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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Japanese Patent Publication No. JP2012142161 to Masaoka (citing to the enclosed machine translation “Masoka”). Masoka discloses a cylindrical lithium ion secondary battery with flat top/bottom. Masaoka at Figure 1 and paragraph [0025]. The battery includes a closed bottom cylindrical can (10) with an open top that houses an electrode body (30). The open end is sealed with sealing body (20). Id. at paragraph [0015]. The negative electrode of the electrode body is electrically connected to an inner wall of the can, making the body of the can have a negative potential. Id. at paragraph [0016]. The positive electrode of the electrode body is connected to a lower surface of a terminal of the battery (22). Id. at paragraph [0024]. The terminal fits within an opening in the cover via an insulating gasket. More particularly, the terminal includes upper and lower flange portions (22b and 22c) that abut against the outer and inner surfaces of the cover plate via the gasket respectively. These flanges are connected via the terminal shaft (22a) that passes through the hole in the sealing plate. Id. at paragraph [0019]. Thus, because the sealing plate is flat and the flanges include a thickness extending outward from the surface of the sealing plate against which the respective flange abuts, the terminal is necessarily thicker than the sealing plate. Finally, in the as-filed disclosure, Applicant describes a gasket like the one used to insulate/attach the terminal to the sealing plate in Masaoka as a material that adheres the terminal to the sealing plate. Thus, the gasket of Masaoka is also considered to adhere the terminal to the sealing plate, thereby acting as the recited adhesive member.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Regarding claims 2 and 3, although the terminal of Masaoka is necessarily thicker than the sealing plate of Masaoka, nothing in the prior art suggests a specific ratio of the thickness of the terminal to the thickness of the sealing plate. Similarly, while the diameter of the terminal is necessarily less than the diameter of the sealing plate in Masaoka, nothing suggests a specific ratio of those two measurements. Regarding claims 4 and 5, nothing in the prior art suggests providing a recess as recited in the structure of Masaoka.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727