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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 November 13, 2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
JP 5390721 B1 is applied to show the amended claim 1 as set forth below.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 5390721 B1 (hereinafter “JP”).
Regarding claim 1, JP discloses a roll press apparatus (fig. 1) configured to form a compressed strip-shaped electrode sheet from a strip-shaped electrode sheet (3),
the strip-shaped electrode sheet (3) including a strip-shaped current collecting foil (30, see page 3, lines 31-36 of the English translation) and a strip-shaped active material layer (31, 32) located on the current collecting foil (30) and extended in a longitudinal direction of the current collecting foil (see fig. 2b) to provide:
a strip-shaped active material portion (31, 32) extended in the longitudinal direction and including the active material layer in a thickness direction of the current collecting foil (fig. 2b); and
a strip-shaped active-material absent portion (33) extended in the longitudinal direction and arranged adjacent to the active material portion (31, 32) in a width direction of the current collecting foil (fig. 2b), wherein the active-material absent portion (33) does not include the active material layer in the thickness direction and has a thinner thickness than the active material portion (31, 32) (see fig, 3a),
the compressed strip-shaped electrode sheet (3) including a compressed active material layer formed by compression of the active material layer (compressed by rollers 4a and 4b) (see fig. 1),
wherein the roll press apparatus includes:
a pair of press rolls (4a and 4b) arranged in parallel with each other with a roll gap (fig. 1), the press rolls (4a and 4b) being configured to roll-press the strip-shaped electrode sheet (3) being conveyed in the longitudinal direction to compress the active material layer to form the compressed active material layer (see fig. 1); and
an active-material-absent-portion stretching unit (8a) arranged upstream (see fig. 1) of the pair of press rolls (4a and 4b) and configured to stretch the active-material absent portion of the strip-shaped electrode sheet in the longitudinal direction (see page 3 and page 4 of the translation copy).
the active-material-absent-portion stretching unit (8a) includes a stretching roll (84) comprising:
a roll central part (84s); and
a pair of roll side parts (84) located on both sides of the roll central part in the width direction (fig. 9), the pair of roll side parts (84) each having a larger diameter than the roll central part (84s) (see fig. 9),
the stretching roll being configured to bring the roll side parts (84) into pressure contact with only the active-material absent portion (33) of the strip-shaped electrode sheet (see fig. 9) to strain and stretch the active-material absent portion (33) in the longitudinal direction, and to maintain a gap (see fig. 9 and the drawing below) between the roll central part (84s) and the active-material layer (31) (see fig. 9)
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN-110880580 A discloses a roll press apparatus (fig. 2) configured to form a compressed strip-shaped electrode sheet (S).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIMMY T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4520. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHRISTOPHER L TEMPLETON can be reached at 571-270-1477. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JIMMY T. NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3725
/JIMMY T NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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