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 § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3 and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogata US20170125767A1.
Regarding claim 1, Ogata discloses a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery laminated separator (Ogata, [0025]) having a heat-resistant layer (Ogata, [0026], [0066], (ii)) on one surface or both surfaces of a polyolefin-based base material (Ogata, [0026], (i)), the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery laminated separator comprising a particle layer (Ogata, [0066], filler) on at least one side of the laminated separator (Ogata, [0026]), the particle layer containing particles having a volume average particle size of preferably 0.01 μm to 10 μm (Ogata, [0071]), rendering obvious the claimed range of having an average particle diameter of 3 µm to 10 µm, and the particle layer having a weight per unit area per layer of 0.1 g/m2 to 5 g/m2 (Ogata, [0079]), rendering obvious the claimed range of 0.1 g/m2 to 0.3 g/m2. See MPEP § 2144.05.
Regarding claim 3, Ogata additionally teaches wherein the particles contain an acrylic resin (Ogata, [0065]).
Regarding claim 6, Ogata also teaches a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery member (Ogata, [0075], electrode body), comprising a stack of the electrode and the separator (Ogata, [0075]), which the skilled artisan would understand satisfies the limitation of a positive electrode, a laminated separator recited in claim 1, and a negative electrode, which are formed in this order (Ogata, [0103]).
Regarding claim 7, Ogata further teaches a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, including a laminated separator recited in claim 1 (Ogata, [0079]).
Regarding claim 8, Ogata additionally teaches a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery, comprising a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery member recited in claim 6 (Ogata, [0103]).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogata US20170125767A1 in view of Sato US20100159318A1.
Regarding claim 2, Ogata does not teach wherein the heat-resistant layer contains an aromatic resin.
Sato teaches wherein the heat-resistant layer contains an aromatic resin specifically poly(paraphenylene terephthalamide) (Sato, [0034]), following Instant [0038]. Therefore it would be obvious to the skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add to the device taught by Ogata an aromatic resin, as taught by Sato, thereby providing a heat-resistant resin (Sato, [0033]).
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogata US20170125767A1 in view of Asai JP6848174B2 (corresponding to JP2017103030A cited in IDS filed 12 July 2023; using machine English translation provided).
Regarding claim 4, Ogata does not teach wherein the particles each has a core-shell structure.
Asai teaches wherein the particles each has a core-shell structure (Asai, [0046]). Therefore it would be obvious to the skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the particles of Ogata wherein each had a core-shell structure, as taught by Asai, thereby improving the output characteristics and battery performance (Asai, [0009]).
Regarding claim 5, modified Ogata further teaches wherein the core-shell structure (Asai, [0046]) contains a core particle (Asai, [0048]) and a shell particle that are two types of particles (Asai, [0051]), the examiner notes that the teaching of a core particle and a shell particle satisfies the limitation that are two types of particles as there are no additionally metes and bounds to distinguish the shell from the core particle(s).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JARED HANSEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4590. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tiffany Legette can be reached at 571-270-7078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JARED HANSEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 /TIFFANY LEGETTE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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