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 .
This is the initial office action for US Patent Application No. 18/225343 by Nakanishi et al.
Claims 1-3 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
Figure 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim 2 is 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.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the other layer" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ohsawa et al. (US 2018/0090766 A1), herein referred to as Ohsawa, listed on Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 6/17/2025.
Regarding claim 1, Ohsawa teaches [0014 and 0058] a resin current collector comprising a polyolefin-based resin matrix (base layer) and a conductive filler that can be homogenously dispersed in the resin matrix to form a resin current collector layer. Ohsawa further teaches [0167] an electron conductive layer is formed on a surface of the resin current collector layer wherein the electron conductive layer may include a fluorine-based resin [0176-0177] such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or a copolymer thereof (fluorine-based resin layer).
Regarding claim 2, Ohsawa teaches (Figure 2 and [0029-0031]) the resin current collector serves as an end surface of a laminated battery and the resin current collector is in contact with an electrode layer constituting the laminated battery and the electron conductive layer that includes the fluoride-based resin is in contact with a different electrode layer constituting the laminated battery and faces oppositely in direction to the resin current collector layer.
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohsawa et al. (US 2018/0090766 A1), herein referred to as Ohsawa, in view of Hotta et al. (US 2023/0116728 A1), herein referred to as Hotta.
Ohsawa teaches the resin current collector and battery limitations recited in claims 1 and 2 respectively. Ohsawa does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claim 3. However, from the same field of technology, Hotta discloses a resin current collector and laminated battery.
In view of claim 3, Ohsawa teaches [0114-0116] the battery may include a solid electrolyte layer wherein the solid electrolyte may further include a sulfide-based solid electrolyte.
At the time of the filing date of the instant application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the resin current collector and battery of Ohsawa to include a sulfide-based solid electrolyte as taught by Hotta in order to devise a battery with improved capacity and charging/discharging cycle characteristics.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEWART A FRASER whose telephone number is (571)270-5126. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7am-4pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Miriam Stagg can be reached at 571-270-5256. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724