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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informality:
"and having with a stitch" should read "with a stitch" or “having a stitch”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
The term “short side” in claims 2 and 4 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “ short side” is not defined by the claims, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. For examination purposes, the "short side" of the case will be interpreted as the long, narrow side of the case.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong (KR 20190059076 A), in view of Shin et al. (U.S. Patent No. 12,191,507 B2), and further in view of Kim et al. (KR 20140094205 A).
Regarding claim 1, Jeong teaches a secondary battery (Par. 0001) comprising: a case (Fig. 1a; case 130) having a safety vent (Fig. 1a; safety vent 134); an electrode assembly (Fig. 1b; electrode assembly 110) in the case; a pair of terminals (Fig. 1a & 1b; terminals 150 and 160) electrically connected to the electrode assembly (Par. 0006; terminals are electrically connected to the electrode assembly); and an insulating member (Fig. 3a; insulating tape 120) with a stitch (Fig. 3b & 4a-b, venting guide portion 121; Par. 0005, guide portion may be a notch or a stitch) in a region corresponding to the safety vent(Par. 0016; “a venting guide portion is formed … corresponding to the safety vent of the case”). Jeong does not teach, however, a pair of terminals respectively coupled at opposite ends of the case, and an insulating member wrapped around the case.
However, Shin teaches a secondary battery (Column 4, lines 51-52) comprising: a case having a safety vent (Fig. 1; case 300, vent member 310); an electrode assembly in the case (Fig. 2; electrode assembly 100); and a pair of terminals (Fig. 2; first terminal portion 410a, second terminal portion 4b) electrically connected to the electrode assembly (Column 5, lines 53-54) and respectively coupled at opposite ends of the case (Fig. 2; the negative terminal 410a and the positive terminal 410b are disposed on opposite sides of the case).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the secondary battery taught by Jeong by placing the terminals on opposite sides of the battery, as taught by Shin. Doing so would simplify the assembly process and improve energy density, as stated in Shin (Column 1, lines 52-58).
Modified Jeong fails to teach an insulating member wrapped around the case.
However, Kim teaches a secondary battery (Par. 0001) with an insulating member (Fig. 1; film insulating member 72) wrapped around a case (Par. 0033; the film insulating member 71 surrounds the case 26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the secondary battery taught by Jeong by wrapping the insulating member around the case, as taught by Kim, in order to improve battery safety and minimize the risk of short-circuiting, as stated in Kim (Par. 0005, lines 2-4).
Regarding claim 2, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery as stated above, wherein the safety vent is one a short side of the case. Modified Jeong does not teach the safety vent being placed between the pair of terminals.
Shin teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the safety vent is on a short side of the case between the pair of terminals (Fig. 1-2; the safety vent is on the short side of the case 300, and it is positioned between the two terminals 410a and 410b).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the secondary battery taught by Jeong by placing the safety vent between the two terminals, as taught by Shin, in order to discharge gas generated in the space between the terminals, as stated in Shin (Column 7, lines 42-44).
Regarding claim 3, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery as stated above, wherein the stitch is in the region of the insulating member (Par. 0006, lines 4-5) corresponding to the safety vent provided on the short side of the case (Par. 0008; the venting guide portion (stitch) is on the short side of the case).
Regarding claim 4, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the case has a pair of short sides (Fig. 1; short side portion 132) and a pair of long sides (Fig. 1; long side portion 131), and wherein the safety vent is on any one of the pair of short sides (Par. 0007; the safety vent is formed in the short side of the case).
Regarding claim 5, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 4, wherein the stitch is in the region of the insulating member (Par. 0006, lines 4-5) corresponding to the safety vent on one of the pair of short sides of the case (Par. 0008; the venting guide portion (stitch) is on the short side of the case).
Regarding claim 6, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 4. Jeong fails to teach a pair of cap plates, as it only teaches one on top of the battery case.
However, Shin teaches the secondary battery of claim 4, wherein the case comprises a pair of cap plates (Fig. 1; cap assemblies 400a and 400b) respectively coupled to opposite ends of the pair of short sides and the pair of long sides (Column 5, lines 42-46), wherein the pair of terminals pass respectively pass through the pair of cap plates (Fig. 2; Column 5, lines 59-62), and wherein the insulating member covers a partial region of at least one of the pair of cap plates (Column 9, lines 39-44; Column 11, lines 18-25).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the secondary battery taught by Jeong by incorporating a pair of partially insulated cap plates which the two terminals pass through, as taught by Shin. Insulating the cap plates would be done in order to prevent the cap plates from short-circuiting the electrode assembly, and passing the terminals through the cap plates would reduce energy density and simplify the connection between the terminals and the electrode assembly, as stated in Shin (Column 9, lines 35-39; Column 7, lines 30-41).
Regarding claim 7, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the stitch has a smaller size than the safety vent (Fig. 4a; stich can be seen entirely through the safety vent).
Regarding claim 8, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the stitch extends in a longitudinal direction of the safety vent (Fig. 5a; stitch may extend vertically).
Regarding claim 9, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the stitch is over a central region of the safety vent (Fig. 4a; the stitch is aligned in the center of the safety vent).
Regarding claim 10, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the stitch is a plurality of perforations (Fig. 4b; stitch can be seen as a plurality of arrow-shaped cuts).
Regarding claim 11, modified Jeong teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the insulating member further comprises an adhesive layer on a surface thereof facing the case (Par. 0074; insulating tape 120 is tightly adhered to the case 130, therefore the adhesive layer must face the case).
Regarding claim 12, Kim teaches the secondary battery of claim 1, wherein the insulating member overlaps and is attached to a region of the case opposite to the safety vent (Par. 0005; The insulating layer is box-shaped and only open on the top, with a sealed bottom, which is opposite to the safety vent. The insulting member is also bonded, therefore attached, to the case).
Conclusion
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/CAMERON M BAIRD/ Examiner, Art Unit 1728
/MATTHEW T MARTIN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1728