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 .
2. Claims 1-3 are pending in this office action.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or (f), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. Information disclosure statements (IDS), submitted January 12, 2024; October 3, 2024; June 30, 2025; October 31, 2025; and, April 29, 2026, have been received and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
7. Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kwak (US 2023/0066385 A1).
With regard to Claim 1, Kwak discloses in Figures 2b, 3, 4a and 4b, a power storage device, called a secondary cell (10), comprising: an electrode assembly (110) formed by stacking a plurality of electrodes; and a conductive member, called a first and second end plate (131, 132), that is in contact with the electrode assembly (110) (paragraphs 0055-0057), wherein the conductive member (131, 132) includes: a conductive member body (131, 132) that overlaps with the electrode assembly (110) in a stacking direction of the plurality of electrodes; and a current collector terminal (T1, T2) that is continuous to the conductive member body (131, 132) (paragraphs 0057-0059), the conductive member body (131, 132) includes: an insulated region (see annotated figure below), insulated from the electrode assembly (110); and an electrically conducting region, including current collector (113) (see annotated figure below), at least a part of the electrically conducting region (113) being electrically connected to the electrode assembly (110) (paragraphs 0069-0077). Kwak does not specifically disclose wherein a distance between the current collector terminal and the electrically conducting region is greater than a distance between the current collector terminal and the insulated region. Before the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the power storage device of Kwak to include a distance between the current collector terminal and the electrically conducting region is greater than a distance between the current collector terminal and the insulated region, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05.
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With regard to Claim 2, Kwak further discloses in Figures 2b, 3, 4a and 4b, an insulating member, called spacer elements (134, 134’-Figure 3, 4a; 139-Figure 4b), provided between the insulated region (see annotated figure) and the electrode assembly (110) (paragraphs 0069-0073).
With regard to Claim 3, Kwak discloses in Figures 2b, 3, 4a and 4b, wherein the electrically conducting region (see annotated figure) includes a plurality of electrically conducting portions, including current collector (113) and contacting portion (121), each of the plurality of electrically conducting portions being electrically connected to the electrode assembly (110) (paragraph 0065). Kwak does not specifically disclose wherein electrical resistances between the plurality of electrically conducting portions and the current collector terminal are equal to each other. Before the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the power storage device of Kwak to include electrical resistances between the plurality of electrically conducting portions and the current collector terminal to be equal to each other, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05.
Conclusion
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KARIE O APICELLA whose telephone number is (571)272-8614. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 5:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Buie-Hatcher can be reached at 571-270-3879. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KARIE O'NEILL APICELLA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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