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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 5, and 8-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu (US-20220115748-A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Xu discloses:
A current collecting member (a current collecting member, see Abstract),
applied in a cell having a tab portion (the current collecting member is connected of the tabs 322 of an electrode assembly 32 via connecting component 60, see [0061]),
the current collecting member comprising (a current collecting member, see Abstract):
a main body structure and a lead-out structure (the main body structure in indicated in annotated Fig. 16 below, the terminal connecting section 51/lead-out structure, see [0033] and Fig. 16),
wherein the main body structure is further provided with a protection member ( Xu discloses a connecting component 60 and an insulator 70 wherein the insulator acts to insulate (i.e. protecting) the current collecting section 61 of the collecting component 60 from the main body 321 of the electrode assembly 32, see [0057], [0074] and Fig. 16.),
at least one end of the protection member is bent along a width direction of the main body structure and wraps a corner portion of the main body structure in a thickness direction (The connecting component 60 and insulator 70 is shown to wrap a corner of the indicted main body section in annotated Fig. 16 below.).
wherein the protection member is provided between the tab portion and the main body (Annotated Fig. 19 below indicates that at least a portion of the insulator 70 of the connecting component 60 is provided between the tabs 322 and the indicated main body section. Fig.14, although is not an embodiment including the insulator 70, is additionally provided below to show a cross sectional view that at least a portion of the tabs 322 extent and face both sides of the indicated main body of the current collecting member.).
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Regarding Claim 5, annotated Fig. 16 above shows:
wherein the main body structure and the lead-out structure are integrally formed.
Regarding Claim 8, Xu discloses:
wherein the cover plate assembly is located on a top surface of the electrode assembly (all the examples show the cap assembly 40 as being on a top surface of the electrode assembly 32, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21),
the cover plate assembly comprises a pole (electrode terminals 42, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21),
and the lead-out structure is located on the top surface of the electrode assembly and connected with the pole (the indicated lead-out structure in annotated Fig. 16 above is shown to be on the top surface of the electrode assembly 32 and connected with the electrode terminals 42, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21).
Regarding Claim 9, Xu discloses:
wherein the main body structure is disposed at one end of the electrode assembly in a length direction (the indicated main body structure in annotated Fig. 16 above is shown to be is disposed at one end of the electrode assembly in a length direction in all examples, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21),
the one end of the electrode assembly in a length direction is provided with a tab portion (terminal connecting section 51, see Fig 16),
and the tab portion is bent toward one side of the main body structure away from the electrode assembly along one end of the main body structure in the width direction and is connected with the main body structure (see Fig. 16).
Regarding Claim 10, Xu discloses:
wherein the electrode assembly is provided in two sets (all examples show the electrode assemblies being provided in two sets, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21),
the tab portion of the one set of the electrode assemblies is led out in a direction away from the other set of the electrode assemblies (the tab 322 of one electrode assembly is show not be is led out in a direction away from the other set of the electrode assemblies in all examples, see Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21),
the tab portions of the two sets of the electrode assemblies are bent respectively around both ends of the main body structure in the width direction (see tabs 322 in Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21 and the indicated width direction in Fig. 16 above).
Regarding Claim 11, all examples of Xu shown in Figs. 4, 5, 20, and 21 show the orientations claimed below:
wherein the main body structure is parallel or substantially parallel to a lateral surface of the electrode assembly,
and extends along a width direction of the electrode assembly,
and the main body structure is disposed vertically or substantially vertically relative to the lead-out structure in a direction away from the cover plate assembly.
Regarding Claim 12, Xu discloses:
wherein the cell further comprises a housing, which is sheathed outside the electrode assembly and is fixedly connected to the cover plate assembly (“the secondary battery 30 of an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a casing 31, an electrode assembly 32 disposed in the casing 31, and a cap assembly 40 which is in sealed connection with the casing 31,” see [0055] and Fig. 21).
Regarding Claim 14, Xu discloses present a device that uses a secondary battery 30 as a power source, see [0051].
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.
Claim(s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US-20220115748-A1).
Regarding Claim 2, Xu teaches:
and a length direction of the accommodating groove is parallel to a length direction of the main body structure (the current collecting section 61 of the connecting component 60 is accommodated in the recess 100 (see [0073]) and is shown as being parallel to a length direction of the main body structure as shown in annotated Fig. 16 above.
Xu does not necessarily teach the following limitation:
wherein at least a part of an outer edge of the main body structure is provided with an accommodating groove, a ratio of a depth of the accommodating groove to a thickness of the main body structure is in a range of 1/10 to 2/3,
However, Xu teaches the following are suitable embodiments for the configuration of his invention:
a ratio of the thickness of each layer of foil 60a to the thickness of the guiding section 52 ranges from 1/10 to ½, see [0067]
the number of layers of foil 60a is suitably two (i.e. the ratio of the thickness of the connecting component 60 to the guiding section 52/main body structure ranges from 1/5 to 1), see [0067]
it is suitable to provide the entire current collecting section 61 of the connecting component 60 to be contained in the recess 100 in a flush manner (i.e., the thickness of the current collecting section 61 of the connecting component 60 is equal to the thickness of the recess), see [0074]
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have provided the ratio of thickness of the guiding section 52/main body structure and the recess 100 to be within the range of 1/5 to 1 which overlaps the claimed range, because Xu teaches this is a suitable configuration for the adapting piece 50 of his device. Overlapping ranges are prima facie obvious (see MPEP 2144.05, I).
Regarding Claim 3, the connecting component 60 and an insulator 70 of Xu is interpreted to correspond to the claimed protection member. The current collecting section 61 of the connecting component 60 and the insulator 70 is accommodated in the recess 100, see [0073]-[0074], thereby, teaching:
wherein the protection member at least partially covers one end of the accommodating groove close to the main body structure in the width direction (see also annotated Fig. 16 above).
Regarding Claim 4, Xu does not necessarily teach the following claimed structure:
wherein a thickness of the protection member is less than or equal to the depth of the accommodating groove.
However, Xu teach it is suitable to provide the entire current collecting section 61 of the connecting component 60 to be contained in the recess 100 in a flush manner, see [0074]. Additionally, Xu teaches that when the insulating component 70 is also provided that it is “accommodated in the recess 100 of the guiding section 52, which facilitates the improvement of the structural compactness and the reduction of the entire dimension of the insulating component 70... thereby facilitating space saving and thus improving the energy density of the secondary battery 30,” see [0074].
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have provided the current collecting section 61 and insulating component 70 in the recess in a flush manner to facilitating space saving and thus improving the energy density.
R0egarding Claim 13, Xu does not necessarily teach:
wherein at least one side of the tab portion is provided with a protection element, and one side of the protection element is attached to one side of the main body structure away from the electrode assembly.
However, Xu teaches the guide section 52 of the current collector can suitably have a recess 100, see [0073]. Recess 100 is taught to function to reduce deformation and compressive stress when the tab 322 is bent and flattened, see [0073], i.e. is a protection element. Note, the instant specification does not provide a special definition for the protective member or protective element and the claims do not require either the protective member or the protective element to have any other properties than being protective in some manner. The additional of the recess 100 of Xu teaches:
wherein at least one side of the tab portion is provided with a protection element,
and one side of the protection element is attached to one side of the main body structure away from the electrode assembly (The recess 100 can suitably be is recessed from the surface of the guiding section 52 away from the main body 321 of the electrode assembly, see [0073] and Fig. 9).
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have a recess provides in the current collector because Xu teaches this is suitable configuration for a current collector of his invention.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US-20220115748-A1)as applied to Claim 1 above and in further view of Li et al. (US-20200343559-A1).
Regarding Claim 6, Xu does not teach:
wherein a reinforcing rib is further provided on the main body structure, and the reinforcing rib extends along a length direction of the main body structure.
To solve the same problem designing electrically connecting the tabs and electrode terminals for electrode assembles of a battery unit (see [0007]-[0010]), Li teaches disposing a reinforcing portion which includes ribs that extend in a height direction to reduce deformation of the guiding plate of the current collecting member, see [0011], [0013], and Figs. 5, 11A, 11B, 12-18.
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have disposed ribs on the guiding section 52/main body structure of Xu as taught by Li to reduce deformation.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US-20220115748-A1)as applied to Claim 1 above and in further view of Ishii et al. (US-20110052976-A1).
Regarding Claim 7, Xu teaches the embodiment of Fig. 16 includes an insulator 70, however, Xu is silent toward the material of the in insulator. Therefore, Xu does not teach:
wherein a material of the protection member comprises at least one of polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate or polyimide.
To solve the same problem of designing electrical connections between electrode groups of battery with electrode leads and terminals (see [0033]-[0036]), Ishii teaches polypropylene is a desirable material for an insulating material in a battery system due to the heat resistance, insulating property and costs, see [0094].
Absent a showing of persuasive secondary considerations, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have made the insulator 70 of Xu out of polypropylene as taught by Ishii due to the desirable heat resistance, insulating property and costs.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/08/2024 have been fully considered and are addressed below.
Double Patenting
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7, with respect to non-statutory double patenting rejection with respect to 17990732 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The non-statutory double patenting of Claim 1 and 7 over Claim 1-2 and 6 of 17990732 has been withdrawn due to the filling of the terminal disclaimer dated 12/21/2025.
Claim Rejections Under 35 USC §102 and §103
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 8-10, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-14 and that Xu does not teach that the insulating component 70 does not cover or contact the tab 322. This argument is not commensurate in scope with the claim because amended Claim 1 recites “wherein the protection member is provided between the tab portion and the main body” and does not require covering or contact of the protective member and the tabs. Additionally, the tab portion is shown in a cross sectional view that at least a portion of the tabs 322 extent and face both sides of the indicated main body of the current collecting member, see annotated Fig. 14 above.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kim et al. (US 20110039152 A1)
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Kayla E Clary whose telephone number is (571)272-2854. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00-5:00 (PT).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Allison Bourke can be reached at 303-297-4684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/K.E.C./
Kayla E. ClaryExaminer, Art Unit 1721
/ALLISON BOURKE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1721