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 .
Claims 1-11 are pending in the application
Claims 7-9 are withdrawn in the application.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-6, 10, and 11 in the reply filed on 04/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 7-9 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 04/22/2026.
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.
Claim1-6, 10, and 11 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 1 recites “x is a minimum area (µm2) of … image of the secondary
particle”. The minimum area changes with every cross section taken through the same
electrode active material giving different results. This limitation renders the claim
indefinite as there is no indication of the area captured in the SEM image or what the
SEM image includes. Therefore, it is unclear how the cross section is selected.
Claim 4 recites “average pore area …0.1 µm2/each pore” is unclear and renders
the claim vague and indefinite. The term “average” indicates a value calculated from a
population of pores, while “each pore” suggests an individual pore value. It is unclear if
the limitation requires an average pore area of closed pores distributed in the secondary
particle, pore area of individual pore, or some other measurement.
Claims 2 -6, 10 and 11 are rejected based on their dependency on claim 1.
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)(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.
(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 1-3, 5, 6, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) (a)(2) as being anticipated by US PG pub. 2018/0026268 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim et al. discloses a positive electrode active material (abstract) comprising: a lithium transition metal oxide which contains 60 mol% or more of nickel based on a total number of moles of transition metals excluding lithium in the lithium transition metal oxide (para. 0082, 0206), wherein the lithium transition metal oxide and is in a form of a secondary particle (para. 0008), wherein the secondary particle is an aggregate of in which primary particles (para. 0008) are aggregated, wherein the lithium transition metal oxide satisfies Equation 1:
20
<
x
/
y
Equation 1 relates to cross sectional area of the electrode active material particle (x) to the sum of the area occupied by the pores (y), which is an inverse of porosity. Kim et al. defines porosity (porosity fraction) as ratio (%) of an area occupied by pores to a total area of the particle cross section (para. 0277). Kim et al. further discloses closed pores (para. 0058) having an area greater than 0.002 µm2 in the secondary particle given the pore diameter in the inner portion to about 150 nm to 550 nm (para. 0073) and the calculated pore area would be 0.018 µm2 – 0.24 µm2. Kim et al. further discloses
positive electrode active material with porosity about 3.3% to about 16.5% (para. 0091,
Table 7). If the area occupied by pores (y) to a total area of the particle cross section (x)
is 3.3 %, then
x
y
=
30.3
thus, satisfying equation 1.
Regarding claim 2 and 3, Kim et al. discloses as discussed above, closed pores
(para. 0058) having an area greater than 0.002 µm2 in the secondary particle (para.
0073), porosity of about 3.3% (para. 0091, Table 7), and x/y = 30.3, and Kim et al.
teaches a positive electrode active material (para. 0076 – 0079, 0082) that either falls
within, overlaps, or is close enough to the composition of the applicant’s material (see
para. 0057-0065 of filed specification) it must follow that the positive electrode active
material of Kim et al. would also satisfy 20 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 400 and 0.01 ≤ 𝑦 ≤ 5.0 in claims 2 and 3 respectively.
Regarding claim 5, Kim et al. discloses positive electrode active material with the
formula Lia(Ni1-x-y-zCoxMnyMz)O2 where M may be at least one element selected from boron (B), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), and zirconium (Zr) and a, x, y, and z may
satisfy the following relations: 0.95≤a≤1.3, x≤ (1−x−y−z), y≤ (1−x−y−z), 0<x<1, 0≤y<1,
0≤z<1 (para. 0076 – 0079, 0082).
Regarding claim 6, Kim et al. discloses a positive electrode active material with a
formula LiNi0.85Co0.1Al0.05O2 (para. 0088).
Regarding claim 10, Kim et al. discloses a positive electrode comprising of
positive electrode active material of claim 1 for a lithium secondary battery (coin cell,
para. 0187 - 0189).
Regarding claim 11, Kim et al. discloses a lithium secondary battery (coin cell)
comprising the positive electrode of claim 10 (para. 0190).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US PG Pub. 2018/0026268 A1) in view of NOH et al. (US PG Pub. 2023/0207803 A1).
Kim et al is relied upon as described above.
Regarding claim 4, Kim et al. fails to discloses the positive electrode active has
an average pore area of the pores having an area greater than 0.002 µm2 among the
closed pores distributed in the secondary particle is in a range of 0.01 µm2/each pore to 0.1 µm2/each pore.
NOH et al. discloses a positive electrode active material comprising a lithium
transition metal oxide which contains 60 mol % or more of the nickel (para. 0043-0049)
wherein the secondary particles are an aggregate of plurality of primary particles (para.
0037). NOH et al. further discloses the average pore area of pores observed to be 0.02
µm2 to 1.5 µm2 (para. 0058, 0129, Table 1 and 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filling
date of the claimed invention to modify the positive electrode active material of Kim et al
to have an average pore area in a range as taught by NOH et al. One of ordinary skill in
the art would have been motivated to attain the average pore area in a range as taught
by NOH et al. to improve electrochemical properties and stability of the positive
electrode active material.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ISWARYA MATHEW whose telephone number is (571)272-9515. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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/I.M./
Iswarya MathewExaminer, Art Unit 1788 05/12/2026
/Alicia Chevalier/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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