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 without traverse of Group I, claims 1-8 and 17 in the reply filed on March 6, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 9-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on March 6, 2026.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (f), 365(a) or (b), or 386(a) based upon an application filed in China on April 30, 2021. The claim for priority cannot be based on said application because the subsequent nonprovisional or international application designating the United States was filed more than twelve months thereafter and no petition under 37 CFR 1.55 or request under PCT Rule 26bis.3 to restore the right of priority has been granted.
Applicant may wish to file a petition under 37 CFR 1.55(c) to restore the right of priority if the subsequent application was filed within two months from the expiration of the twelve-month period and the delay was unintentional. A petition to restore the right of priority must include: (1) the priority claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (f), 365(a) or (b), or 386(a) in an application data sheet, identifying the foreign application to which priority is claimed, by specifying the application number, country (or intellectual property authority), day, month, and year of its filing (unless previously submitted); (2) the petition fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(m)(3); and (3) a statement that the delay in filing the subsequent application within the twelve-month period was unintentional. The petition to restore the right of priority must be filed in the subsequent application, or in the earliest nonprovisional application claiming benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) to the subsequent application, if such subsequent application is not a nonprovisional application. The Director may require additional information where there is a question whether the delay was unintentional. The petition should be addressed to: Mail Stop Petition, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on July 24, 2023 and July 9, 2025 are is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang (US Pub. No. 2022/0416372).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches an electrode plate 1 (claimed electrode sheet), comprising a current collector 10, an active material layer 30 and a tab assembly 20 (claimed tab piece), wherein the current collector comprises an insulation layer 11 (claimed base layer), a first conductive layer 12 and a second conductive layer 13, and the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are arranged on opposite sides of the base layer respectively, the current collector is divided into a first zone and a second zone in a first direction, the active material layer is coated on opposite sides of the current collector in the first zone (paragraph [0058]; figures 1-2), and the tab piece is connected to the second zone of the current collector, the second zone is provided with a through hole 14 for enabling the opposite sides of the current collector to be communicated with each other, a first conductive connection member 15 (claimed one part of structure of the tab piece) is connected to the first conductive layer, and the other part of the first conductive connection member extends through the through hole to a side of the current collector opposite to the first conductive layer and is connected to the second conductive layer (paragraphs [0092]-[0093]; figure 9).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang teaches a first tab connection region 212 (taken to be the claimed body) and a second tab connection region 222 (taken to be the claimed connection part), the first tab connection region is connected to the first conductive layer, a first end of the first conductive connection member is connected to the first tab connection region, a second end of the first conductive connection member extends from the through hole to a side of the current collector opposite the first tab connection region, and the second end of the first conductive connection member is connected with the second conductive layer (paragraph [0061]; figure 9).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang teaches a surface of the first conductive layer 12 away from the base layer has a first connection area, and a surface of the second conductive layer 13 away from the base layer has a second connection area (see figure 2 for labeled first and second conductive layer, and figure 9 for embodiment used in the rejection), the first connection area and the second connection area are both connected to the tab piece to make the fist and second conductive layer be conducted with each other, and the first and second connection areas are respectively located on the top and bottom of the through hole along the up direction (see figure 9 – connection areas are both above and below through-hole 14).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang teaches that one end of the tab piece extends to an outside of the current collector in the up direction (parts 211 and 221 above the current collector) and the other end of the tab piece is connected to an inside of the current collector (connection member 15) (see figure 9).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang teaches a plurality of first through-holes 134 may be provided (paragraph [0097]).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang teaches that the area of the through-hole 14 is greater than 1% and less than 50% of the area of the second zone of the current collector (figure 9). While patent drawings are not to scale, relationships clearly shown in the drawings of a reference patent cannot be disregarded in determining the patentability of claims. See In re Mraz, 173 USPQ 25 (CCPA 1972).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US Pub. No. 2022/0416372).
Regarding claim 17, Zhang does not specifically disclose a lithium ion battery, however official notice is taken that lithium ion batteries are extremely well-known and conventional secondary batteries, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to create a lithium ion battery with the electrode sheet of Zhang in order to have a secondary battery with improved energy density and gravimetric energy density (see paragraph [0106]).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Cai (US Pub. No. 2021/0288330).
Regarding claim 5, Zhang does not specifically disclose multiple tabs arranged along a second direction of the current collector perpendicular to the first direction. Cai teaches a plurality of first electrode tabs 133 provided along intervals of a first electrode plate (paragraph [0040]; figures 1-3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use multiple tabs arranged along a second direction of a current collector perpendicular to the first direction as taught by Cai in the electrode sheet of Zhang in order to provide greater electrical conductivity between both sides of the composite current collector (see Cai at paragraph [0006]).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Ishikawa (US Pub. No. 2017/0309951).
Regarding claim 7, Zhang does not specifically disclose a protection member covering at least one of the first and second connection area and located at an inner surface of the current collector. Ishikawa teaches covering the welded part between an electrode tab and an electrode plate with an insulating tape (claimed protection member) (paragraph [0055]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to cover one or both of the first and second connection areas of Zhang with the protection member of Ishikawa in order to prevent or reduce short circuiting of the battery having the electrode sheet (see Ishikawa at paragraph [0017]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP N SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1612. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Katelyn Smith can be reached at 571-270-5545. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/P.N.S/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749 May 19, 2026
/KATELYN W SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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