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
Claim15 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 15, line 12, “chamber ;.” Should not include the “;”, and just a period as it is at the end of the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeda et al (10,530,012).
Maeda et al disclose a method of producing an electrochemical device, wherein the device housing comprises a pouch-type battery casing (instant claim 14), and a wound electrode assembly including a positive and negative electrode, and a separator (abstract). The device further comprises a double-sided tape including a pressure-sensitive adhesive for adhering to the electrode assembly (instant F2) and a surface having a heat-sensitive adhesive for adhering to the pouch-type outer casing (instant F1). The tape fixes the electrode assembly to the outer pouch-type casing and can secure it even when an external force such as a vibration is applied (column 3, lines 53-59).
The reference teaches that the double-sided tape includes a substrate, preferably polypropylene (preferred by the instant specification; [0051]), with the heat-sensitive adhesive preferably acrylic, rubber, polyolefin (instant F1; column 4, line 48 to column 5, line 53), and the pressure-sensitive adhesive being rubber, acrylic, and silicone resin (instant F2; column 6, line 25 to column 7, line 39), which are similar materials as taught by the instant specification ([0051]).
The reference further teaches that the adhesive force between the tape and the electrode assembly through the pressure-sensitive adhesive (F2) is preferably 10 N/15mm or more to obtain a sufficient adhesive force and prevent peeling, and that the adhesive force between the tape and the outer casing due to the heat-sensitive adhesive layer is preferably 10 N/15 mm or more at a temperature of 40 o C to 80 o C (column 8, lines 20-28; instant claim 4).
Examples in Table 1 include peeling strength of the tape and the outer casing (F1) of 10 to 35, and between the tape and the electrode assembly of either the current collector (copper or aluminum) or separator is between 24 and 38 N/15 mm (reference Table 1). These values, when converted from N/ 15mm to N/ m are about 666.7 to 2,334,6 N/m and 1600. 8 to 2534.6 N/m (N/ 15mm x 66.7 = N/m). While the reference prefers at least 10 N/ 15mm, the reference comparative examples include a peel strength of 7 N/ 15 mm (466 N/m), slight outside of the “preferred” range, with capacity retention data similar to that for Ex 5.
With the reference not limited to preferred embodiments, and the reference teaching materials similar to those preferred by the instant invention for the press-sensitive adhesive, substrate, and heat-sensitive adhesive, a one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare a device wherein the double-sided tape had a peel strength falling within the scope of the instantly claimed range.
Alternatively, given the teachings of the reference for the materials and rationale provided to achieve sufficient adhesive force, one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed F1 and F2 values through routine experimentation and optimization of the battery mechanical properties for the F1 and F2 values of the instant claims 1 and 3.
Each examples includes the peel (adhesive) strength between a copper current collector, an aluminum current collector, and the separator. For example, Ex 1 F1/F2 is 72%, 56%, and 69%, Ex 2 is 64%, 64%, and 75%, Ex 3 is 85%, 88%, and 79%, Ex 4 is well outside of the scope, and Ex 5 is 29%, 29%, and 26%. Only Ex 5 includes all three F1/F2 falling within the claimed ranges, with only a few other materials having data points within the claimed range of 5% to 70%.
However, given the teachings of the reference it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare the material of Maeda et al, choosing to prepare the device wherein the material of the pressure-sensitive adhesive (F2) and the heat-sensitive adhesive (F1) each have values with result in F1/F2 falling within the claimed range of 5% to 70%.
With respect to the instant claim 2, given the analysis above (see example 5), given the teachings of the reference it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare the material of Maeda et al, choosing to prepare the device wherein the material of the pressure-sensitive adhesive (F2) and the heat-sensitive adhesive (F1) each have values with result in F1/F2 falling within the claimed range of 25% to 55%.
With respect to the instant claim 5, a conventional pouch-type cell is rectangular, so a battery wound to fit in the pouch would conventionally have two flat sides, and two bent / rounded sides. The wound battery would include a first and a second bending section, and a first and second section (flat side sections), with the double-sided tape bonded to the outermost portion of one (first section; as in common in the art) to fix the electrode assembly and prevent unwinding (background, column 14, lines 40-61). Each section includes the positive electrode, negative electrode, and separator, and the first section (end) would include the separator, which as shown in the examples given the peel strength for the tape and the separator, is adhered to an end of the separator as required by the instant claim 7. With respect to the instant claims 8 and 9 the double-sides tape (first bonding piece) is adhered to the outermost layers of the wound battery, which could be a length which adheres along the side section and to the bent side section, which would including the ends of the separators and current collectors as required by the instant claims 8-10 (peel strength is provided for the current collectors and separator), and the outermost electrode plate would be present in the first and second sections, and bent/ folded sections as required by the instant claim 11.
With respect to the instant claim 6, the first bonding piece has a length of 15mm per examples, which is greater than 5mm as required by the instant claim 6.
The cited prior art of record fails to fairly teach or suggest the invention as set forth by the instant claims where additional bonding pieces are present in a first section, or wherein the first bonding piece (tape) is located in a projection of an electrode assembly
With respect to the instant claim 12, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include an additional tape at the first section bonded to the separator and the outermost plate to further fix and seal the electrode assembly and prevent unwinding and movement of the electrode assembly in the pouch casing, wherein according to the instant claim 13, would be covering the tabs/ ends/ protrusions extending from the first section.
With respect to the instant claim 15, the reference pouch includes an interior “accommodation chamber” (see specification and drawings, item 101 and 102 [third binding piece]), and wherein one of skill in the art would have arrived at the first bonding piece which affixes the electrode assembly to the housing in any location on the wound body, and would include an additional adhesive piece to further affix the housing to the longer length portion (first section) of the assembly to the housing (wherein the accommodation chamber is the interior portion of the housing/ pouch), through routine experimentation to achieve a battery wherein the electrode assembly is secure and prevent unwinding or movement.
Regarding claims 15 and its dependent claims 16 and 17, the F1/F2 values are those are discussed above for instant claims 1-3, therefore the instant claims 15-17 are also taught by the reference.
The instant claims 18-20 are also dependent upon the instant independent claim 15, and present limitations are discussed above for the instant claims 4-6, and are also thereby rejected as taught by the prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMANDA C WALKE whose telephone number is (571)272-1337. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 5:30am to 4pm.
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/AMANDA C. WALKE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722