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
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1, 2, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon et al. (US 20190229362).
2. Regarding claims 1, 2, 5, and 6, Yoon teaches a secondary battery (a rechargeable battery 300 includes an electrode assembly 103 [0071]) comprising: an electrode wound body (The electrode assembly 101 in which the first electrode 121, the separator 123, and the second electrode 122 are stacked may have a jellyroll shape being spirally wound [0036]) including a positive electrode having a band shape and a negative electrode having a band shape (the first electrode coated region may include a first substrate (abstract); The second electrode coated region may include a second substrate [0012]; The first substrate 11a1 and the second substrate 12a1 may be formed of a band-shaped metal foil [0039]), the positive electrode and the negative electrode being stacked with a separator interposed therebetween (The separator 123 is positioned between the first electrode 121 and the second electrode 122 [0052]); a positive electrode current collector plate and a battery can containing the electrode wound body and the positive electrode current collector plate (The positive electrode current collecting portion 51 and the negative electrode current collecting portion 52 protrude in a direction in which an opening 65a is formed in the case 65 [0075], Figure 6), wherein the positive electrode (For example, the first electrode 121 may be a positive electrode, and the first substrate 11a1 may include aluminum [0041]) includes, on a positive electrode foil having a band shape (The first electrode current collecting portion 21 may include aluminum like the first substrate 11a1 [0047]; The first substrate 11a1 and the second substrate 12a1 may be formed of a band-shaped metal foil [0039]), a positive electrode active material covered part covered with a positive electrode active material layer, and a positive electrode active material uncovered part (The first electrode 121 includes a first electrode coated region 11a and a first electrode uncoated region 11b [0037]; first electrode coated region may include a first substrate and a first active material layer formed on at least one surface of the first substrate [0015]), the negative electrode (For example, the second electrode 122 may be a negative electrode, and the second substrate 12a1 may include copper [0044]) includes, on a negative electrode foil having a band shape (The first substrate 11a1 and the second substrate 12a1 may be formed of a band-shaped metal foil [0039]), a negative electrode active material covered part covered with a negative electrode active material layer (second electrode 122 includes a second electrode coated region 12a and a second electrode uncoated region 12b [0037]; The second electrode coated region may include a second substrate and a second active material layer formed on at least one surface of the second substrate [0017]),
and a negative electrode active material uncovered part extending at least in a longitudinal direction of the negative electrode foil (Accordingly, the second small …electrode portion S4 positioned at the first flat portion are positioned at opposite sides with respect to the center uncoated region to face each other [0066]; The Examiner notes S4 is in the longitudinal direction in Figure 5),
the electrode wound body has a flat surface (flat surface AA, Figure 4), in which portions of the negative electrode active material uncovered part are bent toward a central axis of the wound structure and overlap with each other in layers to form the flat surface (electrode uncoated regions adjacent to the winding axis XL are referred to as center uncoated regions 11b1 and 12b1 [0050]), the flat surface and a bottom part of the battery can (bottom part of case 65, Figure 6) are coupled to each other (see Figures 1 and 6), and where t represents a thickness of the negative electrode foil in millimeters (A thickness of…electrode current collecting portion…may be 12 μm or less [0048]; 12 µm = 0.012 mm), m represents a number of the layers of the negative electrode active material (second active material layers [0012]) uncovered part at a coupled portion farthest from the central axis (and electrode uncoated regions positioned relatively far away from the winding axis XL are referred to as outer uncoated regions 11b2 and 12b2 [0050]), and T represents a thickness of the bottom part of the battery can in millimeters (see bottom part of case 65, Figure 6).
3. Yoon is silent the secondary battery satisfies 0.05≤Z≤0.5, Z being equal to t×m/T,
and claim 2. Yoon teaches number of the layers of the negative electrode active material (second active material layers [0012]).
4. However, Yoon teaches modifications could be made to their disclosure [0085], and may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the scope of the present invention [0031], as a result, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoon’s components with various thicknesses for the benefit of a rechargeable battery to have characteristics such as high energy density, high power, and high safety [0003].
5. Regarding claim 5, Yoon teaches (rechargeable battery can be recharged, and is widely used in information technology (IT) devices such as a smartphone [0002]).
6. Regarding claim 6, Yoon teaches an electric tool comprising the secondary battery (rechargeable battery is used as a battery of the electric vehicle [0003])
7. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon et al. (US 20190229362) as applied to claim 1 in view of Jeong (US 20220328859, PCT filed 9/1/2020).
8. Regarding claim 3, the complete discussion of Yoon as applied to claim 1 is incorporated herein. However, they are silent about the limitations of claim 3.
9. Jeong teaches wherein an end face, on at least a negative electrode side, of the electrode wound body has a groove (A recessed groove may be formed at the first end of the joining portion [0029];…the electrode assembly is wound through the joining portion [0034]; the joining portion 211 having a wide width C is exposed to the outside of the jelly-roll type electrode assembly [0082]) for the benefit of preventing the occurrence of asymmetry or distortion phenomena of the shape of the electrode assembly [0034].
10. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoon with Jeong’s teachings for the benefit of preventing the occurrence of asymmetry or distortion phenomena of the shape of the electrode assembly.
11. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon et al. (US 20190229362) as applied to claim 1 in view of Kwak (US 20110183170).
12. Regarding claim 4, the complete discussion of Yoon as applied to claim 1 is incorporated herein. However, they are silent about the limitations of claim 4.
13. Kwak teaches wherein the negative electrode further includes a negative electrode active material uncovered part at an end part in the longitudinal direction on each of a beginning side of winding and an end side of the winding ( A non-coated portion 127 is formed on a region of the second side surface 122 of the roll-starting end 125 of the second electrode 120 [0064]; The non-coated portion 127 is formed on a region extending from the roll-starting end 125 toward the roll-finishing end 126 of the second electrode 120 [0065]) for the benefit of reducing or minimizing a volume for a given capacity of the electrode assembly 100 [0066].
14. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yoon with Kwak’s teaching for the benefit of reducing or minimizing a volume for a given capacity of the electrode assembly 100.
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752