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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 05/11/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the measuring device would be the same. This is not found persuasive because a measuring device for the thickness and a measuring device for both thickness and weight are different.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 07/19/2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP6589501B2 to Yukawa et al. (Machine translation)
With respect to claim 1, Yukawa et al. teach a system for controlling a thickness of a dry electrode 18, the system comprising: a first press 44 configured to accommodate an electrode powder and press the electrode powder into an electrode sheet 17 in the form of a film; a second press 50 positioned downstream of the first press 44, the second press 50 being configured to receive and to press the electrode sheet 17 (Yukawa et al.: Pages 3-5 and Fig. 6).
Yukawa et al. do not specifically teach a measuring device positioned downstream of the second press and configured to measure a thickness of the electrode sheet in real time; and a controller configured to change an operating condition of the first press or an operating condition of the second press based on thickness information measured by the measuring device.
However, Yukawa et al. further teach a measuring device 55 positioned downstream of the first press 44 and configured to measure a thickness of the electrode sheet 17 in real time; and a controller 54 configured to change an operating condition of the first press based on thickness information measured by the measuring device 55 (Yukawa et al.: Pages 3-5 and Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Yukawa et al. to have an additional measuring device and an additional controller to change an operating condition of the first press or an operating condition of the second press based on thickness information measured by the measuring device with the motivation of having a means such it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8 (CA7 1977).
With respect to claim 2, Yukawa et al. do not specifically teach the system, wherein the thickness information is a moving average of the thickness information measured at a plurality of time points.
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have the thickness information is a moving average of the thickness information measured at a plurality of time points since there are 3 sensors 55a, 55b and 55c for the thickness acquisition device 55, it was known in the art that calculate the moving average of the thickness information measured at a plurality of time points.
With respect to claim 3, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller and the measuring device, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and the measuring device and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for the controller and the measuring device of Yukawa et al. to have wherein during an initial driving of the system for controlling the thickness of the dry electrode, the moving average of the thickness information uses a moving average value calculated after the thickness information is acquired at time points of the preset number of times as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 4, Yukawa et al. teach the system, wherein the operating condition of the first press is a pressing force of the first press, and the operating condition of the second press is a pressing force of the second press (Yukawa et al.: Pages 3-5 and Fig. 6).
With respect to claim 5, Yukawa et al. teach the system, wherein the measuring device is a laser sensor (a radiation measurement device) (Yukawa et al.: Pages 3-5 and Fig. 6).
With respect to claim 6, Yukawa et al. teach the same radiation measuring device, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed radiation measuring device and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for the radiation measuring device of Yukawa et al. to have the first press is configured to measure a thickness distribution of the electrode sheet 17 in a width direction as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 7, Yukawa et al. teaches the same first press and second press, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed first press and second press and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for the first press and second press of Yukawa et al. to have the first press is configured to provide different pressing forces to at least two regions of the electrode sheet, and wherein the second press is configured to provide different pressing forces to the at least two regions of the electrode sheet as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 8, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for controller of Yukawa et al. to adjust an operation of the first press or the second press when a thickness distribution of the electrode sheet acquired based on the measured thickness information does not satisfy a preset target distribution range as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 9, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for controller of Yukawa et al. to adjust the operation of the first press, and the second set value is greater than the first set value when an absolute value of the thickness distribution is greater than a preset first set value and greater than a preset second set value as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 10, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for controller of Yukawa et al. to adjust the operation of the second press, and the second set value is greater than the first set value when an absolute value of the thickness distribution is greater than a preset first set value and smaller than or equal to a preset second set value as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 11, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for controller of Yukawa et al. to have the thickness distribution is a difference between thicknesses of a first region and a second region of the electrode sheet in the width direction as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claim 12, Yukawa et al. teaches the same controller, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed controller and those disclosed by Yukawa et al., it would have expected for controller of Yukawa et al. to adjust the operation of the second press when a thickness distribution of the electrode sheet acquired based on the measured thickness information satisfies a preset target distribution range but an average thickness acquired based on the measured thickness information does not satisfy a preset target thickness range as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINGWEN R ZENG whose telephone number is (571)272-6649. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/LINGWEN R ZENG/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 7/29/2026
Prosecution Insights