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 .
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, 4, 5, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo et al. (US 20150214553 A1) in view of Maina et al. (Influence of surface state in micro-welding of copper by Nd: YAG laser, see NPL documents for citation).
Regarding claim 1, Yoo teaches a secondary battery (100) comprising a case (110) and an electrode assembly (120) housed inside [0036 and Fig. 1]. From the shape of the case (110) on Fig. 1, the feature “a case… having a bottom surface and long and short side surfaces extending upward from the bottom surface” is met. The electrode assembly (120) includes a positive and negative electrode plate (121 and 122) (first and second electrode plates) and a separator (123) interposed therebetween [0038]. The electrode assembly (120) includes an uncoated portion (124) comprising pair of portions where one portion formed at one end of the electrode assembly (120) is to be coupled or connected to the positive electrode plate (121) (first electrode plate) and another portion formed at the other end of the electrode assembly (120) is to be coupled or connected to the negative electrode plate (122) (second electrode plate) [0039 and Fig. 1].
The secondary battery (100) further comprises two collector plates (130) provided at both ends of the electrode assembly (120) coupled to the uncoated portion (124) of each respective electrode plates by its first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) [0040-0043, Fig. 1 and 2]. The feature “a flat portion electrically connected to the first electrode plate, extending parallel to a short side surface of the short side surfaces” would be met if the collector plate (130) coupled to the positive electrode plate (121) (first electrode plate) is considered. The coupling between the uncoated portions (124) and the collector plates (130) could be performed by laser welding [0040]. The collectors (130) further comprise a first and second plate (131a and 132a) which protrude from the first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) toward the short side surface [Fig. 1 and 2].
Yoo does not teach the feature “wherein a surface treatment is on the flat portion”.
Maina teaches about how a proper control of surface roughness can affect the laser welding process of copper [Abstract and p. 10; par. 1]. Since copper is often employed as current collector on secondary batteries and laser welding was disclosed by Yoo as its current collectors (130)-uncoated portion (124) welding process, the teachings of Maina can be considered to be on the same field of endeavor of Yoo. Maina found that a roughness around 27 µm, the light absorption rate and molten volume are the largest, and stable welding can be obtained [p. 10; par. 2]. If the first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) of Yoo are treated to have a roughness similar to the one taught by Maina, the claimed limitation 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 first and second protrusions (flat portions) of Yoo to include the feature “wherein a surface treatment is on the flat portion”, because Maina teaches that it could lead to obtain a stable welding.
Regarding claims 4 and 5, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. From Yoo’s Fig. 1 and 2 can be observed that one surface (first surface) of the collector plate (130) first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) is in contact with the uncoated portion (124) of the positive electrode plate (first electrode) and an opposite surface facing the short side surface of the case (110).
The features “wherein the surface treatment is on the second surface” (claim 4) and “wherein the surface treatment is on both the first surface and the second surface” (claim 5) may serve the same purpose of obtain a stable laser welding, therefore it could be considered met in view of the teachings of Maina applied to claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Yoo further teaches that the first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) are coupled together and the laser welding beams are applied to a boundary surface (133) between them [0049 and Fig. 6]. From claim 1 discussion, is possible that either the inner or outer surface of the first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions) have the surface treatment, therefore the feature “wherein a line-shaped welding region is at the surface treatment” could be reasonably considered met.
Regarding claim 10, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Yoo further teaches that its secondary battery (100) comprises a cap plate (160) coupled to an upper part of the case (110) [0036 and Fig. 1]. Two collector terminals (140) (first and second terminal parts) are connected respectively to the collector plates (130) which are connected to the positive and negative electrode plate (121 and 122) (first and second electrode plates) uncoated portions (124) [0036, 0041 and Fig. 1]. The collector terminals (140) (first and second terminal parts) protrude upward from the cap plate (160) [0036 and Fig. 1].
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo et al. (US 20150214553 A1) in view of Maina et al. (Influence of surface state in micro-welding of copper by Nd: YAG laser, see NPL documents for citation) as applied to claim 1 above, further evidenced by Jeon et al. (Highly rough copper current collector: improving adhesion property between a silicon electrode and current collector for flexible lithium-ion batteries, see NPL documents for citation).
Regarding claim 2, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1, except “wherein the surface treatment has greater surface roughness than other regions of the first current collector plate”.
Jeon’s work analyze the surface morphology and roughness of flat and rough Cu current collectors to elucidate the interfacial adhesion property of Si electrodes and found that an approximated roughness value for a flat Cu current collector is 1 µm [p. 35681; par. 3, p. 35683; Results and discussions; par. 1]. The flat Cu current collector would represent the non-treated regions of the current collector (130) taught by Yoo. Despite the work of Jeon is not regarding laser welding, based on Maina teachings above, the roughness analysis of Cu current collectors, makes Jeon work to be on the same general field of endeavor of Yoo and Maina. Because Jeon’s teachings evidence that flat (untreated) Cu roughness is lower than the Cu roughness taught by Maina as discussed on claim 1, the claimed limitation is met.
Regarding claim 3, Yoo and Maina evidenced by Jeon teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 2. From claim 2 discussion, if the roughness value for the flat Cu current collector, which would represent the non-treated regions of the current collector, is 1 µm and the value for the treated portions is 27 µm as taught by Maina, the feature of claim 3 is met.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo et al. (US 20150214553 A1) in view of Maina et al. (Influence of surface state in micro-welding of copper by Nd: YAG laser, see NPL documents for citation) as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Woo, S. (US 20130252053 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1, except “wherein the first electrode-uncoated portion is located on an upper portion and a lower portion of one side of the first electrode plate, and the flat portion includes a first flat portion welded to the first electrode-uncoated portion at the upper portion of the first electrode plate and a second flat portion welded to the first electrode-uncoated portion at the lower portion of the electrode plate”.
Woo taches a secondary battery having an electrode assembly (120), including a first and second electrode plate with an uncoated portion (121 and 122) respectively. The electrode assembly is housed in a can (110) sealed by a cap plate (112) [0044, 0046-0047 and Fig. 1-2]. The secondary battery of Woo is on the same field of endeavor of Yoo. The electrode assembly (120) has a groove on each of the first and second uncoated portions (121 and 122) [0050 and Fig. 2]. The groove divides the corresponding the first and second uncoated portions (121 and 122) into a first and second surface (121-1 and 2) and a third and fourth surface (122-1 and 2) [0053-0055 and Fig. 2]. Woo teaches that the groove feature allows a lead tab of a current collector to be bent and welded to the uncoated portion of the electrode assembly [0094].
If the groove feature taught by Woo is employed on the electrode assembly (120) taught by Yoo, the features “wherein the first electrode-uncoated portion is located on an upper portion and a lower portion of one side of the first electrode plate” would be met. The remaining features would be met if the discussed collector plates (130) are welded to the modified electrode uncoated portion having an upper and lower portion.
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 electrode assembly of Yoo and Maina to include the feature “wherein the first electrode-uncoated portion is located on an upper portion and a lower portion of one side of the first electrode plate”, because Woo teaches that it allows a lead tab of a current collector to be bent and welded to the uncoated portion of the electrode assembly.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo et al. (US 20150214553 A1) in view of Maina et al. (Influence of surface state in micro-welding of copper by Nd: YAG laser, see NPL documents for citation) and Woo, S. (US 20130252053 A1) as applied to claim 6 above, further in view of Hamada et al. (US 20030027041 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Yoo, Maina and Woo teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 6, except “wherein the protrusion portion is between the first flat portion and the second flat portion”.
Hamada teaches a prismatic sealed module (1) which comprises a connected electrode plate group (23) composed of a plurality of electrode plate groups (8), connected between them by a plurality of collectors (10). The sealed module (1) further comprises a prismatic battery case (21) and a single cover (6) [0028, 0030 and Fig. 1]. The battery module (1) of Hamada is on the same field of endeavor of Yoo. The collectors (10) (current collector plate analogous) are joined to the positive and negative leads (uncoated portion analogous) of the electrode plate groups (8) and comprise a plurality of connection protrusions (24) formed at proper intervals in a lengthwise (up/down) direction [0031 and Fig. 1]. It is possible to say that the connection between the collector (10) (current collector plate analogous) and the positive and negative leads (uncoated portion analogous) of the electrode plate groups (8) can be made by laser welding given that the collectors are joined to each other by laser welding its respective protrusions (24) [0031 and Fig. 2]. In addition, in another embodiment, collectors (110 a) and (110 b) are respectively connected with the side edges of the leads (109 a and 109 b) by welding [0007 and Fig. 10]. Referring to the collector (10) (current collector plate analogous), the upper surface before the first protrusion (24) can be considered the “first flat portion” and the lower surface after the third protrusion (24) can be considered the “second flat portion”, see annotated Figure 1 below.
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Figure 1: Hamada’s annotated Fig. 1
If the collector plates (130) taught by Yoo are replaced with the collector (10) (current collector plate analogous) of Hamada, the limitations of claim 1 and 6 would be met and limitations of claim 7 would be met as well.
Hamada teaches that insert (33) is created in the gap between adjacent collectors (10) (current collector plate analogous), where an elastic pressing member (34) is inserted which generates a sealing surface pressure between the collectors (10) (current collector plate analogous) surfaces and a sheet (26) [0037, Fig. 1 and 4]. Given that the gap between the adjacent collectors (10) (current collector plate analogous) is formed because of the protrusions and because the sheet (26) serves as a battery case [0032], it can be said that the presence of a protrusion(s) between two flat portions allows for the insertion of an elastic pressing member capable of generate a sealing surface pressure between the collectors (current collector plate analogous) surfaces and a the battery case.
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 replace the collector plates (current collector plates) of Yoo, Maina and Woo to meet the feature “wherein the protrusion portion is between the first flat portion and the second flat portion”, because with Hamada collectors the referred feature is met and it teaches that the presence of a protrusion(s) between two flat portions allows for the insertion of an elastic pressing member capable of generate a sealing surface pressure between the collectors (current collector plate analogous) surfaces and a the battery case.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo et al. (US 20150214553 A1) in view of Maina et al. (Influence of surface state in micro-welding of copper by Nd: YAG laser, see NPL documents for citation) as applied to claim 1 above, further evidenced by Huang et al. (Effect of laser welding parameters on weld bowing distortion of thin plates, see NPL documents for citation).
Regarding claim 8, Yoo and Maina teach all the elements of the current invention in claim 1, except “wherein a thickness of the protrusion portion is greater than a thickness of the flat portion”.
Huang studies the effect of laser welding on the weld bowing distortion of thin plates [Title]. Because current collectors are often considered thin plates, Huang teaching are on the same field of endeavor of Yoo and Maina. Huang evidence that compared with thick plates, welding deformation of thin sheets is more likely to occur and especially weld bowing distortions, which are extremely unfavorable for the assembly process and adversely affect the precision of the structure [p. 299; par. 1]. From Huang teachings, if the if the first and second plate (131a and 132a) (protrusions) of the collector plates (130) taught by Yoo are thicker than the first and second protrusions (131b and 132b) (flat portions), weld bowing distortions of the collector plates (130) can be avoided or reduced when the collector plates (130) are subjected to laser welding.
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 collector plates of Yoo and Maina to include the feature “wherein a thickness of the protrusion portion is greater than a thickness of the flat portion”, because Huang teachings evidence that with the referred feature weld bowing distortions of the collector plates can be avoided or reduced when the collector plates are subjected to laser welding.
Conclusion
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/G.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1725
/JAMES M ERWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725 02/07/2026