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 with traverse of group II in the reply filed on 03/20/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no search burden between group I-III. This is not found persuasive because group I -III are lack of unity of invention since the application is filed under 35 U.S.C 371.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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) 13-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a1 as being anticipated by WO 2020047846, hereinafter as ‘846.
Regarding claim 13, ‘846 teaches a battery assembly comprising:
a housing 753 [fig 7];
one or more battery cells 760 electrically coupled to a busbar, the one or more battery cells and the busbar being received in the housing (since the battery cells is interconnected, it is considered that there are busbars for interconnection) [fig 7 page 1 line 7-8];
fire protection article 700 including passive thermal insulators which is considered to be a fibrous core layer disposed between the busbar and the housing, wherein the fibrous core layer comprises a plurality of oxidized polyacrylonitrile fibers (fig 7 claim 6 p 16 line 5-22). It is noted that the fire protection article includes the thermal insulators as the core layer which is shown as layer 108, 208,308, 408 in fig 1, 2, 3, 4.
fire protection article 700 including a continuous barrier layer (fire barrier layer with binder layer) extending across one major surface of core layer [fig 7 claim 1-3].
Regarding claim 14, ‘846 teaches the continuous barrier layer comprising polyimide (the binder layer is blend of fluoropolymer and polyimide (para 23 line 11-26).
Regarding claim 15, ‘846 teaches the continuous barrier layer comprising inorganic filler dispersed in a binder (page 23 lines 31-32)
Regarding claim 16, ‘846 teaches the inorganic filler comprising mica ( micaceous particles) (page 23 lines 31-32).
Regarding claim 17, ‘846 teaches the inorganic filler being localized at a surface of the non—woven core layer (page 4 lines 9-11).
Regarding claim 18, ‘846 teaches the binder comprising a silicone (para 23 line 11-26).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UYEN M TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7602. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-6pm.
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/UYEN M TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726
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