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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/17/2026 has been entered.
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, and 6-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buesing et al. (US 2016/0268509 A1) in view of Cha Yong Bum (KR-20170088650-A; using attached translation for reference).
Regarding claim 1, Buesing discloses an organic electric element (“organic electroluminescent device”, ¶ 0125) comprising a first electrode (“anode”, ¶ 0125), a second electrode (“cathode”, ¶ 0125), and an organic material layer (combination of “emitting layer” and “hole transport layers”, ¶ 0125) between the first electrode and the second electrode,
wherein the organic material layer comprises a light-emitting layer (“emitting layer, ¶ 0125), a hole transport layer (Buesing discloses using a plurality of “hole transport layers”, ¶ 0125, the one farther from the light-emitting layer being considered the hole transport layer of claim 1) between the first electrode and the light-emitting layer, and a light-emitting auxiliary layer (Buesing discloses using a plurality of “hole transport layers”, ¶ 0125, the one closer to the light-emitting layer being considered light-emitting auxiliary layer of claim 1) between the hole transport layer and the light-emitting layer, and
wherein the light-emitting auxiliary layer comprises a hole transporting compound (“hole transport layers”, ¶ 0125). Buesing does not disclose where the light-emitting auxiliary layer comprises a compound represented by Formula 23.
However, a compound represented by Formula and the corresponding function as a hole transporting material was known in the art (bottom-right compound on page 50 of the attached copy of Cha Yong Bum which is a “compound represented by Formula 1”, Page 49, and “the hole transport layer includes the compound”, Page 56). As such, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the Application's effective filing date to have substituted the bottom-right compound on page 50 of the attached copy of Cha Yong Bum for the material of the light-emitting auxiliary layer of Buesing and the results of the substitution would have been predictable as a light-emitting auxiliary layer in an organic electric element. (see MPEP § 2143(I)(B)).
Regarding claim 2, Cha Yong Bum further discloses that Ar7 and Ar1’ are each independently a C6-C12 aryl group (see bottom-right compound on page 50 of the attached copy of Cha Yong Bum).
Regarding claim 6, Buesing further discloses that the hole transport layer may comprise HIM1 (“HTL” column (i.e., hole transport layer) in Table 2 on Page 83 of Buesing discloses using HIM1) which satisfies Applicant’s Formula 20 (see annotated copy below).
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Regarding claim 7, Buesing further discloses that Ar4’ is a C12 aryl group (see annotated copy of HIM1, above).
Regarding claim 8, Buesing further discloses that Ar5’ is a 9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluorenyl group, and Ar6 is a 9,9-diphenyl-9H-fluorenyl group (see annotated copy of HIM1, above).
Regarding claim 9, Buesing further discloses that Ar5’ is a 9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluorenyl group, and Ar6 is a 9,9’-spirobifluorenyl group (see annotated copy of HIM1, above).
Regarding claim 10, Buesing further discloses that Ar5’ is the claimed structure (see annotated copy of HIM1, above).
Regarding claim 11, Buesing further discloses that Ar5’ is the claimed structure (see annotated copy of HIM1, above).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buesing et al. (US 2016/0268509 A1) in view of Cha Yong Bum (KR-20170088650-A; using attached translation for reference) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2017/0135213 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Buesing further discloses using the organic electric element (which corresponds to the organic electric element of claim 1 in the combination of Buesing and Cha Yong Bum) in an electronic device comprising a display device (“displays”, ¶ 0160). Buesing does not disclose a control unit as claimed.
Lee, in the same field of endeavor, discloses using a control unit to drive a display (¶ 0006). There was a benefit to using a control unit within the electronic device in that the device can provide its own driving signals as opposed to needing an external component to send driving signals. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the Application's effective filing date to incorporate a control unit to drive the display in the electronic device of Buesing in view of Cha Yong Bum for this benefit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER A CULBERT whose telephone number is (571)272-4893. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua Benitez can be reached at (571) 270-1435. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER A CULBERT/ Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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