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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Paragraphs 81 and 98: “the protective member 50” appears to be a typo of “the protective member 60”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-9, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito et al. (US 9,147,867 B2, hereinafter Ito).
Re Claim 1. Ito teaches a battery cell (Fig. 2, 4, & 6, item 1), comprising:
a pressure relief body (item 12);
a pressure relief mechanism (item 15), arranged on the pressure relief body; and
a protective member (item 40), wherein at least a part of the protective member is located on a side of the pressure relief mechanism away from an interior of the battery cell, and covers the pressure relief mechanism;
wherein the pressure relief mechanism comprises an opening portion (item 15) configured to, in response to an internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching a threshold value, be opened and destruct the protective member to release the pressure (Fig. 5, functional limitation).
Re Claim 2. Ito teaches wherein the pressure relief mechanism has a pressure relief groove (Fig. 6, items 53A & 53B), the pressure relief mechanism is configured to, in response to the internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching the threshold, break along the pressure relief groove to form a puncturing portion on the opening portion, and the puncturing portion is configured to puncture the protective member to release the pressure.
Re Claim 3. Ito teaches wherein the puncturing portion has a sharp corner at right angle (Fig. 8).
Re Claim 7. Ito teaches wherein the pressure relief groove is one of a plurality of pressure relief grooves (Fig. 6, items 53A & 53B), any two of the plurality of pressure relief grooves intersect at an opening position (Fig. 6), the opening portion is one of a plurality of opening portions formed by the plurality of pressure relief grooves, and each of the plurality of opening portions is configured to be opened from a corresponding opening position along a corresponding one of the first pressure relief grooves to release the pressure in response to the pressure or temperature inside the battery cell reaching the threshold value.
Re Claim 8. Ito teaches wherein the puncturing portion is formed at an end of one of the opening portions after the one of the opening portions is opened along the corresponding one of the pressure relief grooves (Fig. 6).
Re Claim 9. Ito teaches wherein the opening position is located in a central area of the pressure relief mechanism (Fig. 6).
Re Claim 11. Ito teaches wherein a gap exists between the protective member and the opening portion in a thickness direction of the pressure relief mechanism (Fig. 4).
Claim(s) 1-4 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ma et al. (CN 210668461 U, hereinafter Ma, see US 2021/0391626 A1 for English translation).
Re Claim 1. Ma teaches a battery cell (Fig. 1, 2 & 10, item 100), comprising:
a pressure relief body (item 13);
a pressure relief mechanism (item 106), arranged on the pressure relief body; and
a protective member (item 30), wherein at least a part of the protective member is located on a side of the pressure relief mechanism away from an interior of the battery cell, and covers the pressure relief mechanism;
wherein the pressure relief mechanism comprises an opening portion (item 106) configured to, in response to an internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching a threshold value, be opened and destruct the protective member to release the pressure (functional limitations).
Re Claim 2. Ma teaches wherein the pressure relief mechanism has a pressure relief groove (Fig. 10, item 106), the pressure relief mechanism is configured to, in response to the internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching the threshold, break along the pressure relief groove to form a puncturing portion on the opening portion, and the puncturing portion is configured to puncture the protective member to release the pressure.
Re Claim 3. Ma teaches wherein the puncturing portion has a sharp corner at acute angle (Fig. 10).
Re Claim 4. Ma teaches wherein the pressure relief groove is sawtooth-shaped (Fig. 10), and the puncturing portion is one of a plurality of puncturing portions formed at an edge of the opening portion after the pressure relief mechanism breaks along the pressure relief groove.
Re Claim 11. Ma teaches wherein a gap exists between the protective member and the opening portion in a thickness direction of the pressure relief mechanism (Fig. 2).
Claim(s) 1, 2, 10, 12, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (CN 112713345 A, hereinafter Yang).
Re Claim 1. Yang teaches a battery cell (Fig. 2-6, item 30), comprising:
a pressure relief body (item 42);
a pressure relief mechanism (item 80), arranged on the pressure relief body; and
a protective member (item 90), wherein at least a part of the protective member is located on a side of the pressure relief mechanism away from an interior of the battery cell, and covers the pressure relief mechanism;
wherein the pressure relief mechanism comprises an opening portion (item 83) configured to, in response to an internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching a threshold value, be opened and destruct the protective member to release the pressure (functional limitations).
Re Claim 2. Yang teaches wherein the pressure relief mechanism has a pressure relief groove (Fig. 7, item 80C), the pressure relief mechanism is configured to, in response to the internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell reaching the threshold, break along the pressure relief groove to form a puncturing portion on the opening portion, and the puncturing portion is configured to puncture the protective member to release the pressure.
Re Claim 10. Yang teaches wherein the pressure relief mechanism further comprises a connecting portion (Fig. 7, item 80a & 80b), the connecting portion is arranged around a periphery of the opening portion (Fig. 7) and configured to connect the pressure relief body and the opening portion, and a thickness of the connecting portion is greater than a thickness of the opening portion (Fig. 7).
Re Claim 12. Yang teaches a battery (Fig. 2, item 10), comprising:
the battery cell (Fig. 2 & 3, item 30) of claim 1 (see rejection of Claim 1); and
a box body (items 11 & 12) configured to accommodates the battery cell.
Re Claim 13. Yang teaches an electrical apparatus (Fig. 1, item 1), comprising the battery (item 10) of claim 12 (see rejection of Claim 12), wherein the battery is used to provide electric energy.
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.
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) 5 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Suzuki et al. (US 8,354,181 B2, hereinafter Suzuki).
Re Claim 5. Ma teaches wherein: the pressure relief groove is a first pressure relief groove (Fig. 10, item 106) but fails to specifically teach the pressure relief mechanism further comprises two second pressure relief grooves arranged at an interval along an extension direction of the first pressure relief groove, and the two second pressure relief grooves both intersect with the first pressure relief groove; the first pressure relief groove and the two second pressure relief grooves jointly form the opening portion, and the opening portion is configured to be opened along the first pressure relief groove and the two second pressure relief grooves to release the pressure in response to the pressure or temperature inside the battery cell reaching the threshold value.
The invention of Suzuki encompasses battery. Suzuki teaches a first pressure relief groove (Fig. 2, straight portion of item 126) and two second pressure relief grooves (two bracket-like grooves at left and right ends of item 126) arranged at an interval along an extension direction of the first pressure relief groove, and the two second pressure relief grooves both intersect with the first pressure relief groove; the first pressure relief groove and the two second pressure relief grooves jointly form the opening portion (Fig. 2).
In view of Suzuki, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Ma to employ two second pressure relief grooves arranged at an interval along an extension direction of the first pressure relief groove, since they would provide additional breakable parts for easy opening.
Re Claim 6. The combination teaches wherein the opening portion is one of two opening portions formed by the first pressure relief groove and the two second pressure relief groove , and the two opening portions are divided by the first pressure relief groove and symmetrically distributed on two sides of the first pressure relief groove (Suzuki, Fig. 2).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito or Ma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Suzuki.
Ito or Ma fails to specifically teach that the pressure relief mechanism further comprises a connecting portion, the connecting portion is arranged around a periphery of the opening portion and configured to connect the pressure relief body and the opening portion, and a thickness of the connecting portion is greater than a thickness of the opening portion.
Suzuki teaches that the pressure relief mechanism further comprises a connecting portion (Fig. 2-4, item 128), the connecting portion is arranged around a periphery of the opening portion (item 125) and configured to connect the pressure relief body (item 131) and the opening portion, and a thickness of the connecting portion is greater than a thickness of the opening portion (Fig. 4).
In view of Suzuki, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the invention of Ito or Ma to employ a connecting portion arranged around a periphery of the opening portion and configured to connect the pressure relief body; since Suzuki teaches the advantage of using it, which is to improve the peeling easiness of the protective member during operation of the pressure relief mechanism (C4/L15-32).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
The rejections above rely on the references for all the teachings expressed in the text of the references and/or one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably understood from the texts. Only specific portions of the texts have been pointed out to emphasize certain aspects of the prior art, however, each reference as a whole should be reviewed in responding to the rejection, since other sections of the same reference and/or various combinations of the cited references may be relied on in future rejections in view of amendments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN E YOON whose telephone number is (571)270-5932. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9 AM- 5 PM.
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/KEVIN E YOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735
1/27/2026