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
The amendments filed on March 3, 2026 in response to the Non-Final Office Action mailed on December 4, 2025 have been received and entered. Claim 12 have been added. Claims 1-12 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claim 1 rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mimura et al. (US 20180277891 A1) evidenced by Luo, J., et al. (In-situ measurements of mechanical and volume change of LiCoO2 lithium-ion batteries during repeated charge- discharge cycling by using digital image correlation. Measurement 94 (2016): 759-770, see NPL documents for citation) in view of Kim, D. (KR 20190135077 A, see machine translation for citation).
The applicant argues (see pages 5-8) that nowhere does Kim disclose or suggest a control device and a heating device operating such that "when performance of the secondary battery is determined to be equal to or lower than a certain level," a target of the battery containing an Li salt is heated "such that a temperature of the Li containing salt is equal to or higher than a melting point of the Li containing salt," as recited by present claim 1. Kim is directed to "a battery pack self-healing system for preventing low voltage in a low temperature environment" (Kim, Abstract). Nowhere does Kim disclose or suggest the control unit 140 being configured to operate based on the performance of the battery and the melting temperature of an Li containing salt contained in the battery ("Li containing salt" not mentioned in Kim), as required by the control device of present claim 1. Because of the above reasons, Kim cannot modify Mimura in order to arrive to the invention recited in claim 1.
Luo reference as applied on the Non-Final Office Action cannot cure the teaching deficiencies of Mimura and Kim.
Regarding the above presented arguments, Mimura was acknowledge not to teach the referred feature (see Non-Final Office Action page 4). On the telephonic interview held with applicants representative on February 26, 2026 it was acknowledged that the arguments against Kim reference were persuasive and would result on the withdrawal of the presented rejection.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-8, filed on March 2, 2025, with respect to claim 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claim 1 has been withdrawn.
Because of the direct or indirect dependency of claims 2-11 on claim 1, the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of these claims are withdrawn.
Upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Mimura et al. (US 20180277891 A1) evidenced by Luo, J., et al. (In-situ measurements of mechanical and volume change of LiCoO2 lithium-ion batteries during repeated charge-discharge cycling by using digital image correlation, see NPL document for citation) in view of Mimura et al. (US 20180277891 A1) evidenced by Luo, J., et al. (In-situ measurements of mechanical and volume change of LiCoO2 lithium-ion batteries during repeated charge-discharge cycling by using digital image correlation, see NPL document for citation) in view of Tei et al. (JP 2014089922 A, see machine translation for citation).
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.
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 non-obviousness.
Claim 1, 2, 4-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mimura et al. (US 20180277891 A1) evidenced by Luo, J., et al. (In-situ measurements of mechanical and volume change of LiCoO2 lithium-ion batteries during repeated charge-discharge cycling by using digital image correlation, see NPL document for citation) in view of Tei et al. (JP 2014089922 A, see machine translation for citation).
Regarding claim 1, Mimura teaches an all-solid state secondary battery (10) comprising a positive electrode, a negative electrode facing this positive electrode and a solid electrolyte layer (3) between the positive electrode and the negative electrode [0043]. The positive electrode has a positive electrode active material layer (4) on a positive electrode collector. The negative electrode has a negative electrode active material layer (2) on a negative electrode collector [0043, 0051 and Fig. 1]. The positive electrode active material layer (4) and the negative electrode active material layer (2) include a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material respectively and further include an inorganic solid electrolyte and binder particles which encompass an ion-conductive substance [0051]. The ion conductive substance may be a solid polymer electrolyte and a liquid electrolyte, among other candidates which may be employed singly or in combination [0114-0115]. Both the solid polymer electrolyte and the liquid electrolyte may include Li salts [0119, 0120 and 0132].
It is taught that LiCoO2 can be employed as a positive electrode active material. Luo evidence that generally during charging LiCoO2 cathode materials undergo contraction. The volume expansion and contraction of active materials is a highly reversible process [p. 764; col. 2; line 8-16]. Mimura further teaches its negative electrode active material preferably is Li4Ti5O12 since the volume fluctuation during the absorption and emission of lithium ions is small [0327]. From this descriptions the feature where “the active material contains a material of which volume changes as the secondary battery is charged and discharged” is met.
Mimura does not teach the feature where the secondary battery has a “secondary battery system comprising a heating device, a control device, a target to be heated by the heating device contains the Li containing salt and when performance of the secondary battery is determined to be equal to or lower than a certain level, the control device controls heating by the heating device such that a temperature of the Li containing salt is equal to or higher than a melting point of the Li containing salt”.
Tei teaches a molten salt battery device equipped with a temperature control structure that easily maintains a battery pack, which is made up of assembled molten salt batteries, at an appropriate temperature [0005]. On Figure 10 is shown a structure for the temperature control of an assembled battery pack (100) comprising a control device (18) which receives temperature information of the electrolyte or electrolyte solution by a temperature sensor (17) and controls a heating device (13) and a fan (16) [0029]. Based on the above temperature information, if it is estimated that the temperature of the battery pack (100) is low and the electrolyte has solidified, the control device (18) operates the heating device (13) to heat the battery pack (100) [0030]. When the heating device (13) heats the battery pack container (11), the electrolyte in each cell (20) is heated. When the electrolyte reaches its melting point, it melts and becomes an electrolyte solution, which makes the molten salt battery usable (capable of charging and discharging) [0028]. When the temperature of the battery pack (100) reaches an appropriate temperature through heating, it is kept warm by controlling the heating device (13). Furthermore, if there is no need to maintain temperature, the control device (18) completely shuts down the heating device (13) and the fan (16) can be activated to effectively lower the temperature of the battery pack (100) [0030 and 0032].
From the above teachings the taught device can be said to “determine a battery performance to be equal or below certain level” because it is stated that the battery is not usable if the electrolyte is below its melting temperature. Despite this device is applied to a battery pack, the same principle can be applied to a single battery. With the device of the present invention, a battery pack made up of assembled molten salt batteries can be easily maintained at an appropriate temperature [0011].
Mimura is analogous art to the current invention because it is concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely a secondary battery system comprising a positive electrode and a negative electrode, wherein one or both of the positive electrode and the negative electrode contain an active material, a solid electrolyte and a Li containing salt, and wherein the active material contains a material of which volume changes as the secondary battery is charged and discharged.
Tei is analogous art to the current invention because it is concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely a secondary battery heating and control device capable of determine the performance of the secondary battery to be equal to or lower than a certain level and heating a target such that a temperature of the Li containing salt is equal to or higher than a melting point of the Li containing salt.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the all-solid state secondary battery of Mimura to include a “secondary battery system comprising a heating device, a control device, a target to be heated by the heating device contains the Li containing salt and when performance of the secondary battery is determined to be equal to or lower than a certain level, the control device controls heating by the heating device such that a temperature of the Li containing salt is equal to or higher than a melting point of the Li containing salt”, because Tei teaches that with the referred device a battery pack made up of assembled molten salt batteries can be easily maintained at an appropriate temperature.
Regarding claim 2, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that the liquid electrolyte, which may be employed as the ion-conductive substance and comprise a Li salt, may be a ionic liquid [0114, 0115, 0132 and 0141]. Because from general knowledge ionic liquids are defined as salts that melt without decomposing, it met the limitation “Li containing salt”. From the example of employable ionic liquids N, N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium tetrafluoroborate, which has a melting point of 8 °C, is mentioned [0151].
Regarding claim 4, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. From claim 1 discussion, the control device (18) taught by Tei can completely shut down the heating device (13) when there is no need to maintain the temperature of a battery pack (100) and it can activate a fan (16) to effectively lower the temperature. Because the temperature of the battery is related to the performance, because of the above teachings and its reach, the limitation of this claim is met.
Regarding claim 5, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that its negative electrode active material can be jointly used with amorphous oxides and chalcogenides including SnS, SnS2, PbS and PbS2 among others [0326 and 0331].
Regarding claim 6, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that its positive electrode active material may be used singly or two or more positive electrode active materials may be used in combination [0318]. As part of the employable candidates, Li2FeSiO4, Li2MnSiO4 and Li2CoSiO4 are taught [0315].
Regarding claim 7, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that its solid electrolyte (3) may be a sulfide based inorganic solid electrolyte [0073, 0075 and 0083].
Regarding claim 8, Mimura, Luo and Tei each all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that as part of the liquid electrolyte an ionic liquid may be employed [0141]. This ionic liquid may have pyridinium as a cation [0143]. It is also taught that its solid polymer electrolyte contains at least one supporting electrolyte [0119]. An example of the supporting electrolyte LiN(FSO2)2 is mentioned [0126]. From the above description, the pyridinium may be selected as the first cation and Li as the second cation.
Regarding claim 9, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Mimura further teaches that as part of the liquid electrolyte an ionic liquid may be employed [0141]. This ionic liquid may have a quaternary ammonium as a cation [0143]. As possible substituents for this material an alkyl group, preferably having 1 to 4 carbon atoms is mentioned [0146]. Because a quaternary ammonium have 4 substituents and it can be an alkyl group, a tetraalkylammonium cation it may be employed. From claim 1 discussion and because Li salt may be used together with the taught ionic liquid, if the tetraalkylammonium is selected as the first cation, Li can be selected as the second cation.
Regarding claim 10, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 8. Mimura further teaches that its ionic liquid may employ a chloride ion, a bromide ion or an iodide ion (halide ions) as anions [0148].
Regarding claim 11, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 10. From claim 10 discussion the ionic liquid may comprise a halogen ion as the first anion and from the employment of LiN(FSO2)2 [0126], the second anion can be the sulfonylamide ion.
Regarding claim 12, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 2. From claim 1 discussion, the control device (18) taught by Tei, operates the heating device (13) to heat the battery pack (100), if it is estimated that the temperature of the battery pack (100) is low and the electrolyte has solidified [0030]. When the temperature of the battery pack (100) reaches an appropriate temperature through heating, it is kept warm by controlling the heating device (13). When there is no need to maintain temperature, the control device (18) completely shuts down the heating device (13) [0030]. From the previous teaching, the limitation where the heating device can switch between “a heating mode in which the temperature of Li containing salt is equal to or higher than the melting point and a non-heating mode in which the temperature of Li containing salt is lower than the melting point” is met.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mimura et al. (US 20180277891 A1) evidenced by Luo, J., et al. (In-situ measurements of mechanical and volume change of LiCoO2 lithium-ion batteries during repeated charge-discharge cycling by using digital image correlation, see NPL document for citation) in view of Tei et al. (JP 2014089922 A, see machine translation for citation) as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Kim et al. (KR 20190135077 A, see machine translation for citation).
Regarding claim 3, Mimura, Luo and Tei teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. From claim 1 discussion it is implicit that the voltage is used as a performance parameter given that is stated by Tei that when the electrolyte reaches its melting point, it melts and becomes an electrolyte solution, which makes the molten salt battery usable (capable of charging and discharging) [0028]. However Mimura, Luo and Tei do not teach wherein the secondary battery system “comprises a voltage measurement device and wherein the performance of the secondary battery is based on the voltage”.
Kim teaches a battery pack system (100) comprising a battery module (120) including one or more battery cells (110), which may be a lithium secondary battery (same field of endeavor of Mimura) [0001, 0015, 0017, 0042 and 0048]. The battery pack system (100) comprises a control unit (140) and a resistor (160) (heating device) [0043, 0064 and Fig. 1-4]. It is taught that in one embodiment, when the control unit (140) detects a battery module (120) voltage and temperature below a predetermined value, it can send a signal to the switch unit (150) for switch the electricity emitted from the battery module (120) to flow to the resistor (160) (heating unit) to heat the batteries [0055 and 0060-0064]. When the voltage and temperature is higher than its respective predetermined values, the control unit (140) switch the current emitted from the battery module to the target system [0025]. It is taught that with the above described system a low voltage state of a battery in a low temperature environment can be solved and power can be supplied normally to a target system [0013].
Kim is analogous art to the current invention because it is concerned with the same field of endeavor, namely a secondary battery system comprising a secondary battery, a heating device and a control device, wherein the performance of the secondary battery is determined to be equal to or lower than a certain level, the control device controls heating by the heating device. The performance of the secondary battery is based on its detected voltage.
If the secondary battery system of Mimura, Luo and Tei is further modified to include a “voltage measurement device” as taught by Kim above, the limitations of this claim would be met.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the secondary battery system of Mimura, Luo and Tei to include the feature where it “comprises a voltage measurement device and wherein the performance of the secondary battery is based on the voltage”, because Kim teaches that with the above feature a low voltage state of a battery in a low temperature environment can be solved and power can be supplied normally to a target system.
Conclusion
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/G.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1725
/NICOLE M. BUIE-HATCHER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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