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
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 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogata et al. (JP 2015195191A, machine translation, provided in the IDS mailed on 26 November 2024, is used for rejection below) in view of Lee et al. (KR 102729830B1, English equivalent US20240063476, provided in the IDS mailed on 26 August 2024, is used for the rejection below).
Regarding claim 1, Ogata discloses a power storage device [0009] comprising:
an electrode body [0013]; and
an exterior body that accommodates the electrode body and that is made of a laminate film (figure 1, exterior material 1), wherein:
the laminate film includes a metal layer (figure 1, intermediate layer 5-aluminum foil layer [0060]) and a resin layer laminated on a surface of the metal layer facing the electrode body (innermost layer 6-thermoplastic resin layer –[0060]);
a through hole penetrating the metal layer in a thickness direction is provided in the metal layer (figure 1, hole 2); and
wherein the laminate film further includes a resin portion disposed in the through hole (figure 1, embedded portion 7 which may be formed from resin or metal [0063]).
However, Ogata does not disclose wherein the diameter of the through hole disposed through the metal layer of the laminate film is 3 mm or more and 10 mm or less.
Lee discloses a power storage device having a through hole (figure 2, degassing hole 113a) disposed through a metal layer in the laminate film that has a diameter of 1 mm to 9 mm [0025]. The range of 1 mm to 9 mm of the degassing hole in Lee includes the range of 3 mm or more and 10 mm or less diameter disclosed within the present application, and is used to facilitate diffusion of gas out of the power storage device [0027].
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the area before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the power storage device disclosed by Ogata so that the through hole in the metal layer has the set dimensions disclosed by Lee to facilitate diffusion of gas out of the power storage device.
Regarding claim 3, Ogata discloses the power storage device of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the resin portion includes a resin material of a kind different from a material used for the resin layer [0063]-[0064]. Ogata discloses that the embedded portion 7 can be formed from polyolefin resins such as polyethylene and polypropylene while the innermost layer 6 can be formed from polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylen-propylen copolymers to allow gas to diffuse through the laminate film. As such, Ogata teaches that the resin portion and the resin layer can be formed from different resins and still facilitate diffusion of the gas through the laminar film.
Regarding claim 4, Ogata discloses the power storage device of claim 3, and further discloses a resin material having a lower moisture permeability than the material used for the resin layer. As previously described with relation to Claim 3, Ogata discloses that the embedded portion 7 and the innermost layer 6 can each be constructed from polyethylene or polypropylene while maintaining the diffusion of gas out of the laminate film. As polyethylene and polypropylene are different polymers with different moisture permeabilities, and can be used interchangeably for the embedded portion and the innermost layer, Ogata discloses where the resin material used for the resin portion can have a lower moisture permeability than the resin material used for the innermost layer.
Regarding claim 5, Ogata discloses the power storage device of claim 1, but does not disclose wherein an area ratio of the through hole to an area of the metal layer is 3% or more and 40% or less.
However, it has been held that where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device. In re Rose , 220 F.2d 459, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955); In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 189 USPQ 143 (CCPA 1976); In Gardner v. TEC Systems, Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984). Also see MPEP 2144.
Regarding claim 6, Ogata discloses the power storage device of claim 1, and further discloses wherein a hole that is macroscopically visible is not provided in the resin layer (figure 1, innermost layer 6). As shown in figure 1 of Ogata, the innermost layer 6 has no holes extending through the layer that are macroscopically visible. Additionally, Lee also discloses a resin layer (figure 2, polymer layer 16) that has macroscopically visible holes extending through the resin layer.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogata et al. (JP 2015195191A, machine translation, provided in the IDS mailed on 26 November 2024, is used for rejection below) in view of Lee et al. (KR 102729830B1, an English equivalent US20240063476, provided in the IDS mailed on 26 August 2024, is used for the rejection below) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Naritomi et al. (US 20140065472A1).
Regarding claim 2, Ogata discloses the power storage device of claim 1, but does not disclose wherein a part of the resin layer protruding into the through hole serves as the resin portion.
Naritomi discloses a power storage device having a metal layer and a resin layer with a part of the resin layer protruding into a through hole of the metal layer to serve as the resin portion (figure 11, resin composition 64). As disclosed in Naritomi, the resin composition 64 is used to seal gaps within the lid 61 to assist in limiting the flow of gas out of the battery to extend the life of the battery [0128]-[0129]
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the embedded portion and the innermost layer disclosed by Ogata so that the embedded portion is a part of the innermost layer to better control the flowrate of the gas out of the battery module.
Conclusion
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/J.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1727
/BARBARA L GILLIAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1727