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 .
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.
Specification
The specification and drawings have been reviewed and no clear informalities or objections have been noted.
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.
Claims 1-20 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 1 recites the limitation "the tab" in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Clarification is required.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the multiple folded sections". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Clarification is required.
Claim 19 recites that the first electrode piece, the separator and the second electrode piece are laminated in sequence and rolled together. Applicant then claims that the “second electrode piece comprises multiple folded sections provided in sequence. It is not clear what the configuration of the second electrode piece is relative to the rolled first and second electrode piece along with the separator. Fig. 7 of the instant disclosure appears to illustrate only a single folded section (see where A is pointing in Fig. 7 which is the only folded section). As best understood, it appears as though Applicant is equating “rolled” and “folded” and will be examined as such. Clarification is required.
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) 1-3, 5-7, 9-11, 13-14 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2015/0140381) in view of Chu (US 2007/0269685).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses an electrode piece (114), comprising a current collector (114) and an active substance layer (115, see annotated Fig. 3 below), the electrode piece has a single-sided area (see annotated Fig. 3 below) and a double-sided area (see annotated Fig. 3 below), the single-sided area is located on a side of the electrode piece along a length direction of the electrode piece (as depicted in Fig. 3 where the single sided surface is on an edge of the collector/electrode piece 114), a surface of one side of the current collector in the single-sided area is covered with the active substance layer (see annotated Fig. 3 below), and surfaces of both sides of the current collector in the double-sided area are covered with the active substance layer (see annotated Fig. 3 below);
a tab (40) protrudes from a side of the electrode piece (see Fig. 3 which illustrates a tab 41 that extends from the current collector); wherein, in the single-sided area, an anti-rolling strip (118) is provided on a surface of a side of the current collector not covered with the active substance layer 9 (see annotated Fig. 3 below where the strip/tape 118 is located on the surface of a side of the current collector).
Kim teaches the presence of a multiple electrode tabs (40) along the length of the current collector that is formed embedded on the same uncoated side of the collector (114) as an anti-rolling strip (118). Kim, however does not teach that all of these anti-rolling strips/tapes (117, 118, 119) include an electrode tab, particularly the anti-rolling strip/tape located on the edge of the collector/electrode piece.
Chu also discloses a battery module (see abstract).
Chu, like Kim, teaches an electrode tab (61 for example, see Fig. 6B) that is connected to the current collector (66, see Fig. 6B) of an electrode assembly. Chu goes on to teach that a plurality of electrode tabs is preferable as it will reduce the impedance of the battery cell (paragraph 97).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to increase the number of tabs, as taught by Chu, to the electrode piece/collector of Kim in order to reduce the impedance of the battery cell. Furthermore, such a modification would place an electrode tab in every tape/anti-rolling strip including the strips/tabs located on the end of the current collector.
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Annotated Fig. 3
Regarding claim 2, Kim further discloses along the width direction of the electrode piece, an edge of one side of the anti-rolling strip is flush with an edge of one side of the current collector provided with the tab (see Fig. 3 where strip/tape 118 is flush with the edge of collector 114).
Regarding claim 3, Kim further discloses that a thickness of the tape/strip is such that it smooths out the thickness difference between the coating region and the uncoated region (paragraph 45). Kim, however, does not explicitly teach that the anti-rolling strip may is less than or equal to a thickness of the active substance layer. However, seeing that Kim teaches that the thickness of the strip is such that it smooths out the thickness difference between the coated and uncoated region, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the thickness of the tape/strip be equal to the thickness of the coating region. Such a modification would eliminate all thickness differences associated with the coated/uncoated region.
Regarding claims 5-7, Kim, as modified above, further discloses along the length direction of the electrode piece, a projection of the anti-rolling strip in a thickness direction of the electrode piece at least covers a position corresponding to the tab on the single-sided area and an area between the tab and a junction of the double-sided area and the single-sided area (as modified above, the strip/tape 118 covers the electrode tab (40) in the single sided area (112) and fills an area between the tab and the junction point of the single and double sided areas).
Regarding claims 9-11, Kim further discloses along the length direction of the electrode piece, two ends of the anti-rolling strip are respectively flush with two ends of the single-sided area (see Fig. 3 where the sides of the strip/tape 118 are flush the ends of the single sided area 112).
Regarding claims 13 and 14, Kim further discloses the anti-rolling strip (118) is an adhesive tape or a ceramic coating (tape 118 is adhered to the current collector 114).
Regarding claim 17, Kim further discloses a rolled core (as illustrated in Fig. 5), comprising a separator (12) and an electrode piece (11/13), wherein the electrode piece comprises a first electrode piece (11) and a second electrode piece (13), the first electrode piece, the separator and the second electrode piece are laminated in sequence and rolled together along the length direction of the electrode piece; wherein at least one of the first electrode piece and the second electrode piece is the electrode piece according to claim 1 (see Fig. 1 where electrodes 11 and 13 are laminated with separator 12 in between).
Regarding claim 18, Kim further discloses along the width direction of the electrode piece, an edge of one side of the anti-rolling strip is flush with an edge of one side of the current collector provided with the tab (see Fig. 3 where strip/tape 118 is flush with the edge of collector 114).
Regarding claim 19, Kim further discloses a rolled core (as illustrated in Fig. 5), comprising a separator (12) and an electrode piece (11/13), wherein the electrode piece comprises a first electrode piece (11) and a second electrode piece (13), the first electrode piece, the separator and the second electrode piece are laminated in sequence and rolled together along the length direction of the electrode piece (see Fig. 1 where electrodes 11 and 13 are laminated with separator 12 in between).;
wherein the first electrode piece is the electrode piece according to claim 1 (see Fig. 1 where electrodes 11 and 13 are laminated with separator 12 in between and the first electrode piece is 11).;
the second electrode piece comprises the multiple folded sections provided in sequence (being wrapped around in a roll fashion, the second electrode piece comprises multiple sections that rolled together), surfaces of both sides of the folded sections are covered with the active substance layer (see Fig. 4 where the second electrode piece 13 is covered on both sides by an active substance layer 131).
Regarding claim 20, Kim further discloses a battery, comprising a shell (20), an electrolyte (paragraph 33) and the rolled core according to claim 17, wherein the rolled core is located in the shell (as depicted in Fig. 1), and the electrolyte is injected into the shell with the rolled core (paragraph 33).
Claim(s) 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2015/0140381) in view of Chu (US 2007/0269685) and further in view of Nanni (WO 2019/053530).
Regarding claims 15 and 16, Kim teaches a method of rolling the laminated electrodes/separators to form a battery assembly, but does not teach folding the electrode pieces. More specifically, Kim does not teach:
along the length direction of the electrode piece, the electrode piece comprises multiple folded sections provided in sequence, wherein each two folded sections have one tab protruded therefrom, or each folded section has one tab protruded therefrom.
Nanni also discloses a battery module (see abstract).
Nanni teaches a method of forming a battery cell which comprises folding/rolling the electrode pieces/sheets and teaches that each folded section (as depicted in Figs. 13-15) there is a tab (T) and when they are folded/rolled, the tabs are aligned. Nanni teaches such a configuration in order to correctly align the multiple tabs of the same polarity to achieve production efficiency and quality (see paragraphs 3-9).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to utilize the rolling/folding configuration of Nanni in the rolling/folding process of modified Kim in order to ensure proper alignment of the tabs when the cell is made.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8 and 12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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 closest prior art Kim, teaches an anti-rolling strip but is silent regarding the width of the strip relative to the width of the current collector and there is nothing in the prior art that would motivate one of ordinary skill to arrive at such a configuration.
Relevant Prior Art
US 2006/0093902 - Discloses a wound battery where a strap is utilized on the battery to prevent deformation/rolling, similar to that of the instant claims.
US 2004/0009403 - Discloses a rolled battery that comprises an electrode current collector/piece 44/48 where a portion of the piece is coated on both sides, similar to that of the instant claims. This reference also discloses a tab 46 located on the uncoated portion of the current collector/piece.
US 2020/0313148 – teaches:
an electrode piece (anode electrode piece 11), comprising a current collector (11) and an active substance layer (200), the electrode piece has a single-sided area (see annotated Fig. 1 below) and a double-sided area (see annotated Fig. 1 below), the single-sided area is located on a side of the electrode piece along a length direction of the electrode piece (as illustrated in Fig. 1), a surface of one side of the current collector in the single-sided area is covered with the active substance layer (see annotated Fig. 1 below), and surfaces of both sides of the current collector in the double-sided area are covered with the active substance layer (see annotated Fig. 1 below);
multiple tabs (300) protrude from a side of the electrode piece along a width direction of the electrode piece (see Fig. 2 where multiple tabs 300 protrude from the electrode piece 11), the multiple tabs are spaced apart (See Fig. 2), and both the single-sided area and the double-sided area are provided with the tab (see Fig. 2 where the single- and double-sided areas have tabs).
This reference, however, does not go into detail regarding an anti-rolling strip.
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Annotated Fig. 1
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J MERKLING whose telephone number is (571)272-9813. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8am-6pm.
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/MATTHEW J MERKLING/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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