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 .
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.
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 . 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.
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.
(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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) & (a)(2) as being anticipated by Hong et al. (US 2021/0288383 A1), hereinafter “Hong.”
Regarding claim 1, Hong discloses an electrode insulating coating composition comprising:
boehmite particles, in this case the coating composition includes inorganic particles (¶ [0033]) that may be boehmite (¶ [0089]);
a dispersant (¶ [0033]), in this case the polymeric additive;
a binder (¶ [0033]); and
a solvent (¶ [0092]);
wherein the dispersant comprises two or more fatty acid compounds, in this case the polymeric additive may be different fatty acid compounds used in combination (¶ [0035] & [0044]), included in an amount of 1.2 to 8.8 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the boehmite particles, in this case 4 to 5 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the inorganic particles (¶ [0075]) with a specific example of 5 parts by weight (¶ [0161]).
Regarding claim 2, Hong further discloses that each of the two or more fatty acid compounds have different carbon numbers from each other (¶ [0044]).
Regarding claim 3, Hong further discloses that the two or more fatty acid compounds comprises a C15 to C30 unsaturated fatty acid compound and a C15 to C30 saturated fatty acid compound (¶ [0044]).
Regarding claim 4, Hong further discloses that the unsaturated fatty acid is a compound chosen from oleic acid, palmitoleic acid, cis-heptadecenoic acid, vaccenic acid, elaidic acid, linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, erucic acid, eicosatetraenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and nervonic acid (¶ [0048]).
Regarding claim 5, Hong further discloses that the saturated fatty acid compound comprises a compound chosen from palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, behenic acid, and lignoceric acid (¶ [0049]).
Regarding claim 6, Hong further discloses that the dispersant comprises oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and nervonic acid (¶ [0053]).
Regarding claim 7, Hong further discloses that the dispersant comprises the oleic acid, the stearic acid, the palmitic acid, and the nervonic acid in a weight ratio of about (5 to 25):(5 to 25):(5 to 25):(5 to 25) (¶ [0058]).
Regarding claim 8, Hong further discloses that the binder comprises polyvinylidene fluoride (¶ [0077]).
Regarding claim 9, Hong further discloses that the solvent is chosen from tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylacetamide, (¶ [0151]).
Regarding claim 10, Hong further discloses that with respect to 100 parts by weight of the electrode insulating coating composition, the electrode insulating coating composition coating comprises:
the boehmite particles in an amount of 10 to 25 parts by weight
the dispersant in an amount of 0.2 to 1.5 parts by weight;
the binder in an amount of 1 to 5 parts by weight; and
the solvent in an amount of 70 to 90 parts by weight.
Regarding claim 11, Hong further discloses that the electrode insulating coating composition has a solid content of 10 wt% to 30 wt%, in this case 25 wt% alumina is included in the mixture (¶ [0158]).
Regarding claim 12, Hong discloses an electrode comprising a collector (¶ [0169]), an electrode active material layer, in this case the active material slurry coated on the collector (¶ [0169]), and an insulating layer, in this case the separator (¶ [0171]);
wherein the electrode active material layer and the insulating coating layer are disposed on the collector, in this case the rolled assembly results in the separator being disposed on the active material which in turn is disposed on the current collector, resulting in both layers being disposed on the current collector (see ¶ [0169] & [0171]); and
the insulating coating layer is formed from the insulating coating composition according to claim 1 (see ¶ [0157]-[0161], Examples 1-3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 14 are 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Hong discloses the insulating coating layer as set forth in the rejection of claims, above, but does not discloses that the layer is disposed on the current collector layer where the active material layer is not disposed. Furthermore, no other prior art reference could be found that fairly teaches or suggests this limitation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT J CHMIELECKI whose telephone number is (571)272-7641. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 am to 5 pm.
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/SCOTT J. CHMIELECKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1729