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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 07/02/2026 has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 1 directed to an allowable product. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(B), claims 18-19, directed to the process of making or using an allowable product, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, is hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104.
Because all claims previously withdrawn from consideration under 37 CFR 1.142 have been rejoined, the restriction requirement as set forth in the Office action mailed on 09/17/2025 is hereby withdrawn. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement as to the rejoined inventions, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Response to Amendment
Examiner notes the following amendments made to the claims:
Claims 1 amended to incorporate previously indicated allowable subject matter
Claim 2 amended
Claim 3 cancelled
Claim 12 amended
Claim 17 amended
Claim 18 amended
New claims 20-21 added
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 04/30/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1, 2, 4 and 6-10 under 35 USC 102(a)(1) and 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Specifically, by incorporating the previously indicated allowable subject matter into claim 1, both claim 1 and all of its dependent claims are considered to be allowable. The rejection of claims 1, 2, 4, and 6-10 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 04/30/2026 regarding independent claim 12 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Specifically, the primary argument made by applicant is that, by amending to specify that the alignment jig is configured to be inserted between the leads from below the cell stack, that the previously applied art is overcome. This argument is not found persuasive by examiner as the new limitation does not actually impart any structural changes onto the product. Since the battery assembly device of Yoon, modified by Lee, meets all of the previously presented limitations of the claim, it would inherently be capable of being inserted between the leads from below the cell stack. Independent claim 12 is drawn to a battery assembly device, not a method of producing a battery assembly device or of using the device to assemble a battery, and thus, this limitation is not considered to overcome the previously applied prior art. Applicant cites that the method of assembly of Yoon uses its frame and attaches it via the upper part of the cell stack. However, examiner believes that the frame/jig body itself of Yoon would be capable of use being attached at either end of a cell stack.
Regarding new claims 20-21—Claim 20 is rejected in view of Yoon and Lee for the same reasons as original claim 2. However, claim 21 is objected to for containing the same allowable subject matter indicated in the first office action. If the limitations of claim 21 were incorporated into independent claim 12, then the entire application would be in condition for allowance.
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) 12-14, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon (KR 20200058207 A) in view of Lee (US 20200127317 A1)
Regarding claim 12, Yoon teaches the following elements:
A battery assembly device comprising: (“The present invention relates to a method for assembling a jig for mounting a sensing assembly and a battery module, and more specifically, a jig and a battery module that can be mounted on a cell stack efficiently for detecting electrical connections and characteristics of battery cells. It relates to a battery module assembly method that can increase the energy density.” Yoon [0001])
a holder unit configured to grip at least one sensing block of two sensing blocks connected to each other such that the at least one sensing block is rotatable relative to a pivot shaft; (“The jig 10 for mounting a sensing assembly described below may be used for the purpose of easily mounting the sensing assembly 20 as described above to the cell stack 30.” Yoon [0036] and “ When the jig body 11 and the front and rear busbar assemblies 20 and 24 are connected in a hinged manner, the front busbar assembly 21 and the rear busbar assembly 24 are connected as shown in FIG. 3. It can be rotated outward to open, making it easy to assemble the electrode leads of the battery cells.” Yoon [0042]. In this case, the jig 10 acts as the holder unit gripping the sensing blocks, which are rotable via the hinges, which act as the pivot shaft “ As a detachable method of the jig body 11 and the front and rear busbar assemblies 24, a hinge coupling method may be employed. For example, a plurality of hinge shafts 12a are provided at both ends 12 and 13 of the jig body 11,” Yoon [0041])
an alignment jig configured to align leads of a cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells is stacked; (“Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the front frame 23 and the rear frame 26 are arranged to rotate the front bus bar assembly 21 and the rear bus bar assembly 24 to secure space and to easily insert the electrode leads 32.” In this case, the front and rear frame acts as an alignment jig which aligns the leads of the cell stack.)
wherein the alignment jig is configured to be inserted between the leads from below the cell stack (As described in more detail in the response to argument above, the alignment jig of Yoon would be capable of being inserted between leads either above of below a cell stack. The “configured to” limitation is not considered to impart any structural limitations onto the invention, and therefore the teachings of Yoon are considered sufficient to meet the amended limitation.)
Yoon is silent on the following elements of claim 12:
a transfer unit to which the alignment jig is movably mounted;
and a controller configured to control operations of the holder unit and the transfer unit, wherein the controller is configured to control the holder unit and the transfer unit such that the alignment jig aligns the leads while the leads are inserted into the sensing block.
However, Lee teaches all of the elements of claim 12 that are not found in Yoon:
a transfer unit to which the alignment jig is movably mounted; (“As shown in FIG. 19, the second electrode laminators 64 may include at least one fourth vacuum adsorption pad 64a capable of vacuum-adsorbing or desorbing the second electrode members E2 seated on the second alignment members 56b and a fourth conveying member 64b capable of reciprocating the fourth vacuum adsorption pads 64a so that the fourth vacuum adsorption pads 64a are brought close to or moved away from the rotation shaft 62a of the second lamination plate 62.” In this case, the conveying member acts as the transfer unit configured to provide a moving force to the alignment jig.)
and a controller configured to control operations of the holder unit and the transfer unit, wherein the controller is configured to control the holder unit and the transfer unit such that the alignment jig aligns the leads while the leads are inserted into the sensing block. (“To solve this problem, as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the first electrode feeding unit 30 may further include a first electrode sensor 38 that is installed between the first electrode feeder 34 and the first electrode lamination unit 40 so as to be spaced apart from each of the first electrode feeder 34 and the first electrode lamination unit 40 by an integer multiple of the rotation angle spacing of the first alignment plate 36a with respect to the rotation shaft 36j of the first alignment plate 36a, and that is capable of detecting whether the two or more first electrode members E1 are seated on the first alignment members 36b.” Lee [0131]. In this case, the sensor 38 of Lee functions as a controller which is used to make sure that the alignment members/plate correctly place the different parts of the structure in their required places.)
Yoon and Lee are considered to be analogous for the reasons provided above, regarding claims 9 and 10. It would have additionally been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the battery manufacturing device of Yoon to include the transfer unit and controller of Lee in order to provide additional freedom of movement to the alignment jig and to provide a sensing mechanism for the alignment jig, respectively. It would additionally have been obvious to modify the grip portion/jig of Yoon to include the driving part of Lee in order to provide rotational force for the grip part as this would additionally offer more freedom of movement within the manufacturing assembly.
By modifying Yoon with the transfer unit and holder unit of Lee, the additional limitations of claims 13, 14, and 20 would be met without requiring any further modification or motivation.
Regarding claim 13, modified Yoon meets all of the limitations of claim 12, as shown above. Yoon teaches the additional limitations of claim 13:
The battery assembly device of claim 12, wherein the holder unit comprises: a grip part configured to grip the sensing block such that the grip part is rotatable relative to the pivot shaft; (“The jig 10 for mounting a sensing assembly described below may be used for the purpose of easily mounting the sensing assembly 20 as described above to the cell stack 30.” Yoon [0036] and “ When the jig body 11 and the front and rear busbar assemblies 20 and 24 are connected in a hinged manner, the front busbar assembly 21 and the rear busbar assembly 24 are connected as shown in FIG. 3. It can be rotated outward to open, making it easy to assemble the electrode leads of the battery cells.” Yoon [0042]. In this case, the jig 10 acts as the holder unit gripping the sensing blocks, which are rotable via the hinges, which act as the pivot shaft “ As a detachable method of the jig body 11 and the front and rear busbar assemblies 24, a hinge coupling method may be employed. For example, a plurality of hinge shafts 12a are provided at both ends 12 and 13 of the jig body 11,” Yoon [0041])
Yoon is silent on the following elements of claim 13:
and a driving part which provides a rotational force to the grip part.
However, Lee teaches all of the elements of claim 13 that are not found in Yoon. Specifically, Lee teaches a driving part to drive the rotational force of the grip part:
and a driving part which provides a rotational force to the grip part. (“The rotation shaft 34c is axially coupled to a driving motor (not shown), so that the first feeding arms 34a and 34b may be rotated around the rotation shaft 34c.” Lee [0121]. In this case, the driving motor function as the driving part.)
Regarding claim 14, modified Yoon meets all of the limitations of claim 13, as shown above. Yoon is silent on the following elements of claim 14:
The battery assembly device of claim 13, wherein the transfer unit comprises: a horizontal transfer part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is movable along a horizontal direction;
a vertical transfer part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is movable in a vertical direction;
and a rotating part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is rotatable.
However, Lee teaches all of the elements of claim 14 not found in Yoon:
The battery assembly device of claim 13, wherein the transfer unit comprises: a horizontal transfer part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is movable along a horizontal direction; (“In addition, the fourth conveying member 64b may include any one of various driving members capable of translational movement instead of the above-described cylinder 64c.” Lee [0157])
a vertical transfer part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is movable in a vertical direction; (“The fifth conveying member 84 is coupled to the conveying jig 82 through a connection bar 82b so that the conveying jig 82 may be reciprocally conveyed in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively.” Lee [0175])
and a rotating part to which the alignment jig is mounted such that the alignment jig is rotatable. (“As shown in FIG. 19, the fourth conveying member 64b may include a cylinder 64c capable of reciprocating a cylinder rod 64e so that the cylinder rod 64e is brought close to or moved away from the rotation shaft 62a of the second lamination plate 62 and a guide member 64d coupled to the cylinder rod 64e so as to be reciprocated with the cylinder rod 64e. In addition, the fourth vacuum adsorption pads 64a are fixed to one end of the guide member 64d. This configuration allows the fourth conveying member 64b to reciprocate the fourth vacuum adsorption pads 64a so that the fourth vacuum adsorption pads 64a are brought close to or moved away from the rotation shaft 62a of the second lamination plate 62.” Lee [0157]. In this case, the cylinder acts as a rotation part for rotating the alignment jig in conjunction with the rotation shaft 62a)
Regarding claim 20, modified Yoon meets all of the limitations of claim 13, as shown above. Yoon is silent on the following elements of claim 20:
The battery assembly device of claim 13, wherein the holder unit further comprises an adsorption part configured to adsorb the at least one sensing block,
and wherein the grip part is rotatably connected to the adsorption part.
However, Lee teaches all of the elements of claim 20 that are not found in Yoon:
The battery assembly device of claim 13, wherein the holder unit further comprises an adsorption part configured to adsorb the at least one sensing block, (“As shown in FIG. 17, the first electrode feeder 34 includes a pair of the first feeding arms 34a and 34b capable of gripping or releasing the first electrode members E1 loaded on the first load trays 32a and 32b,” Lee [0120] and “ Each of the first feeding arms 34a and 34b may include first vacuum adsorption pads 34d capable of vacuum-adsorbing or desorbing the first electrode members E1 to grip or release the first electrode members E1.” Lee [0123])
and wherein the grip part is rotatably connected to the adsorption part. (“As shown in FIG. 17, the first electrode feeder 34 includes a pair of the first feeding arms 34a and 34b capable of gripping or releasing the first electrode members E1 loaded on the first load trays 32a and 32b, wherein one ends of each of the first feeding arms 34a and 34b are connected to each other so that the first feeding arms 34a and 34b are arranged at a predetermined angle, and the first feeding arms 34a and 34b are rotatable around the rotation shaft 34c provided at the one ends.” Lee [0120]. In this case, feeding arms 34a and 34b act as the grip parts which are rotatable around the rotation shaft 34c. If there are vacuum adsorption pads present, the grip part [the arm] is rotably connected to the adsorption part.)
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon (KR 20200058207 A) in view of Lee (US 20200127317 A1) and further in view of Cho (US 20170033384 A1)
Regarding claim 15, modified Yoon teaches all of the elements of claim 14, as shown above. Yoon and Lee are silent on the following elements of claim 15:
The battery assembly device of claim 14, wherein each of the driving part, the horizontal transfer part, the vertical transfer part, and the rotating part comprises a servomotor.
However, Cho teaches all of the elements of claim 15 that are not found in Yoon or Lee. Specifically, Cho teaches the use of a servo-motor to provide rotational/translational force in a battery manufacturing device.
The battery assembly device of claim 14, wherein each of the driving part, the horizontal transfer part, the vertical transfer part, and the rotating part comprises a servomotor. (“Here, the driver 51 operates the servo motor 53 through the controller 90, and if the lead screw 55 is rotated in the forward direction, the moving block 57 may be slide-moved along the guide block 59 in the feed direction of the electrolyte membrane 3 and the upper and lower electrode films 2 and 4, and the upper adsorbent 31 may be moved along the feed direction of the electrolyte membrane 3 and the upper and lower electrode films 2 and 4.” Cho [01001])
Cho is considered to be analogous to Yoon and Lee because it is within the same field of battery manufacturing methods and devices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the driving part, horizontal transfer part, vertical transfer part, and rotating part of Lee to be powered by a servomotor, as Cho teaches that this is a known device in the art to provide rotational and translational motion. Therefore, it would only require a simple substitution of the driving motor of Lee with the servo motor of Cho to meet the claimed limitation, and the simple substitution of one known element for another is likely to be obvious when predictable results are achieved. (see MPEP § 2143, B.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2, 4-11, 18-19 allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 1 amended to incorporate the previously indicated allowable subject matter into an independent claim. Thus, claim 1 and all of its dependent claims (claims 2, 4-11) are considered to be allowable. Claims 18-19 were rejoined to the claim set due to the indication that claim 1 is allowable. Considered that claims 18-19 are a process for producing a battery assembly device analogous to that of claim 1, specifically including the same allowable subject matter as previously indicated, claims 18-19 are also considered to be allowable.
Claims 16-17, 21 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: See previous rejection for reasoning regarding claims 16-17. New claim 21 contains the same subject matter that was previously indicated as allowable, and thus is also objected to. If the subject matter of claims 16 or 21 were incorporated into independent claim 12, then the application would be in condition for allowance.
Conclusion
The following references were discovered in an updated search and considered to be relevant, but not used in the updated rejection:
KR 20220000663 A (Teaches a similar structure where the assembly jig is attached via leads on the bottom of the cell stack)
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 BENJAMIN ELI KASS-MULLET whose telephone number is (571)272-0156. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-6pm except for the first Friday of bi-week.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NICHOLAS 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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/BENJAMIN ELI KASS-MULLET/Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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