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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/11/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claim 1 is amended. Claims 9 & 11 are canceled. Claims 1-8 & 10 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jansen (US 2019/0280265 A1 as cited in the IDS on 09/13/2024) in view Lee (US 2022/0037728 A1), Tsumori (US 2020/0168857 A1) and Jo (US 2017/0309871 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 7-8 & 10, Jansen teaches a battery pack comprising a battery module (28) comprising a battery cell stack (66) in which a plurality of battery cells (68) are stacked, and a module frame (90+90) housing the battery cell stack therein, wherein each of the plurality of battery cells comprise a pouch case and an electrode assembly housed in the pouch case; and wherein a foam pad layer (130), configured to control swelling of the battery module, is located at an outermost part of the respective pouch case and in contact with a side surface part of the module frame (Figs. 8-9; [0036], [0045] & [0050]-[0056]). Jansen is silent as to each pouch case being composed of a laminate sheet comprising the foam pad layer, wherein each pouch case comprises a recessed housing part in which the electrode assembly is housed and a sealing part on at least a portion of an outer periphery of the recessed housing part such that the foam pad layer of each pouch case is the outermost part of an entirety of all outer surfaces including the recessed housing part and the sealing part of the respective pouch case. Lee teaches a battery module comprising a battery cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells (160) are stacked, wherein the plurality of battery cells comprise a pouch case (160+180) composed of a laminate sheet comprising a foam pad layer (180) comprising polyurethane on an outermost surface (Figs. 1-3; [0040]-[0042], [0045]-[0046], [0049], [0052], [0054] & [0056]-[0057]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to use a pouch case composed of a laminate sheet comprising a foam pad layer on an outermost surface as an integrated structure for Jansen’s battery cells because the foam pad layer of Lee because uniform surface pressure may be applied to provide enhanced charging and discharging property within the pouch cell while achieving a sufficient space for an expansion of the pouch cell and further deformation of the pouch cells occurring in the large area may be more effectively suppressed and damages between the plurality of the pouch cells may be prevented as taught by Lee ([0050]). Tsumori teaches a battery cell comprising a pouch case and an electrode assembly housed in the pouch case, wherein the pouch case comprises, from an inside of the battery case to the outside, a laminate of a heat sealable resin layer such as a polypropylene layer; a barrier layer such as an aluminum layer; a base material layer comprising a multilayer structure comprising a nylon layer and a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) layer; and a surface layer comprising a cured resin including urethane ([0037], [0058]-[0061], [0071]-[0073], [0106]-[0109], [0143]-[0144], [0156] & [0169]). Tsumori further discloses the pouch case comprising a sealing part (i.e flange) formed on at least a portion of an outer periphery of the pouch case for sealing the case such that the electrode assembly is sealed in the pouch case ([0159]) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention, to form a pouch case including a heat-sealable resin layer such as a propylene layer (i.e inner layer of the present invention), a barrier layer such as an aluminum layer (i.e metal layer of the present invention) and a base layer comprising a nylon layer and a PET layer (i.e outer layer + packaging sheet layer of the present invention) in order to respectively 1) improve pinhole resistance or insulation properties while ensuring that the outermost layer is not discolored, 2) improve the strength of the battery packaging material, as well as prevent the ingress of water vapor, oxygen, light, and the like into the battery, and 3) hermetically seal the battery as taught by Tsumori ([0060], [0072] & [0107]). Moreover, it would have been obvious to provide a surface layer comprising a cured resin including urethane resin in order to enhance the designability, electrolytic solution resistance, scratch resistance, and moldability as taught by Tsumori ([0143]). While Tsumori does not explicitly teach the surface layer being a foam, Tsumori discloses the surface layer, similarly to Lee’s foam, being obtained by curing a composition comprising a urethane resin. Accordingly, Lee’s foam pad layer can be formed on all of the outer surfaces of the pouch case by laminating a curable composition comprising a urethane resin on the outer surface of the pouch case laminate as a surface coating layer as described in Tsumori. Furthermore, it is clear from the description in paragraph [0159] of Tsumori that the battery can be formed by either (1) folding the pouch case laminate such that the electrode assembly is placed between the folded laminate and wherein peripheral flange portions of the laminate are sealed via the heat-sealing resin formed as an inner most layer of the laminate or (2) providing two laminates and placing the electrode assembly between the two laminates such that peripheral flange portions of the laminate are sealed via the heat-sealing resin formed at innermost layers of the laminate. Furthermore, Tsumori is silent as to each pouch case having a recessed housing part in which the electrode assembly is housed, however, this configuration is well-known within the battery art for accommodating an electrode assembly within the recessed portion of a pouch case laminate with flange portions of the laminate being sealed to form the battery as evidenced by Jo (fig. 1; [0008]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-8 & 10 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. The amendment to claim 1 has prompted a new ground of rejection in view of Jansen, Lee, Tsumori and Jo as noted in the above updated rejection. As presently claimed, the subject matter of claims 1-8 & 10 is found to be obvious over the combined teachings of Jansen, Lee, Tsumori and Jo. Thus, in view of the foregoing, claims 1-8 & 10 stand rejected.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, BARBARA GILLIAM can be reached on (571)272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
