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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/31/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
The Applicant’s amendment and arguments, filed 10/31/2025, has been entered. Claims 1-11 are amended. Support for the amendments is found in the original filing, and there is no new matter.
Upon considered said amendments and arguments, the previous 35 U.S.C.102 rejection set forth in Office Action mailed 07/31/2025 has been withdrawn, and amended and new grounds of rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 citing to a new reference are set forth below as necessitated by the claim amendments.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yui et al. (JP 2015198055 A, hereinafter Yui).
Regarding Claim 1, Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]) comprising:
a solid electrolyte layer containing a sodium ion-conducting solid electrolyte (Yui, solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]),
an alkali metal layer consisting of metallic sodium laid on the solid electrolyte layer and containing an alkali metal (Yui, metallic sodium foil is directly attached to the sheet electrode, and the electrolyte is located between the positive and negative electrode, [0026, 0063]; the Examiner notes that the metallic sodium foil is contacting the solid electrolyte); and
a first electrode layer laid on the alkali metal layer and containing a material capable of absorbing and releasing alkali metal ions (Yui, a negative electrode of Na-containing Sn formed into a sheet electrode, [0026, 0029]).
Regarding Claim 2, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein the first electrode layer is a negative electrode layer (Yui, a negative electrode of Na-containing Sn formed into a sheet electrode, [0026, 0029]).
Regarding Claim 3, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), a negative-electrode active material contained in the negative electrode layer is a compound containing at least one selected from the group consisting of metal, alloy, and an alkali metal element of the same type as contained in the alkali metal layer (Yui, the negative electrode contains, as a negative electrode active material, sodium-doped tin, or a sodium-doped tin-containing alloy represented by Na-Sn-M, wherein M is Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, or Cu, [0018-0019]).
Regarding Claim 4, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein at least a portion of the negative electrode layer is made of an alloy containing the alkali metal element of the same type as contained in the alkali metal layer (Yui, the negative electrode contains, as a negative electrode active material, sodium-doped tin, or a sodium-doped tin-containing alloy represented by Na-Sn-M, wherein M is Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, or Cu, [0018-0019]).
Regarding Claim 5, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein the alkali metal contained in the alkali metal layer is diffused into the negative electrode layer metal (Yui, metallic sodium foil is directly attached to the sheet electrode, [0026]).
Regarding Claim 6, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), the negative-electrode active material is a compound containing Na (Yui, the negative electrode contains, as a negative electrode active material, sodium-doped tin, or a sodium-doped tin-containing alloy represented by Na-Sn-M, wherein M is Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, or Cu, [0018-0019]).
Regarding Claim 7, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium battery, [0014]), wherein the negative-electrode active material contains at least one element selected from the group consisting of Sn (Yui, the negative electrode contains, as a negative electrode active material, sodium-doped tin, or a sodium-doped tin-containing alloy represented by Na-Sn-M, wherein M is Co, Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, or Cu, [0018-0019]).
Regarding Claim 8, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein the electrode layer contains a binder (Yui, the negative electrode of the sodium secondary battery can optionally contain a binder powder, [0027]).
Regarding Claim 9, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein the solid electrolyte layer contains an oxide (Yui, solid electrolytes having sodium ion conductivity, for example, NASICON, Na3Zr2Si2PO12, and polymer electrolytes having sodium ion conductivity, for example polyethylene oxide, [0044]).
Regarding Claim 10, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding a sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]), wherein the alkali metal layer has a thickness of not less than 5 nm and not more than 500 µm (Yui, a commercially available sodium metal sheet formed into a sheet of the same size as the sheet electrode was directly attached to the sheet electrode, and the sheet electrode has a thickness of 0.5 mm, or 500 µm , [0072, 0089]; the disclosed thickness of 500 µm falls within the claimed range of 5 nm to 500 µm).
Regarding Claim 11, Yui discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yui discloses the limitations regarding the sodium-ion all-solid-state battery (Yui, sodium secondary battery using a solid electrolyte that allows sodium ions to pass through, [0034]) further comprising a second electrode layer laid on the solid electrolyte layer to sandwich the solid electrolyte layer together with the alkali metal layer (Yui, the sodium secondary battery comprises a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte between both electrodes, [0063]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks (Pages , filed 10/31/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-3, 5, 8, and 10 under 35 U.S.C 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Yui et al. (JP 2015198055 A), as noted above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/K.N./Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752