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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-11 and 13 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shin (KR-100709863-B1) (see translation).
Regarding claim 1, Shin discloses a secondary battery electrode, comprising: an electrode current collector including first and second regions (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-6, page 15, regarding the embodiment of fig. 4, wherein the left and right side of the electrode may correspond with first and second regions); an active material layer positioned on the first region of the electrode current collector (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-6, page 15, wherein the position of the negative electrode active material 15b may correspond to a first region); and an insulating layer positioned on the second region of the electrode current collector (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-6, page 15, wherein the area in which the support tape 19 is positioned may correspond with the second region, page 16 regarding the support tape 19 formed of insulating polypropylene material), wherein the insulating layer includes a first line portion and a second line portion offset from one another along a lateral dimension (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, page 15, wherein the support tape 19 is formed on both sides of the tab 19, the left side may correspond with a first line portion and the right side may correspond with a second line portion), and wherein a first boundary that partitions the first region and the second region corresponds to an end of the active material layer and an end of the first line portion (see e.g., Shin; fig. 5, wherein the gap from the end of active material 15b and the first support tape 19 may correspond with a first boundary), and wherein the first and second line portions are positioned at a distance from an edge of an uncoated portion of the electrode current collector along the lateral dimension (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, wherein the tape 19 is positioned away from the longitudinal end edge of the current collector, which is uncoated).
Regarding claim 2, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1, wherein the first line portion and the second line portion are spaced apart from each other at the same interval (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, wherein the tapes 19 are equidistant apart and therefore the same interval apart).
Regarding claim 3, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1, wherein the second line portion has the same pattern as the first line portion (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, wherein the insulating tape 19 is the same on both sides of tab 17).
Regarding claim 5, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1, wherein an electrode tab is attached to at least a portion of the second region (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, page 15, regarding tab 17).
Regarding claim 6, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1, wherein the insulating layer has a smaller height than that of the active material layer (see e.g., Shin; fig. 5).
Regarding claim 13, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1, wherein the edge of the uncoated portion is parallel to the first boundary (see e.g., Shin; fig. 5).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin (KR-100709863-B1) (see translation), and in further view of Yamahira (JP-2008097964-A) (see translation).
Regarding claim 4, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1. Shin discloses wherein a line connecting one end and the other end of the second line portion is parallel to the first line portion (see e.g., Shin; figs. 4-5, wherein a line drawn from the top to the bottom of the second support tape 19 on the right side of the tab 17 would be parallel to the first line portion of the support tape 19 on the left side of the tab 17).
Shin does not explicitly disclose wherein the first line portion and the second line portion have different patterns. However, Yamahira discloses an insulating tape layer on an uncoated portion of the current collector wherein the insulating tape has a pattern which extends past the top edge of the current collector and extends past the bottom edge of the current collector (see e.g., Yamahira; figs. 2a-b). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified one of the support tapes 19 of Shin, such as the one that is closer to the active material 15b, by changing the pattern such that the tape extends past the current collector on the top and bottom edges as disclosed by Yamahira. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to prevent short circuits and damage during winding of the electrode (see e.g., Yamahira; [0003]). With this modification, the first line portion and the second line of the support tapes 19 have a different pattern.
Claim(s) 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin (KR-100709863-B1) (see translation), and in further view of Mizawa (US-20210249698-A1) (application date 2019-06-17).
Regarding claim 7, Shin discloses the secondary battery electrode of claim 1. Shin does not explicitly disclose wherein the insulating layer further includes a third line portion, and the third line portion crosses at least one of the line portions. However, Mizawa discloses an insulating tape that is attached to the outermost peripheral surface of the electrode group wherein which may correspond with a third line portion (see e.g., Mizawa; [0020], [0025], figs. 2-3, 7, regarding tapes 40 and 41). Mizawa discloses the adhesive part of the insulating tape may be in the winding direction of the electrode (see e.g., Mizawa; [0026] regarding the first and second regions, and as shown in fig. 2) or perpendicular to the winding direction of the electrode (as shown in fig. 7 corresponding to comparative example 2), both of which result in an improvement in electrode plate deformation (see e.g., Mizawa; table 1, wherein example 1 and comparative example 2 both have an electrode plate deformation degree of “A”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided either insulating tapes of fig. 2 or fig. 7 of Mizawa to the electrode of Shin in order to provide long-term reliability and suppress electrode plate deformation that may contribute to internal short circuit (see e.g., Mizawa; [0006]). With this modification, the insulating tape provided by Mizawa would overlap and cross at least one of the tapes 19 of Shin because the tapes 40 and 41 are disposed all across the outermost periphery of the electrode.
Regarding claim 8, modified Shin teaches the secondary battery electrode of claim 7, wherein at least one or more third line portions are spaced apart from each other at the same intervals (in the modification provided above regarding claim 7, Mizawa provides in figs. 2 and 7 that the adhesive part 43 of the insulating tape, which may correspond with the at least one third line portions, is spaced apart from each other at the same intervals).
Regarding claim 9, modified Shin teaches the secondary battery electrode of claim 7, wherein the third line portion has the same pattern as the first line portion (in the modification provided above regarding claim 7, Mizawa shows the insulating tape in fig. 2 and 7 as a straight line pattern, which is the same pattern as the insulating tape 19 of Shin).
Regarding claim 10, modified Shin teaches the secondary battery electrode of claim 7. In the modification above regarding claim 7 with Mizawa, the configuration of fig. 7 of Mizawa may be applied to Shin. In this case, the third line portions of insulating tape 40b and 41b may be the plurality of adhesive portions 51. Therefore, the third line portions have a different pattern than the first line portion, because there are multiple third line portions spaced apart at different intervals and having different height and thicknesses, which is different from the single line portion of the insulating tape 19. In fig. 5 of Shin, a secondary boundary, perpendicular to the first boundary that partitions the first region and the second region as claimed in claim 1, may be a line horizontally across the figure, such as the upper or lower edge of the current collector. In this case, the third line portions of insulating tape 40b and 41b may be the plurality of adhesive portions, which are parallel to a line connecting one end and the other end of the third line portions (the line being vertical across the figure, which is in the direction that the individual insulating tapes are placed).
Regarding claim 11, modified Shin teaches the secondary battery electrode of claim 7.
Shin discloses that the thickness of the insulating tape 19 corresponding to the second line portion may have a thickness equal to the tab, such as 80-120 μm (see e.g., Shin; page 16). In the modification above regarding claim 7, Mizawa also provides that the thickness of the insulating tape on the outer peripheral of the electrode comprises of the adhesive layer having a thickness of 10 μm and the base layer having a thickness of 20 μm (see e.g., Mizawa; [0051]). Therefore, the second line portion and the third line portion have different thicknesses as claimed.
Conclusion
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/KEVIN SONG/Examiner, Art Unit 1728
/MATTHEW T MARTIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1728
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