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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Applicant has complied with all of the conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119(e).
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 07/19/2023, 04/02/2024, 07/18/2024, 12/18/2024, 04/25/2025, 06/27/2025, 08/11/2025, 08/28/2025, 10/17/2025, 11/19/2025, 12/12/2025, and 02/11/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings received on 07/19/2023 were reviewed and are acceptable.
Specification
The specification filed on 07/19/2023 was reviewed and is acceptable.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hirokazu et al. (JP 2014-216307; hereinafter “Hirokazu”).
Regarding claim 1, Hirokazu discloses a battery cell (power storage device, Title) comprising:
a battery element (power storage element, [0034]);
a tab (4a/4b) electrically connected to the battery element ([0034]);
a lid member (21) covering one end of the battery element with the tab drawn from the lid member (as shown in Fig 4); and
a bonding member (insulating layer 41; see also [0057] which describes that an adhesive may be applied to the insulating layer 41) bonding the tab and the lid member to each other (as shown in Fig 4).
Regarding claim 2, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses a notch through which the tab passes is provided in the lid member (as shown in Fig 5), and
at least a part of the lid member exposed from the notch is not covered by the bonding member (as shown in Fig 5, the internal portion of the lid member 21 which faces top surface 31, and forms the “notch”, does not appear to be covered by insulating layer 41).
Regarding claim 3, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses a hole through which the tab passes is provided in the lid member (as shown in Fig 5), and
the bonding member is provided between an outer circumferential surface of the tab and an inner circumferential surface of the hole (as shown in Fig 5).
Regarding claim 4, Hirokazu discloses a battery cell (power storage device, Title) comprising:
a battery element (power storage element, [0034]);
a tab (4a/4b) electrically connected to the battery element ([0034]);
a lid member (21) covering one end of the battery element with the tab drawn from the lid member (as shown in Fig 4);
an exterior film (frame body 3) at least partially wrapped around the battery element (as shown in Fig 3); and
a barrier member (metal foil portion of metal foil laminate 21, [0019]) provided at the lid member ([0019]).
Regarding claim 5, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses that, when viewed from a drawn direction of the tab, the barrier member is provided in an area of equal to or more than 85% of an entire area of the lid member (it is submitted that because the metal foil “barrier member” forms an integral part of the metal foil laminate, the metal foil “barrier member” is provided in an area equal to 100% of the entire area of the lid member).
Regarding claim 6, Hirokazu discloses a battery cell (power storage device, Title) comprising:
a battery element (power storage element, [0034]);
a lid member (21) covering one end of the battery element with the tab drawn from the lid member (as shown in Fig 4);
an exterior film (frame body 3) at least partially wrapped around the battery element (as shown in Fig 3); and
a rib (seal portion 22) provided on the lid member (as shown in Fig 1).
Regarding claim 7, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses that at least part of the rib defines a space (space accommodating tabs 4a/4b) communicating with a housing space formed by the lid member and the exterior film (as shown in Fig 3).
Regarding claim 8, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses a current collector (tabs 4a/4b) drawn from the battery element ([0019]), wherein
a height of the rib in a region not overlapping the current collector in a protruding direction of the rib (vertical direction, as shown in Fig 1) is higher than a height of the rib in a region overlapping the current collector in the protruding direction of the rib (as shown in Fig 2, seal portion does not overlap tabs 4a/4b in the “protruding”, i.e. vertical, direction, and therefore is “higher” than an overlapping region because there is no overlapping region).
Regarding claim 9, Hirokazu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above.
Hirokazu further discloses a current collector (tabs 4a/4b) drawn from the battery element ([0019]), wherein
the rib is provided in a region not overlapping the current collector in a protruding direction (vertical direction, as shown in Fig 1) of the rib (as shown in Fig 2, seal portion does not overlap tabs 4a/4b in the “protruding”, i.e. vertical, direction), and
the rib is not provided in a region overlapping the current collector in the protruding direction of the rib (as shown in Fig 2, seal portion is not provided in the overlapping “protruding”, i.e. vertical, direction).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10 and 11 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:
The present invention is related to, inter alia, a battery cell comprising a current collector and a rib provided on a lid member, wherein:
(claim 10) a height of the rib in a region overlapping a folded portion of the current collector in a protruding direction of the rib is higher than a height of the rib in a region overlapping a bent portion of the current collector; and
(claim 11) the rib is provided in a region overlapping a folded portion of the current collector in a protruding direction of the rib.
Hirokazu et al. (JP 2014-216307; hereinafter “Hirokazu”) is considered to be the closest relevant prior art to dependent claims 10 and 11. Hirokazu discloses most of the claim limitations as set forth above.
However, Hirokazu does not disclose, teach, fairly suggest, nor render obvious the above noted limitations. To the contrary, Hirokazu explicitly discloses that the tabs, i.e. current collectors, are drawn out from the battery through the seal section, i.e. rib (as shown in Fig 1), and which are then used to electrically connect to an exterior electrical load ([0034]). Accordingly, there does not appear to be any reasonable basis for the skilled artisan to expect that any portion of the rib overlaps any portion of the current collectors in a protruding direction of the rib because such overlap, i.e. in the vertical direction as shown in Fig 1, would reasonably only overlap if the rib covered the current collectors, which would defeat the express purpose of using the current collectors to connect the battery to an external load.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Tajima et al. (US 2017/0301896 A1) discloses a battery module;
Horikoshi (US 2016/0260939 A1) discloses an assembled battery; and
Kanda et al. (US 2012/0189899 A1) discloses a secondary battery.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M ERWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-3101. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6am-3pm PDT.
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/JAMES M ERWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725 02/20/2026