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 .
Election/Restriction
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-19, drawn to product, classified in H01M 10/658.
II. Claim 20, drawn to process, classified in H01M 50/291.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because:
Inventions I and II are related as process of making and product made. The inventions are distinct if either or both of the following can be shown: (1) that the process as claimed can be used to make another and materially different product or (2) that the product as claimed can be made by another and materially different process (MPEP § 806.05(f)). In the instant case, Invention I can be made by putting aerogel in molds rather than cutting blanks from a roll.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
The inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries).
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with 734-341-4303 on June 9th, 2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Invention I, claims 1-19. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claim 20 has been withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
The examiner has required restriction between product or apparatus claims and process claims. Where applicant elects claims directed to the product/apparatus, and all product/apparatus claims are subsequently found allowable, withdrawn process claims that include all the limitations of the allowable product/apparatus claims should be considered for rejoinder. All claims directed to a nonelected process invention must include all the limitations of an allowable product/apparatus claim for that process invention to be rejoined.
In the event of rejoinder, the requirement for restriction between the product/apparatus claims and the rejoined process claims will be withdrawn, and the rejoined process claims will be fully examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. Thus, to be allowable, the rejoined claims must meet all criteria for patentability including the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112. Until all claims to the elected product/apparatus are found allowable, an otherwise proper restriction requirement between product/apparatus claims and process claims may be maintained. Withdrawn process claims that are not commensurate in scope with an allowable product/apparatus claim will not be rejoined. See MPEP § 821.04. Additionally, in order for rejoinder to occur, applicant is advised that the process claims should be amended during prosecution to require the limitations of the product/apparatus claims. Failure to do so may result in no rejoinder. Further, note that the prohibition against double patenting rejections of 35 U.S.C. 121 does not apply where the restriction requirement is withdrawn by the examiner before the patent issues. See MPEP § 804.01.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on February 1, 2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 4-6 and 14-16 objected to because of the following informalities: There seems to be a grammatical error; the phrases ‘wherein at least a portion the secondary regions’ should be corrected to ‘wherein at least a portion of the secondary regions.’ 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.
Claims 1-4 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2023/0114956, hereinafter Onuki.
Regarding claim 1, Onuki teaches a battery (Fig 5C: 100) for an electrically powered vehicle (‘battery 100 may be one installed in a vehicle such as an automobile’ [0050]) comprising:
a plurality of cells (40a and 40b)) configured to store electrical energy and discharge the electrical energy to propel the vehicle (‘battery 100 is a secondary battery that may be installed in a vehicle such as an automobile. Each cell 40a, 40b includes housing, a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte’ [0050-0051]. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that a secondary battery with positive and negative electrodes will store and discharge electrical energy.); and
a plurality of thermal barriers (heat insulating material 1) disposed between adjacent cells (40a, 40b) of the plurality of cells (40a, 40b), wherein
each thermal barrier (1) includes planar regions (buffering portion 20),
each thermal barrier (1) defines voids (110) between the planar regions (20),
each planar region (20) and each void (110) within each thermal barrier (1) are aligned in a coplanar arrangement within a gap defined between the corresponding adjacent cells (20 and 110 are in the space between 40a and 40b in a stacking direction), and
each planar region (20) and each void (110) within each thermal barrier (1) extend transversely between the corresponding adjacent cells orthogonally to the coplanar arrangement (20 and 110 are parallel and on top each other in a direction orthogonal to the stacking direction).
Regarding claim 2, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 1, wherein each planar region (20) within at least a portion of the thermal barriers (1) includes
a primary region (side of 20 in contact with 10) aligned along a corresponding coplanar arrangement (parallel to cells 40s in stacking direction) and
a plurality of secondary regions (part of 20 not in contact with 10) aligned along the corresponding coplanar arrangement and extending orthogonally from the primary region (side of 20 in contact with 10 are orthogonal to rest of 20).
Regarding claim 3, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 2, wherein the secondary regions are spaced-apart relative to each other such that the voids are defined between the secondary regions (spaces between 20 in contact with 110 define voids).
Regarding claim 4, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 2, wherein at least a portion the secondary regions are rectangular in shape (Fig 5C: 20 is rectangular shaped).
Regarding claim 11, Onuki teaches a battery (Fig 5C: 100) comprising:
a plurality of cells (40a, 40b) configured to store electrical energy (‘battery 100 is a secondary battery that may be installed in a vehicle such as an automobile. Each cell 40a, 40b includes housing, a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte’ [0050-0051]. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that a secondary battery with positive and negative electrodes will store and discharge electrical energy.); and
a plurality of thermal barriers (1) each disposed between adjacent cells (40a, 40b) of the plurality of cells (40), wherein each thermal barrier (1)
includes solid regions (10, 20),
defines cutouts between the solid regions (110),
each solid region (10, 20) and each cutout (110) within each thermal barrier (1) are aligned along a plane (stacked in the stacking direction), and
each solid region (10, 20) and each cutout (110) within each thermal barrier (1) have a dimension that is perpendicular to the plane and extends between the corresponding adjacent cells (direction in the height of cells 40).
Regarding claim 12, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 11, wherein each solid region (10, 20) within at least a portion of the thermal barriers (1) includes
a primary region (10) aligned along a corresponding plane (aligned along the height of cells 40) and
a plurality of secondary regions (20) aligned along the corresponding plane and extending from the primary region (20s extend from primary region 10).
Regarding claim 13, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 12, wherein the secondary regions (20) are spaced-apart relative to each other such that the cutouts (110) are defined between the secondary regions (20s are spaced apart and define gaps 110).
Regarding claim 14, Onuki teaches the battery (100) of claim 12, wherein at least a portion the secondary regions (20) are rectangular in shape (Fig 5C: 20s are rectangular shaped).
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.
Claims 5-9, and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2023/0114956, hereinafter Onuki as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claims 5-9 and 15-18, Onuki teaches, as mentioned above, a battery (100) the comprises of a plurality of cells (40) and thermal barriers (1) disposed between the adjacent cells. The thermal barriers include solid or planar regions and cutouts or voids (10, 20, 110).
However, Onuki fails to teach the secondary regions being shaped as a diamond (instant claims 5 and 15), hourglass (instant claims 6 and 16), X (instant claims 9 and 18), nor spiral (instant claims 8 and 17).
Onuki teaches that the shape of the heat insulating portion 10 and the island portions formed by 20 are not particularly limited and may be polygonal, circular, elliptic, or shaped any other way [0203].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used diamond, hourglass, X, or, spiral shaped heat insulating materials in the battery of Onuki as long as the shape is suitable for heat insulation of the surface included in the battery 100 [0130] and the compressive modulus of elasticity of 20 is smaller than that of 10 [0007]. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that one could try a heat insulating material of any shape as long as appropriate deformability is maintained [0005].
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2023/0114956, hereinafter Onuki as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2021/0143508, hereinafter Yoshida.
Regarding claims 10 and 19, Onuki teaches, as mentioned above, a battery (100) the comprises of a plurality of cells (40) and thermal barriers (1) disposed between the adjacent cells. The thermal barriers include solid or planar regions and cutouts or voids (10, 20, 110).
However, Onuki fails to teach solid regions that are comprised of aerogel (instant claims 10 and 19).
Yoshida teaches a power supply device that includes a plurality of rectangular battery cells stacked in the thickness direction and a plurality of separators (equivalent to the Onuki’s thermal barrier) interposed between adjacent battery cells (Abstract). The separator core is made thicker by attaching a thinly formed spacer. This spacer is a plate material or sheet material excellent in heat resistance or thermal insulation such as silica aerogel [0089].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the aerogel material of Yoshida in the solid regions of Onuki due to its excellent heat resistance and thermal insulation [0089].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mia K Holbrook whose telephone number is (571)272-9253. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Miriam Stagg can be reached at (571) 270-5256. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/M.K.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1724
/MIRIAM STAGG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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