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 January 27, 2026 has been entered and considered and an action on the merits follows.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “emissivity amplifier (claims 1 and 8)” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shuichi et al. (hereinafter "Shuichi") (JP 2011181348 A) in view of Hitoshi (JP 2002296951 A).
Regarding claim 1, Shuichi discloses an electrode rolling apparatus comprising: a rolling roll (11) that rolls an electrode substrate (see abstract), and a rolling roll cooling unit (see fig. 4) that supplies a cooling medium (see "heat medium liquid (water or oil)" on page 5, from 5th paragraph of the translation copy) to an inside of the rolling roll (11) to cool the rolling roll (11), wherein the cooling medium transferred through the rolling roll cooling unit flows through an outer portion of the rolling roll (see fig. 4, which shows a flow path (42) of the cooling medium is through an outer portion of the roll (11)).
Shuichi discloses a roll temperature control to detect a temperature of the rolling roll (11) (see page 2, line 9, page 3, third paragraph of the English translation). Shuichi does not expressly disclose the roll temperature control is using a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring unit located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll, and an emissivity amplifier configured to compensate for changing emissivity of the exterior surface of the rolling roll.
Hitoshi discloses a heated rolling roll (26) having a roll temperature control system using a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring sensor (101) located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll (26) (see fig. 4), temperature measuring sensor (101) generates a voltage corresponding to the incident infrared light, is amplified by the amplifier (121), and is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter (122). The converted digital signal is input to CPU (120). Then, the CPU (120) performs an operation of correcting the amount of infrared light according to the infrared emissivity of the object to be measured based on the input signal, and sets the result as the measured temperature of the rolling roll (see page 9, paragraph 8 of the English translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the apparatus of Shuichi, with the roll temperature control system having a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring unit located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll, and an emissivity amplifier, as taught by Hitoshi, to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of measuring the temperature of the roll.
Regarding claim 2, the electrode rolling apparatus according to claim 1, Shuichi discloses wherein: the rolling roll cooling unit comprises, an inlet (34) and an outlet (35) that are disposed outside (fig. 4) the rolling roll to provide a flow path of the cooling medium, and a refrigerant pipe (30) that communicates with the inlet and the outlet and passes through a central part of the rolling roll (fig. 4).
Regarding claim 3, the electrode rolling apparatus according to claim 2, Shuichi discloses wherein: an inner pipe (42 and a portion outside of the pipe 30) through which the cooling medium flows is formed at the outer portion of the rolling roll (11), and the inner pipe is connected to the refrigerant pipe (30) (fig. 4).
Regarding claim 4, the rolling apparatus according to claim 3, Shuichi discloses wherein: the inner pipe is formed by a plurality of numbers (see fig. 4, which shows angled pipes, small vertical pipes, and a horizontal pipe connected together to form a flow path for the cooling medium) along the outer portion of the rolling roll.
Claims 5, 7-8, and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shuichi and Hitoshi, in further view of Motomura et al. (hereinafter "Motomura") (WO 2016/030929 A1).
Regarding claim 5, modified Shuichi discloses the invention substantially as claimed as set forth above except for an inlet temperature measuring unit and an outlet temperature measuring unit that measure temperature of the cooling medium passing through the inlet and the outlet, respectively.
Motomura discloses a cooling roll (30, fig. 6), and inlet and outlet temperature measuring units (31 and 32) are provided to measure the temperature of the inlet and outlet of cooling water to the roll (30), respectively (see the English translation, page 5 last paragraph to the first paragraph of page 6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the rolling roll of Shuichi with an inlet temperature measuring unit and an outlet temperature measuring unit that measure temperature of the cooling medium passing through the inlet and the outlet, respectively, as taught by Motomura, in order to control the temperature of the cooling medium within the rolling roll, which is critical for preventing defects caused by overheating, under-cooling, or uneven temperature distribution across the electrode of the rolling roll.
Regarding claim 7, modified Shuichi discloses the invention substantially as claimed as set forth above except a cooling medium flow rate control unit that controls the flow rate of the cooling medium so that a surface temperature of the rolling roll measured through the rolling roll temperature measuring unit is maintained within a preset distribution range.
Motomura can also be applied to teach a cooling medium flow rate control unit (33) that controls the flow rate of a cooling medium so that a surface temperature of a rolling roll (30) measured through a rolling roll temperature measuring unit (37-41) is maintained within a preset distribution range (see page 6, the first three paragraphs of the English translation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the rolling roll of Shuichi with a cooling medium flow rate control unit, as taught by Motomura, in order to maintain a consistent and uniform temperature of the rolling roll.
Regarding claim 8, Shuichi discloses an electrode rolling method that rolls an electrode substrate including an electrode current collector layer and a coating part formed on one or both surfaces of the electrode current collector layer (see the English translation, page 1, last paragraph) using a rolling roll (11), the method comprising the step of: cooling an outer portion of the rolling roll (fig. 4).
Shuichi discloses a roll temperature control to detect a temperature of the rolling roll (11) (see page 2, line 9, page 3, third paragraph of the English translation).
Shuichi does not expressly disclose the roll temperature control is using a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring unit located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll, and an emissivity amplifier configured to compensate for changing emissivity of the exterior surface of the rolling roll.
Hitoshi discloses a heated rolling roll (26) having a roll temperature control system using a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring sensor (101) located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll (26) (see fig. 4), temperature measuring sensor (101) generates a voltage corresponding to the incident infrared light, is amplified by the amplifier (121), and is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter (122). The converted digital signal is input to CPU (120). Then, the CPU (120) performs an operation of correcting the amount of infrared light according to the infrared emissivity of the object to be measured based on the input signal, and sets the result as the measured temperature of the rolling roll (see page 9, paragraph 8 of the English translation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided the apparatus of Shuichi, with the roll temperature control system having a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring unit located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll, and an emissivity amplifier, as taught by Hitoshi, to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of measuring the temperature of the roll.
As to the step of controlling the-flow rate of a cooling medium flowing through the outer portion of the rolling roll in order to maintain the surface temperature of the rolling roll within a preset distribution range, Motomura can be applied to disclose at least one rolling roll temperature measuring unit (37-41) that is located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of a rolling roll (30, fig. 6) (also see the English translation, page 6, third paragraph), and a cooling medium flow rate control unit (33) that controls the flow rate of a cooling medium so that a surface temperature of a rolling roll (30) measured through the rolling roll temperature measuring unit (37-41) is maintained within a preset distribution range (see page 6, the first three paragraphs of the English translation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the rolling roll of Shuichi, with a cooling medium flow rate control unit that controls the flow rate of a cooling medium, as taught by Motomura, to allow adjustment that prevent defects and overheating of the rolling roll and for safety issues and to maintain a consistent and uniform temperature of the rolling roll.
Regarding claim 10, the electrode rolling method according to claim 8, Shuichi discloses wherein the step of cooling the outer portion of the rolling roll includes allowing allows a cooling medium to flow through an inner pipe (42) formed in the outer portion of the rolling roll (11) (see fig. 4 of Shuichi).
Regarding claim 11, the electrode rolling method according to claim 10, Shuichi discloses wherein: the cooling medium flowing through the inner pipe is supplied from a refrigerant pipe (30) passing through a center part of the rolling roll.
Regarding claim 12, the electrode rolling method according to claim 11, modified Shuichi discloses the invention substantially as claimed as set forth above except for controlling the temperature of the cooling medium passing through an inlet and outlet of the refrigerant pipe, respectively, in order to maintain the surface temperature of the rolling roll within a preset distribution range.
Motomura discloses a cooling roll (30, fig. 6), and inlet and outlet temperature measuring units (31 and 32) are provided to measure the temperature of the inlet and outlet of cooling water to the roll (30), respectively (see the English translation, page 5 last paragraph to the first paragraph of page 6).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the rolling roll of Shuichi with an inlet temperature measuring unit and an outlet temperature measuring unit that measure temperature of the cooling medium passing through the inlet and the outlet, respectively, as taught by Motomura, in order to control the temperature of the cooling medium within the 5 rolling roll, which is critical for preventing defects caused by overheating, under-cooling, or uneven temperature distribution across the electrode of the rolling roll.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the same combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Hitoshi (JP 2002296951 A) has been applied to teach a contact-less rolling roll temperature measuring unit located outside and adjacent to an exterior surface of the rolling roll, and an emissivity amplifier to control the temperature of a roll is old and well known in mechanical art.
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 JIMMY T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4520. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-5pm.
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JIMMY T. NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3725
/JIMMY T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3725