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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1 and 10 are amended. Claims 2-9 and 11-14 are as previously presented. Therefore, claims 1-14 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on November 24, 2025 has been entered. Applicant’s amendment overcomes the previously set-forth objection to claim 10 and the rejection of claim 10 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 6-8, filed on 11/24/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-14 under U.S.C. 103 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 applicant’s amendment regarding the cutting surface and step directions and newly found prior art regarding those features.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. KR10-2021-0016767, filed on 02/05/2021.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8, and 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igari et al. (JP 2000061724 A, hereinafter Igari) in view of Makoto et al. (CN 102112249 A, hereinafter Makoto) and Yoon et al. (US 20180342710 A1, hereinafter Yoon) and Okamoto et al. (JP 2020075289 A, hereinafter Okamoto).
Regarding claim 1, Igari discloses a sheet cutting (Para. 0002, “shearing a metal plate in which various steel plates or non-ferrous metal plates such as aluminum plates”) comprising:
an upper cutter disposed at an uppermost surface of a sheet (Abstract, “When a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3”, and modified Fig. 11, where the upper cutter is shown cutting the uppermost surface of the sheet); and
a lower cutter disposed at a lowermost surface of the sheet (Abstract, “a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3 and the lower round blade 4”, and modified Fig. 11, where the lower cutter is shown cutting the lowermost surface of the sheet),
wherein the upper cutter comprises: a first cutting surface extending only in a vertical direction and configured to come into contact with and move past a portion of the lower cutter without moving horizontally when the upper cutter is moved vertically (Page 5, last Para., “edge 3a of upper round blade 3 The blade edge 4a of the lower round blade 4 is opposed to each other while ensuring a vertical lap amount and axial clearance required for shearing a predetermined metal plate P.”, where the upper cutter includes surface 3a that moves past a portion of the lower cutter without moving horizontally, Page 5, Para. 4, “respective rotary shafts 1, 2. Is regulated so that the positional relationship between the blade edges facing each other is always maintained in the same state.”, where an axial clearance for shearing means that there is a separation distance between the blades so that they move past each other vertically while having the same horizontal positional relationship; where the cutting surface 3a only extends in the vertical direction);
a first portion extending parallel to the first cutting surface (Modified Fig. 6, where the portion parallel to the cutting surface is shown in an example cutter, where the cutter orientation is flipped but the same location would apply to the upper cutter from modified Fig. 11); and
a first step extending between the first cutting surface and the first portion (Modified Fig. 6, where the step is shown as the indent for an example cutter, where this surface is flipped in modified Fig. 11);
wherein the lower cutter comprises: a second cutting surface extending in the vertical direction and configured to come into contact with and move past a portion of the upper cutter without moving in the horizontal direction when the lower cutter is moved in the vertical direction (Page 5, last Para., “edge 3a of upper round blade 3 The blade edge 4a of the lower round blade 4 is opposed to each other while ensuring a vertical lap amount and axial clearance required for shearing a predetermined metal plate P.”, where the lower cutter includes surface 4a that moves past a portion of the upper cutter without moving horizontally, Page 5, Para. 4, “respective rotary shafts 1, 2. Is regulated so that the positional relationship between the blade edges facing each other is always maintained in the same state.”, where an axial clearance for shearing means that there is a separation distance between the blades so that they move past each other vertically while having the same horizontal positional relationship; where the cutting surface 4a only extends in the vertical direction);
a second portion extending parallel to the second cutting surface (Modified Fig. 6, where the second portion parallel to the second cutting surface is shown, where this surface would coincide with the one shown in modified Fig. 11); and
a second step extending between the second cutting surface and the second portion (Modified Fig. 6, where the second step is shown as the indent, where this surface would coincide with the one shown in modified Fig. 11).
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Modified Figure 11, Igari
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Modified Figure 6, Igari
Igari does not disclose:
a plurality of overlapping sheets being cut;
a fusion apparatus, where first and second fusion portions are provided;
where the first and second step extend only in a horizontal direction.
However, Makoto discloses, in the similar field of shearing sheet metal (Abstract, “sheet shearing method”), where a plurality of overlapping metal sheets can be cut (Para. 0024, “Further, according to the experiment of the inventor, it can be known cutting method of the invention also can be applied for the plurality of sheet overlapping condition. In the this case, the multiple sheet are overlapped between the punch and die, the punch through all of the thin plate to the cutting processing used in stage hole embedded front, opposite movement of the punch is stopped, ending the cutting.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the sheet metal shearing in Igari to include cutting multiple overlapping sheets as taught by Makoto.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to improve the productivity of the apparatus, as stated by Makoto, Para. 0024, “In the this case, the multiple sheet are overlapped between the punch and die, the punch through all of the thin plate to the cutting processing used in stage hole embedded front, opposite movement of the punch is stopped, ending the cutting. Therefore, it can synchronously cutting multiple sheet processing, so the productivity is improved.”.
Further, Yoon discloses, in the similar field of sheet metal (Para. 0044, “the sheet-type exterior members 210 having a designated size are formed of a flexible material, such as aluminum”), where a similar upper and lower member processes the sheet metal (Para. 0047, “a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10”, and Fig. 5a, where the metal bars 10 are shown to be located above and below the sheet metal 210), where the bars include surfaces that fuse the sheet metal (Para. 0047, “the edges of the exterior members 210 are pressed through thermal fusion by a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10 and are thus bonded to seal the electrode assembly 100.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the cutter structure’s first and second portions in modified Igari to perform the same fusion functions as taught by Yoon, where combination of the fusion system in the cutters and how it would function in modified Igari is shown below in modified Fig. 17, where any surface could be selected within Igari to gain the fusion function.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to seal devices within the sheet metal, where fusion allows the seal to be a permanent bond, as stated by Yoon, Para. 0047, “the edges of the exterior members 210 are bonded to seal the electrode assembly 100”.
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Modified Figure 17, Igari
Additionally, Okamoto discloses, in the similar field of sheet metal modifications (Page 1, Para. 3, “processing machine cuts the sheet metal on the basis of the product shape data to manufacture a product having a predetermined shape.”), where the sheet metal modification apparatus includes a first step extending only in the horizontal direction between a first vertical surface and another first vertical surface (Page 11, last Para., “FIG. 14B is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the coining portion in the die mold according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment, in which the plate thickness of the sheet metal is exaggerated.”, and modified Fig. 14B, where the step is shown to be horizontal). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the lower and upper cutters with vertical first/second cutting and first/second fusion surfaces with the first/second step in between in modified Igari to include the horizontal step as taught by Okamoto for both the lower and upper cutters.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of creating recesses within sheet metal that can have different shapes, where the slanted shape from Igari would create a slanted recess, where other shapes can be produced and if desired by a user, 90 degree recess can be created using the horizontal step shape, as stated by Okamoto, Page 10, Para. 4, “Instead of the coining portion 34c in the mold set 10 (56) forming the recessed portion Wd having a V-shaped cross section near the cut surface on the back surface of the residual material portion Wr of the sheet metal W, the recessed portion having the cross-sectional shape shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B is used.”.
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Modified Figure 14B, Okamoto
Regarding claim 2, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein at least a portion of the upper cutter and at least a portion of the lower cutter are configured for being heated (Teaching from Yoon, Para. 0047, “a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10”, where the first and second portions from Igari would be the surfaces that are the high-temperature sealing device, where they would be heated since they are high-temperature).
Regarding claim 3, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein either one or both of the upper cutter and the lower cutter is moved such that the first cutting surface and the second cutting surface come into contact with each other without any step (Igari, Page 5, last Para., “edge 3a of upper round blade 3 The blade edge 4a of the lower round blade 4 is opposed to each other while ensuring a vertical lap amount and axial clearance required for shearing a predetermined metal plate P.”, where the lower cutter and upper cutters move past each other vertically without moving horizontally, Page 5, Para. 4, “respective rotary shafts 1, 2. Is regulated so that the positional relationship between the blade edges facing each other is always maintained in the same state.”, where an axial clearance for shearing means that there is a separation distance between the blades so that they move past each other vertically while having the same horizontal positional relationship, where the step surfaces do not engage), and
either one or both of the sheets are cut due to compression, shearing force (Igari, Para. 0018, “ a metal sheared by the shearing device according to the present invention.”), or melting by an intersection between the first cutting surface and the second cutting surface.
Regarding claim 6, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein, when the sheets are disposed at any one of between the first cutting surface and the second cutting surface, between the first fusion portion and the second fusion portion, and between the first step and the second step, the sheets are fused (Teaching from Yoon, Para. 0047, “a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10”, and Fig. 5a, where the metal bars 10 are shown to be located above and below the sheet metal 210), where the bars include surfaces that fuse the sheet metal (Teaching from Yoon, Para. 0047, “the edges of the exterior members 210 are pressed through thermal fusion by a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10 and are thus bonded to seal the electrode assembly 100.”; and Igari, modified Fig. 17, where the sheets disposed between the two fusion portions are fused for their respective left and right portions. This meaning that the sheet metal area between a fusion portion and the opposite shearing surface is fused for both the left and right sides of the cut sheet metal).
Regarding claim 8, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the upper cutter is disposed at the uppermost surface of the sheets (Igari, Abstract, “When a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3”, and modified Fig. 11, where the upper cutter is shown cutting the uppermost surface of the sheet; and teaching from Makoto, where the even with the multiple sheets, the upper cutter would be on the uppermost surface), the lower cutter is disposed at the lowermost surface of the sheets (Igari, Abstract, “a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3 and the lower round blade 4”, and modified Fig. 11, where the lower cutter is shown cutting the lowermost surface of the sheet; and teaching from Makoto, where the even with the multiple sheets, the lower cutter would be on the lowermost surface), and the lower surface of the upper cutter and the upper surface of the lower cutter are disposed parallel to the sheets (Igari, Page 2, Para. 12, “pushing the metal plate P by the outer peripheral surfaces 3c and 4c”, where Fig. 15 shows that the lower surface of the upper cutter or 3c and the upper surface of the lower cutter or 4c are parallel to the sheet).
Regarding claim 11, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein a height of each of the first step and the second step is equal to or less than a thickness of a combination of at least two sheets that overlap each other (Igari, modified Fig. 12, where the height of each step is smaller than the thickness of one sheet; teaching from Makoto, where there would be multiple sheets stacked, meaning that the height of each step would be even small than the overall thickness of the two sheets).
Regarding claim 12, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Igari does not disclose:
a unit cell manufactured by cutting sheets using the sheet cutting and fusion apparatus,
wherein the unit cell is a mono-cell configured such that a first sheet, a first electrode, a second sheet, and a second electrode are stacked or a bi-cell configured such that a first electrode, a first sheet, a second electrode, a second sheet, and a first electrode are stacked, and
sheets of one-direction outer peripheries of each of the mono-cell and the bi-cell parallel to each other are thermally fused.
However, Yoon discloses where a unit cell is manufactured (Para. 0040, “a battery cell is manufactured.”), where the first sheet, first electrode, and second sheet are stacked for a mono-cell (Para. 0035, “pair of sheet type exterior members 210 so as to receive the electrode assembly 100.”), where the sheets on the outer peripheries are parallel to each other and thermally fused (Para. 0047, “edges of the exterior members 210 are pressed through thermal fusion by a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10 and are thus bonded to seal the electrode assembly 100.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the sheet metal cutting and fusion in modified Igari to include the battery cell features within as taught by Yoon.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage using the sheet metal cutting apparatus to free the battery edges without causing burrs, as stated by Igari, Page 2, last Para., “As a result, the "burr" A does not project from the front surface (or the back surface) of the metal plate.”, where the creation of a battery can be improved with fusion through preventing shorts, as stated by Yoon, Para. 0061, “By sequentially executing the primary and secondary sealing operations (FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b)) of the exterior members 210 using the sealing device 10, the edges of the exterior members 210 are bonded and, simultaneously, the insulating resin P in the secondary sealing areas temporarily becomes semi-molten and is thus injected into the edges of the electrode assembly 100 using heat and pressure”.
Regarding claim 13, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses further comprising: a lower surface configured to face one of the plurality of overlapping sheets; and an upper surface configured to face one of the plurality of overlapping sheets (Igari, Page 2, Para. 12, “pushing the metal plate P by the outer peripheral surfaces 3c and 4c”, where Fig. 15 shows that the lower surface of the upper cutter faces the top part of the sheet and the upper surface of the lower cutter faces bottom part of the sheet; teaching from Makoto, where multiple sheets can be stacked, meaning that the upper and lower surfaces would be facing different sheets).
Claims 4-5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igari et al. (JP 2000061724 A, hereinafter Igari) in view of Makoto et al. (CN 102112249 A, hereinafter Makoto) and Yoon et al. (US 20180342710 A1, hereinafter Yoon) and Okamoto et al. (JP 2020075289 A, hereinafter Okamoto) in further view of Hashiguchi (JP 2003165017 A).
Regarding claim 4, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses the plurality of overlapping sheets are cut due compression, shearing force, or melting by the first fusion portion and the second fusion portion (Igari, Page 2, Para. 8 from end, “while pushing the metal plate P by the outer peripheral surfaces 3c and 4c, the metal plate P is further digged by using the grooves 7and 8. An outgoing shear plane is created.”, where the groove would include the step and the fusion portion, where the digging in by the grooves at the fusion portion acts as a shearing force to hold the sheet metal plate in place when the shearing force is done by the cutting surfaces, where the fusion portions assist with cutting the sheet metal plates).
Modified Igari does not disclose:
wherein either one or both of the upper cutter and the lower cutter is moved such that the first cutting surface and the second cutting surface overlap each other.
However, Hashiguchi discloses, in the similar field of sheet metal cutting (Abstract, “a metal plate machining device”), where an upper and lower sheet metal altering structure have surfaces that overlap (Page 6, Para. 6, “Between the outer periphery of the bulge-allowing recess 62 on the large-diameter surface of the upper blade 48 and the cutting edge surface 59, as shown in FIG. 4, the web extends from the bulge allowing recess 62 to the cutting edge. A cutting edge tip surface 66 that contributes to the cutting of 12 is formed.”, and modified Fig. 5, where the two surfaces of the upper and lower sheet metal altering structures are shown). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the cutters with the shearing surfaces and steps in modified Igari to be overlapped as with the sheet metal altering structures taught by Hashiguchi, where the cutting surfaces of each cutter in Igari would be positioned to go within the step of the other cutter.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of the overlap allowing for additional control over the shape of the sheet metal, where wave shape deformations can be prevented, as stated by Hashiguchi, Para. 0011, “At the time of returning, since the cutting edge of the cutting blade does not come into contact with the cutting portion, the cutting portion of the metal plate and the vicinity thereof are not deformed in a wave shape.”.
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Modified Figure 5, Hashiguchi
Regarding claim 5, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses the plurality of overlapping sheets are cut due compression, shearing force, or melting by the first step and the second step (Igari, Page 2, Para. 8 from end, “while pushing the metal plate P by the outer peripheral surfaces 3c and 4c, the metal plate P is further digged by using the grooves 7and 8. An outgoing shear plane is created.”, where the groove would include the step and the fusion portion, where the digging in by the grooves at the step portion acts as a compression force with the other step to hold the sheet metal plate in place when the shearing force is done by the cutting surfaces, where the steps portions assist with cutting the sheet metal plates).
Modified Igari does not disclose:
wherein either one or both of the upper cutter and the lower cutter is moved such that the first cutting surface and the second cutting surface overlap each other.
However, Hashiguchi discloses, in the similar field of sheet metal cutting (Abstract, “a metal plate machining device”), where an upper and lower sheet metal altering structure have surfaces that overlap (Page 6, Para. 6, “Between the outer periphery of the bulge-allowing recess 62 on the large-diameter surface of the upper blade 48 and the cutting edge surface 59, as shown in FIG. 4, the web extends from the bulge allowing recess 62 to the cutting edge. A cutting edge tip surface 66 that contributes to the cutting of 12 is formed.”, and modified Fig. 5, where the two surfaces of the upper and lower sheet metal altering structures are shown). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the cutters with the shearing surfaces and steps in modified Igari to be overlapped as with the sheet metal altering structures taught by Hashiguchi, where the cutting surfaces of each cutter in Igari would be positioned to go within the step of the other cutter.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of the overlap allowing for additional control over the shape of the sheet metal, where wave shape deformations can be prevented, as stated by Hashiguchi, Para. 0011, “At the time of returning, since the cutting edge of the cutting blade does not come into contact with the cutting portion, the cutting portion of the metal plate and the vicinity thereof are not deformed in a wave shape.”.
Regarding claim 9, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the upper cutter is disposed at the uppermost surface of the sheets (Igari, Abstract, “When a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3”, and modified Fig. 11, where the upper cutter is shown cutting the uppermost surface of the sheet; and teaching from Makoto, where the even with the multiple sheets, the upper cutter would be on the uppermost surface), the lower cutter is disposed at the lowermost surface of the sheets (Igari, Abstract, “a metal plate P is shorn by the upper round blade 3 and the lower round blade 4”, and modified Fig. 11, where the lower cutter is shown cutting the lowermost surface of the sheet; and teaching from Makoto, where the even with the multiple sheets, the lower cutter would be on the lowermost surface).
Modified Igari does not disclose:
the lower surface of the upper cutter and the upper surface of the lower cutter are disposed inclined relative to the sheets.
However, Hashiguchi discloses where the lower surface of the upper cutter is inclined relative to the sheet (Page 9, Para. 6-7 from end, “At, the outer peripheral surface 22A of the pressing roller 22 is pressed from above. Therefore, the cutting portion 12C of the web 12 Is partially deformed to be continuous with the surface 12A, and an inclined surface inclined at a predetermined inclination angle θ with respect to the surface 12A is formed.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified both the lower surface of the upper cutter and the upper surface of the lower cutter in modified Igari to include the inclined surface as taught by Hashiguchi.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to impart a specific shape onto the sheet metal, which can prevent waviness from forming during the trimming, as stated by Hashiguchi, Page 9, Para. 7 from end, “cutting portion 12C of the web 12 Is partially deformed to be continuous with the surface 12A”, and Para. 0001, “a metal plate processing apparatus which can effectively prevent the trimming surface from waviness when a thin metal plate is trimmed.”.
Claims 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igari et al. (JP 2000061724 A, hereinafter Igari) in view of Makoto et al. (CN 102112249 A, hereinafter Makoto) and Yoon et al. (US 20180342710 A1, hereinafter Yoon) and Okamoto et al. (JP 2020075289 A, hereinafter Okamoto) in further view of Hashiguchi (JP 2003165017 A) and Walthier (EP 2329954 A1).
Regarding claim 7, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, as set forth above.
Modified Igari does not disclose:
wherein the first cutting surface, the first fusion portion, the second cutting surface, and the second fusion portion have an identical temperature, and the temperature thereof is lower than a temperature of the first step and the second step.
However, Walthier discloses, in the similar field of sheet metal processing (Abstract, “a sheet metal is selected as the carrier material web.”), where the sheet metal can be cut using a hot knife (Page 5, Para. 2, “The separating device (12) may be a rotating knife, a heated cutting knife hot knife, a laser cutting device, a water jet cutting device or a cutting bar, or any other suitable separating device that can reform a sheet laminate.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the shearing surfaces or cutting surfaces in modified Igari to have a hot knife temperature for cutting as taught by Walthier, where the cutting and fusion surfaces of Igari would be heated to a temperature and the step would not be heated, meaning that the step would have a lower temperature.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to use different separating devices known in the art for their own unique benefits and drawbacks depending on a user’s design needs, as stated by Walthier, Page 5, Para. 2, “The separating device (12) may be a rotating knife, a heated cutting knife hot knife, a laser cutting device, a water jet cutting device or a cutting bar, or any other suitable separating device that can reform a sheet laminate.”.
Further, Yoon discloses where the fusion surface includes a temperature that would melt the sheet metal in order to allow bonding to occur (Para. 0047, “the edges of the exterior members 210 are pressed through thermal fusion by a high-temperature sealing device (metal sealing bars) 10 and are thus bonded to seal the electrode assembly 100.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the fusion and cutting surfaces in modified Igari to include this thermal fusion temperature as taught by Yoon.
Regarding the feature that the cutting and fusion surfaces are the same temperature, it is the Examiner's position that one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to try as the fusion temperature melts the sheet metal so that it can be bonded, where the same temperature would also allow for cutting to occur as the metal is liquified. Therefore, a user would be able to use the same temperature for both fusion and cutting or choose temperatures even greater than the fusion temperature to achieve both fusion and cutting. Since there are a limited amount of temperature options to choose and it is possible for the fusion temperature to also perform cutting, it is the Examiner’s position that having the same temperature would reduce the complexity of the temperature control needed and be a mere matter of user design choice.
Claims 10 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igari et al. (JP 2000061724 A, hereinafter Igari) in view of Makoto et al. (CN 102112249 A, hereinafter Makoto) and Yoon et al. (US 20180342710 A1, hereinafter Yoon) and Okamoto et al. (JP 2020075289 A, hereinafter Okamoto) in further view of Downing (US 20200260851 A1).
Regarding claim 14, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses further comprising: a first connection portion having a corner that connects the lower surface and the first fusion portion to each other; and a second connection portion having a corner that connects the upper surface and the second fusion portion to each other
(Igari, Page 6, Para. 3 from end, “The chamfered portion 5a (6a) provided on the outer peripheral edge on the (4) side can be a small chamfer within a range in which the surface of the metal plate P is not scratched.”, where the chamfer is the corner that is between the fusion portion and lower/upper surface on each cutter; teaching from Yoon, regarding the fusion portion).
Modified Igari does not disclose:
where the corners are curved.
However, Downing discloses, in the similar field of chamfers (Para. 0007, “chamfered”), where different connecting features like chamfers can be used, where one such connection is a rounded end (Para. 0007, “The clip may have a rounded, beveled, chamfered, or tapered distal end to move past the lip”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the chamfer in modified Igari to be a rounded corner as taught by Downing.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of the same benefit from Igari in preventing the sheet metal from being scratched, where multiple structures are equivalent in performing this function and are stated by Downing in allowing for movement without heavy damage, Para. 0007, “The clip may have a rounded, beveled, chamfered, or tapered distal end to move past the lip… the clip sliding over the lip of the pocket.”.
Regarding claim 10, modified Igari teaches the apparatus according to claim 14, as set forth above.
Modified Igari does not disclose:
wherein the sheets comprise a first sheet and a second sheet, further comprising:
stacked electrodes stacked between the first sheet and the second sheet,
wherein each of the stacked electrodes is spaced apart from at least another one of the stacked electrodes by a predetermined distance, and the predetermined distance is greater than a sum of a length from the first connection portion to the first cutting surface and a length from the second connection portion to the second cutting surface.
However, Yoon discloses where the sheets includes a first and second sheet (Para. 0035, “The electrode case 200 is formed as a closed pouch-type case using sheet-type exterior members 210”, and Fig. 5a, where there are two sheets labelled 210), where there are stacked electrodes between the first and second sheet (Para. 0033, “the electrodes 110 and 120”, and Fig. 5a, where 110 and 120 are shown to be stacked on top of one another), where the stacked electrodes are spaced apart by a predetermined distance greater than the sum of the of the length from the connection portions to the cutting surface for both cutters (Modified Fig. 5c, where the distance between electrodes can be selected as any distance between any two electrodes, where taking the top and bottom electrodes would result in a distance far greater than the sum of the connection to cutting surface from modified Fig. 12, where the connection portion is stated in claim 14 as being construed to be the possible chamfer). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the sheet metal in modified Igari to include the features within as taught by Yoon.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage using the sheet metal cutting apparatus to free the battery and for the fusion apparatus to work on creating a battery with short-prevention, as stated by Yoon, Para. 0002, “method of manufacturing a short-preventive all-solid-state battery. More particularly, it relates to a method of manufacturing a short-preventive all-solid-state battery in which short generated at the edges of an electrode assembly may be fundamentally prevented.”.
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Modified Figure 5c, Yoon and Modified Figure 12, Igari
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN GUANHUA WEN whose telephone number is (571)272-9940 and whose email is kevin.wen@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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/KEVIN GUANHUA WEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
02/04/2026
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761