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 07/27/2023, 08/30/2024, and 04/01/2025 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 07/27/2023 were reviewed and are acceptable. Specification The specification filed on 07/27/2023 was reviewed and is acceptable. 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 appl icant regards as his invention. Claim(s) 3- 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 3 recites the limitation “ the separators ” in line 2 . There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Appropriate correction is required. 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- 6 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (US 2023/0083594 A1; hereinafter “Yu”) . Regarding claim 1 , Yu discloses a battery (Title) comprising a wound electrode body (as shown in e.g. Fig 11) in which a positive electrode (1) with a band shape (as shown in e.g. Fig 11) including a positive electrode active material layer ([0084]) and a negative electrode (2) with a band shape (as shown in e.g. Fig 11) including a negative electrode active material ([0084]) are wound through a plurality of separators (3) with a band shape (as shown in e.g. Fig 11), wherein at least one of the separators includes an adhesive layer (barrier layer 4; see [0095] which describes the barrier layer as an adhesive paper) on at least one surface ([0099]; also as shown in e.g. Fig 11), and on the one surface, a non-formation region where the adhesive layer is not formed is provided in at least one end part in a winding axis direction (as shown in annotated Fig 5 below , winding axis direction is in K direction ). Regarding claim 2 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses an electrolyte solution ([0212]). Regarding claim 3 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses that the separators include a first separator and a second separator (as shown in e.g. Fig 11), each of the first separator and the second separator includes the adhesive layer on a surface that faces the positive electrode (as shown in e.g. Fig 11), and the non-formation region is provided on each of the surfaces of the first separator and the second separator that face the positive electrode (as shown in e.g. Fig 4 with the pattern of Fig 5 incorporated). Regarding claim 4 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses that each of the first separator and the second separator includes a heat-resistant layer (functional layer, [0089]) including an inorganic filler and a heat-resistant layer binder on the surface that faces the positive electrode ([0089]), and the adhesive layer is formed on the heat-resistant layer in each of the first separator and the second separator (as shown in e.g. Fig 11 with the functional layer disposed on the separator substrates, [0089]). Regarding claim 5 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses that on a surface of each of the first separator and the second separator that faces the negative electrode ( as shown in e.g. Fig 11, inner surfaces of the separators face the negative electrode), when an entire area of a region facing the negative electrode active material layer is 100%, a ratio of an area of a region where the adhesive layer is formed is 10% or less (as shown in e.g. Fig 11, the bonding layer, i.e. adhesive layer, does not face the negative electrode, and therefore has an area ratio of 0%, which falls within the recited range). Regarding claim 6 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses that the non-formation region includes a first non-formation region provided at one end part in the winding axis direction, and a second non-formation region provided at the other end part in the winding axis direction (as shown in annotated Fig 5 above). Regarding claim 10 , Yu discloses all of the claim limitations as set forth above. Yu further discloses a battery case (181) including: an exterior body (1811) including an opening, a bottom wall that faces the opening, and a side wall extending from an edge side of the bottom wall to the opening (as shown in Fig 20); and a sealing plate (1812) that seals the opening (as implied in Fig 20), wherein the wound electrode body is disposed in the battery case so that the winding axis direction is substantially orthogonal to the sealing plate and the bottom wall (as implied in Fig 20), and the non-formation region of the separator includes a first non-formation region provided at an end part on a side of the sealing plate and a second non-formation region provided at an end part on a side of the bottom wall (as shown in annotated Fig 5 above when incorporated into the battery of Fig 20). Allowable Subject Matter Claim(s) 7-9 and/or 11-13 is/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 comprising: ( claim 7 ) a length of the first non-formation region is larger than a length of the second non-formation region; ( claim 8 ) the entire second non-formation region exists on an end side in the winding axis direction relative to the positive electrode active material layer and the second non-formation region is not in contact with the positive electrode active material; ( claim 9 ) a position of the second non-formation region overlaps partially with a position of the negative electrode active material layer in the winding axis direction; ( claim 11 ) a length of the first protrusion allowance part is larger than a length of the second protrusion allowance part in the winding axis direction; and/or ( claim 12 ) a positive electrode tab in one end part in the winding axis direction and a negative electrode tab in the other end part in the winding axis direction, and a first non-formation region provided at an end part on a side of the positive electrode tab and a second non-formation region provide at an end part on a side of the negative electrode tab. Yu et al. (US 2023/0083594 A1; hereinafter “Yu”) is considered to be the closest relevant prior art to dependent claims 7-9 and 11-12. Yu discloses most of the claim limitations as set forth above. However, Yu does not disclose, teach, fairly suggest, nor render obvious the above noted limitations. To the contrary, Yu explicitly discloses that each of the non-formation regions are uniform (as shown in e.g. Fig 5), the non-formation regions, when on an end side in the winding axis direction relative to the positive electrode active material layer , is in direct contact with the positive electrode active material (as shown in Fig 3), the non-formation region overlaps with the negative electrode active material layer in a direction orthogonal to the winding axis direction (as shown in e.g. Fig 11 with the winding axis direction coming out of the page), first and second protrusion allowance parts are equal (as implied in Figs 4-8 and e.g. Fig 11), and both positive electrode tabs and negative electrode tabs are disposed at one end part in the winding axis direction (as shown in Fig 20). Accordingly, there does not appear to be any reasonable basis for the skilled artisan to abandon the structure of Yu and be directed towards the above noted limitations because lithium precipitation is already prevented via the disclosed structure utilizing the disclosed barrier layer, i.e. adhesive layer (see e.g. [0086-0087]). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Kawamura et al. (US 2022/0384854 A1) discloses a secondary battery; and Jung et al. (US 2018/0034028 A1) discloses a separator comprising an adhesive coating. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JAMES M ERWIN whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-3101 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday: 6am-3pm PDT . 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Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JAMES M ERWIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725 03/25/2026