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 .
This is the initial office action for US Patent Application No. 18/271109 by Tae Hwan Roh.
Claims 1-10 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2011/0318623 A1), herein referred to as Lee, provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 7/6/2023, in view of Kim et al. (KR 20210088172 A), herein referred to as Kim, provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 7/6/2023.
Regarding claim 1, Lee teaches (Figures 1 and 4, [0024-0025] and [0052-0063]) a pouch-shaped battery structure comprising first and second laminate sheets (first and second cases) (310) which each comprise an outer covering layer (311), a barrier metal layer (312) and an inner sealant layer (313). Lee proceeds to teach the first and second laminate sheets are thermally welded to form a sealed structure, an electrode assembly being formed within the battery structure and electrode terminals (330 and 340) having a first side connected to the electrode assembly and a second side protruding outwards from the first and second laminate sheets. Lee further teaches an elastic pressing member (220) which is mounted on the inside of a frame portion of the battery structure and is in contact with a sealed part (310) of the battery structure (300).
Lee does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claim 1 directed to a pressing member that wraps a sealed portion of the edges of the first and second cell cases. However, from the same field of technology, Kim recites the formation of a pouch-type secondary battery.
In view of claim 1, Kim teaches (Figures 2 and 3, [0018]) a first sealed part (111) which is formed by adding a sealing member (pressing member) (130) which is in the form of detachable or integral tongs. The tongs taught by Kim are considered to be analogous to the claimed pressing member and would function to wrap a sealed portion of the first and second laminate sheets.
At the time of the filing date of the instant application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the pouch-shaped battery structure taught by Lee, to include the sealing member taught by Kim, in order to devise a pouch-shaped battery cell that dissipates heat more effectively and maintains structural stability during continuous charging and discharging of the battery structure.
In view of claim 2, the combination of Lee and Kim teaches (Kim, Figures 2 and 3, [0018]) the pressing member wraps the sealed portion at a location at which the positive electrode lead or the negative electrode lead extends therethrough.
In view of claim 3, the combination of Lee and Kim teaches (Kim, Figures 2 and 3, [0018]) the pressing member has a shape of a folded hexahedral bar.
Claims 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2011/0318623 A1), herein referred to as Lee, provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 7/6/2023, in view of Kim et al. (KR 20210088172 A), herein referred to as Kim, provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 7/6/2023, as applied to claims 1-3 above, and further in view of Jin et al. (KR 20210064934 A), herein referred to as Jin, provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 7/6/2023.
The combination of Lee and Kim teaches the limitations of claims 1-3, but does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claims 6-10. However, from the same field of technology, Jin recites the formation of a battery module including a pouch-type secondary battery.
In view of claim 6, the combination of Lee, Kim and Jin teaches (Jin, Figure 3, [0030-0038]) a plurality of battery cells each being a pouch-shaped battery cell (11); a module case comprising a bottom plate (33), a pair of side plates (32), and a top plate (31), the plurality of battery cells being received in the module case; and a plurality of busbars (21) connecting the plurality of battery cells to each other in series or in parallel.
In view of claim 7, the combination of Lee, Kim and Jin teaches (Jin, Figure 3, [0030-0038 and 0042]) a thermally conductive resin (40) (heat transfer pad) disposed on an inner surface of the bottom plate.
In view of claim 8, the combination of Lee, Kim and Jin teaches (Jin, Figure 3, [0030-0038 and 0041-0042]) wherein one end of the pressing member of each of the battery cells is in tight contact with the thermally conductive resin (40) (heat transfer pad).
In view of claim 9, the combination of Lee, Kim and Jin teaches (Jin, Figure 3, [0030-0038 and 0040]) the bottom plate is made of a thermally conductive material (metal material).
In view of claim 10, the combination of Lee, Kim and Jin teaches (Jin, Figure 3, [0030-0038) a battery pack comprising the battery module that includes the plurality of battery cells.
At the time of the filing date of the instant application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Lee and Kim to further include the teachings of Jin in order to devise a pouch-shaped battery cell that dissipates heat more effectively and maintains structural stability during continuous charging and discharging of the battery structure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 5 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.
The prior art does not teach or suggest the limitations recited in claims 4 and 5 directed to the specific structural features of the pressing member.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEWART A FRASER whose telephone number is (571)270-5126. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7am-4pm, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Miriam Stagg can be reached at 571-270-5256. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724