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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, Claims 1-12 in the reply filed on May 19, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 13-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May 19, 2026.
Claim Interpretation
The instant claims utilize the terms “assembly-type” particles and “single-type” particles. This is understood to mean secondary particles (for “assembly-type”) and primary particles (for “single-type”), as secondary particles are agglomerations of (or “assemblies” of) primary/individual/single particles. If this is incorrect, then Applicant should consider the instant claims indefinite for lack of clarity as to the meanings of both “single-type” and “assembly-type.”
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 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li et al (WO 2022077370; references made herein are with respect to the English translation, of record in the IDS filed February 21, 2024).
Regarding claims 1, 2, and 12, Li teaches an anode for secondary battery comprising an anode current collector, an anode active material comprising graphite (abstract), and a cathode (par. 42). Li teaches that the anode active material graphite includes secondary particles and may optionally include primary particles (par. 116), and Li further teaches that the powder OI value of the anode active material is less than or equal to 14, preferably 5-14 or 6-11 (pars. 120 and 141).
Regarding claim 9, it is expected that the secondary particles would exhibit a larger average particle size than the primary particles, as the secondary particles are agglomerations of the primary particles.
Regarding claims 10 and 11, Li teaches that the petroleum coke raw material may include one or more of petroleum-based non-needle coke and petroleum based needle coke (par. 199), noting that needle cokes are anisotropic.
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.
Claim(s) 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (WO 2022077370; references made herein are with respect to the English translation, of record in the IDS filed February 21, 2024) as applied to claim 1 above.
Li teaches an anode according to instant claim 1, as shown above.
Regarding claim 5, Li teaches that the graphite may optionally include primary particles, such as in a quantity of greater than or equal to 50% (par. 116). As Li teaches an effective range inclusive of 0% primary particles, the overlapping ranges constitute prima facie obviousness.
Regarding claims 6-8, Li teaches a tap density (tapped) of the anode active material of 0.8-1.2 g/cm (par. 122) and a compacted density (pellet) of the anode active material of 1.75-1.82 g/cm (par. 123). The overlapping ranges constitute prima facie obviousness.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 4 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: Li et al (WO 2022077370) is considered to represent the closest related prior art to the claimed invention, as shown above. Li does not teach or suggest the pore resistance of the anode. Choi et al (WO 2022010225), in a similar invention, teaches that the anode may preferably exhibit a pore resistance of 6-9 Ohm (par. 62), which is distinctly outside the claimed ranges. Although Choi shows pore resistances of up to 21 Ohm, this is essentially taught away from as being only included in the comparative examples (Table 2). As such, the prior art fails to teach or suggest an anode exhibiting the claimed pore resistances.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ching-Yiu (Coris) Fung can be reached at 571-270-5713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Colin W. Slifka/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1732
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