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 .
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 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 2011/0129728 A1) and therefore will be mentioned as Kim ‘728.
Claim 14: Kim '728 discloses a protection tape 130a for a secondary battery, the tape comprising a base material 132a having a predetermined width in a width direction and a length longer than the width in a length direction, and an adhesive layer 134 disposed on one surface of the base material ([0050]–[0052]). A bending portion 131a is formed at the one surface of the base material and has a shape in which a plurality of grooves 136 extends in one direction while being spaced apart from one another at a predetermined gap 138, the grooves being formed by chopping the surface of the base material with a device provided with a plurality of blades ([0054]). The bending portion 131a is shown disposed off the center of the base material, that is, at an edge portion of the tape ([0054]; FIGS. 4A–4B), such that Kim '728 discloses an insulation tape comprising at least one notching pattern on at least one edge portion.
Claim 15: Kim '728 discloses that the bending portion comprises a plurality of grooves 136 spaced apart from one another in the length direction at a predetermined gap 138 ([0054]), such that the tape has two or more notching patterns. Kim '728 further discloses that the knife marks or grooves 136e may be disposed in lattice patterns extending in the length direction of the tape ([0068]; FIG. 8A), whereby the uncut region of the base material lying between two adjacent grooves is bounded on four sides. The flag shape provided between the two adjacent notching patterns is therefore a quadrangular shape as claimed.
Claim 16: Kim '728 discloses grooves 136g in which V-shaped knife marks extend in the length direction of the tape while being spaced apart from one another ([0070]; FIG. 8C), grooves 136f in which diagonal patterns are disposed in the length direction while being spaced apart from one another ([0069]; FIG. 8B), grooves 136e disposed in lattice patterns ([0068]; FIG. 8A), and grooves 136h formed in the shape of a dotted line having circular or elliptical dots spaced apart from one another in the length direction ([0071]; FIG. 8D). The shape of the notching pattern of Kim '728 is accordingly at least one of a triangular shape, a parallelogrammatic shape, a quadrangular shape, and a semi-circular shape as claimed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 1-3, 6-9, and 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suehiro et al. (US 2018/0131009 A1; Suehiro ‘009), in view of Suzuki (US 2017/0133718 A1; Suzuki ‘718).
Claim 1: Suehiro '009 discloses a winding-type battery in which a first electrode 4, a separator 6, and a second electrode 2 are stacked and wound about a winding core 50 to form an electrode group having a first end surface and a second end surface opposite the first end surface ([0018], [0083], [0088]), the electrode group being a jelly roll accommodated in a bottomed cylindrical metal can 8. The first electrode 4 includes a first current collector sheet 40 and a first active material layer 41, and a first uncoated portion 40a on which the current collector sheet is exposed is disposed in a band shape along the first end of the current collector sheet ([0019], [0046]).
Suehiro '009 further discloses an insulating layer 5 that covers both surfaces of the first uncoated portion 40a and covers the edge surface 40c of the first end ([0029], [0059]), and expressly discloses that the insulating layer 5 is an insulating tape comprising an insulating sheet and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer disposed on one surface of the insulating sheet ([0030], [0065]). The insulating tape overhangs from the edge surface 40c of the first uncoated portion at the first end surface by an overhang width W12 of 0.1 mm to 1 mm ([0031], [0062]). Suehiro '009 additionally discloses a fixing insulating tape 54 that fixes the outermost periphery of the electrode group after winding ([0081]). The insulating tape of Suehiro '009 therefore covers at least a part of a lateral surface of the electrode assembly and, by way of the portion overhanging the edge surface, at least a part of an end of the electrode assembly.
Suehiro '009 does not disclose that the insulation tape has at least one notching pattern provided in the region that covers the end of the electrode assembly.
Suzuki '718 discloses an electric insulating film 17 disposed between the inner surface of an outer case 2 and a wound electrode body 3 formed by winding a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator ([0021], [0024]), the film including main surface regions 20 that cover the outer surface of the wound electrode body ([0026]). Slits 21 and 22 are formed in the outer regions of the film lying outward of the two folding lines 18, and these slits partition the outer regions into tab portions 23 and 24 ([0027], [0028]), each of which is folded along the end surfaces in the winding axial direction of the wound electrode body ([0031]). Suzuki '718 teaches that the slits allow the respective tab portions to be separately foldable at the corresponding folding lines ([0028]), and that each slit 21 is formed in accordance with the position of the boundary between the curved region 19 and the adjacent main surface region 20 ([0027]), that is, at the location at which the material being folded onto the end surface would otherwise interfere with itself.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form, in the region of the insulation tape that covers the end of the electrode assembly, at least one notching pattern consisting of a groove cut into the edge of the tape, because a length of tape that lies flat against the circumferential surface of a wound electrode assembly cannot also be laid against the end surface of that assembly without relieving the resulting excess material, and dividing the projecting edge region of an insulating covering into separately foldable portions is a recognized way of relieving it.
Claims 2 and 3: Suzuki '718 teaches that the slits are positioned in accordance with the boundaries at which the portions of the covering folded onto the end surface would otherwise interfere with one another, so that those portions may be folded separately ([0027], [0028]). Suehiro '009 teaches that an unnecessary increase in the dimension of the electrode group in the winding axis direction is to be avoided ([0062]). Because whether adjacent folded portions of the tape abut or instead stack upon one another at the end of the electrode assembly is determined solely by the number and spacing of the notching patterns, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select a number and spacing at which the area of overlap is 10% or less of the overall area covering the end, and at which the portions do not overlap at all, because each stacked layer adds thickness at the end of the electrode assembly.
Claim 6: Suehiro '009 discloses that the first electrode 4 comprises a first current collector sheet 40 and a first active material layer 41 provided on the current collector sheet, and that the current collector sheet comprises a first uncoated portion 40a on which no active material layer is provided ([0019], [0028]). The first uncoated portion 40a is disposed at the winding termination portion 70 on the outermost periphery of the electrode group and is exposed ([0035], [0046]–[0047]), and the insulating layer 5 covers both surfaces of the first uncoated portion so as to cover the exposed uncoated portion at the lateral surface ([0029], [0059]).
Claims 7 and 8: Suehiro '009 discloses that at least a part of the first uncoated portion 40a is exposed at the first end surface of the electrode group and that the insulating layer overhangs the edge surface 40c by 0.1 mm to 1 mm ([0031], [0062]). Suehiro '009 further teaches that although covering 90% or more of the total area of both surfaces of the first uncoated portion is preferred, the whole of the first uncoated portion is not always required to be covered with the insulating layer, it being sufficient that at least the overlapping portion of the first current collecting lead and the first uncoated portion is covered ([0034], [0063]). Suehiro '009 thus contemplates coverage of the electrode and of the non-coated portion exposed at the end of the electrode assembly ranging from a small fraction of that exposed area up to substantially all of it, and selecting a coverage of 5% to 60% would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as a matter of routine engineering choice within the range the reference contemplates.
Claim 9: Suehiro '009 discloses that the insulating sheet of the insulating tape may be a polypropylene film having a thickness of 20 µm to 60 µm ([0066]), and that the thickness of the insulating layer 5 is preferably 20% to 50% of the thickness of the positive-electrode active material layer ([0067]), which is disclosed as preferably 70 µm to 130 µm ([0070]).
Claim 11: Suehiro '009 discloses that the insulating sheet of the insulating tape may be a polypropylene film, a polyethylene terephthalate film, a polyimide film, or a polyphenylene sulfide film ([0066]).
Claim 12: Suehiro '009 discloses a strip-shaped positive-electrode current collecting lead 24 welded to the first uncoated portion 40a at the first end surface of the electrode group ([0046]), the lead having a thickness of 10 µm to 120 µm and, in a cylindrical can, a stripe shape with a width of 0.5 mm to 3 mm ([0071]). Suehiro '009 further discloses that the overlapping portion of the current collecting lead 24 and the first uncoated portion 40a is covered with the insulating layer 5 ([0060]). The lead is therefore a current collecting plate provided at the end of the electrode assembly and positioned between the insulation tape and the electrode assembly.
Claim 13: Suehiro '009 discloses that an insulating ring-shaped intermediate member 28 is disposed on the electrode group after the electrode group is accommodated in the metal can 8 and before the current collecting lead is bonded to the sealing member ([0092]), the intermediate member thereby covering the end of the electrode assembly.
Claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected on this ground in the alternative to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as recited above, the recitations directed to attachment of the tape being treated here as active limitations.
Suehiro '009 discloses an insulating tape comprising an insulating sheet and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer disposed on one surface of the insulating sheet ([0030], [0065]), the insulating sheet having a predetermined width and being disposed in a band shape along the first end of the current collector sheet, that is, having a length longer than its width ([0046], [0059], [0066]). The tape is attached to the electrode assembly formed by winding a stack of a first electrode 4, a separator 6, and a second electrode 2 ([0018], [0083]), covers both surfaces of the first uncoated portion 40a at the lateral surface of the electrode assembly ([0029], [0059]), and overhangs the edge surface 40c of the first uncoated portion at the first end surface by an overhang width W12 of 0.1 mm to 1 mm ([0031], [0062]), thereby covering at least a part of an end of the electrode assembly.
Suehiro '009 does not disclose that the insulation tape comprises at least one notching pattern on at least one edge portion.
Suzuki '718 discloses an electric insulating film 17 covering the outer surface of a wound electrode body 3, in which slits 21 and 22 are formed in the outer regions of the film lying outward of the two folding lines 18 ([0026]–[0028]), that is, at the edge portions of the film, and in which those slits partition the edge regions into tab portions 23 and 24 that are folded along the end surfaces in the winding axial direction of the wound electrode body ([0031]). Suzuki '718 teaches that the slits allow the respective tab portions to be separately foldable at the corresponding folding lines ([0028]), and that each slit 21 is formed in accordance with the position of the boundary between the curved region 19 and the adjacent main surface region 20 ([0027]), that is, at the location at which the material being folded onto the end surface would otherwise interfere with itself.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form at least one notching pattern consisting of a groove cut into an edge portion of the insulation tape. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do that because a length of tape that lies flat against the circumferential surface of a wound electrode assembly cannot also be laid against the end surface of that assembly without relieving the resulting excess material, and dividing the projecting edge region of an insulating covering into separately foldable portions is a recognized way of relieving it.
Claims 4, 5, 10, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suehiro ‘009, in view of Suzuki ‘718, and further in view of Kim ‘728.
Claims 4 and 5: The teachings of Suehiro '009 and Suzuki '718 are set forth above with respect to claim 1, and Suzuki '718 discloses that a plurality of slits 21, 22 partition the projecting region of the insulating covering into a plurality of tab portions 23, 24 ([0027], [0028]), such that two or more notching patterns are present. Neither reference specifies the geometry of the notching pattern or of the region remaining between two adjacent notching patterns. Kim '728 discloses a tape for a secondary battery in which the region about which the tape is bent is formed with knife marks or grooves in the shape of V-shaped patterns 136g ([0070]), diagonal patterns 136f ([0069]), lattice patterns 136e ([0068]), and circular or elliptical dots 136h ([0071]), and teaches these patterns as alternatives to one another for the same purpose ([0068]–[0072]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to give the notching pattern of the modified insulation tape any of these known shapes, and correspondingly to leave a flag of trapezoidal, quadrangular, parallelogrammatic, triangular, or semi-circular shape between two adjacent notching patterns.
Claim 10: Suehiro '009 discloses that the insulating tape comprises an insulating sheet, which may be a polypropylene film having a thickness of 20 µm to 60 µm, and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer disposed on one surface of the insulating sheet, the insulating layer as a whole having a thickness of approximately 14 µm to 65 µm ([0030], [0065]–[0067], [0070]). Kim '728 discloses a tape for a secondary battery in which the base material and the adhesive layer have first and second thicknesses that are appropriately adjusted based on their respective materials, the sum of the two thicknesses being about 0.03 mm to about 0.11 mm ([0053]). Selecting a base layer thickness of 3 µm to 25 µm and an adhesive layer thickness of 2 µm to 20 µm so as to arrive at a total tape thickness within the range taught by Suehiro '009 would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as a routine apportionment of the two disclosed layers, and Applicant has not identified any criticality attaching to the recited sub-ranges.
Claims 15 and 16: Claims 15 and 16 are rejected on this ground in the alternative to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as recited above, the recitations of claim 14 directed to attachment of the tape being treated here as active limitations.
The teachings of Suehiro '009 and Suzuki '718 with respect to claim 14 are set forth above, and Suzuki '718 discloses that a plurality of slits 21, 22 partition the edge regions of the insulating covering into a plurality of tab portions 23, 24 ([0027], [0028]), such that two or more notching patterns are present. Neither reference specifies the geometry of the notching pattern or of the region remaining between two adjacent notching patterns. Kim '728 discloses a tape for a secondary battery in which the region about which the tape is bent is formed with knife marks or grooves in the shape of V-shaped patterns 136g ([0070]), diagonal patterns 136f ([0069]), lattice patterns 136e ([0068]), and circular or elliptical dots 136h ([0071]), and teaches these patterns as alternatives to one another for the same purpose ([0068]–[0072]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to give the notching pattern of the modified insulation tape any of these known shapes, and correspondingly to leave a flag of trapezoidal, quadrangular, parallelogrammatic, triangular, or semi-circular shape between two adjacent notching patterns.
Claims 17–20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suehiro '009 in view of Suzuki '718, and further in view of Urushihara (US 2018/0287104 A1; Urushihara '104).
Claim 17: The teachings of Suehiro '009 and Suzuki '718 with respect to the jelly roll of claim 1 are set forth above. Suehiro '009 further discloses that the electrode group is accommodated in a battery case comprising a bottomed cylindrical metal can 8 having an opening at one side thereof and a sealing member 12 that blocks the opening ([0024], [0088], [0090]), and that the opening end of the metal can is caulked to the sealing member 12 via an insulating gasket 16 ([0093]). Suehiro '009 does not disclose an electrode terminal riveted through a through-hole formed in a bottom of the battery can, or a gasket provided between the electrode terminal and an outer diameter of that through-hole.
Urushihara '104 discloses a cylindrical battery in which a wound strip-shaped electrode body 10 is housed in a battery can 2 having a closed bottom, the battery can double as the current collector of one of the positive and negative electrodes, and an opening of the battery can be sealed by a sealing body 20 ([0003], [0005]). The sealing body includes a metallic disk sealing plate 6 having a through-hole 61 penetrating its center, an electrode terminal 7 of the other of the positive and negative electrodes having a cylindrical shaft portion 72 inserted into the through-hole, and a resin sealing gasket 9 whose shaft portion 92 is interposed between the shaft portion 72 of the electrode terminal and the through-hole 61 ([0006], [0007]). The electrode terminal is fixed by pressing it in the axial direction so as to deform the shaft portion 72 in a diameter-expanding direction, thereby crimping the electrode terminal to the plate through the gasket ([0008]), which is a riveting structure. Urushihara '104 teaches that this arrangement provides an externally exposed terminal having a polarity opposite that of the battery can while reliably preventing leakage of the contents of the can ([0003], [0009]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form a through-hole in the closed bottom of the battery can of the primary reference, to rivet an electrode terminal through that through-hole, and to provide a resin gasket between the electrode terminal and the outer diameter of the through-hole, while continuing to seal the opening at the opposite side of the can with a sealing body.
Claim 18: Suehiro '009 discloses that the battery case has a cylindrical shape and that the winding axis of the electrode group coincides with the center axis of the metal can 8 ([0041], [0087]–[0088]).
Claim 19: Suehiro '009 discloses that one end of the negative-electrode current collecting lead 22 is connected to the inner surface of the side wall of the metal can 8, which also serves as the negative-electrode terminal, and that the positive-electrode current collecting lead 24 is bonded to the conductive sealing member 12 ([0091], [0092]). Suehiro '009 further discloses that the opening end of the metal can is caulked to the sealing member via the insulating gasket 16 and that insulation between the metal can 8 and the sealing member 12 is secured ([0093]). In the combination set forth above with respect to claim 17, in which the riveted electrode terminal at the bottom of the can carries the polarity of the first electrode, the first electrode is electrically connected to the electrode terminal, the second electrode is electrically connected to the battery can, and the sealing body sealing the opening portion is insulated from the battery can as claimed.
Claim 20: Claim 20 requires only a battery module comprising the secondary battery of claim 17, which the combination set forth above provides.
Claim 21 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suehiro '009 in view of Suzuki '718, and further in view of Urushihara ‘104, and further in view of the Applicant’s admitted prior art.
Claim 21: The combination set forth above with respect to claim 17 provides the secondary battery. Applicant admits on page 2 of the specification as filed that the operating voltage of a unit secondary battery cell is about 2.5 V to 4.5 V, that a plurality of battery cells is connected in series and constitutes a battery pack when an output voltage higher than that operating voltage is required, and that a plurality of battery cells is connected in parallel and constitutes the battery pack depending on the charge/discharge capacity required of the battery pack. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to assemble a plurality of the secondary batteries of the combination into a battery module and into a battery pack in order to achieve the desired operating voltage.
Claim 22: Suzuki '718 contemplates that the secondary battery is installed in a vehicle ([0035]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ATEF A SHAT whose telephone number is (571)270-0364. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/ATEF A SHAT/Examiner, Art Unit 1712
/MICHAEL B CLEVELAND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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