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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims 1-4 under 35 USC § 103 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection now addresses the newly-amended claims, as set forth below.
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.
The prior rejection of claims 1-3 under 35 USC § 112(b) is withdrawn in view of the amended claims.
Claims 1, 3, and 5-7 are 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 1 recites the limitation "the exterior body" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, it is understood that the phrase "the exterior body" was intended to read “the external body.” Claims 3 and 5-7 are similarly rejected as they depend from claim 1.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (KR 101156954B1, as read via machine translation) in view of Jeong et al. (US 2014/0170470) and Ohta et al. (US 2021/0119304).
As to claim 1, Kim et al. discloses a battery comprising:
an external body (see e.g. the external casing surrounding electrode assembly 500, Fig. 3);
a power generating element housed in the exterior body (see e.g. electrode assembly 500, which generates electrical power and is housed in an exterior body, [0060] and Fig. 3), the power generating element being formed by stacking a plurality of layers (see e.g. electrode assembly 500 is formed by stacking electrode plates 100, [0060] and Fig. 3); and
wherein the power generating element has a current collector tab (see e.g. electrode assembly 500 has negative electrode tab 110, which reads on the claimed current collector tab, [0060] and Fig. 3) extending outward from an edge of a flat plate part that is one of the layers, the one layer being stacked on the rest of the layers (see e.g. tab 110 extends outward from the edge of electrode plate 100, which is one of the layers of the power generating element 500, Fig. 3).
Kim et al. does not disclose a filler placed between the power generating element and the exterior body.
Additionally, Kim et al. does not disclose that the current collector tab has one depression or a plurality of depressions such that the depression or the depressions each has a bottom, and a side wall arranged vertically from a periphery of the bottom,
the bottom has a length at least 0.5 times as long as a length of the depression or each of the depressions in an extending direction of the current collector tab, and
at least part of the depression or each of the depressions is positioned not at a center of the current collector tab but closer to the flat plate part in the extending direction.
Jeong et al., also working in the field of housings for battery assemblies, teaches a battery comprising an external body (see e.g. battery casing 200, Jeong et al.: [0035], Fig. 4) housing a power generating element (see e.g. electrode assembly 100, Jeong et al.: [0035] and Fig. 4) and an analogous set of current collector tabs (electrode tabs 110, Jeong et al.: [0035], Fig. 4). Jeong et al. teaches a filler (see e.g. hardened polymer solution 300, Jeong et al.: [0047], Fig. 4) placed between the power generating element and the exterior body (see e.g. hardened polymer solution 300 fills the space between 200 and 100, Jeong et al.: Fig. 4), and further teaches that this filler suppresses damage to the current collector tabs (see e.g., Jeong et al.: [0051]).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to add to the battery of Kim et al. the filler placed between the power generating element and the exterior body as taught by Jeong et al.. Said artisan would have been motivated to make such a modification to Kim et al.’s battery because Jeong et al. teaches that this filler suppresses damage to the current collector tabs.
Further regarding claim 1, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. does not teach a battery in which the current collector tab has one depression or a plurality of depressions such that the depression or the depressions each has a bottom, and a side wall arranged vertically from a periphery of the bottom, the bottom has a length at least 0.5 times as long as a length of the depression or each of the depressions in an extending direction of the current collector tab, and at least part of the depression or each of the depressions is positioned not at a center of the current collector tab but closer to the flat plate part in the extending direction.
Ohta et al., also working on an analogous battery structure, teaches a battery having current collector tabs (see e.g. current collector tab 2, Ohta et al.: [0073] and Fig. 2) in which
the current collector tab has one depression or a plurality of depressions (see e.g. the stress relaxation section 21 of tab 2, which comprises a series of valleys that read on the claimed plurality of depressions, Ohta et al.: [0074] and Fig. 2),
the depression or the depressions each has a bottom, and a side wall arranged vertically from a periphery of the bottom (see e.g. Ohta et al.: Fig. 3c and Illustration 1 below),
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Illustration 1: Reproduction with modification of Fig. 3c of Ohta et al., showing the sidewalls and the bottom of the depressions.
the bottom has a length at least 0.5 times as long as a length of the depression or each of the depressions in an extending direction of the current collector tab (see e.g. Ohta et al.: Fig. 3c and Illustration 1 above, the bottom of the depression is as long as the length of the depression and thereby is at least 0.5 times as long as the length of the depression along a direction that can reasonably be described as an extending direction), and
at least part of the depression or each of the depressions is positioned not at a center of the current collector tab but closer to the flat plate part in the extending direction (see e.g. Ohta et al.: Fig. 2b, the stress relaxation section 21, which reads on the claimed depressions, is located not at the center of collector tab 2 but on a portion of the collector tab 2 that is closer to the base of the electrode assembly, which would correspond to a position that is closer to the flat plate part in the extending direction of Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al.’s battery).
Ohta et al. further teaches that this plurality of depressions relaxes the bending stress applied to the collector tabs when converging the tabs and thereby suppresses the occurrence of cracks in an electrode active material as well as delamination of the electrode sheet (Ohta et al.: [0020]-[0021] and [0034]-[0035]).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the battery of Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. by adding the plurality of depressions taught by Otha such that a plurality of depressions such that the depression or the depressions each has a bottom, and a side wall arranged vertically from a periphery of the bottom, the bottom has a length at least 0.5 times as long as a length of the depression or each of the depressions in an extending direction of the current collector tab, and at least part of the depression or each of the depressions is positioned not at a center of the current collector tab but closer to the flat plate part in the extending direction. Said artisan would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to relax the bending stress applied to the collector tabs when converging the tabs and thereby suppress the occurrence of cracks in an electrode active material as well as delamination of the electrode sheet, as taught by Ohta et al..
As to claim 3, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. discloses a battery comprising the battery according to claim 1, wherein when the current collector tab has a plurality of the depressions (see e.g. stress relaxation section 21 of tab 2, Ohta et al.: [0074], Fig. 2), the plurality of the depressions are arranged to align in a width direction of the current collector tab (see e.g. Ohta et al.: Fig. 2b, the plurality of depressions are parallel to the width direction of tab 2, and thereby can be considered to align in a width direction of the current collector).
As to claim 5, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. teaches a battery according to claim 1, comprising a length between an edge of the flat plate part (see e.g. the edge of the electrode sheet, Ohta et al.: Fig. 2b and see Illustration 2 below) and an end of the depression or each of the depressions (see e.g. the end of stress relaxation section 21, Ohta et al., Fig. 2b and see Illustration 2 below), the end being on the side of the flat plate part.
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Illustration 2: Reproduction with modification of Fig. 2a of Ohta et al.
While Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. teaches this length, the cited prior art does not explicitly state that this length is at least 0.5 mm in the extending direction.
However, in the prior art structure, the length between an edge of the flat plate part and an end of the depression is a function of the overall size of the battery. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to scale up the size of the battery of Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. (and therefore scale up the claimed length) in order to meet the power and space requirements of a given application. Further, it has been held that a mere change in the scale of a device does not patentably distinguish a claimed invention from the prior art (see MPEP § 2144.04 IVA).
It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to design the length between an edge of the flat plate part and an end of the depression of the battery of Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. to be 0.5 mm or greater. Said artisan would have been motivated to design the prior art battery in this way in order to design a battery that is large enough to meet the design requirements of a given application.
As to claim 6, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. teaches the battery according to claim 1.
Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al.’s battery had a side wall that has a linear shape rather than a tapered shape (see e.g. Ohta et al. Fig. 3c and Illustration 1 above).
However, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. teaches that the shape of the depression and its side wall is not particularly limited (see e.g. Ohta et al.: [0076], teaching that the shape of the stress relaxation section, which reads on the claimed depression, is not particularly limited). Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. further teaches depression shapes that range from a triangle shape, a sinusoidal shape, and a sawtooth shape (Ohta et al.: Figs. 3a-3d).
Absent any evidence that the instantly-claimed tapered side wall would yield any new and unexpected results over the linear sidewall taught by Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al., one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention would have found it obvious modify the side wall of Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al.’s battery to have a tapered shape. This is because such a modification would be a simple alteration of the relative shape of the prior art side wall that would not perform in a patentably distinct manner from Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al.’s side wall.
As to claim 7, Kim et al. in view of Jeong et al. and Ohta et al. teaches the battery according to claim 1 wherein the bottom has a length at least 0.5 times as long as a length of the depression or each of the depressions in a width direction orthogonal to the extending direction (see e.g. Ohta et al.: Fig. 3c, and Illustration 3 below. The prior art shows the sidewalls of the depressions extending vertically such that the length of the bottom is the same as the length of the depression. In other words, the bottom of the depression taught by the prior art is 1x times as long as the length of the depression, and therefore is at least 0.5x times as long as the length of the depression. Additionally, the depression and the bottom of the depression both extend across the entire width of the current collector as shown in Fig. 2, and thereby can be said to be at least 0.5 times as long as the length of the depression along a width direction orthogonal to the extending direction).
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Illustration 3: Reproduction with modification of Fig. 3c of Ohta et al.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Shinoda et al. (KR 20120075377 as read via machine translation) teaches a similar current collector design in which the current collector has a series of depressions.
Sato et al. (JP 2011171107A, as read via machine translation), also teaches a similar current collector design in which the current collector has a series of depressions.
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/A.M.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1723
/TONG GUO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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