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 .
This is the initial Office action based on application number 18/388585 filed on 11/10/2023. Claims 1-5 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, directed to a method for manufacturing a lithium-ion rechargeable battery as recited in claims 1-4, in the reply filed on 07/02/2026 is acknowledged. Claim 5 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding to claim 1: In line 8-9 “a negative electrode mixture [[layer]] paste as a precursor”
In line 11 “ LiBOB (lithium bis(oxalate) borate)”
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (WO2022198654 (A1)). The English translation of the WO2022198654 (A1) is attached.
Regarding to claim 1: Zhou discloses a positive electrode lithium replenishment material, a positive electrode sheet containing the material, and an electrochemical device (par. 01). A method for manufacturing the electrochemical device (equivalent to a lithium-ion rechargeable battery) (par. 7) comprising:
manufacturing a positive electrode sheet by forming a positive electrode material layer (equivalent to a positive electrode mixture layer) on a positive electrode current collector (equivalent to a positive electrode substrate), the positive electrode material layer using a positive electrode slurry (equivalent to a positive electrode mixture paste) as a precursor (par. 24-25), and an organic acid (par. 18, 20) and a cathode electrode active material (equivalent to a positive electrode active material) (par. 24) including lithium hydroxide being added to the positive electrode slurry (par. 25) (lithium hydroxide (LiOH) is presented in Examples 1-16 in Table 3);
manufacturing a negative electrode sheet by forming a negative active material layer (equivalent to a negative electrode mixture layer) on a negative current collector (equivalent to a negative electrode substrate), the negative active material layer using a negative electrode slurry (equivalent to a negative electrode mixture paste) as a precursor, and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) (equivalent to a sodium salt) being added to the negative electrode slurry (par. 26, 27, 72); and
injecting a non-aqueous electrolyte solution including LiBOB (par. 29) into a bag (equivalent to a case) that accommodates an electrode assembly (equivalent to an electrode body) including the positive electrode sheet and the negative electrode sheet (par. 78), wherein:
the manufacturing the positive electrode sheet includes forming a lithium organic acid oxide (equivalent to a first organic acid salt) in the positive electrode material layer (par. 9), the lithium organic acid oxide being formed from lithium ions derived from the lithium hydroxide and organic acid ions derived from the organic acid (par. 12);
Zhou fails to explicitly disclose when "A" represents a mole number of the lithium hydroxide added in the manufacturing the positive electrode plate, "B" represents a mole number of the first organic acid salt formed in the manufacturing the positive electrode plate, and "C" represents a mole number of the sodium salt added in the manufacturing the negative electrode plate, values A, B, and C satisfy 0.04 B/A 0.06 and 1.9 < B/C. However, Zhou recognizes the sensitivity of the lithium-rich transition metal oxide to environmental moisture and the energy density of lithium-ion secondary batteries are variables that can be modified, among others, by adjusting the mass percentage of the lithium organic acid oxide (the mass percentage of the lithium organic acid oxide is proportional to the mole number of the lithium organic acid oxide (B)), with the sensitivity of the lithium-rich transition metal oxide to environmental moisture and the energy density of lithium-ion secondary batteries both decreasing as the mass percentage of the organic lithium oxide is increased, the precise mass percentage of the lithium organic acid oxide would have been considered a result effective variable by one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention.
Zhou further recognizes the thickness expansion ratio of lithium-ion batteries is a variable that can be modified, among others, by adjusting the percentage mass of the lithium hydroxide (m(LiOH)) (the percentage mass of the lithium hydroxide is proportional to the mole number of lithium hydroxide (A)), with the thickness expansion ratio increasing as the percentage mass of lithium hydroxide is increased, the precise percentage mass of the lithium hydroxide would have been considered a result effective variable by one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention (par. 94-95, Table 3).
Zhou further recognizes the adhesive effect of the negative electrode sheet is a variable that can be modified, among others, by adjusting the amount of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) (the amount of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is proportional to the mole number of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (C)), with the adhesive effect of the negative electrode sheet increasing as the amount of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is increased, the precise amount of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose would have been considered a result effective variable by one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention (par. 26-27).
As such, without showing unexpected results, the claimed the mole number of lithium hydroxide (A), the mole number of the lithium organic acid oxide (B), and the mole number of the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (C) (which influence B/A and B/C ratios) cannot be considered critical. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have optimized, by routine experimentation, the values of A, B, and C to obtain the desired balance among the sensitivity of the lithium-rich transition metal oxide to environmental moisture, the energy density of lithium-ion secondary batteries, the thickness expansion ratio, and the adhesive effect as taught by Zhou. Discovery of optimum value of result effective variable in known process is ordinarily within skill of art. In re Boesch, CCPA 1980, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ215.
Zhou fails to explicitly disclose the first organic acid salt has a higher solubility in the non-aqueous electrolyte solution than a second organic acid salt, formed from sodium ions and organic acid ions of the same type as that forming the first organic acid salt. However, it is the position of the examiner that the formation of the second organic acid salt and the solubility are inherent, given that the LiOH, the organic acid, the sodium salt disclosed by Zhou are the same materials used in the instant application. A reference which is silent about a claimed invention’s features is inherently anticipatory if the missing feature is necessarily present in that which is described in the reference. Inherency is not established by probabilities or possibilities. In re Robertson, 49 USPQ2d 1949 (1999).
Regarding to claim 2: Zhou discloses the organic acid can be acetic acid (par. 20).
Regarding to claim 4: Zhou discloses the electrolyte solution can comprises ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), and methyl ethyl carbonate (MEC) (par. 29)
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou (WO2022198654 (A1)) as applied in claim 1 above, and further in view of Hiraoka et al. (US 20250111997 A1).
Regarding to claim 3: Zhou discloses a positive electrode lithium replenishment material, a positive electrode sheet containing the material, and an electrochemical device (par. 1) as described in paragraph 4 above. Zhou fails to explicitly disclose the injecting the non-aqueous electrolyte solution includes injecting the non-aqueous electrolyte solution set in a range of 10°C to 20°C, inclusive. However, Hiraoka et al. disclose a nonaqueous lithium power storage element (abstract). The temperature of the nonaqueous electrolyte solution at the time of the injection is preferably 5° C. to 60° C. for manufacturing the power storage element (par. 329). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the temperature of Hiraoka et al. to inject the non-aqueous electrolyte solution of Zhou because Hiraoka et al. teach that the temperature range can prevent a change in the composition of the nonaqueous electrolyte solution (par. 329). In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976); In re Woodruff, 919 F.2d 1575, 16 USPQ2d 1934 (Fed. Cir. 1990). See MPEP §2144.05(I).
Conclusion
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/PIN JAN WANG/Examiner, Art Unit 1717
/Dah-Wei D. Yuan/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1717
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