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
Examiner acknowledges amended Claims 1 and 4, canceled Claims 2, 3, and 10, and withdrawn Claim 12 in the response filed on 3/13/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1, 4-9, 11, and 13-15 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 4-9, 11, and 13-15 are objected to because of the following informalities: To promote clarity, please amend “the total weight of all the electrochemically active materials” to “a total weight of all the electrochemically active materials” in Claim 1: Lines 4-5 (emphasis added). Appropriate correction is required.
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, 4-9, 11, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pub. No. 20140138591 (“Yoon et al.”) in view of US Pub. No. 20140096375 (“Hampel et al.”).
With regards to Claims 1, 4, 7, and 8, Yoon et al. teaches an electrode having a porosity of 10-90 vol % and comprising a current collector formed by a metal strip and two faces, in which at least one of the faces is coated with a composition of electrochemically active materials ([0156] and [0157]), said composition comprising:
from 90% to 99% by weight of lithium manganese iron phosphate relative to the total weight of all the electrochemically active materials of the composition, said lithium manganese iron phosphate having the following formula: LiaFe1-x-yMnxDy(PO4)z, wherein 1.0<a≤1.10, 0<x≤0.5, 0≤y≤0.10, 1.0<z≤1.10 and D is selected from the group consisting of Co, Ni, V, Nb, and combinations thereof (e.g. Li1.000Fe0.460Mn0.500Co0.040PO4 [0061]), (Abstract, [0053], [0061], [0062], [0064], [0067], and [0077]) and
from 1 to 10% by weight of lithium oxide of transition metals relative to the total weight of all the electrochemically active materials of the composition, said lithium oxide having the following formula: Li1±δNipCoqAl(1-p-q)O2, where 0<δ<0.1, p≥0.3, and q≤0.5 ([0062], [0064], [0077], [0144], [0145], and [0147]).
Yoon et al. does not teach said current collector having undergone chemical pickling of at least one the faces thereof.
However, Hampel et al. teaches a 15 to 25 μm thick current collector that has undergone chemical pickling of at least one of the faces thereof (Abstract and [0012]). The pickling rate is set in such a way that the removed thickness is less than 1 μm, in particular less than 0.5 μm or preferably 0.01 to 0.1 μm [0010]. Therefore, Hampel et al. teaches a hallowing rate that overlaps with the claimed range of less than 10%. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Yoon et al.’s current collector undergo chemical pickling with a hallowing rate of less than 10% in order to degrease the current collector and produce a current collector with much better electrical and mechanical properties ([0011] and [0018]).
With regards to Claim 5, Yoon et al. teaches the current collector is a strip made of aluminum or aluminum alloy [0156].
With regards to Claim 6, Yoon et al. teaches the current collector is coated on both faces with said composition of electrochemically active materials [0156].
With regards to Claim 9, Yoon et al. teaches a method of depositing the active material composition on a current collector by preparing a paste comprising the active material composition. The amount of active material is typically loaded at about 10-20 mg/cm2 [0157]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness, In re Malagari, 182 USPQ 549.
With regards to Claims 11 and 13, Yoon et al. teaches the current collector is solid, and therefore should not have a through hole [0156].
With regards to Claims 14 and 15, Yoon et al. teaches a lithium-ion type electrochemical cell comprising the at least one electrode ([0005] and [0007]).
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.
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/LC/
Lisa Chau
Art Unit 1785
/Holly Rickman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785