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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office action regarding Application No. 17/607,849 to Sun et al. assigned to China Automotive Battery Research Institute Co., Ltd, China, and the University of Western Ontario, Canada, filed 10/29/2021 and published as U.S. PG Publication 2022/0216507 published 07/07/2022, is in response to applicant's arguments/remarks and claims amendment filed 03/10/2026. It is also in response to information disclosure statement, IDS, also filed 03/10/2026.
Status of the Claims
In the response filed 03/10/2026 applicant has amended claim 1 and 10 of the application by adding the term “consisting of” in the, “A lithium battery additive consisting of a compound represented by the following formula…”.
The status of the claims stand as follows:
Currently amened 1, 10
Previously presented 2, 4-7, 43-48
4.3 Canceled 3, 11-42,
Claims 1-2, 4-7, 10, 43-48 are currently pending in this application. All the claims are under full consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/10/2026 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered by the examiner. A duly initialed and signed copy is attached herewith. Accordingly, information disclosure statement is being considered if signed and initialed by Examiner.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 102
Claim 1, 2, 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ouyang Shaoye et al. (CN105254184; English language machine translation used here; hereafter called CN '184)
Regarding claim 1 CN '184 discloses Li₃YCl₆ glass-ceramics compound representative of the claimed lithium secondary battery additive LibMaXc when M is Y, and b=3, a=1, c=6 (CN '184 Title, Abstract, paragraph 0030).
Regarding claim 2 and 43 CN '184 discloses compound Li₃ YCl₆ representative of the claimed lithium secondary battery additive LibMaXc when M is Y, and b=3, a=1, c=6 (CN '184 Title, Abstract, paragraph 0030), all included in the claimed atomic ranges of claim 2. The compound Li₃ YCl₆ of CN '184 (CN '184 Title, Abstract, paragraph 0030) is recited in claim 43.
Claim 10, 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sasaki et al. (U.S. PG Publication 2019/0081352)
Regarding claim 10 Sasaki discloses a battery incorporating a solid electrolyte (Sasaki Title, paragraph 0008). Sasaki discloses at least one selected from the cathode, anode, electrolyte layer first electrolyte layer, and second electrolyte layer may contain a halide solid electrolyte added to increase ionic conductivity, and examples of halide solid electrolytes that can be used include Li₃InBr₆, Li₃InCl₆, Li₂FeCl₄, and Li₂CrCl₄ (Sasaki paragraph 0073). Sasaki also discloses the added compounds can also be LiBF₄, LiSbF₆, (Sasaki paragraph 0075). These compounds are representatives of the claimed additive having the formula LibMaXc, when M is In, Fe, Cr, B, and Sb, the halide X is Br and Cl, and the Li atomic ratio b is 2 and 3, the atomic ratio of the metals a is 1, and the halide X atomic ratio c is 4 and 6. Sasaki discloses the compound is added to the battery cell to increase ionic conductivity (Sasaki paragraph 0073, 0075). It is, therefore, considered to be equivalent to an additive.
Regarding claim 48 Sasaki discloses the battery has a solid electrolyte (Sasaki Title, paragraph 0007, 0020,); thus, it is a solid-state secondary lithium-ion battery (Sasaki Title, paragraph 0008, 0020, 0055, 0056).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of the of those sections of Title 35 U.S. Code not included in this section can be found in the prior Office Action.
Claim 4-6, 44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouyang Shaoye et al. (CN105254184) as applied to claim 1, in view of Asano et al. (U.S. PG Publication 2019/0088995)
The discussion of CN '184 as applied to claim 1 above is fully incorporated here and is relied upon for the limitations of the claims in this section.
Regarding claim 4 5 , and 44 CN '184 discloses a preparation method of the YCl6 glass- ceramic doped with rare earth ion (CN 184 paragraph 0012-0016), but is silent about the method of preparation of the compound YCl₆ representative of the claimed additive LibMaXc as claimed in claim 4-6, 44.
Asano discloses the compound L₁₆₃₂Y₂X₆, where 0<z<2 is satisfied and X is Cl or Br (Asano Abstract, paragraph 0005, 0091) and discloses the compound Li₃LibYX₆ where X represents Cl or Br (Asano paragraph 0021), Li₃YCl₆ and Li₃YBr₆. Asano also discloses solid electrolyte Li₂FeX₄, Li (Al, Ga, In) X₄, Li₃(Al, Ga, In)X₆ (Asano paragraph 0220). These compounds are representative of the claimed compound LibMaXc.
Asano discloses a preparation method of the compounds Li₃ YX₆ (X is CI or Br) wherein raw material powders of binary halides, e.g., LiCl and YCl₃ are blended by sufficiently mixed and reacted together and sintered (Asano paragraph 0086-0087) the powders can be obtained by grinding; thus, the disclosed method equivalent to the claimed method of mixing, griding and heating recited in claim 4, and the LiCl and YCl₃ is the representative of MXy when y=3 included in the range 1≤y≤6 recited in claim 5, and in the range 2≤y≤5 recited in claim 44.
Asano also discloses the compound Li₃ YX₆ where X represent Cl or Br (Asano paragraph 0021) Li₃YCl₆ and Li₃YBr₆; when in the ranges 0.2≤b≤6, 0.1≤a≤3, ad 1≤c≤9 (for the additive Li₃MₐXₑ, recited in claim1) have the values b=3, a=1, c=6, representative of the atomic ratios recited in claim 5.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have used the method of Asano to prepare the compounds of CN '184 since it constitutes using the same method for preparing analogous compounds. According to the MPEP such a modification is the use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP 2143 IC).
Regarding claim 6 Asano discloses at least one of the positive electrode, the electrolyte layer, and the negative electrode may contain a solid organic polymer electrolyte for enhancing the ionic conductivity (Asano paragraph 0230) and it contains a lithium salt such as LiBF₄ and LiSbF₆, (Asano paragraph 0230); thus, the lithium salts are mixed with a ligand of complex as recited in claim 6, which can be crystalized into a crystalline material as disclosed by Asano (Asano paragraph 0015, 0024, 0098, 0128-0129, claim 4), and the electrolyte can be sulfur solid electrolyte (Asano paragraph 0229), thus; sulfur can be constituent of the complex.
Claim 7, 45, 46, 47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouyang Shaoye et al. (CN105254184), in view of Asano et al. (U.S. PG Publication 2019/0088995) as applied to claim 4, and further in view of Sasaki et al. (U.S. PG Publication 2019/0081352).
Regarding claim 7, 45, 46, Asano discloses the raw material powders of binary halides, e.g., LiCl and YCl₃ are blended by sufficiently mixed and reacted together and sintered (Asano paragraph 0086-0087) equivalent to the heating annealing. Asano, however, is silent about the annealing temperature range of 100 to 600 °C recited in claim 7, the range of 150 to 350 °C recited in claim 45 and the duration of annealing time being 10 minutes to 24 hours as recited in claim 7, or 1 to 10 hours and claim 46.
Sasaki disclose heating a sulfide solid electrolyte material gives a glass-ceramic sulfide solid electrolyte, and the heating is conducted at lower than 280°C and may be approximately 230°C (Sasaki paragraph 0048). This range is included in the claimed range of 100 to 600 °C recited in claim 7, and in the range 150 to 350 °C recited in claim 45.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have used the same temperature range as disclosed by Sasaki in the method of Asano since it is employed in the formation of the material having the same glass-ceramic phase as that of Asano. According to the MPEP such a modification is considered the use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP 2143 C). Regarding the duration of the annealing time recited in claims 7 and 46, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have optimized the annealing time by routine experimentation in order to achieve the desired glass-ceramic phase. (See MPEP 2144.05 II.).
Regarding claim 47 Sasaki discloses the addition of Lil in the formation of glass-ceramic compound formation (Sasaki paragraph 0093). This is also considered the use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP 2143 C).
Response to Argument
In the response file in 03/10/2026 applicant has amended the claim 1 and 10 by adding the term “consisting of” in the preamble of the claim, which now recites, ‘A lithium in secondary battery additive consisting of a compound represented by the following formula…”. Examiner notes that in view of this amendment the rejection of the claim is modified and the “intended use” characterization of the claims have been removed.
Regarding the rejection of claims 1, 2, 43 applicant argues that the compound Li3YCl6 of the reference of CN ‘184 is found in as a minor dopant /component, and that CN ‘184 fails to anticipate independent claim 1.
Examiner disagrees with applicant’s argument since the compound Li3YCl6 which is a glass-ceramic of CN ‘184 (CN ‘184 Abstract, paragraph 0030) reads on the claims limitation since it is representative of the claimed additive compound of the formula LibMaXc irrespective of its molar% disclosed by CN ‘184, and it is a glass-ceramic.
Further regarding the rejection of claims 10 and 48 examiner notes the reference of Sasaki also discloses compounds representative of the claimed formula compound. Therefore, the rejection of the claims is still considered proper and valid.
Applicant also traverse a rejection of claim 4-7 and 44-48 under103 of Sasaki in view of Shaoye. Examiner notes that this rejection was presented in the final Office action dated 07/29/2025 and is not part of the rejection presented in the current non-final Office action dated 12/10/2025. Therefore, it is not considered in this response.
The rejection of the claims presented in the previous non-final Office action is still considered proper and valid and is maintained in this Office action. The rejection is made final.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR M KEKIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5918. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00 pm,.
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/OMAR M KEKIA/Examiner, Art Unit 1722
/ANCA EOFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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