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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on December 17th, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
In response to the amendment received on December 17th, 2025:
Claims 1-5 and 7-16 are pending in the current application. Claims 1 and 15-16 have been amended. Claim 6 is cancelled.
The cores of the previous prior art-based rejections have been overcome in light of the amendment. All changes made to the rejection are necessitated by the amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed with the Remarks on December 17th, 2025 with respect to Claims 1-5 and 7-16 are based on the claims as amended. While Applicant’s arguments are acknowledged, they are found to be moot in view of the new grounds of rejection, presented below, as necessitated by Applicant’s amendments to the Claims.
Claim Interpretation
All “wherein” clauses are given patentable weight unless otherwise noted. Please see MPEP 2111.04 regarding optional claim language.
Prior Art
Previously cited Ochi US PG Publication 2013/0034764 (“Ochi”)
Previously cited Nobuyuki WO2016103943 (“Nobuyuki”)
Unno US PG Publication 2017/0250388 (“Unno”)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office Action.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 12 line 2 recites the limitation “a cover plate.” It is wholly unclear whether this cover plate is in reference to the cover plate as defined in line 20 of Claim 1, from which Claim 12 depends, or an entirely separate cover plate.
Further clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office Action.
Claims 1-5 and 7-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ochi US PG Publication 2013/0034764 in view of Nobuyuki WO2016103943 (machine translation provided).
Regarding Claims 1 and 15, Ochi discloses a method for producing a battery cell 1 ([0013]), comprising:
providing the battery cell 1 ([0013]),
providing an electrically insulating film 2, being configured to wrap a battery assembly (i.e. plurality of battery cells 1) ([0013]),
wherein the insulating film 2 comprises a bottom coverage area (i.e. bottom surface covering portion 22), N side coverage areas (i.e. bottom and side surface covering portions 21, 23), and N pairs of bonding areas (i.e. connection areas 24 within the boundaries of 23x and 23y as defined by W6 and W7), N is 4 (which falls within and therefore anticipates the claimed range of an integer greater than 2) (Modified Fig. 21, [0013]-[0015]);
the bottom coverage area 22 having N sides, and the N side coverage areas 21, 23 being respectively connected to the bottom coverage area 22 at the N sides, and can bend toward the bottom coverage area 22 along the N sides respectively (Figs. 22-24, [0013]);
each pair of the N pairs of bonding areas 24 being located between two adjacent side coverage areas of the N side coverage areas 21, 23, and being connected to the two adjacent side coverage areas 21, 23 respectively; each pair of bonding areas 24 is configured to make the bottom coverage area 22 and the N side coverage areas 21, 23 form a space wrapping the battery assembly 1 by bonding surfaces on the same side of each pair of bonding areas when the N side coverage areas 21, 23 bend toward the bottom coverage area 24 (Modified Fig. 21, Figs. 22-24, [0013]), and
using the insulating film 2 to wrap the battery cell 1 ([0013]).
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Modified Figure 21 of Ochi
Ochi fails to explicitly disclose the width of the coverage area and their corresponding adjacent bonding areas.
However, Nobuyuki discloses an insulating stretchable film 1 and an adhesive film 2 to cover a battery (lines 53-59) defined by a short direction D1 and a long direction D2 (lines 454-464).
Nobuyuki teaches aligning the shorter side of the adhesive film with the narrow side surfaces of the battery and the insulating film and the longer side of the adhesive film with the wide side surfaces of the battery and the insulating film creating a wide adhesion area alongside the wide side surface of the battery and a narrow adhesion area alongside the narrow side surface of the battery, wherein the longer side of the adhesive film has a longer longitudinal dimension than the shorter side of the adhesive film, in order to provide a more firm adhesion and prevent peeling (Figs. 5B and 8B, lines 454-464, 576-586).
Additionally, Ochi discloses that wherein two side surface covering portions are bent toward one another during bonding, a wide side surface covering portion can cover, overlap, and bond with a narrow side surface covering portion along an exterior narrow side surface of the battery in order to create a seal that is able to be welded and made watertight around the battery and the wide side surface covering portion is capable of substantially covering the whole surface of the narrow side surface of the exterior battery container (Figs. 17-20, [0110]-[0113]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the insulating film of Ochi such that within each pair of bonding areas the width (such as the longitudinal direction) of the first bonding area in each pair of bonding areas, that corresponds to the wide side surface of the battery, is greater than a width (such as the longitudinal direction) of a second bonding area, that corresponds to the narrow side surface of the battery, and after bonding, each pair of bonding areas can bend toward the side coverage area adjacent to the second bonding area along the narrow side surface of the battery, where the part that is not bonded with second bonding area in the first bonding area is configured to bond to the side coverage area adjacent to the second bonding area along the narrow in order to provide a more firm adhesion and prevent peeling, as taught by Nobuyuki, and create a seal that is able to be welded and made watertight around the battery, as taught by Ochi.
While Ochi discloses that it is beneficial to cover surfaces of the rectangular battery cell with the insulating film 2 to effectively prevent short circuit between exterior containers of the rectangular battery cell adjacent to each other and leakage of current ([0012]), Ochi in view of Nobuyuki fails to explicitly disclose wherein a height of the side coverage area is higher than a height of the battery cell, the side coverage area extends beyond the battery cell in a height direction, and an extended area bends towards a cover plate of the battery cell and bonds with a surface of the cover plate.
However, Unno discloses an insulating film for covering a battery container that provides insulating properties and watertightness to the outer surface of the battery and in which ends of the insulating film are overlapped with each other ([0007]-[0008]).
Unno teaches extending the insulating film to cover at least a portion of the lid of the battery such that the insulating film can provide protection from dew condensation water to prevent a short circuit whether the batteries are in series or parallel (Fig. 11, [0094]-[0096]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the insulating film of Ochi in view of Nobuyuki to extend the height of at least a portion of the insulating film such that a height of the side coverage area is higher than a height of the battery cell, the side coverage area extends beyond the battery cell in a height direction, and an extended area bends towards a cover plate of the battery cell and bonds with a surface of the cover plate in order to provide protection from dew condensation water to prevent a short circuit whether the batteries are in series or parallel, as taught by Unno.
Regarding Claim 2, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein each pair of the bonding areas 24 can respectively bend along the connecting side with the side coverage area 21, 23 to bond the surfaces on the same side of each pair of bonding areas 24 (Modified Fig. 21, [0013]).
Regarding Claim 3, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein N is 4 (Modified Fig. 21), and the insulating film is configured to wrap a cuboid shaped battery assembly (Figs. 22-24).
Regarding Claim 4, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 3, and Ochi discloses wherein the expanded state of the insulating film 2 is a cross shape (Modified Fig. 21, [0020]).
Ochi discloses wherein the bottom coverage area 22 and four side coverage areas 21,23 are both simple shape ([0020]) such as a rectangle ([0109]). The skilled artisan would recognize that a square is a rectangle, and therefore, it would have been obvious try making each of the bottom coverage area 22 and four side coverage areas 21,23 square.
Regarding Claim 5, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 4, and Ochi discloses wherein the expanded state of the insulating film 2, each pair of bonded areas 24 presents as an L shape (formed from right angles) ([0094]).
Regarding Claim 7, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein the width W6 of the first bonding area is less than one half of the width of the side coverage area 23 adjacent to the second bonding area (see [0117] wherein Ochi discloses that W6 is one half the width of the side surface 11D and Fig. 22 to see that the side coverage area 23 encompasses the width of the side surface 11D in addition to the widths W7 of the both of the adjacent second bonding areas).
Regarding Claim 8, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein a material of the insulating film 2 is a waterproof (watertight) material ([0014]).
Regarding Claim 9, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein the battery assembly 1 is a battery cell ([0013]).
Regarding Claim 10, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed insulating film according to Claim 1, and Ochi discloses wherein the battery assembly 1 is a battery cell group (plurality of battery cells), and the battery cell group comprises a plurality of adjacent battery cells ([0013], [0078]).
Regarding Claim 11, Ochi discloses a battery cell 1 wherein the battery cell 1 is wrapped with an insulating film 2 according to the insulating film of Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno as described in the rejection of Claim 1 ([0013]).
Regarding Claim 12, Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno teaches the instantly claimed battery cell according to Claim 11, and Ochi discloses wherein N is 4 (Modified Fig. 21), and the battery cell 1 is a cuboid with a bottom wall, two wide side walls, two narrow side walls and a cover plate (Figs. 22-24); wherein the bottom coverage area 22 of the insulating film 2 covers the bottom wall, the four side coverage areas 21, 23 of the insulating film 2 comprise two wide side coverage areas 21 and two narrow side coverage areas 23, the two wide side coverage areas 21 cover the two wide side walls respectively, and the two narrow side coverage areas 23 cover the two narrow side walls respectively (Modified Fig. 21, Figs. 22-24), and each pair of bonding areas 24 bends to the adjacent narrow side coverage area 23 after bonding on a surface towards one side of the battery cell 1 (Modified Fig. 21, Figs. 22-24, [0017]); the part that is not bonded with the second bonding area in the first bonding area bonds are to the adjacent narrow side coverage area ([0015]-[0017], [0117]).
And (as previously described in the rejection of Claim 1) Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno discloses wherein in each of the four pairs of bonding areas of the insulating film, the width of the first bonding area adjacent to the wide side coverage area is greater than the width of the second bonding area adjacent to the narrow side coverage area, and each pair of bonding areas bends to the adjacent narrow side coverage area after bonding on a surface towards one side (the narrow side) of the battery cell; the part that is not bonded with the second bonding area in the first bonding area bonds to the adjacent narrow side coverage area (see Ochi Figs., 17-20 and [0110]-[0113] and Nobuyuki Figs., 5B and 8B and lines 454-464 and 576-586).
Regarding Claim 13, Ochi disclose a battery assembly 9, comprising the battery cell 1 according to the battery cell of Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno as described in the rejection of Claim 11 ([0078]).
Regarding Claim 14, Ochi discloses a power consumption (supply) device, comprising, the battery 9 of Ochi in view of Nobuyuki and Unno as described in the rejection of Claim 13, and the battery 9 being configured to provide electric energy ([0131]).
Regarding Claim 16, Ochi discloses a device for producing (constructing) a battery cell 1 ([0076]), comprising:
a provision (cutting) module, being configured to provide the battery cell 1 ([0013], [0020]); providing the insulating film 2, wherein the insulating film 2 comprises a bottom coverage area (i.e. bottom surface covering portion 22), N side coverage areas (i.e. bottom and side surface covering portions 21, 23), and N pairs of bonding areas (i.e. connection areas 24 within the boundaries of 23x and 23y as defined by W6 and W7), N is 4 (which falls within and therefore anticipates the claimed range of an integer greater than 2) (Modified Fig. 21, [0013]-[0015]);
the bottom coverage area 22 having N sides, and the N side coverage areas 21, 23 being respectively connected to the bottom coverage area 22 at the N sides, and can bend toward the bottom coverage area 22 along the N sides respectively (Figs. 22-24, [0013]);
each pair of the N pairs of bonding areas 24 being located between two adjacent side coverage areas of the N side coverage areas 21, 23, and being connected to the two adjacent side coverage areas 21, 23 respectively; each pair of bonding areas 24 is configured to make the bottom coverage area 22 and the N side coverage areas 21, 23 form a space wrapping the battery assembly 1 by bonding surfaces on the same side of each pair of bonding areas when the N side coverage areas 21, 23 bend toward the bottom coverage area 24 (Modified Fig. 21, Figs. 22-24, [0013]);
a wrapping module (welding plates), being configured to wrap the battery cell 1 with the insulating film 2 ([0013], [0121]).
The Courts have held that if the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. See In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967); and In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963). The Courts have held that it is well settled that the recitation of a new intended use, for an old product, does not make a claim to that old product patentable. See In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477, 44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (see MPEP § 2114).
Ochi fails to explicitly disclose the width of the coverage area and their corresponding adjacent bonding areas.
However, Nobuyuki discloses an insulating stretchable film 1 and an adhesive film 2 to cover a battery (lines 53-59) defined by a short direction D1 and a long direction D2 (lines 454-464).
Nobuyuki teaches aligning the shorter side of the adhesive film with the narrow side surfaces of the battery and the insulating film and the longer side of the adhesive film with the wide side surfaces of the battery and the insulating film creating a wide adhesion area alongside the wide side surface of the battery and a narrow adhesion area alongside the narrow side surface of the battery, wherein the longer side of the adhesive film has a longer longitudinal dimension than the shorter side of the adhesive film, in order to provide a more firm adhesion and prevent peeling (Figs. 5B and 8B, lines 454-464, 576-586).
Additionally, Ochi discloses that wherein two side surface covering portions are bent toward one another during bonding, a wide side surface covering portion can cover, overlap, and bond with a narrow side surface covering portion along an exterior narrow side surface of the battery in order to create a seal that is able to be welded and made watertight around the battery and the wide side surface covering portion is capable of substantially covering the whole surface of the narrow side surface of the exterior battery container (Figs. 17-20, [0110]-[0113]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the insulating film of Ochi such that the width (such as the longitudinal direction) of the first bonding area in each pair of bonding areas, that corresponds to the wide side surface of the battery, is greater than a width (such as the longitudinal direction) of a second bonding area, that corresponds to the narrow side surface of the battery, and after bonding, each pair of bonding areas can bend toward the side coverage area adjacent to the second bonding area along the narrow side surface of the battery, where the part that is not bonded with second bonding area in the first bonding area is configured to bond to the side coverage area adjacent to the second bonding area along the narrow in order to provide a more firm adhesion and prevent peeling, as taught by Nobuyuki, and create a seal that is able to be welded and made watertight around the battery, as taught by Ochi.
While Ochi discloses that it is beneficial to cover surfaces of the rectangular battery cell with the insulating film 2 to effectively prevent short circuit between exterior containers of the rectangular battery cell adjacent to each other and leakage of current ([0012]), Ochi in view of Nobuyuki fails to explicitly disclose wherein a height of the side coverage area is higher than a height of the battery cell, the side coverage area extends beyond the battery cell in a height direction, and an extended area bends towards a cover plate of the battery cell and bonds with a surface of the cover plate.
However, Unno discloses an insulating film for covering a battery container that provides insulating properties and watertightness to the outer surface of the battery and in which ends of the insulating film are overlapped with each other ([0007]-[0008]).
Unno teaches extending the insulating film to cover at least a portion of the lid of the battery such that the insulating film can provide protection from dew condensation water to prevent a short circuit whether the batteries are in series or parallel (Fig. 11, [0094]-[0096]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the insulating film of Ochi in view of Nobuyuki to extend the height of at least a portion of the insulating film such that a height of the side coverage area is higher than a height of the battery cell, the side coverage area extends beyond the battery cell in a height direction, and an extended area bends towards a cover plate of the battery cell and bonds with a surface of the cover plate in order to provide protection from dew condensation water to prevent a short circuit whether the batteries are in series or parallel, as taught by Unno.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLIVIA MASON RUGGIERO whose telephone number is (703)756-4652. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7am-6pm EST.
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/O.M.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1729
/ULA C RUDDOCK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1729