DETAILED ACTION
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 certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/22/2024 was filed and considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a(2) as being anticipated by Applicant’s submitted prior art, Miyazaki et al., US 5,815,232.
Claim 1 is anticipated by Miyazaki et al. figures 1-3, 11(c) and accompanying text which discloses a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel including multiple subpixels 13 disposed in a row direction and a column direction (Fig 2), the LCD panel comprising:
. an active matrix substrate 50 including pixel electrodes 13 disposed in the respective subpixels 13 (figs. 2-3)(it is noted that sub-pixels can be considered as a part/whole within pixels by itself in a display area)
. a color filter substrate 10 (figs 1, 3) with a color filter (CF) substrate 1, a CF layer 2 and multiple spacers 3
. a liquid crystal layer 7 (fig 3)
. wherein the CF layer 2 includes at least a first-color filter 2R and a second-color filter 2G (fig 11c)
. wherein the first-color filter 2R includes a first continuous pattern portion disposed continuously to overlap a first subpixel group arranged in the column direction among the multiple subpixels, and a first protrusion pattern portion 3R protruding in the row direction from the first continuous pattern portion 2R (figs. 1, 3, 11c)
. wherein the second-color filter 2B including a second continuous pattern portion disposed continuously to overlap a second subpixel group arranged in the column direction among the multiple subpixels (figs 1, 3, 11c)
. wherein the multiple spacers 3 each including a color filter stack 3R/3G/3B) that includes the first protrusion pattern portion 3R and a part of the second continuous pattern portion (figs 3, 11c).
Re claim 2, wherein the CF layer further includes a third-color filter 2G (e.g., 2G on left side of the 2R) adjacent to an opposite side of the second-color filter 2B from the first-color filter 2R in the row direction (figs 1, 11c), the third-color filter 2G includes a third continuous pattern portion disposed continuously to overlap a third subpixel group arranged in the column direction among the multiple subpixels, and a third protrusion pattern portion 3G protruding in the row direction from the third continuous pattern portion 2G, and at least one of the spacers 3 among the multiple spacers includes, in its color filter stack, the first protrusion pattern portion, a part of the second continuous pattern portion, and the third protrusion pattern portion (fig 11c).
Re claim 3, wherein a maximum width of the third protrusion pattern portion 3G in the column direction is greater than a maximum width of the first protrusion pattern portion in the column direction (fig 11c).
Re claim 4, wherein the first-color filter 2R is a red color filter (R = red).
Re claim 5, wherein the first-color filter 2R is a red color filter, the second-color filter 2B is a blue color filter (B = blue), and the third-color filter 2G is the green color filter (G = green).
Re claim 6, wherein the part of the second continuous pattern portion 3B is in a side in the color filter stack 3 closest to the liquid crystal layer 7 (figs 3, 11c).
Re claim 7, wherein the color filter substrate further includes a black matrix 4, the black matrix includes multiple apertures arranged in the respective subpixels (display area corresponding to the CF filter2) and a light blocking portion surrounding the multiple apertures, the multiple spacers 3 include a spacer overlapping the light blocking portion 4, the multiple apertures include multiple first apertures overlapping the first continuous pattern portion and multiple second apertures overlapping the second continuous pattern portion except for the part of the second continuous pattern portion, and the multiple second apertures include a second aperture having a smaller area than the first apertures (fig 4a).
Re claim 8, wherein the color filter substrate includes an overcoat layer 14 disposed in a liquid crystal layer side 7 of the color filter layer 2, and a thickness of the overcoat layer is smaller than a thickness of the color filter stack (fig. 3).
Re claim 9, wherein the color filter stack 3 is a stack of the first protrusion pattern portion 3R and the part of the second continuous pattern portion 3B, and a thickness of the color filter stack 3 is less than twice a thickness of the first continuous pattern portion (figs. 4b, 11c).
Re claim 10, wherein the color filter stack 3 is a stack of the first protrusion pattern portion 3R, the part of the second continuous pattern portion 3B, and the third protrusion pattern portion 3G, and a thickness of the color filter stack 3 is less than three times a thickness of the first continuous pattern portion (figs 4b, 11c).
Re claim 11, wherein a maximum width of the first protrusion pattern portion 3R in the column direction is equal to or more than 0.5 times and equal to or less than 1.5 times a width of the first continuous pattern portion in the row direction (fig 11c).
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 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyazaki et al., US 5,815,232.
Re claim 12, Miyazaki et al. disclose the claimed invention as described above except for the liquid crystal panel having a pixel density of 1000ppi or more, and the multiple spacers are disposed at a density of one or more per 1000 pixels and one or less per pixel. Miyazaki et al. fig 1 disclose each pixel/subpixel 13 (corresponding to each CF 2R/2G/2B) having a spacer 3 (i.e., spacer density of one per pixel. In addition, one of ordinary skill in the display art would be merely find a high resolution display with a pixel density of 1000ppi or more. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to employ an LCD panel having a pixel density of 1000ppi or more, since it was known in the display art that providing an LCD panel with a high resolution display. In addition, together with the Miyazaki et al. spacer density, it would result the Miyazaki et al. spacers disposed at a density of one or more per 1000 pixels as claimed as well.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-14 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.
. Uchida et al., US 2024/0103311 A1, disclose a high resolution LCD panel with a pixel density of more than 1000ppi ([0007]).
. Shishido et al., US 2016/0349557 A1, disclose an LCD panel with a high resolution (HD) of 1000ppi ([0269]).
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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