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 .
Claims 1, 2, and 5-12 are pending. Claims 3 and 4 have been canceled.
The foreign priority application No.20211374693.1 filed on November 04, 2022 in the China has been received and it is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because a single view used in an application to illustrate the claimed invention should not be numbered and the abbreviation “FIG.” should not appear (see 37 C.F.R. 1.84 (u) Numbering of views). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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 Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities: the limitation “to any one of claims 1” should be amended to recite “to claim 1”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 2, and 5-11 are allowed.
Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) teach a separator comprising a pretreated PE base membrane and a coating on both sides of the pretreated PE membrane (Example 2, par.0084-0086). The coating is made from a composite slurry comprising polyvinylidene fluoride, aluminum oxide, and DMAC (dimethylacetamide)(par.0072, par.0084).
The separator in Example 2 has an ionic conductivity of 2.4 mS/cm (Table 1, par.0098), and an interfacial bonding of 21 N/m (Table 1, par.0098).
However, Cheng et al. fail to teach the separator in claim 1.
There are no prior art teachings that would motivate one of ordinary skill to modify Cheng et al. and obtain the separator in claim 1 of the instant application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the Remarks filed on April 22, 2026, with respect to the rejections based on Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections based on Cheng et al. have been withdrawn.
The examiner would like to note that:
-the objection to the specification is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendments to par.0014, par.0023, par.0037, par.0039, and par.0064 of the specification;
-the objection to claims 3-5 are withdrawn after the cancelation of claims 3 and 4, and the applicant’s amendment to claim 5;
-the rejection of claim 7 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to the claim;
-the rejection of claims 1, 2, 8, and 12 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1;
-the rejection of claim 3 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) is moot after the cancelation of the claim;
-the rejection of claim 6 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) in view of Mukai et al. (EP 3 691 002 A1) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1;
-the rejection of claim 7 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) in view of Inoue et al. (2022/0149365) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1;
-the rejection of claim 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2016/0164060) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1;
-the rejection of claim 11 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (CN 111653712 A, with citations from the English language equivalent US 2023/0187781) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2016/0164060) as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Hoshida et al. (US 2002/0034689) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ANCA EOFF/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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