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 .
Status of Prosecution
This office action considers claims 1-20, in Claims - 07/29/2024 (version 2/3), pending for prosecution and are examined on their merits.
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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Notes: when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, as (100; Fig 2; [0049] or C 18, L 18-37)= (element 100; Figure No. 2; Paragraph No. [0049]) or Column No 18, Line Nos. 18-17. For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” or “Column No, Line Nos" shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. . The primary reference citation may not be preceded by the inventor tag, wherein the other reference citation will carry inventor tag. These conventions are used throughout this document.
Claim 1 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG, HAO et al. (CN 111564130 A, published 08-21-2020), hereinafter referenced as Zhang, (US 20230027375 A1) having same family ID hereby being used for clearer citations; in view of LIM; Sang Hoon et al. (US 20200365676 A1); hereinafter Lim).
Regarding Claim 1. Zhang teaches a display panel (display panel; Fig 1; [0046]), comprising (See the entire document Figs 2,5, along with other Figures and relevant disclosures, specifically; as cited below):
a display region (100; Fig 2; [0049]) and a bezel region (200, labelled as peripheral region) located at a periphery of the display region,
wherein the display region (100) comprises a plurality of data lines (101,102; [0049,0058]) and a plurality of sub-pixels (sub-pixels {0056]), and the plurality of data lines are electrically connected with the plurality of sub-pixels;
the bezel region (200) comprises a crack detecting line ( First/second crack detection line; Fig 2; [0049-0050]) and a plurality of detection control units (51,52; Fig 2; [0050]), the crack detecting line is electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of data lines (101.102) through the plurality of detection control units (51,52), and
But, Zhang does not expressly disclose, the crack detecting line comprises at least one mark pattern configured as an alignment mark used in a process.
However, in the analogous art, Lim teaches a display device having align marks to facilitate assembly of the layers of the device during manufacture [0002], having [0021] a crack detection line extending along an edge of the display area and more details [0103] the first detection line MCD1 and the second detection line MCD2 may be fault detection lines (i.e., module crack detection lines) for detecting faults (e.g., line cracks) in the display device, may be disposed in an outermost portion of the display device, wherein[0029] the first conductive patterns or the second conductive patterns include an align mark, and wherein the align mark at least partially overlaps at least one conductive pattern among the first conductive patterns and the second conductive patterns. The align mark may be included in the first conductive patterns, and the align mark may overlap at least one of the second conductive patterns, more specifically (Fig 3; [0085]), the first align mark AM1 may include align patterns AMP1, AMP2, and AMP3. For example, the first align mark AM1 may be sequentially arranged along a first direction DR1, and may include the first to third align patterns AMP1 to AMP3 that are spaced apart from each other or are separated from each other.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention, to include Lim’s alignment pattern into Zhang’s crack lines, thereby the combination of (Zhang and Lim) comprises the crack detecting line (of Zhang) comprises at least one mark pattern (Lim) configured as an alignment mark used in a process, since this inclusion, at least, align patterns in consideration of functions thereof (e.g., identification marks for alignment, identification marks for defining a bezel, or the like) {Lim [0088]}.
Regrading Claim 12. the combination of (Zhang and Lim) as applied to the display panel according to claim 1, further teaches, wherein the bezel region (200) comprises a plurality of crack detecting lines , the plurality of crack detecting lines ( First/second crack detection line; Fig 2; [0049-0050]) are arranged symmetrically with a centerline of the display region as an axis (fig 2), and mark patterns (Lim Fig 3) are arranged symmetrically with the centerline of the display region as the axis.
Regrading Claim 13. the combination of (Zhang and Lim) as applied to the display panel according to claim 1, further teaches, wherein the mark pattern (Lim Fig 3) and the crack detecting line ( First/second crack detection line; Fig 2; [0049-0050]) are located in different film layers, and the mark pattern (Lim Fig 3) is connected to the crack detecting line through a via ([0051]).
Regrading Claim 14. the combination of (Zhang and Lim) as applied to the display panel according to claim 1, further teaches, wherein the bezel region (200) further comprises ([0048,0084]) a gate drive circuit , a power supply signal line and an isolation dam arranged sequentially at intervals along a direction away from the display region, the crack detecting line is located between the power supply signal line and the isolation dam.
Regrading Claim 15. A display apparatus ([0110], comprising the display panel as applied by the combination of (Zhang and Lim) according to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11, 16-20 are 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: The prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the combination of limitations including the crack detecting line comprises a plurality of winding segments, the plurality of winding segments comprises a second winding segment and a first winding segment arranged at intervals along a direction away from the display region , and the first winding segment comprises the at least one mark pattern). For this reason, claim 2 is found to contain allowable subject matter.
Claim 9 depends on claims 3-11, 16-20, and thus also contains the same allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
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/MOAZZAM HOSSAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
July 28, 2026
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