DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-3 and 5-10 are currently pending. Claim 4 has been cancelled. The amended claim 1 does overcome the previously stated 102 and 103 rejections. However, upon further consideration, claims 1-3 and 5-10 are rejected under the following new 112 and 103 rejections. This action is made FINAL as necessitated by the amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The limitation “the stopper member is spaced apart from the conductive coupling member” is not supported by the specification. The only support for this limitation appears to be from Fig. 10. However, it is unclear from Fig. 10 whether the stopper member “7” is positively spaced apart from the conductive coupling member “4”.
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 and 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka (JP 2004006141 A, machine translation) in view of Busacca et al (US 2020/0313146), and further in view of Ishimaru et al (US 2019/0074490).
Regarding claims 1-3 and 5-9, Tanaka discloses a battery pack “1” comprising: a plurality of laminated cells “2” stacked in a first direction of a horizontal direction; and, wherein: each of the laminated cells includes: a cell body portion “3”; and an electrode tab “5”, “6” (cell terminal) extending from the cell body portion “3” in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction of the horizontal direction and having a length in an upper-lower direction shorter than that of the cell body portion; and an insulating sheet “7”, “9” (stopper member) that is disposed in at least one of a space at an upper side of the cell terminal and a space at a lower side of the cell terminal and between the cell body portion and the frame member;
wherein the abutting portion “7” is disposed only in a space at the upper side of the cell terminal “5”, “6” and between the cell body portion “3” and the frame member (Fig. 1);
wherein the abutting portion includes: an upper abutting portion disposed at an upper side of the conductive coupling member; and a lower abutting portion disposed at a lower side of the conductive coupling member.
wherein the insulating sheet further includes a coupling portion coupling the upper abutting portion and the lower abutting portion;
wherein the plurality of laminated cells are restrained in a stacking direction by bolt “11” and nut “12 (Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments and Figs. 1-3).
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However, Tanaka does not expressly teach a battery case accommodating the plurality of laminated cells, the battery case includes a frame member facing the cell terminal in the second direction; a conductive coupling member being plate-shaped and electrically coupling the plurality of laminated cells to each other, the stopper member is disposed in the space and between the cell body portion and the frame member, and includes an abutting portion configured to abut against the frame member and the cell body portion; the abutting portion is disposed at a position different from a position of the conductive coupling member in the upper-lower direction (claim 1); wherein the frame member is a side wall portion of the battery case or a cross member provided inside the battery case (claim 2); wherein: the conductive coupling member has an opening through which the cell terminal is inserted; and the cell terminal is coupled to the conductive coupling member by being inserted into the opening and bent (claim 8).
Busacca et al discloses an energy storage device “100” (battery pack) comprising: a plurality of secondary batteries “102” (laminated cells) stacked in a first direction of a horizontal direction; a battery enclosure “104” (battery case) accommodating the plurality of secondary batteries; wherein: each of the batteries includes: an electrode structure “110” (cell body portion); and an electrode current collector “136” (cell terminal) extending from the electrode structure in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and having a length in an upper-lower direction shorter than that of the electrode structure; the battery case includes a frame member facing the electrode current collector in the second direction; and an electrode busbar “600” (conductive coupling member) being plate-shaped and electrically coupling the plurality of secondary batteries to each other; wherein the electrode busbar has openings ”618” through which the electrode current collector “136” is inserted and the electrode current collector is coupled to the electrode busbar by being inserted into the opening and bent ([0079],[0092],[0153],[0187],[0337] and Figs. 10, 16A, 16A’, and 17).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Tanaka battery pack to include a battery case accommodating the plurality of laminated cells, the battery case includes a frame member facing the cell terminal in the second direction; wherein the frame member is a side wall portion of the battery case; a conductive coupling member being plate-shaped and electrically coupling the plurality of laminated cells to each other, wherein the stopper member is disposed in the space and between the cell body portion and the frame member, and includes an abutting portion configured to abut against the frame member and the cell body portion; and the abutting portion is disposed at a position different from a position of the conductive coupling member in the upper-lower direction; wherein the conductive coupling member has an opening through which the cell terminal is inserted, and the cell terminal is coupled to the conductive coupling member by being inserted into the opening and bent in order to restrain the growth of the electrode assembly in the electrode stacking direction during repeated cycling of the battery pack ([0187]), and to provide a busbar for facilitating the collection of current from the laminated cells ([0149]).
However, Tanaka as modified by Busacca et al does not expressly teach a stopper member that is spaced apart from the conductive coupling member (claim 1).
Ishimaru et al teaches the concept of spacing apart bus bar “131” (conductive coupling member) from protective cover “140” (stopper member) by spacers “121”, “122” ([0038] and Figs. 3 and 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Tanaka/Busacca battery pack to include teach a stopper member that is spaced apart from the conductive coupling member in order to prevent the conductive coupling member from coming in contact with an external member and being short-circuited and causing electrical leakage ([0078]).
Regarding claim 10, Tanaka does not expressly teach laminated cell that is a solid-state battery. Busacca et al also discloses batteries comprising inorganic solid electrolyte which is a solid-state battery.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the Tanaka battery pack to include a laminated cell that is a solid-state battery because the substitution of one known type of lithium ion battery would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3 and 5-10 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
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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/T.S.C/Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/JONATHAN G LEONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1751 3/13/2026
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