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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Species A in Group 1, Species A in Group 2, and Species B in Group 3 in the reply filed on 11/28/12025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 5 and 7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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.
Claims 1 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fukuoka (US 2017/0346064).
Regarding claim 1, Figure 1 of Fukuoka teaches a cylindrical battery (10) comprising: a single cell housing structure (23, 24); a core (16) having a first tab (18a) and a second tab (14a, 14b) wherein the first tab and the second tab arranged at intervals extend out from a same end of the core body (Figure 3) and the core body is formed with a winding center. The first tab and the second tab are disposed along a circumferential direction of the winding center and a length of the first tab is greater than a length of the second tab along a radial direction of the winding center ([0020], [0021]).
Regarding claim 15, an area of an end surface of the first tab (18a) away from the core body is larger than an area of an end surface of the second tab (14a, 14b) away from the core body.
Claims 1, 8, 12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR’043 (KR 102053043).
Regarding claim 1, FIG. 1 teaches a cylindrical battery comprising a single cell housing structure, a core, a first tab (144c), and a second tab (142c). The first tab and the second tab are disposed along the circumferential direction of the winding center and a length of the first tab 144c is greater than a length of the second tab along a radial direction of the winding center.
Regarding claim 8, the polarities of the first tab 144c (negative) and the second tab 142c (positive) are opposite.
Regarding claim 12, two of the positive tabs 142c reads on the claimed two second tabs and one of the negative tab 144c is located between the two second tabs.
Regarding claim 15, an area of an end surface of the first tab (144c) away from the core body is larger than an area of an end surface of the second tab (142) away from the core body.
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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukuoka (US 2017/0346064) in view of Satoh et al. (US 2006/0204841).
Regarding claim 2, Fukuoka is silent to the length difference between the first tab and the second tab being 0.2 mm to 10 mm. However, Satoh et al. teaches a cylindrical battery with a diameter of 18 mm [0080]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the cylindrical battery of Fukuoka with the claimed length difference because Figure 3 shows the claimed length distance being a small portion of the diameter of the cylindrical battery and Satoh et al. teaches a typical order of value for a cylindrical battery in the radial direction; such as, a diameter = 18 mm.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 6, 9-11, and 13-14 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:
JP 4729851 B2 teaches a cylindrical battery having tabs (1a, 2a) of opposite polarity.
JP 11-339758 teaches a cylindrical battery comprising negative electrode leads 24 and positive electrode leads 14 (FIG. 1-FIG. 3 and FIG 6).
US 2002/0061435 teaches a cylindrical battery having tabs 11a, 12a.
US 2017/0338462 teaches a battery cell comprising a positive electrode layer and a negative electrode layer where the positive electrode layer forms a plurality of first contacting sections 21 and the negative electrode layer forms a plurality of second contacting sections 31.
For claim 3, the prior art of record fails to render obvious a cylindrical battery having “the number of the first single-piece tabs is greater than the number of the second single-piece tabs” in combination with the remaining subject matter of claim 3 and base claim 1.
For claim 4, the prior art of record fails to render obvious a cylindrical battery having the claimed cohesion relationship in combination with base claim 1.
For claim 6, the prior art of record fails to render obvious a cylindrical battery comprising the subject matter of claim 6 and base claim 1.
For claims 9-10 and 13-14, the prior art of record fails to render obvious a cylindrical battery comprising the structure of claim 9, base claim 1, and any intervening claims.
For claim 11, the prior art of record fails to render obvious a cylindrical battery comprising the structure of claim 11, base claim 1, and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENDRA LY whose telephone number is (571)270-7060. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00-5:00PM.
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/KENDRA LY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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