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 papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
Π70-71)The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/31/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 11-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, claim 1 being the linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/20/2026.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh et al. (US 20230096041 A1) (Oh, hereafter) in view of Kimura et al. (US 20170221974 A1) (Kimura, hereafter).
Regarding claim 1 Oh discloses (Figures 1-4 and corresponding text) a display device (1) comprising: (Figure 2) a substrate having a folding area(HP) foldable with a radius of curvature over a folding axis (Fax) (π70-π71), and a non-folding area (P1,P2) extended from the folding area (HP); and pixels (PX) disposed in each of the folding area and the non-folding area on the substrate, wherein each of the pixels (PX) comprises: a pixel electrode(21); a light emitting layer(22) disposed on the pixel electrode(21); and a common electrode(23) disposed on the light emitting layer(22), Oh fails to explicitly disclose wherein the pixel electrode in at least one of the pixels disposed in the folding area is a concave pixel electrode comprising a first portion, which is a bottom portion of the pixel electrode, and a second portion, which is extended from the first portion and inclined in a direction away from the substrate.
Kimura discloses (Figure3 and 6) a concave pixel electrode (132) comprising a first portion,(152) which is a bottom portion of the pixel electrode (132), and a second portion (150) via 14), which is extended from the first portion(152) and inclined in a direction away from the substrate (π29)-π30).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in then art prior to the effective filing date to modify the display device of OH as disclosed by Kimura wherein the pixel electrode in at least one of the pixels disposed in the folding area is a concave pixel electrode comprising a first portion, which is a bottom portion of the pixel electrode, and a second portion, which is extended from the first portion and inclined in a direction away from the substrate the motivation being the peeling of a light emitting layer is prevented and it is expected that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of unintended non-light emitting regions, thus relieving stress of the light emitting layer in the folding area.
Regarding claim 2, Oh as modified by Kimura fails to explicitly disclose wherein the folding area has a width of 0.75πR to 1.25πR from each side of the folding axis to the folding axis in a direction perpendicular to the folding axis, and R is the radius of curvature in an unfolded state of the folding area.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in then art prior to the effective filing date to modify the display device of wherein the folding area has a width of 0.75πR to 1.25πR from each side of the folding axis to the folding axis in a direction perpendicular to the folding axis, and R is the radius of curvature in an unfolded state of the folding since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Can be found in the 892 and be[ow:
US 20220283606 A1-State of the art- a foldable display device having improved visibility, high strength, and improved folding characteristics
US 20210407344 A1-State of the art- A foldable display device
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACIE Y GREEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3104. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thursday, 10am-8pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James R Greece can be reached at (571)272-3711. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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TRACIE Y. GREEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2875
/TRACIE Y GREEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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