DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-3 are pending.
The foreign priority document No.2020-180646 filed on October 28, 2020 in Japan has been received and it is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kohira et al. (US 2017/0110699) in view of Hiroyuki et al. (JP H1173934 A, with attached machine translation).
With regard to claim 1, Kohira et al. teach the cylindrical battery (10) of fig.1A:
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.
The battery (10) includes the bottomed cylindrical exterior case (15)(abstract), which is “a bottomed cylindrical exterior housing can” in claim 1.
The open end of the exterior case (15) is crimped together with the sealing member (20) via an insulating gasket (21). The sealing member (20) includes a thin and fragile portion (22) (abstract). The sealing member (20) is “a sealing assembly that closes an opening of the exterior housing can” in claim 1.
The sealing member (20) also meets the limitation for “the sealing assembly has a sealing plate”.
The sealing plate (20) is shown in fig.1A above and fig.1B:
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Fig1A and 1 B show that the sealing plate (20) meets the limitations for “an annular portion that has a uniform thickness in the circumferential direction is provided at an end portion on an outward side in the radial direction of the sealing plate, and the annular portion is crimped by the exterior housing via a gasket” in claim 1.
Kohira et al. fail to teach that the sealing plate (20) has the claimed thin portions and thick portions.
Hiroyuki et al. teach a sealed battery comprising a safety valve (9) formed of a thick plate (13) and a thin plate (13) stacked thereon (abstract). The safety valve (9) comprises a circular groove (11a) and the slits (12a):
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(fig.2), wherein the slits (12a) are thinner portions of the safety valve (9):
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(fig.3).
Hiroyuki et al. further teach that the safety valve (9) operates reliably within a small error range relative to a set operating pressure, has excellent sealing properties under normal conditions, and is highly reliable (par.0009).
The fragile portion (22) of Kohira et al. is equivalent to the circular groove (11a) of Hirouki et al.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to include slits (12a) in addition to the fragile portion (22) on the sealing member (20) of Kohira et al. in order to obtain a sealing member (20) that operates reliably within a small error range relative to a set operating pressure, has excellent sealing properties under normal conditions, and is highly reliable.
The areas between the slits (12a) are “a plurality of thick portions radially extending in a radial direction”, and the slits (12a) are “a plurality of thin portions radially extending in the radial direction and each having a thickness thinner than the thickness of the thick portions” (see fig.3 of Hirouki et al.).
Fig.2 of Hiroyuki et al. shows that the areas between the slits (12a)(thick portions) and the slits (12a)(thin portions) are alternatively arranged in a circumferential direction.
Therefore, the battery of Kohira modified by Hiroyuki is equivalent to the cylindrical battery in claim 1.
With regard to claim 2, fig.2 of Hiroyuki et al. shows that the portions between the slits (12a)(thick portions) are tapered toward an inward side in the radial directions.
With regard to claim 3, Kohira et al. teach that the fragile portion (22) breaks to form a hole so that a gas generated inside the battery in the event of an abnormality in the battery can be easily discharged to the outside (par.0022).
The fragile portion (22) is “a breakable part that breaks to release internal gas to an outside”.
For the sealing member (20) of Kohira modified by Hiroyuki the slits (12a)(thin portion) and the areas between the slits (12a) (thick portion) are located on an outward side of the fragile portion (22)(breakable part) in the radial direction (see fig.2 of Hiroyuki et al.).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-3 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.
The examiner would like to note that:
- the rejection of claims 1 and 3 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato et al. (JP 2005-267936A, with machine translation provided by the applicant on April 19, 2023) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1; and
-the rejection of claim 2 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (JP 2005-267936A, with machine translation provided by the applicant on April 19, 2023) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1.
However, new grounds of rejection for claims 1-3 are shown in paragraphs 4 and 5 above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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.
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/ANCA EOFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722