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 without traverse of Group I (claims 1-11, 16-20) in the reply filed on 7/10/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/30/2025 has been considered by the examiner. Initialed copies accompany this action.
Drawings
The Drawings filed 8/24/2023 are approved by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 4, 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Hosoya (US2005/0181279).
Regarding claim 1, Hosoya discloses a method for preparing a cobalt-free positive electrode material, the method comprising the following steps:
(1) mixing lithium titanate (inorganic compound) and a metal source (the first lithium transition metal composite oxide), and a carbon source (para 0043), and performing a heat treatment (para 0051) to obtain a carbon-coated metal-doped lithium titanate additive (para 0075).
(2) mixing a lithium source (lithium hydroxide) with a cobalt-free precursor, and performing a high-temperature treatment (para 00049- second lithium transition metal composite oxide); and
(3) mixing the carbon-coated metal-doped lithium titanate additive obtained in step (1) with the second lithium transition metal composite oxide and then performing a heat treatment to obtain a cobalt- free positive electrode material (para 0039, 0081).
Hosoya does not disclose step 1, wherein two heat treatment steps are performed as claimed. Hosoya, however, discloses heat treatment is performed so that the inorganic compound (lithium titanate) is allowed to adhere onto the first lithium transition metal composite oxide (para 0022) and to improve electronic conductivity between the first lithium transition metal composite oxide (metal source) and the electrolyte (para 0043). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the invention to carry out the heat treatment as claimed, so that lithium ion conductivity between the grains of the first lithium transition metal composite oxide and the electrolyte can be improved (para 0022).
Regarding claims 4, 5 and 8, Hosoya discloses synthesizing the first and the second lithium transition metal composite oxides (steps 1 and 2), the heat treatment firing at a temperature of from 600 to 1,100 C in an air or an oxygen atmosphere (para 0049) for a time period of ranging from 8 h to 12 h (para 0079). Treatment temperature and times are well-established as reaction parameters in chemistry, and reaction parameters are recognized in the art to be result-effective variables. Thus, the temperature and time are readily achievable by one skilled in the art without undue experimentation. A patent will not be granted based upon the optimization of result effective variables when the optimization is obtained through routine experimentation unless there is a showing of unexpected results which properly rebuts the prima facie case of obviousness. See MPEP 2144.05.
Claims 2, 3, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Hosoya (US2005/0181279) as applied above, further in view of Jia et al. (CN1617371). The machine translation is relied for rejection purposes.
Regarding claim 2, Hosoya discloses the method for preparing a cobalt-free positive electrode material as described above and is incorporated herein by reference. Hosoya disclose the metal source comprises at least two metal oxides (para 0040). Hosoya does not disclose the carbon source comprises glucose and/or sucrose. Jia discloses using glucose (para 0012) as a carbon source to modify the surface of a lithium transition metal oxide. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the invention to use glucose as the carbon source in the method of Hosoya, to improve surface property and electrical chemical property of the lithium transition metal oxide (para 0024).
Regarding claims 3, 9 and 16, Jia discloses the mass ratio of the lithium transition metal oxide to the caron source is 1: (0.5-10.0). The references do disclose the claimed contents of the carbon-coated metal-doped lithium titanate, the metal source (the lithium transition metal oxide) and the carbon source. However, differences in concentration will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a range within the claimed range because a reference may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill the art and Wakao suggests the amount of hypophosphorous acid ions and phosphorous acid ions. A person of ordinary skill would be motivated to use the claimed amount, based on the teachings of Hosoya and Jia. See MPEP 2123.
Claim 6, 7, 10, 11 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Hosoya (US2005/0181279) and Jia et al. (CN1617371) as applied above, further in view of Sun et al (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2013, 5, 11434−11440).
Regarding claim 6, Hosoya discloses the method for preparing a cobalt-free positive electrode material as described above and is incorporated herein by reference. Hosoya does not disclose the chemical formula of the cobalt-free precursor in step (2) is NiₓMy(OH)₂, wherein 0.50≤x≤0.95, and 0.05≤y≤0.50. Sun discloses coprecipitated precursor powders (Ni1‑xMnx) (OH)2 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) are used to produce Co-free lithium nickel manganese oxide compound for cathodes (Experimental Section). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the invention to use coprecipitated precursor powders (Ni1‑xMnx) (OH)2 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) as the Co-free precursor to produce the second lithium transition metal composite oxide used in the method of Hosoya, with potential possibility of produce the electrode enabling high capacity retention and high rate capability (Conclusions).
Regarding claims 7, 10, 11, and 17-20, Hosoya does not disclose the reaction parameters used for carrying out step 2. Sun discloses the concentration, pH, temperature and stirring speed of the reaction mixture were carefully controlled in the stirred tank reactor, and recognized that process optimization is critically important since the electrochemical performances vary significantly, even at the same compositions, with the morphologies, crystallinity, particles sizes, surface areas, and degree of cation mixing (Table 1, Experimental Section and Results and Discussion). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art the optimize the reaction parameters in the method of preparing the cobalt-free precursor as well as the cobalt-free positive electrode material of Hosoya, to produce Co-free materials delivered high capacity with excellent capacity retention and reasonable rate capability.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAIDUNG D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5455. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 10a-3p.
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/HAIDUNG D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
9/28/2026
