DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgement has been made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 USC 119 (a-d). The certified copy has been filed on 06/15/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) filed 06/15/2023 have been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings received 08/04/2023 are acceptable for examination purposes.
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.
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.
Claims 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2019/0081370 to Capati (Capati) in view of US 2010/0233546 to Nesper (Nesper).
Regarding claim 1, Capati discloses a module for storing electrical energy for a vehicle comprising: at least one electrical-energy accumulator (Fig. 1, claim 1), and at least one ammonia sensor for detecting a release of ammonia (para 35, gaseous substances gaseous substances identified by the gas detector can include ammonia). Capati does not expressly disclose wherein one electrical-energy accumulator comprising at least one negative electrode composed at least partially of lithium-metal nitride.
Nesper at least one electrical-energy accumulator (lithium-ion battery (Para 76) comprising at least one negative electrode composed at least partially of lithium-metal nitride (claim 9, claim 4, para 76). Nesper teaches that presence of lithium-metal nitride at least partially provide improved anode materials with high reversible discharge capacity and constant discharge capacity over several hundreds of charge-discharge cycles their use in rechargeable lithium batteries (para 13). However, Nesper teaches that metal nitrides could undergo spontaneous decomposition under ambient conditions by reaction with water and oxygen (para 8). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the module of Capati with the lithium-ion batteries of Nesper in order to provide the module comprising batteries with high reversible discharge capacity and constant discharge capacity over several hundreds of charge-discharge cycles. One skilled in the art would appreciate, that a presence of the ammonia detector in the module of modified Capati would improve control of the module conditions, and as such a safety of the module.
Regarding claims 12,13, 14 and 15, modified Capati discloses Li7MnN4 (Nesper, para 7).
Regarding claims 16 and 17, modified Capati discloses a casing that forms a housing for the electrical-energy accumulators (Fig. 2). In addition, modified Capati teaches that the sensor can be arranged or disposed along a surface of the battery module or one the components therein, along the top surface of the battery module, a side wall of the battery block a bottom surface of the battery module (para 34). the ammonia sensor being placed on a wall of the casing (Capati, para 34). Therefore, It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to place the ammonia sensor an internal face of the wall of the casing as an obvious design choose.
Regarding claim 18, modified Capati discloses wherein the ammonia sensor is chosen from a catalytic detector, a thermal-conductivity detector, a detector of infrared radiation, an electrochemical detector, and a photoionization detector (Capati, para 35).
Regarding claim 19, modified Capati discloses a plurality of energy-storing modules, wherein at least one module for storing electrical energy of the plurality of energy-storing modules is the module for storing electrical energy (Capati, claim 1, Fig. 2),
Regarding claim 20, modified Capati discloses a vehicle (Capati, para 4).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure US 20160351893.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER USYATINSKY whose telephone number is (571)270-7703. The examiner can normally be reached IFP.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at (571) 270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Alexander Usyatinsky/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751