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 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 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (WO-2017203911-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Sakai,’ in view of (US-20170125783-A1) hereinafter referred to as ‘Mune’
Regarding Claim 1,
Sakai teaches a battery device comprising: a plurality of battery cells stacked in a first direction (Sakai, D1, Fig. 1);
a first tab connection portion connecting a first electrode and a second electrode with each other (Sakai, portion, 23, Fig. 2), the first electrode being provided for a first battery cell among the plurality of battery cells (Sakai, positive electrode terminal, 15, Fig. 2) and the second electrode tab being provided for a second battery cell adjacent to the first battery cell among the plurality of battery cells (Sakai, negative electrode terminal, 17, Fig. 2) ; and a second tab connection portion connecting a third electrode tab and a fourth electrode tab with each other (Sakai, portion, 23, Fig. 2), the third electrode being provided for a third battery cell adjacent to the second battery cell among the plurality of battery cells (Sakai, positive electrode terminal, 15, Fig. 2) and the fourth electrode being provided for a fourth battery cell adjacent to the third battery cell among the plurality of battery cells (Sakai, negative electrode terminal, 17, Fig. 2), wherein the first tab connection portion and the second tab connection portion are adjacent to each other in a second direction intersecting the first direction (Sakai, see Fig. 2) (see annotated figure below) .
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Sakai does not teach electrode tabs.
Mune teaches bent electrode tabs (Mune, “Particularly, the tabs 31, 32 are bent in the direction along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22. In this case, vibrations along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22 and vibrations along the facing direction Z are easily absorbed by the tabs 31, 32.”, see [0076]).
Mune teaches that the bending of the tabs in one direction allows for the absorption of vibrations (Mune, “Particularly, the tabs 31, 32 are bent in the direction along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22. In this case, vibrations along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22 and vibrations along the facing direction Z are easily absorbed by the tabs 31, 32.”, see [0076]).
Sakai and Mune are analogous as they are both of the same field of battery assemblies.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modified the cell assembly as taught in Sakai to have bent tabs as taught in Mune to prevent vibrational damage.
Regarding Claim 2,
Modified Sakai teaches the battery device according to claim 1, further comprising a third tab connection portion connecting a fifth electrode tab and a sixth electrode tab, the fifth electrode tab being provided for a fifth battery cell adjacent to the fourth battery cell and the sixth electrode tab being provided for a sixth battery cell adjacent to the fifth battery cell,
wherein the second tab connection portion and the third tab connection portion are adjacent to each other in the second direction, and the first tab connection portion and the third tab connection portion are arranged in the first direction (see annotated figure below).
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Regarding Claim 3,
Modified Sakai teaches herein the first electrode tab, the second electrode tab are bent toward one side in the first direction (Mune, “Particularly, the tabs 31, 32 are bent in the direction along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22. In this case, vibrations along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22 and vibrations along the facing direction Z are easily absorbed by the tabs 31, 32.”, see [0076])
Regarding Claim 4,
Modified Sakai does not teach wherein the first electrode tab, the second electrode tab, the third electrode tab, the fourth electrode tab, the fifth electrode tab, and the sixth electrode tab are bent toward one side in the first direction (Mune, “Particularly, the tabs 31, 32 are bent in the direction along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22. In this case, vibrations along the stacking direction Y of the electrodes 21, 22 and vibrations along the facing direction Z are easily absorbed by the tabs 31, 32.”, see [0076]).
Regarding Claim 5,
Modified Sakai teaches the battery device according to claim 1, wherein at the first tab connection portion, the first electrode tab and the second electrode tab are fastened to each other by using a plurality of fastening members (Sakai, bolt body, 14b, Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 6,
Modified Sakai teaches The battery device according to claim 5, wherein one of the plurality of fastening members used to fasten the first electrode tab and the second electrode tab to each other is connected to a battery management device (Sakai, external connector, 660, Fig. 11B).
Regarding Claim 7,
Modified Sakai teaches the battery device according to claim 5, further comprising a terminal block(Sakai, fastening portion, 14c, Fig. 2) wherein the first electrode tab and the second electrode tab are fixed to the terminal block by the fastening members (Sakai, bolt body, 14b, Fig. 2) .
Regarding Claim 8,
Modified Sakai teaches the battery device according to claim 7, further comprising a terminal plate, wherein the terminal block includes an engagement portion that engages with the terminal plate (Sakai, flat portion, 21, Fig. 2) .
Conclusion
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/S.P.M./Examiner, Art Unit 1752
/NICHOLAS A SMITH/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
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