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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-13 are currently pending.
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Isojima (US 2021/0242465 A1) in view of Yasuda (US 2021/0320322 A1).
Regarding claims 1-5 & 7-11, Isojima teaches an all-solid state secondary battery (10) (Fig. 1; [0317]) comprising, in the following order: a positive electrode active material layer (4) (Fig. 1; [0317]); a solid electrolyte layer (3) (Fig. 1; [0317]); and a negative electrode active material layer (2) (Fig. 1; [0317]), wherein at least one of the layers comprises a sheet of an inorganic solid electrolyte-containing composition comprising: a sulfide-based inorganic solid electrolyte having Li-ion conductivity ([0066]-[0078]); a polymer binder ([0154]-[0248]); an active material ([0091]-[0117]); a conductive auxiliary agent ([0267]-[0270]) and a dispersion medium ([0271]-[0286]), wherein the polymer binder is dissolved in the dispersion medium and contains a graft polymer including a block polymer in a main chain thereof and having an SP value of 14 to 21.5 MPa1/2 and an elastic modulus greater than 1 MPa ([0179]-[0195], [0248], [0261] & [0273]), and wherein a main chain or side chain of the polymer has a constitutional component represented by Formula (LF) or (LS) ([0155], [0159]-[0161], [0179]-[0180] & [0216]-[0221]). However, Isojima is silent as to the polymer having a surface energy of 20 mN/m or less. Yasuda teaches a solid-electrolyte-containing composition comprising a sulfide-based inorganic electrolyte; an active material; a dispersion medium and a polymer binder having low surface energy ([0074] & [0160]). While Yasuda does not disclose any specific values for the surface energy of the polymer, Yasuda recognizes that a low surface energy of the polymer results in in the polymer being not likely to adsorb (and likely to repel) to the inorganic solid electrolyte particles having high polarity by partially coating solid particle surfaces without coating the entirety of the solid particle surfaces. Thus, an ion conduction path or an electron conduction path formed by contact between the solid particles can be sufficiently constructed and thus an increase in interface resistance between the solid particles is suppressed and high battery performance is exhibited as taught by Yasuda ([0074]). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to lower and optimize the surface energy of the polymer, as a result effective variable, in view of improving battery performance as taught by Yasuda above. [A]fter KSR, the presence of a known result-effective variable would be one, but not the only, motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to experiment to reach another workable product or process. See MPEP 2144.05 II B.
Regarding claim 6, Isojima teaches the inorganic solid electrolyte-containing composition of claim 1 but does not explicitly teach the dispersion medium having an SP value of 14 to 24 MPa1/2. However, Isojima discloses preferred dispersion mediums including ketone compounds such as MIBK ([0279]) which has an SP value reading on the claimed range as evidenced by the instant specification (see page 35 of instant specification).
Regarding claims 12-13, Isojima teaches a manufacturing method for an all-solid state secondary battery, the method comprising manufacturing an all-solid state secondary battery through a manufacturing method comprising forming a film of the inorganic solid electrolyte-containing composition of claim 1 ([0304] & [0330]-[0337]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Mimura (US 2018/0277892 A1) teaches a solid electrolyte-containing composition comprising an inorganic solid electrolyte, a polymer binder and a dispersion medium.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL T ZEMUI whose telephone number is (571)272-4894. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm (EST).
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/NATHANAEL T ZEMUI/Examiner, Art Unit 1727