DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I in the reply filed on 05/29/2026 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 Claims 1-20 are pending of which claims 11-15 are withdrawn.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Figure 8 is missing a scale bar. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schulte (DE 10 2013 021 228), machine translation.
Regarding claim 1, Schulte discloses a battery cell including a method which counteracts the formation of dendrites (para 0004) comprising:
arranging a protective layer between the anode and the cathode;
generating a voltage in an area of the protective layer; and
shielding metal ions from depositing in the area.
A separator 3 (protective layer) is arranged between cathode 1 and anode 2 (Fig. 1a). The separator is a protective layer because the separator includes a polarized piezoelectrically active material (para 0008). Piezoelectrically active materials or materials have the property of generating surface charges on surfaces facing away from one another in the case of mechanical loading, such as under compressive loading, which surface charges lead to a voltage difference between the surfaces facing away from one another. As soon as dendrite formation is used on one of the electrodes during charging of the cell, the separator is pressed together locally from the piezoelectrically active material, as a result of which the surface charges are produced at the point of force action. Without the separator from the piezoelectrically active material, in this region the electric field strength would increase as a result of its dependence on the local plate spacing, which would lead to increased ion transport and thus to a further decreasing distance, which is a self-reinforcing effect. By using the piezoelectrically active material, on the other hand, an electric "counterfield" is built up, which is oriented oppositely to the prevailing electric field and weakens or even cancels the prevailing electric field in the region of the dendrite. As a result, the ion transport in this region is braked, which leads to no further material being deposited during charging, while the dendrite material is also "worn away" in the next discharging process (para 0009).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Schulte discloses a piezoelectric effect (para 0009).
Regarding claims 4-6, Schulte discloses wherein the piezoelectric voltage is generated by an anode dendrite contacting the area of the protective layer (para 0009).
Regarding claim 7, Schulte discloses lithium-ion batteries (para 0012).
Regarding claim 8, shielding the metal ions with the piezoelectric effect would include repelling positively charged ions with the generated voltage, wherein the voltage is positive in the area of the protective layer surrounding any protrusion (para 0009).
Regarding claim 9, shielding the metal ions from depositing in the area would cause the deposition of lithium ions to increase in other regions of the metal anode, creating a flattened anode surface (para 0009).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 16-20 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. With respect to claim 10, Schulte does not further teach adjusting or controlling the temperature to induce a change in the piezoelectric properties of the protective layer. With respect to claim 16, Schulte does not further teach monitoring the voltage with BMS.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS BARCENA whose telephone number is (571)270-5780. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8-5 pm.
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/CARLOS BARCENA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
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