necessarily be formed in the intervening layers of the wiring layer including the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer, in order to be able to accomplish the stated objective of slowing the flow rate of the packaging film (Xu page 4).
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the drive layer structure taught by Han in the display substrate of Xu in order to provide the transistors and capacitors used to drive the pixels of the display (Han paragraph 82).
With respect to claim 11: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 10 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the second convex structure comprises two second sub-convex structures (see Fig. 1), and orthographic projections of the two second sub-convex structures on the base substrate are at least partially overlapped (see Fig. 1); the third convex structure comprises three third sub-convex structures (see Fig. 1), respectively, and orthographic projections of the three third sub-convex structures on the base substrate are at least partially overlapped (see Fig. 1)”.
Xu does not specifically teach that the sub-structures are located in the first semiconductor layer, the first conductive layer, and the second conductive layer, respectively (they are located in drive structure layer 500 and in unlabeled layers).
However, Han teaches a drive layer structure (Figs. 3-5) which comprises a first semiconductor layer (12), a first gate insulation layer (13), a first conductive layer (14/41), a second gate insulation layer (15), a second conductive layer (42), an interlayer insulation layer (16), a third conductive layer (17/18/105), a planarization layer (20/21), and a fourth conductive layer (23) that are sequentially stacked on the base substrate (see Figs. 3, 5)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the drive layer structure taught by Han in the display substrate of Xu in order to provide the transistors and capacitors used to drive the pixels of the display (Han paragraph 82).
With respect to claim 12: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 6 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein the second barrier structure further comprises at least one strip-like groove structure disposed in one or more of the first gate insulation layer, the second gate insulation layer, and the interlayer insulation layer”.
However, Han teaches “wherein the second barrier structure further comprises at least one strip-like groove structure (31, 32, 33, 34) disposed in one or more of the first gate insulation layer, the second gate insulation layer, and the interlayer insulation layer (see Fig. 6)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display substrate of Xu with the grooves of Han in order to protect the display when it is cut from the mother substrate during manufacturing (Han paragraph 93).
With respect to claim 13: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “The display substrate according to claim 12 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein in the direction parallel to the plane where the display substrate is located, and in the first barrier area, the at least one groove structure is located between the display area and the convex structures; in the second barrier area, the at least one groove structure is located between the first barrier dam and the convex structures”.
However, Han teaches “wherein in the direction parallel to the plane where the display substrate is located, and in the first barrier area, the at least one groove structure (34) is located between the display area (310) and the convex structures (203); in the second barrier area, the at least one groove structure (33) is located between the first barrier dam (202) and the convex structures (unlabeled convex structure between 32 and 33)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display substrate of Xu with the grooves of Han in order to protect the display when it is cut from the mother substrate during manufacturing (Han paragraph 93).
With respect to claim 14: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 13 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein in any one of the first barrier area and the second barrier area, and in the direction perpendicular to the plane where the display substrate is located, heights of surfaces of the at least one groove structure and the convex structures in the second barrier structure on a side away from the base substrate are sequentially increased with respect to the base substrate (see Fig. 3)”.
With respect to claim 15: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 5 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein at least one of the third conductive layer and the fourth conductive layer extends to the bezel area in the direction parallel to the plane where the display substrate is located, at least one of the third conductive layer and the fourth conductive layer is provided with a second power supply line, and an orthographic projection of the second barrier structure on the base substrate is at least partially overlapped with an orthographic projection of the second power supply line on the base substrate”.
However, Han teaches “wherein at least one of the third conductive layer (105) and the fourth conductive layer extends to the bezel area (320) in the direction parallel to the plane where the display substrate is located (see Fig. 3), at least one of the third conductive layer and the fourth conductive layer is provided with a second power supply line (107), and an orthographic projection of the second barrier structure (201) on the base substrate is at least partially overlapped with an orthographic projection of the second power supply line on the base substrate (see Fig. 3)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display substrate of Xu with the power line connection taught by Han in order to connect to an external source of power (Han paragraph 88).
With respect to claim 16: Xu in view of Jeon and Han teaches “the display substrate according to claim 15 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein in the bezel area, a cross-sectional shape of an overlapping region between orthographic projections of the third conductive layer, the fourth conductive layer and the second barrier structure on the base substrate is consistent with a cross-sectional shape of the second barrier structure”.
However, Han teaches “wherein in the bezel area, a cross-sectional shape of an overlapping region between orthographic projections of the third conductive layer, the fourth conductive layer and the second barrier structure on the base substrate is consistent with a cross-sectional shape of the second barrier structure (see Fig. 3)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display substrate of Xu with the power line connection within the cross section of the second barrier structure taught by Han in order to connect to an external source of power (Han paragraph 88).
With respect to claim 17: Xu teaches “the display substrate according to claim 1 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “and the second barrier structure is disposed in one or more of the first semiconductor layer, the first gate insulation layer, the first conductive layer (see Fig. 1), the second gate insulation layer, the second conductive layer, and the interlayer insulation layer”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein the bezel area is provided with a gate driver on array (GOA) circuit, and an orthographic projection of the GOA circuit on the base substrate is not overlapped with an orthographic projection of the second barrier structure on the base substrate; or wherein the drive structure layer comprises a first semiconductor layer, a first gate insulation layer, a first conductive layer, a second gate insulation layer, a second conductive layer, an interlayer insulation layer, a third conductive layer, a planarization layer, and a fourth conductive layer that are sequentially stacked on the base substrate, and the second barrier structure is disposed in one or more of the first semiconductor layer, the first gate insulation layer, the first conductive layer, the second gate insulation layer, the second conductive layer, and the interlayer insulation layer”.
However, Han teaches “wherein the bezel area is provided with a gate driver on array (GOA) circuit, and an orthographic projection of the GOA circuit on the base substrate is not overlapped with an orthographic projection of the second barrier structure on the base substrate; or wherein the drive structure layer comprises a first semiconductor layer (12), a first gate insulation layer (13), a first conductive layer (14/41), a second gate insulation layer (15), a second conductive layer (42), an interlayer insulation layer (16), a third conductive layer (17/18/105), a planarization layer (20/21), and a fourth conductive layer (23) that are sequentially stacked on the base substrate (see Figs. 3, 5)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the drive layer structure taught by Han in the display substrate of Xu in order to provide the transistors and capacitors used to drive the pixels of the display (Han paragraph 82).
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the drive layer structure taught by Han in the display substrate of Xu in order to provide the transistors and capacitors used to drive the pixels of the display (Han paragraph 82).
Claim 20, 21, 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Jeon as applied to claims 1, 2, 19 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2020/0185647 A1).
With respect to claim 20: Xu in view of Jeon teaches “The display substrate according to claim 19 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein in an extension direction of the second barrier structure, a plurality of convex structure segments are comprised in a same strip-like convex structure, and a convex spacing structure is disposed between two adjacent convex structure segments; a plurality of groove structure segments are comprised in a same strip-like groove structure, and a groove spacing structure is disposed between two adjacent groove structure segments”.
However, Lee teaches “wherein in an extension direction of the second barrier structure (131), a plurality of convex structure segments (115-3) are comprised in a same strip-like convex structure (see Figs. 7-9), and a convex spacing structure (113-3) is disposed between two adjacent convex structure segments (see Figs. 7-9); a plurality of groove structure segments (spaces between 113-3b) are comprised in a same strip-like groove structure (see Fig. 7a), and a groove spacing structure is disposed between two adjacent groove structure segments (113-3b)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display of Xu with the segmented structure of Lee in order to reduce the flow rate of organic material while also preventing material from being trapped in between the first and second barrier structure (Lee paragraphs 151, 157).
With respect to claim 21: Xu in view of Jeon and Lee teaches “The display substrate according to claim 20 (see above)”.
Xu further teaches “wherein the second barrier structure comprises a plurality of convex structures arranged in a direction perpendicular to the edge of the display area (see Figs. 2, 4)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein a plurality of convex structure segments of the plurality of convex structures are arranged in an array, or the plurality of convex structure segments of the plurality of convex structures are arranged in a staggered manner; and wherein in a same convex structure, a first included angle and a second included angle are formed between extension directions of two adjacent convex structure segments and an extension direction of the convex structure, respectively, and the first included angle and the second included angle are located on two sides of the extension direction of the convex structure”.
However, Lee teaches “wherein a plurality of convex structure segments (115-3) of the plurality of convex structures are arranged in an array (see Figs. 7-9, 11-13), or the plurality of convex structure segments of the plurality of convex structures are arranged in a staggered manner; and wherein in a same convex structure, a first included angle and a second included angle are formed between extension directions of two adjacent convex structure segments and an extension direction of the convex structure (paragraph 155, when the triangle is selected), respectively, and the first included angle and the second included angle are located on two sides of the extension direction of the convex structure (see Fig. 8)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display of Xu with the array arrangement of convex structure segments taught by Lee in order to reduce the flow rate of organic material while also preventing material from being trapped in between the first and second barrier structure (Lee paragraphs 151, 157).
With respect to claim 23: Xu in view of Jeon and Lee teaches “The display substrate according to claim 21 (see above)”.
Xu does not specifically teach “wherein both the first included angle and the second included angle are less than or equal to 15 degrees, or wherein in the same convex structure, the plurality of convex structure segments comprises a plurality of convex structure combinations, at least two interconnected convex structure segments are comprised in a same convex structure combination, and the two adjacent convex structure segments form a third included angle toward the display area or toward the first barrier structure”.
However, Lee teaches “wherein both the first included angle and the second included angle are less than or equal to 15 degrees, or wherein in the same convex structure, the plurality of convex structure segments comprises a plurality of convex structure combinations (see Fig. 9), at least two interconnected convex structure segments are comprised in a same convex structure combination (115-3+115-3a), and the two adjacent convex structure segments form a third included angle toward the display area or toward the first barrier structure (see Fig. 9)”.
It would have been obvious at the time the application was effectively filed for one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the display of Xu with the array arrangement of convex structure segments taught by Lee in order to reduce the flow rate of organic material while also preventing material from being trapped in between the first and second barrier structure (Lee paragraphs 151, 157).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Byun et al. (US 20190006442 A1), which teaches a display device.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL J. LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-5721. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ABDULMAJEED AZIZ can be reached at (571)270-5046. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHANIEL J LEE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875
/EVAN P DZIERZYNSKI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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