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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-11, 13, 15-16 and 20-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu e al. (CN210270463)
Re claim 1, Hu et al. discloses a device comprising a comprising a control substrate (2) comprising: a first face and a second face; a driving circuit layer (5), arranged on the second face of the control substrate and comprising a plurality of thin film transistors (paragraph 0025); a control electrode layer (42), and comprising a plurality of transparent control electrodes; an electrophoresis layer (1), arranged on a side of the electrophoresis layer away from the control electrode layer; an opposite substrate (3), arranged on a side of the electrophoresis layer away from the control substrate; the electrophoresis layer, comprising an electrophoretic material, the electrophoretic material comprising a plurality of color particles (Fig. 1, ref. 11), the color particles arranged in a colloidal solution ; and the electrophoresis display, comprising a color filter layer (4) arranged between the control substrate and the electrophoresis layer, the color filter layer comprises a plurality of color filter blocks with different colors, and the first face is a viewing face of the electrophoretic display (Fig. 1).
Hu et al. does not disclose that the driving circuit layer also comprises a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of data lines, at least one of the gate lines electrically connected to gates of the thin film transistors, at least one of the transparent control electrodes electrically connected to the source or the drain of one of the thin film transistors.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the driving circuit layer also comprises a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of data lines, at least one of the gate lines electrically connected to gates of the thin film transistors, at least one of the transparent control electrodes electrically connected to the source or the drain of one of the thin film transistors since doing so is well known in the art to form the basic structure of a thin film transistor pixel array.
Hu et al. also does not disclose the device wherein the electrophoretic material comprises a plurality of charged color particles and move through the colloidal solution under an influence of an electric field, the charged color particles comprising positively charged color particles and/or negatively charged color particles.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the electrophoretic material comprises a plurality of charged color particles and move through the colloidal solution under an influence of an electric field, the charged color particles comprising positively charged color particles and/or negatively charged color particles since doing so is well known in the art to form an electrophoretic display.
Re claim 2, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein a distance between the color filter layer and the electrophoretic layer is less than 30 µm.
Hu et al. does disclose the device wherein a distance between the color filter layer and the electrophoretic layer is only a few nanometers to improve viewing angle (paragraph 0023).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein a distance between the color filter layer and the electrophoretic layer is less than 30 µm since obtaining the device wherein a distance between the color filter layer and the electrophoretic layer is less than 30 µm to improve viewing angle is based on a result effective variable, requiring routine skill in the art.
Re claim 3, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein a thickness of the color filter block of the color filter is not more than 5 µm.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ the device wherein a thickness of the color filter block of the color filter is not more than 5 µm. It is well known in the art to obtain a thin color filter to improve brightness. Therefore, obtaining a device wherein a thickness of the color filter block of the color filter is not more than 5 µm to improve brightness is based on a result effective variable, requiring routine skill in the art.
Re claim 4, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein, the color filter layer (4) is disposed between the second face of the control substrate (2) and the driving circuit layer (5).
Re claims 5 and 6, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein the driving circuit layer, further comprises a thin film transistor. As to the product-by-product claim limitations “produced by a low-temperature manufacturing process, or an organic thin film transistor, wherein, a temperature of the low-temperature manufacturing process is less than 200 degrees Celsius”, "[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process” (MPEP 2113).
Re claim 7, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein the color filter layer is disposed between the driving circuit layer and the electrophoresis layer.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the color filter layer is disposed between the driving circuit layer and the electrophoresis layer since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Re claims 8-10, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein the color filter layer comprises a red color filter block, a green color filter block, and a blue color filter block (paragraph 0026), but does not disclose the device wherein the color filter layer comprises a black light-absorbing color block or a white light-reflecting color block.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the color filter layer comprises a black light-absorbing color block or a white light-reflecting color block since doing so is well known in the art to prevent light leakage and improve brightness, respectively.
Re claims 11, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein the electrophoresis layer comprises a plurality of micro-partition structure disposed on the control substrate, the micro-partition structure comprises a plurality of partitional walls to define a chamber configured to fill with the electrophoresis material (Fig. 1). Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein the micro-partition structures comprise polymer materials.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the micro-partition structures comprise polymer materials since polymer materials are well known in the art to be used as the partition structures since it is an insulating material.
Re claims 13, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein the electrophoresis layer comprises a plurality of micro-partition structure disposed on a side of the opposite substrate, the micro-partition structure comprises a plurality of partitional walls to define a chamber configured to fill with the electrophoresis material (Fig. 1). Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein the micro-partition structures comprise polymer materials.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the micro-partition structures comprise polymer materials since polymer materials are well known in the art to be used as the partition structures since it is an insulating material.
Re claims 15-16, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein a width of the gate line of the driving circuit layer and a width of the data lines is not more than 20 µm, wherein a sum of a width of the gate line of the driving circuit layer and a width of the data line is not more than 10 µm.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ the device wherein a width of the gate line of the driving circuit layer and a width of the data lines is not more than 20 µm, wherein a sum of a width of the gate line of the driving circuit layer and a width of the data line is not more than 10 µm since it is well known in the art to minimize the widths of the gate and data line to improve aperture ratio. Furthermore, "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation" (MPEP 2114.05).
Re claim 20, Hu et al. discloses the device wherein the color filter layer comprises a plurality of color filter blocks with different colors, but does not disclose the device comprising a plurality of holes disposed on at least one of the color filter blocks, and an area of at least one of the holes is not more than 100 µm 2.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device comprising a plurality of holes disposed on at least one of the color filter blocks since doing so is well known in the in the art to improve brightness. Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art for an area of at least one of the holes is not more than 100 µm 2 since determining the area of the holes to obtain a particular brightness is based on a result effective variable, requiring routine skill in the art. Furthermore, "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation" (MPEP 2114.05).
Re claim 21, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein, a sum of a line width of the gate line and a line width of the data line is not more than 10 µm, wherein along a direction looking from the first face of the control substrate into a display region of the electrophoretic display, an aperture ratio of the control substrate of the electrophoretic display is not less than 80%.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein, a sum of a line width of the gate line and a line width of the data line is not more than 10 µm, wherein along a direction looking from the first face of the control substrate into a display region of the electrophoretic display, an aperture ratio of the control substrate of the electrophoretic display is not less than 80% since minimizing the line widths of the gate and data lines and improving the aperture ratio is well known in the art to improve the brightness of the display. Furthermore, "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation" (MPEP 2114.05).
Re claims 22 and 23, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein the driving circuit layer further comprises a plurality of storage capacitors, at least the storage capacitor in a viewing area of the electrophoretic display comprises a first electrode being transparent, a second electrode being transparent, and an insulation layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are between the semiconductor part of the thin film transistor and the electrophoresis layer.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein the driving circuit layer further comprises a plurality of storage capacitors, at least the storage capacitor in a viewing area of the electrophoretic display comprises a first electrode being transparent, a second electrode being transparent, and an insulation layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are between the semiconductor part of the thin film transistor and the electrophoresis layer since doing so is well known in the art to reduce flickering.
Re claim 24, Hu et al. discloses does not disclose the device wherein charges on the transparent control electrodes attract the charged color particles with different charge polarities to accumulate on a surface of the electrophoresis layer close to the transparent control electrode to form an image on the viewing face.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein charges on the transparent control electrodes attract the charged color particles with different charge polarities to accumulate on a surface of the electrophoresis layer close to the transparent control electrode to form an image on the viewing face since doing so is a conventional way of obtaining a display in an electrophoretic display device.
Re claim 25, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein an overlapping area of the thin film transistor and the gate line in a projection direction is not less than 20 µm.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device wherein an overlapping area of the thin film transistor and the gate line in a projection direction is not less than 20 µm since overlapping the transistor and the gate line to a degree is well known in the art for the thin film transistor to overlap the gate line by a certain amount to improve aperture ratio. Furthermore, "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation" (MPEP 2114.05).
Claim(s) 12 and 14 and is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. in view Shin et al. (US 2012/0019895 A1).
Hu et al. discloses the device comprising a common electrode layer (6), disposed on a side of the opposite substrate (3), but does not disclose the device comprising a plurality of micro tenons, each of the micro tenons arranged on the common electrode layer and embedded in one of the chambers.
Shin et al. discloses a device comprising a plurality of micro tenons (16), each of the micro tenons arranged on the common electrode layer (114) and embedded in one of the chambers (130).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to employ the device comprising a plurality of micro tenons, each of the micro tenons arranged on the common electrode layer and embedded in one of the chambers since doing so would comprise an alternate method of fully encapsulating the chamber.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. in view of Hung (US 2016/0109992).
Re claim 17, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein the driving circuit layer further comprises a plurality of storage capacitors and wherein, the driving circuit layer, further comprises: a plurality of storage capacitors and a plurality of common voltage lines, the common voltage lines respectively disposed corresponding to the storage capacitors and substantially parallel to the gate lines, the common voltage lines electrically connected to a display touch integrated driver.
Hung discloses a device wherein, the driving circuit layer, further comprises: a plurality of storage capacitors (Cst) and a plurality of common voltage lines (CL), the common voltage lines respectively disposed corresponding to the storage capacitors and substantially parallel to the gate lines (GL), the common voltage lines (CL) electrically connected to a display touch integrated driver (92A, 92B, 91).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to employ the device wherein the driving circuit layer further comprises a plurality of storage capacitors and wherein, the driving circuit layer, further comprises: a plurality of storage capacitors and a plurality of common voltage lines, the common voltage lines respectively disposed corresponding to the storage capacitors and substantially parallel to the gate lines, the common voltage lines electrically connected to a display touch integrated driver since one would be motivated to obtain a touch function to the display.
Claim(s) 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. in view of Hung in view of Kim et al. (US 9,405,411) and Zhao et al. (US 2014/0176491).
Re claim 18, Hu et al. does not disclose the device during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode; the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the common voltage lines together as a single touch-receiving electrode.
Hung teaches that during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically (first touch control element 92A, second touch control element 92B, and display control element 91) connects a data line as a single touch-transmitting electrode; the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a common voltage line as a single touch-receiving electrode (Fig. 4; paragraphs 0026-0029). Zhao teaches (in figure 4) forming a touch display panel such that during a touch operation of the display, a display touch integrated driver ("touch IC") electrically connects a plurality of the data lines (D1-Dm) together as a single touch-transmitting electrode (TX1) and the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of horizontally extending display lines ( gate lines G1-Gi) together as a single touch-receiving electrode (RX1) (paragraph 38) in order to simplify the structure of the display touch panel and improve light transmittance (paragraph 0051). Kim teaches (in figures 3-7) forming a touch display panel such that during a touch operation of the display, a display touch integrated driver (touch driving unit 200 and switching unit 270) electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode (TXn) (col. 7 lines 15-20, col. 8 lines 33-39) in order to provide the touch driving signal uniformly to the entire screen (col. 8 lines 41-43).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the electrophoretic display such that during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode and electrically connects a plurality of the common voltage lines together as a single touch-receiving electrode since would be motivated to simplify the structure of the display by reducing the required number of touch signals while providing touch driving signal uniformly to the entire screen.
Re claim 19, Hu et al. does not disclose the device wherein during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-receiving electrode; the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the common voltage lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode.
Hung teaches that during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically (first touch control element 92A, second touch control element 92B, and display control element 91) connects a data line as a single touch-transmitting electrode; the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a common voltage line as a single touch-receiving electrode (see figure 4 and paragraphs 26-29). Zhao teaches (in figure 4) forming a touch display panel such that during a touch operation of the display, a display touch integrated driver ("touch IC") electrically connects a plurality of the data lines (D1-Dm) together as a single touch-transmitting electrode (TX1) and the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of horizontally extending display lines ( gate lines G1-Gi) together as a single touch-receiving electrode (RX1) (paragraph 0038) in order to simplify the structure of the display touch panel and improve light transmittance (paragraph 0051). Kim teaches (in figures 3-7) that any of data lines (110), gate lines (120), common electrodes (130) may be the touch-transmitting electrodes (TX) or touch-receiving electrodes (RX) (col. 6 line 64 - col. 7 line 2) and that during a touch operation of the display, a display touch integrated driver (touch driving unit 200 and switching unit 270) electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode (TXn) (col. 7 lines 15- 20, col. 8 lines 33-39) in order to provide the touch driving signal uniformly to the entire screen (col. 8 lines 41-43).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the electrophoretic display such that during a touch operation of the electrophoretic display, the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the data lines together as a single touch-receiving electrode; the display touch integrated driver electrically connects a plurality of the common voltage lines together as a single touch-transmitting electrode since one would be motivated to simplify the structure of the display by reducing the required number of touch signals while providing touch driving signal uniformly to the entire screen.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD H KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-2294. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 10 am-6:30 pm.
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/RICHARD H KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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