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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The phrase, “Use of the mixing process”, makes claims 4-6 indefinite because it is unclear if it is a process or product claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the phrase, “use of the mixing process” does not describe a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter.
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.
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 nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mays (U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0375651) in view of Stueven (U.S. Patent Publication 2012/0058267).
Regarding claims 1 and 4-6, Mays discloses a process of making lithiated transition metal oxide electrochemically active materials for use in a primary or secondary electrochemical cell comprising: mixing one or more transition metal precursors and a lithium precursor, such as lithium hydroxide, in a mixer, adding an agglomeration agent into the mixing chamber by spraying a solution into the powder during agglomeration, loading the agglomerates into saggars, and calcining the loaded saggars, wherein a lithium to transition metal ratio is 0.8 to 1.1, wherein the amount of nickel in the transition metals can be up to 100%, and wherein the agglomeration agent can be water (Paragraphs 0023, 0024, 0027, 0029, 0030, 0033, 0035, 0045, 0049, Example 2). Mays also discloses that the liquid to solid ratio during the agglomeration can be 0.145 (Paragraph 0052), or 14.5%. Mays states that the agglomeration agent can be added to the mixing chamber at a rate of 0.6 kg/min (Paragraph 0052), or 10 g/s. Mays also states that the saggar can be filled to a 0.75 cm bed depth (Paragraph 0065), which is about 0.47 of the depth of the saggar, resulting in more than 1/3 of the volume of the saggar. Mays teaches that the volume of the saggar is 59 cm3 and 30g of agglomerate is loaded (Paragraph 0065). With 0.47 of the saggar being filled, this results in a filled volume of 27.73 cm3, which results in an apparent density of 30/27.73, or 1.08 g/cm3. As to claim 2, Mays teaches that the lithiated transition metal oxide can be based on LiNiMO, where M is any transition metal, such as Co, Mn, Al, etc. (Paragraphs 0022, 0027).
Mays fails to disclose that the spray velocity is 0.1-10 g/s, and an atomizing pressure is 0.1-0.6 MPa.
Stueven discloses a process for preparing water-absorbing polymer particles by polymerizing a monomer solution or suspension comprising spraying an aqueous liquid onto the surface of postcrosslinked water-absorbing polymer particles (claim 1). Regarding claim 1, Stueven teaches that the spray nozzle has an atomizer gas pressure of 4.8 bar, or 0.48 MPa, and a throughput of the coating solution of 7.2 kg/h, or 2 g/s (Paragraphs 0162, 0164).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention that the spraying apparatus of Mays could have a spray velocity of 0.1-10 g/s and an atomizing pressure of 0.1-0.6 MPa because Stueven teaches that these settings allow for an aqueous solution to be efficiently and evenly coated over particles that are to be combined.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mays (U.S. Patent Publication 2019/0375651) in view of Stueven (U.S. Patent Publication 2012/0058267) as applied to claims 1, 2 and 4-6 above, and further in view of Lee (WO Publication 2020-153701, U.S. Patent Publication 2022/0098054 will be used as an English translation).
The teachings of Mays have been discussed in paragraph 6 above. Mays also teaches that transition metals other than Ni, Co, Mn and Al can be present in the lithiated transition metal oxide and that the metal precursor is an oxide, hydroxide, etc. of the transition metal (Paragraphs 0016, 0027).
Mays fails to disclose that the mixing of the lithium and transition metal precursors is carried out for 20-60 min.
Lee discloses a method of making a high-Ni lithium transition metal oxide comprising: mixing a transition metal hydroxide precursor and a lithium raw material, such as lithium hydroxide, for 20 minutes, and sintering the mixture (Paragraph 0075).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the present invention that the metal precursors of Mays could be mixed for 20 minutes because Lee teaches that this is a common amount of time stirring is performed to form a high-Ni lithium transition metal oxide.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRITTANY L RAYMOND whose telephone number is (571)272-6545. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 am-6 pm.
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BRITTANY L. RAYMOND
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1722
/BRITTANY L RAYMOND/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722