Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
The applied reference has a common Assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Claim(s) 1-2, 12, 13, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2023/0200176).
Regarding claims 1, 12, 20, Lee et al. (US 2023/0200176), fig. 1, 3, discloses a display apparatus comprising: a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in rows and columns; and a plurality of light-blocking lines arranged in a first direction on one side of the sub-pixels in each odd column, and extending along a second direction intersecting the first direction in a plan view, wherein the sub-pixels arranged in the odd column (The pixels PXL may be arranged along a row extending in the first direction DR1 and a column extending in the second direction DR2 intersecting (or crossing) the first direction DR1, fig. 1 ach of the first sub-pixel SPXL1, the second sub-pixel SPXL2, and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 may emit light of a color. For example, the first sub-pixel SPXL1 may emit light of a first color (e.g., red), the second sub-pixel SPXL2 may emit light of a second color (e.g., green), and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 may emit light of a third color (e.g., blue). However, the color, type, number, and/or the like of the first sub-pixel SPXL1, the second sub-pixel SPXL2, and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 configuring each pixel PXL are/is not limited to a specific example. In the drawing, the first sub-pixel SPXL1, the second sub-pixel SPXL2, and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 may have a rectangular shape, but the disclosure is not limited thereto, and the first sub-pixel SPXL1, the second sub-pixel SPXL2, and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 may be modified into various shapes. The first sub-pixel SPXL1, the second sub-pixel SPXL2, and the third sub-pixel SPXL3 may be provided to have different areas (or sizes)) comprise a plurality of unit pixels each including a first sub-pixel of a first color, a second sub-pixel of a second color, and a third sub-pixel of a third color (fig. 3, the first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3 may be disposed to overlap each other in the non-emission area NEA. The first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3 may be filled in a form in which the first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3 are sequentially stacked in a space (or valley) between the organic patterns OLP. The first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3 may cover the organic pattern OLP. For example, the first color filter CF1, the second color filter CF2, and the third color filter CF3 may be sequentially stacked in the space between the organic patterns OLP. According to an embodiment, a stack order of the first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3 may be changed), and in a cross-sectional view intersecting the second direction, the light-blocking lines corresponding to one of the unit pixels have a same thickness (a thickness TH (or average thickness) of each of the organic patterns OLP may be greater than half a thickness of one of the first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2 and CF3, and may be less than a thickness of two of the first, second, and third color filters CF1, CF2, and CF3. The thickness may be a thickness, a height, or a width in the third direction DR3. See pars. 115, 116).
Regarding claims 2, 13, Lee et al. (US 2023/0200176), the display apparatus of claim 1, wherein, in the cross-sectional view, the light-blocking lines corresponding to each of the unit pixels arranged in different columns have different thicknesses (see fig. 3, pars. 115, 116).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11, 14-19 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.
None of the references cited in record disclose or suggest that the display apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of unit pixels comprise a first unit pixel, a second unit pixel, and a third unit pixel sequentially arranged along a direction opposite to the first direction, in the cross-sectional view, thicknesses of the light-blocking lines corresponding to the second unit pixel are less than thicknesses of the light-blocking lines corresponding to the first unit pixel, and thicknesses of the light-blocking lines corresponding to the third unit pixel are less than the thicknesses of the light-blocking lines corresponding to the second unit pixel; and/or the display apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of unit pixels comprises: the first sub-pixel arranged in a first odd column; the second sub-pixel arranged in a second odd column adjacent to the first odd column; and a third sub-pixel arranged in a third odd column adjacent to the second odd column.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Van N Chow whose telephone number is (571)272-7590. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6PM.
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/VAN N CHOW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627