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 1-5 and 11 in the reply filed on 3/11/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 6-10 are withdrawn from further consideration.
Priority
Acknowledgement has been made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 USC 119 (a-d). The certified copy has been filed on 6/13/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed 6/13/2023, 7/1/2024, 7/9/2024, 6/4/2025, 8/5/2025 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings received 6/13/2023 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
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.
Claims 1-5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the limitation “wherein intervals between the battery can and the at least two pairs of rollers are different from one another” is unclear as to what is meant by “one another”: the battery can and one pair of rollers, or two pairs of rollers?
Regarding claim 2, “a battery can” has antecedent basis in claim 1.
Claims 2-5 and 11 are rejected for the same.
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.
As best understood, claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Jeong (KR 2017-033588).
See figure 1. Regarding claim 1, Jeong discloses a multi-roller system comprising:
at least two pairs of rollers 110a, 120a, and 310a, 320a (figures 3 and 8),
wherein the at least two pairs of rollers rotate about independent rotation axes, respectively (see figure 1),
wherein changes in heights of the at least two pairs of rollers are independently controlled (the two pairs of rollers are mounted on different bases and hence are independently controlled, see figures 3 and 8),
wherein cross-sections of at least one pair of rollers of the at least two pairs of rollers have different shapes (see figure 1), and
wherein intervals between the battery can and the at least two pairs of rollers are different from one another (it is noted that when the battery can is located on the rollers 110a and 120a, the distance between the battery can and the second pair of rollers is greater, and hence the interval is different).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The closest prior art is Jeong (KR 2017-033588). Jeong discloses a multi-roller system of claim 1. Jeong does not disclose nor suggest:
a pair of first rollers configured to press an end of an opening portion of a battery can so that the end of the opening portion of the battery can has an inclined section inclined toward a central axis of the battery can, as claimed in claim 2. It is noted that there is no opening portion of the battery can. The system of Jeong is a folding apparatus, and hence the battery can has already been sealed and is ready to fold. Should the battery can still have an opening at the folding portion when located at the beginning of the folding apparatus, it is noted that when Jeong’s end of an opening section is pressed by the first rollers 110a and 120a, it forms an inclined section that inclines away from the battery can, and not toward a central axis of the battery can, as recited in claim 2. See figure 4 of Jeong.
Claims 3-5 and 11 depend from claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CYNTHIA KYUNG SOO WALLS whose telephone number is (571)272-8699. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F until 5pm.
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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/CYNTHIA K WALLS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
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