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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/20/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
In an Amendment filed 02/20/2026, claims 1 and 15 have been amended, claims 17 has been cancelled, and claims 21-24 are newly added. Currently, claims 1-11,14-16 and 18-24 are pending.
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 15-16, 18-19 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Song et al. (US 20210335238 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Song teaches a display device, comprising: a substrate; a photo sensing transistor on the substrate; (Para 74, 106-108. Base substrate. Photo sensing transistor D1)
a reflective layer on the photo sensing transistor; and a light emitting diode on the reflective layer, the reflective layer being under a bottommost surface of the light emitting diode, wherein the reflective layer includes an opaque conductive layer with an opening, the opening overlapping the photo sensing transistor and the light emitting diode. (Fig. 6 shows PDL between D1 and D2. Para 74, 120-126. Base substrate. Reflective layer PLD. Please note that any material is reflective to a degree, and is conductive to a degree. PDL is under E1 which is the bottommost surface when the device is turned over.)
Regarding claim 16, Song already teaches the display device of claim 15, and Song further teaches wherein the photo sensing transistor is configured to sense light emitted from the light emitting diode and incident on the photo sensing transistor through the opening. (Fig. 6 shows PDL between D1 and D2. Para 74, 120-126, 70-105, 134-153.)
Regarding claim 18, Song already teaches the display device of claim 15,
and Song further teaches further comprising: a light shielding layer disposed between the substrate and the photo sensing transistor, wherein the light shielding layer overlaps the photo sensing transistor. (Para 113)
Regarding claim 19, Song already teaches the display device of claim 15,
And Song further teaches further comprising: a driving transistor on the substrate and electrically connected to the light emitting diode. (fig. 4: driving transistor TD)
Regarding claim 21, Song already teaches the display device of claim 15,
And Song further teaches wherein the reflective layer is electrically connected to the light emitting diode. (Fig. 6: PDL electrically connected to E1/D2)
Regarding claim 22, Song already teaches the display device of claim 15,
And Song further teaches an insulating layer on the reflective layer and covering at least a portion of a side surface of the light emitting diode. (Para 177. Fig. 6: OC layer on the reflective layer PDL and covering at least a portion of a side surface of the light emitting diode D2)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 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.
Claims 1-11, 14 and 23-24 allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Independent claim 1 distinctly features:
“a display panel including a plurality of sub pixels, at least one of the sub pixels including: a light emitting diode configured to emit light; a light emitting circuit configured to drive the light emitting diode; a sensing circuit including a photo sensing transistor configured to sense light emitted from the light emitting diode; and a reflective layer disposed between the photo sensing transistor and the light emitting diode, the reflective layer being disposed closer to the photo sensing transistor than a surface of the light emitting diode closest to the photo sensing transistor is, wherein the reflective layer includes an opaque conductive layer with an opening, the opening overlapping the photo sensing transistor and the light emitting diode”
The closest prior arts Song et al. (US 20210335238 A1) teaches OLED device stack configuration as shown in paragraphs 134-153 and figures 6, and Cheng et al. (US 20130093729 A1) teaches touchscreen utilizing photo transistor detection mechanism as shown in paragraphs 5-8 and figures 2-3.
However it either singularly or in combination, fail to fully anticipate or render the above underlined limitations obvious which show OLED display stack configuration as outlined above.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
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/HANG LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626