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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: At line 6 of claim 1, the first comma, between the terms “oxide” and “are” appears to be unnecessary, or rather, improper, to the sentence structure, and should be removed. Appropriate correction is required. This portion of the claim should instead read: “…a part of cations and a part of anions in the lithium nickel-based composite oxide are substituted, respectively, with cations M’ and fluorine anions (F-) in a fluorine-based compound.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fujiwara et al (JP 2000-243394; references made below are with respect to the 29 page English translation, submitted herewith).
Regarding claims 1, 11, and 12, Fujiwara teaches a positive electrode for a secondary battery comprising a lithium nickel composite oxide, wherein the positive electrode active material forms secondary particles composed of primary particles (title and abstract). Regarding claim 2 and further regarding claim 1, Fujiwara teaches that in the lithium-nickel composite oxide, nickel is partially replaced with elements including F (par. [0013], page 4/29). Example 6 (pages 14-15) shows the use of lithium fluoride (LiF) in obtaining a final product powder of Li1.05Ni0.95O1.95F0.05.
Regarding claim 10, the surface region of both the secondary particles and primary particles of the lithium nickel composite oxide of Fujiwara is considered to comprise an oxide, thus constituting an oxide coating on the particles.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9 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: Fujiwara, as discussed above, is considered to represent the closest related prior art to the instantly claimed invention. While Fujiwara clearly teaches the positive electrode active material being in the form of secondary particles composed of primary particles, Fujiwara fails to teach or suggest that the average size of primary particles at the surface portion of the secondary particles is greater than the average size of primary particles at the inside portion of the secondary particle. No such particle primary particle size gradient is taught between the surface and interior of the secondary particles.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to COLIN W SLIFKA whose telephone number is (571)270-5830. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-5:30 PM.
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/Colin W. Slifka/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1732
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