Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis of US Patent 10013088 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the claims of US Patent 10,013,088 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) at the time of the invention's priority date (September 14, 2010).

Independent Claim 1 Breakdown:

Claim 1 describes a display comprising:

1. A substrate including a first area (pixel area) and a second area adjacent to it.
2. A plurality of pixels in the pixel area.
3. A sealing thin film covering the first area, including an inclined surface at an end to inhibit infiltration.
4. A plurality of sensing cells formed over the top surface of the sealing thin film to sense a touch.
5. A plurality of sensing lines coupled to the sensing cells, having a first portion and a second portion.
6. A driving circuit electrically connected to the sensing cells via the sensing lines.
7. An insulating layer.
8. The inclined surface of the sealing thin film is inclined downwardly toward the driving circuit.
9. The sensing lines include an inclined portion along the inclined surface.
10. The sensing lines are formed over the top surface of the sealing thin film in the first portion and over the substrate in the second portion, extending from the sensing cells along the inclined surface to the second area of the substrate, and are electrically connected to the driving circuit.
11. The sensing cells include first and second sensing cells connected along first and second directions by connection patterns.
12. The insulating layer is interposed between the first and second connection patterns.

Combination of Prior Art for Obviousness:

A strong argument for obviousness can be made by combining US Patent 6,885,157 B1 (Kodak) with the general knowledge of a POSITA regarding manufacturing reliability in thin-film device fabrication, specifically as exemplified by US Patent Application Publication 2004/0185301 A1 (Semiconductor Energy Laboratory).

Primary Reference: US Patent 6,885,157 B1 to Kodak ("Kodak")

Kodak discloses an "Integrated touch screen and OLED flat-panel display," which addresses several key elements of Claim 1:

• Substrate, pixel area, and pixels: Kodak describes an OLED display with a substrate 10 (or backplane), a pixel area with organic light-emitting elements, and pixels 12. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1, Col. 3, lines 1-7]
• Sealing layer: Kodak teaches an "encapsulation layer 20" for the OLED display, which covers the OLED panel and protects the organic light-emitting elements. This layer serves the function of inhibiting infiltration of oxygen and moisture. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1, Col. 3, lines 6-7]
• Sensing cells on encapsulation layer: Kodak explicitly states that a "transparent touch screen 30 is integrated with the display device, being either directly deposited on the top surface of the encapsulation layer 20," and comprises "touch sensor elements 32." [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1, Col. 3, lines 16-19]
• Sensing lines: The touch screen includes a "grid of transparent conductors" forming row and column electrodes (32) that function as sensing lines. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1, Col. 3, lines 20-22]
• Driving circuit (integrated/shared): Kodak discloses "row driver 36 and column driver 38" for the touch screen. Significantly, it states that "The row driver 36 and column driver 38 for the touch screen, and the corresponding display drivers 16 and 18 for the OLED panel, may be either implemented as separate IC chips or integrated onto one or more common IC chips." This directly anticipates the integrated driving circuit and potentially a shared FPCB (Flexible Printed Circuit Board) as discussed in US10013088. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1, Col. 3, lines 23-29]
• Sensing cells with connection patterns and insulating layer: Kodak's "grid of transparent conductors forming row and column electrodes" (32), as shown in Figure 2, inherently implies first and second sensing cells connected along respective directions. The use of an "insulating layer 34" interposed between these crossing conductors (e.g., between the column conductors 32a and row conductors 32b) is also depicted. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 2, Col. 3, lines 21-22]
• Sensing lines extending to the substrate's second area: Kodak's Figure 1 shows the touch screen (30) on the encapsulation layer (20) and the drivers (36, 38) located in a peripheral region (analogous to the "second area") of the substrate. The sensing lines connecting the touch sensor elements to these drivers are implicitly shown extending to this region. [cite: US6885157B1, Fig. 1]

Missing Elements from Kodak:

The primary feature explicitly claimed in US10013088 that is not explicitly detailed in Kodak is the "inclined surface at an end of the sealing thin film" and the "sensing lines including inclined portion along the inclined surface" (elements 3, 8, 9, 10 of Claim 1).

Secondary Reference/General Knowledge: US Patent Application Publication 2004/0185301 A1 to Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. ("Semiconductor Energy Lab")

Semiconductor Energy Lab, titled "Display device and manufacturing method of display device," directly addresses manufacturing reliability issues in display devices.

• Problem of steps: It teaches that when an insulating film has a "step shape," short circuits are likely to occur when subsequent layers (e.g., light-emitting layers, opposing electrodes, or by extension, conductive lines) are formed over it. [cite: US20040185301A1, Abstract, Para. 0037]
• Solution of "relaxing the step": To avoid such short circuits and obtain a display device with excellent reliability, Semiconductor Energy Lab suggests that "it is effective to form the insulating film such that the step is sufficiently relaxed." [cite: US20040185301A1, Abstract, Para. 0037] A POSITA would readily understand that "relaxing the step" involves making the edge of the layer inclined or tapered rather than having an abrupt vertical transition, to improve the coverage and integrity of subsequently deposited layers.

Motivation for a POSITA to Combine Kodak with Semiconductor Energy Lab (or general knowledge):

A person of ordinary skill in the art in the field of flat panel display manufacturing, particularly integrated touch displays, would have been acutely aware of the challenges associated with reliably routing thin-film conductive lines over topographical steps. The patent for US10013088 itself explicitly acknowledges this known problem: "a risk exists that the sensing lines 230 that pass through the end portion A of the sealing thin film 200 may be broken by the step difference of the end portion in the patterning process." [cite: US10013088B2, Description, 0070] The solution presented in US10013088 is "an area 201 of the end portion of the sealing thin film 200 is formed to be inclined as shown in FIG. 4, thereby overcoming such a problem." [cite: US10013088B2, Description, 0071]

Given this recognized problem in the art, a POSITA working on the integrated touch OLED display of Kodak, seeking to improve its manufacturing yield and long-term reliability, would have been motivated to apply known solutions for mitigating step coverage issues. Semiconductor Energy Lab provides a clear teaching that "relaxing the step" of an insulating film improves reliability of subsequent layers over it. It would have been obvious for a POSITA to implement this well-known technique by forming an inclined surface at the edge of the encapsulation layer (sealing thin film) in Kodak's display. This modification would ensure that the sensing lines, when extending from the encapsulation layer to the substrate, transition smoothly over the inclined surface, thereby preventing breakage and improving manufacturing yield, without altering the fundamental function of the integrated display. This combination represents a predictable modification to solve a known manufacturing challenge.

Conclusion:

Based on the combination of US Patent 6,885,157 B1 (Kodak) and the teachings of US Patent Application Publication 2004/0185301 A1 (Semiconductor Energy Lab), or the general knowledge of a POSITA regarding thin-film manufacturing reliability, all elements of Claim 1 of US10013088 would have been obvious at the time of the invention. Kodak provides the integrated display and touch panel structure, including the sealing layer, sensing cells, sensing lines, and integrated driving circuit. Semiconductor Energy Lab provides the motivation and teaching for shaping steps (such as the end of a sealing film) with an inclined surface to improve the reliability of overlying conductive lines. The motivation to combine these teachings stems from a desire to address the well-known problem of line breakage over abrupt topographical steps in microelectronic device fabrication.