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
Upon consideration, the previous rejection of record was withdrawn in light of new amendments. However new rejection is applied to the amended claims. All changes made in the rejection are necessitated by the amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2 and 4-8 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08-22-2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2016/0365604 hereinafter Nimura in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2017/0244095 hereinafter Sonobe, WO 2019/208419 A1 [English equivalent US 2021/0305573] hereinafter Arai and U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2014/0127579 hereinafter Yoshida.
Regarding Claim 1, Nimura teaches a composition for an all-solid-state battery comprising: an inorganic solid electrolyte (paragraphs 50-51); an organic solvent (paragraphs 198-201); and a polymer having a core-shell structure that includes a core portion and a shell portion covering an outer surface of the core portion (paragraph 258-259), a polymer forming the core portion has a glass-transition temperature of -72°C, a polymer forming the shell portion has a glass-transition temperature of 87°C (see Table 3-1), and the polymer forming the shell portion includes a nitrogen functional group-containing monomer unit (amino group) (see claims 5 and 10).
Nimura does not specify that the nitrogen functional group-containing monomer unit is included in the polymer forming the shell portion in an amount of not less than 10 mass% and not more than 90 mass% when all repeating units of the polymer forming the shell portion are taken to be 100 mass%.
However, Sonobe teaches polymer for a battery composition, the polymer having a glass-transition temperature of -37°C and the nitrogen functional group-containing monomer unit is included in the polymer forming the shell portion in an amount of not less than 10 mass% and not more than 90 mass% when all repeating units of the polymer forming the shell portion are taken to be 100 mass%. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such polymer composition before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because Sonobe discloses that such configuration can improve binding property.
In addition, Arai teaches a battery composition that includes a core-shell polymer having a shell portion of 15% by mass and the polymer forming the core portion has a glass-transition temperature of -40°C, and a polymer forming the shell portion has a glass-transition temperature of 51°C (see Example 7, Table 1).
The combination does not specify that the amount of the cross-linkable monomer unit included in the particulate polymer.
However, Yoshida teaches an all-solid state secondary battery that comprises an inorganic solid electrolyte and a binder comprises of particulate-shaped polymer (paragraph 17), wherein the particulate-shaped polymer comprises cross-linkable monomer units and the amount of the cross-linkable monomer units is 0.1 to 10 wt% (paragraph 30). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such amount of cross-linkable monomer units in the particulate-shaped polymer before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because Yoshida discloses that such configuration can improve the strength of the particulate-shaped polymer (paragraph 30).
Regarding Claims 2-3, the combination teaches a core-shell polymer having a shell portion of 15% by mass as described above and includes a cross-linkable monomer unit.
Regarding Claims 4-5, the combination teaches that the composition comprises an electrode active material and a conductive material (see Nimura, Sonobe, and Arai above).
Regarding Claims 6-7, the combination teaches an all-solid-state secondary battery comprising the solid electrolyte-containing layer above (see Nimura, Sonobe, and Arai above).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination teaches that the particulate-shaped polymer comprises cross-linkable monomer units and the amount of the cross-linkable monomer units is 0.1 to 10 wt% (paragraph 30 of Yoshida). In addition, a prima facie case of obviousness exists because the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art", see In.re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976; In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, l 6USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
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 OSEI K AMPONSAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3446. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NICHOLAS A SMITH can be reached at (571)272-8760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OSEI K AMPONSAH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752