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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 12/23/2025 has been entered. Claim 15 is amended and Claims 1-7, 9-18, and 20-22 are pending. Applicant's request for reconsideration of the finality of the rejection of the last Office action is persuasive and, therefore, the finality of that action is withdrawn.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 4-7, 10, 14 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 110649268 A - Machine Translation), hereinafter "He" in view of Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1), hereinafter “Lee”. He and Lee et al. are analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely surface modification of current collectors.
In regard to Claim 1, He et al. discloses a battery comprising: a positive electrode comprising a first current collector and a first active material (He, Paragraph [15]), a negative electrode comprising: a second current collector comprising a concave area on a first planar surface of the second current collector (He, Abstract). He et al. discloses the concave areas extending along the first planar surface to a periphery of the first planar surface (He, Annotated Figure 2) and a second active material (He, Paragraph [15]). He also describes the that the concave areas have the benefit of improving the specific surface area of the foil and thereby increasing the bonding force of the active material loading (He, [6]). While He et al. discloses the concave area pattern can be easily formed by the skilled artisan it is silent as to variations in the pattern or shapes.
Lee et al. discloses a negative electrode current collector with a plurality of recesses having a predetermined shape (Lee, Abstract) wherein the shape of the recesses is not particularly limited and may be, for example, polygonal such as rectangular or triangular, or elliptical (Lee, [0029]) and when the recesses are rectangular the length of the sides can range from 1µm to 3cm (Lee, [0032]) which effectively describes a channel in the current collector. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide vent channels as the current collector pattern as taught in Lee et al. that extend to a periphery of the surface of the current collector as the bonding force of the active material at the edge of the current collector is a known issue in the art and the skilled artisan would be inclined to address this issue by complete coverage of the vent channel pattern.
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Annotated Figure 2
In regard to Claim 4, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel is configured to facilitate adhesion between the second current collector and the negative electrode (He, Paragraph [6]).
In regard to Claims 5 and 14, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. He et al. also discloses wherein the second current collector has a first planar surface and a second opposing planar surface opposite the first planar surface, and further including a second vent channel disposed on the second opposing planar surface (He, Abstract).
In regard to Claim 6, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 5. He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel on the first planar surface and the second vent channel on the second opposing planar surface intersect at one or more points (He, Paragraph [29], Figure 2).
In regard to Claim 7, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 5. He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel on the first planar surface and the second vent channel on the second opposing planar surface do not intersect (He, Figure 1).
In regard to Claim 10, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. While He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel comprises a channel pattern comprising a plurality of channels that connect at a central location on the first planar surface (He, Figure 1).
In regard to Claim 21, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel extends across the first planar surface of the second current collector (He, Figure 2).
In regard to Claim 22, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. He et al. also discloses wherein the first vent channel extends across only a portion of the first planar surface of the second current collector (He, Figure 1).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 110649268 A - Machine Translation), hereinafter "He" in view of Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1), hereinafter “Lee”. He and Lee et al. are analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely surface modification of current collectors.
In regard to Claim 11, He et al. discloses a battery comprising: a positive electrode comprising a first current collector; a negative electrode comprising: a second current collector comprising: a first planar surface; a second opposing planar surface; a first concave area pattern disposed on the first planar surface of the second current collector and a second concave area pattern disposed on the second opposing planar surface of the second current collector (He, Abstract, Paragraph [15]). He et al. also discloses a specific example wherein the first concave area pattern is different than the second concave area pattern (He, Example 3), wherein the second concave area pattern includes a concave area pattern extending along the second opposing planar surface to a periphery of the second opposing planar surface (He, Annotated Figure 2). He also describes the that the concave areas have the benefit of improving the specific surface area of the foil and thereby increasing the bonding force of the active material loading (He, [6]). While He et al. discloses the concave area pattern can be easily formed by the skilled artisan it is silent as to variations in the pattern or shapes.
Lee et al. discloses a negative electrode current collector with a plurality of recesses having a predetermined shape (Lee, Abstract) wherein the shape of the recesses is not particularly limited and may be, for example, polygonal such as rectangular or triangular, or elliptical (Lee, [0029]) and when the recesses are rectangular the length of the sides can range from 1µm to 3cm (Lee, [0032]) which effectively describes a channel in the current collector. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide vent channels as the current collector pattern as taught in Lee et al. that extend to a periphery of the surface of the current collector as the bonding force of the active material at the edge of the current collector is a known issue in the art and the skilled artisan would be inclined to address this issue by complete coverage of the vent channel pattern.
Claims 2-3, 9, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (CN 110649268 A - Machine Translation), hereinafter "He" in view of Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1), hereinafter “Lee” as applied to claim 1 and 11 above, in view of Kim et al. (KR 20130115607 A - Machine Translation), hereinafter "Kim". He, Lee and Kim et al. are analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely surface modification of current collectors.
In regard to Claims 2 and 12, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. While modified He et al. discloses the first vent channel extending along the first planar surface to a periphery of the first planar surface as well as the vent channels comprising a rounded shape, which by definition provides a vent channel capable of preventing air from being trapped between the current collector and active material as evidenced by the original specification (Original Specification, Paragraphs [0017]), and that the shape and pattern are easily controlled by the skilled artisan, it fails to explicitly disclose the vent channel is configured to prevent air from being trapped between the current collector and active material.
Kim et al. discloses a negative electrode current collector with vent channels that have a rounded shape and extend to the edge portion of the collector and wherein voids are not generated when the active material is applied, i.e. the vent channels are configured to prevent air from being trapped when the active material layer is applied (Kim, Paragraph [18]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide round vent channels extending to the periphery of the current collector as disclosed in He et al. which would give the skilled artisan the reasonable expectation of achieving the benefit of not trapping air when the active material is applied to the current collector as taught in Kim et al. and as doing so would amount to nothing more than applying a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results.
In regard to Claims 3 and 13, He et al. in view of Lee discloses the battery of claim 1. While He et al. discloses the negative electrode active material is not limited (He, Paragraph [43]), it fails to explicitly disclose the negative electrode comprises lithium. Kim et al. discloses the negative electrode comprises lithium (Kim Paragraph [26]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide a lithium negative electrode active material as taught in Kim et al. to the negative electrode as disclosed in He et al. as doing so would amount to nothing more than a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
In regard to Claim 9, He et al. in view of Lee et al. discloses the battery of claim 1. While He et al. also discloses the diameter of the vent channels, it is silent as to the depth of the vent channel. He et al. also discloses the channels are performed by laser etching (He, Paragraph [6]) and that the pattern is modifiable by the skilled artisan (He, Paragraph [101]).
Kim et al. discloses wherein the first vent channel has a depth that is about half a thickness of the second current collector by disclosing the current collector is 100µm (Kim, Paragraph [21]) and the depth of the vent channels can be 30-50 µm (Kim, Paragraph [23]), is 30-50%, or about half of the thickness of the current collector. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide a vent channel with a depth of about half the thickness of the current collector as taught in Kim et al. as doing so would amount to nothing more than a variation of the vent channel for use in the same field based on design incentives or other market forces, as the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claims 15-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (KR 20130115607 A - Machine Translation), hereinafter "Kim" in view of Hiroaki et al. (JP 3745594 B2 – Machine Translation), hereinafter “Hiroaki” and Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1), hereinafter “Lee”. Kim, Lee and Hiroaki et al. are analogous prior art to the claimed invention because they pertain to the same field of endeavor, namely surface modification of current collectors.
In regard to Claim 15, Kim et al. discloses a method, comprising: providing a current collector having a first planar surface and a second opposing planar surface (Kim, Abstract, Figure 2). Kim et al. also discloses depositing a mask on a portion of the first planar surface and etching an unmasked region to create at least one vent channel (Kim, Paragraphs [20-23)]).
Lee et al. also discloses a beneficial method wherein a mask pattern partially exposing a surface of the anodic current collector is formed on the surface of the anodic current collector wherein the exposed surface of the anodic current collector is etched using the mask pattern as an etching mask to form recesses (Lee, [0041-0042]), which is equivalent to depositing a mask on a portion of the first planar surface and etching an unmasked region of the first planar surface to create at least one vent channel.
While Kim et al. depicts a repeating pattern in Figures 1, 3, and 9, which would likely continue to the edge region of the current collector, Kim fails to explicitly disclose the at least one vent channel configured to reach a periphery of the first planar surface.
Hiroaki et al. discloses venting channels (grooves) formed in the electrode surface that explicitly reach the edge region of the electrode for the beneficial purpose of facilitating degassing (trapped air being released) during formation (Hiroaki, Paragraphs [0004, 0018], Figures 5, 6, 7, and 9). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide vent channels formed in the method disclosed in Kim that extend to the edge regions of the current collector as taught in Hiroaki, as doing so would give the skilled artisan the reasonable expectation of achieving the benefits taught in Hiroaki and as doing so would amount to nothing more than the use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way.
In regard to Claim 16, Kim et al. in view of Lee and Hiroaki et al. discloses the method of claim 15. Kim et al. also discloses depositing a mask on a portion of the first planar surface and on a portion of the second opposing planar surface (Kim, Paragraphs [20-23], Figure 2).
In regard to Claim 17, Kim et al. in view of Lee and Hiroaki et al. discloses the method of claim 15. While Kim et al. depicts a repeating pattern in Figures 1, 3, and 9 which would likely continue to the edge region of the current collector, Kim fails to explicitly disclose the at least one vent channel configured to reach a periphery of the first planar surface.
Hiroaki et al. discloses venting channels (grooves) formed in the electrode surface that explicitly reach the edge region of the electrode for the beneficial purpose of facilitating degassing (trapped air being released) during formation (Hiroaki, Paragraphs [0004, 0018]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide vent channels formed in the method disclosed in Kim that extend to the edge regions of the current collector as taught in Hiroaki, as doing so would give the skilled artisan the reasonable expectation of achieving the benefits taught in Hiroaki and as doing so would amount to nothing more than the use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way.
In regard to Claim 18, Kim et al. in view of Lee and Hiroaki et al. discloses the method of claim 15. Kim et al. also discloses wherein the at least one vent channel is configured to facilitate adhesion between the current collector and an active material (Kim, Paragraphs [12-13]).
In regard to Claim 20, Kim et al. in view of Lee and Hiroaki et al. discloses the method of claim 15. Kim et al. discloses wherein the first vent channel has a depth that is about half a thickness of the second current collector by disclosing the current collector is 100µm (Kim, Paragraph [21]) and the depth of the vent channels can be 30-50 µm (Kim, Paragraph [23]), is 30-50%, or about half of the thickness of the current collector.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 8, 9, 12 and 13 being incorrectly included in the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection have been considered and were correct which is now addressed in this office action by correcting the grounds of rejection.
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claim 1, 11 and 14 and the 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) rejection not anticipating the claim was persuasive and as such the new grounds of rejection is a 35 U.S.C. 103 with an additional reference not previously submitted Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1).
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claim 1 and the reference not anticipating a vent channel extending to the periphery of the current collector has been considered but are moot because the new grounds of rejection has been changed from a 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) rejection to a 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection and relies upon prior art not cited in the previous office action to include: Lee et al. (US 20060110661 A1).
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 2-3, 9 and 12-13 have been considered but they are moot as the independent claim from which they rely has a new ground of rejection and a new combination of references applied to them.
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 15-18 and 20 have been considered but they are moot as the independent claim 15 from which they rely has been amended and a new ground of rejection with a new combination of references applied to them.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Choi et al. (General Approach for High-Power Li-Ion Batteries: Multiscale Lithographic Patterning of Electrodes, Volume7, Issue12, December 2014, Pages 3483-3490), hereinafter “Choi” which discloses vent channels formed in the current collector which extend to the peripheral regions of the current collector.
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/K.M.O./Examiner, Art Unit 1725 /NICOLE M. BUIE-HATCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1725