DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Applicant’s amendment filed 16 April 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1 and 4 have been amended, claim 7 has been canceled, claims 8-16 remain withdrawn, and claims 1-6 and 8-16 remain pending.
Applicant’s argument that Noguchi cannot teach or suggest at last one of the first electrode or the second electrode comprising metallic sodium is found to be persuasive. Thus, a new ground of rejection is presented below, which is NOT necessitated by amendment, and so this action is made NON-FINAL.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the sodium salt" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weidong et al. (Rechargeable Sodium All-Solid-State Battery, ACS Central Science 2017 3 (1), 52-57, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.6b00321, hereinafter “Weidong”), in view of Yoshioka (WO 2020/054544 A1, listed in the IDS filed 27 April 2023; using US PGPub 2021/0203007 for the English translation and citations).
Regarding claim 1, Weidong teaches a solid-state cell (Na/H-NASICON/NA coin cells, see 53-56) having an electrolyte which comprises NaSICON (heat treated NASICON (H-NASICON); see 52-56) having a first electrode arranged at a first region of the electrolyte (equated to bottom Na electrode; see 52-56) and having a second electrode arranged at a second region of the electrolyte (equated to top Na electrode, see 52-56), wherein:
at least one of the first electrode or the second electrode comprise metallic sodium (Na/H-NASICON/NA coin cells, see 53-56).
Weidong is silent to wherein a continuous material layer is arranged at a third region of the electrolyte on an outer surface of the electrolyte, or in that a chemical composition of the outer surface is changed in the third region of the electrolyte.
Yoshioka teaches a solid-state cell (solid-state battery 200A, see Fig. 1A; [0033]) having an electrolyte (solid electrolyte layer 3, see Fig. 1A; [0034]) which comprises NaSICON structure (see [0061]), having a first electrode arranged at a first region of the electrolyte (positive electrode layer 1, see Fig. 1A; [0034]) and having a second electrode arranged at a second region of the electrolyte (negative electrode layer 2, see Fig. 1A; [0034]), wherein a continuous material layer is arranged at a third region of the electrolyte on an outer surface of the electrolyte (protective layer 5, see Fig. 1A; [0034]), or in that a chemical composition of the outer surface is changed in the third region of the electrolyte. Yoshioka teaches that this protective layer 5 is formed on an outer surface of the battery element 100 and is for electrically, physically, and chemically protecting the battery element 100 (see [0065]).
In view of Yoshioka’s teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the cell of Weidong to include wherein a continuous material layer is arranged at a third region of the electrolyte on an outer surface of the electrolyte, as taught by Yoshioka, because it is used to electrically, physically, and chemically protect the battery.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, their limitations do not limit the case wherein a continuous material layer is arranged at a third region of the electrolyte on an outer surface of the electrolyte, as in the rejection of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Weidong and Yoshioka teaches wherein the first electrode and the second electrode comprises metallic sodium (Weidong: Na/H-NASICON/NA coin cells, see 53-56).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Weidong and Yoshioka teaches wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are configured in the same manner (Weidong: Na/H-NASICON/NA coin cells, see 53-56).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Weidong and Yoshioka teaches wherein the continuous material layer is a polymer layer (Yoshioka: see [0066] and [0069]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6 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.
Conclusion
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/S.S.H/Examiner, Art Unit 1735 10 July 2026
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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