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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/27/26 has been entered.
Claims 1-2, 4-17 are now pending in that un-elected claims 7-14 are still existed and is requested to be cancelled.
An OA on the merits of claims 1-2, 4-6 and 15-17 as following:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-6 are 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.
whether or not the recites “an electrode substrate” (claim 1, line 3) as same as that in claim 1, line 1?
Further, the phrase:” an electrode substrate including a current collector layer and an electrode mixture layer formed on one surface or two surfaces of the current collector layer, so as to define a coated part and a non- coated part of the electrode substrate;” (claim 1, lines 3-5) directed to a workpiece and should be rewritten in the preamble instead of in the body of the claim. Since, the above directed toa work piece is/are not structure elements of the claimed apparatus and do not further limit the claimed “apparatus”.
In formulate the rejection on the merits the Examiner only base on the apparatus and its structural elements and claims will be rejected accordingly and reasonably.
“the first induction heating unit” (claim 5, line 3); “the second induction heating unit” (claim 5, line 6) lack of antecedent basis for these. Note that the base claim 1 recites “a first induction heater” and “a second induction heater” which do not agree with what cited in claim 5.
Similar to claim 5 above applied to claim 6, respectively.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5-6, 15-17 as best understood is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 20120288756) in view of Cho et al (KR 20170075844).
Kim discloses the claimed apparatus for rolling an electrode substrate (see Fig. 1), the apparatus comprising:
a first induction heater 30 configured to induction-heat the electrode substrate 111 moving along a machine direction s100 (see Figs. 1);
an electrode roller 40 disposed after the first induction heater 30 along the machine direction s100, the electrode roller configured to roll the first induction-heated electrode substrate 111; and
wherein the first induction heater 30 is configured to induction-heat a partial region of the coated part 116 of the electrode substrate and an entire region of the non-coated part 117 of the electrode substrate which are located at two sides based on a boundary line of the coated part and the non-coated part of the electrode substrate (see Fig. 2), and
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the Kim does not explicitly teach regarding,
“a second induction heater disposed after the electrode roller along the machine direction, the second induction heater configured to induction-heat the rolled electrode substrate, wherein the second induction heater is configured to induction-heat a partial region of the coated part which is located at one side based on the boundary line of the coated part and the non- coated part of the electrode substrate”. Regarding to this, the Cho et al teaches the claimed above a second induction heater 40 (40-1 or 40-2) disposed after the electrode roller 20 along the machine direction (as down stream direction left to right), and wherein the second induction heater is configured to induction-heat a partial region of the coated part which is located at one side based on the boundary line of the coated part and the non- coated part of the electrode substrate (see Fig. 2a, respectively). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to employ the Cho’s teaching of a second induction heater 40 (40-1 or 40-2) in replace of the conventional dryer heater 50 of the Kim in order to obtain the rolling apparatus with very little effort of modification by utilizing the known and available elements facilitate operation would result. The motivation for the combination can be found in either reference since they are in same endeavor field of invention.
The Kim /Cho as modified above further discloses, regarding,
Claim 2, wherein the first and second induction heating units 30 and 40 are configured to induction-heat a region including a boundary line of a coated part and a non-coated part of the electrode substrate, respectively is functionally intended use which is met by the modified Kim /Cho above, since no further structure elements existed in claim 2.
Similar to claim 2 applied to claim 4 because only functional intended used existed in claim 4, Thus, the modified Kim/Cho above meet all the structure cited in claim 4 above.
Claim 4, wherein the first induction heating unit is configured to induction-heat a partial region of a coated part of the electrode substrate and an entire region of a non-coated part of the electrode substrate which are located at two sides based on a boundary line of the coated part and the non-coated part of the electrode substrate, and wherein the second induction heating unit is configured to induction-heat the coated part and the non-coated part, based on the boundary line of the coated part and the non-coated part of the electrode substrate.
As applied to claims 5-6, noting that the Cho discloses the broadly claimed a heat plates as show in Cho Fig. 3 in term of 40-1 and 40-2, respectively).
As per newly added claim 15, since, claim 15 is another version of claim 1 but in broader aspect (see Fig. 1 of the Kim as modified by Fig. 3 of the Cho and the discussion under claim 1 above).
Claim 16 is also rejected as same as that set forth in claim 4 above.
As per claim 16, directed to the operation range of the heating plates (e.g., the first and the second plates) is therefore not inventive features when departing from the modified Kim/Cho reference and common general knowledge without exercising any inventive skills.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH N TRINH whose telephone number is (571)272-4569. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH ~5:00-3:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas J Hong can be reached at 571-272-0993. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MINH N TRINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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