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 . If status of the application as subject to 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 a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5 & 7-13 are pending in the application. Claim 13 is withdrawn. Claims 1-5 & 7-12 are presently examined. Claims 1-11 were rejected in the 3/6/2026 office action. Applicant cancelled claim 6 and added new claims 12-13.
Election/Restriction
Newly submitted claim 13 is directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed. The originally claimed invention is illustrated in figure 8, with lithiation material 611b on one side of the current collector [0077]. Claim 13 is illustrated in figure 9, with lithiation material 611b on both sides of the current collector [0087]. These are different species.
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claim 13 is withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
Response to Amendment / Arguments
The 5/11/2026 amendment, in response to the 3/6/2026 office action, has been entered. Applicant’s claim amendments overcame the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections.
Applicant's arguments, regarding the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Claim 1 states:
“the second current collector has a third coating region coated with a second active substance material and a fourth coating region coated with the second active substance material, and a second gap is disposed between the third coating region and the fourth coating region”
Regarding this claim limitation, Applicant argues:
“Taguchi's negative electrode piece 121 and negative electrode piece 122 are discrete electrode pieces formed on the separator 13B and separated from each other by the intra-negative electrode space 12S, rather than coating regions formed on a single current collector.”
Examiner is not persuaded, that Taguchi fails to teach the above claim limitation, for the following reasons:
First, the current collector for Taguchi's negative electrode pieces 121 and 122 must be connected in order for Taguchi's battery to function. Although Taguchi doesn’t explicitly state that they are connected, it would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art, for Taguchi's negative electrode pieces 121 and 122 to be connected in order for the battery to function. If they are connected, then they could be defined as a single current collector.
Second, claim 1 doesn’t require the second current collector to be a single, unbroken current collector. A claimed structure can be divided into separate segments unless the claim explicitly states that they are a single, unbroken structure. Applicant argues that Taguchi’s negative electrode isn’t “a single current collector”, but claim 1 doesn’t require that the second current collector is “a single current collector”.
Third, Applicant’s argument of “a single current collector” in claim 1 is inconsistent with dependent claim 5, which states that “the second current collector comprises at least two second current collectors”.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 1 & 5 state:
Claim 1: “the second current collector has a third coating region coated with a second active substance material and a fourth coating region coated with the second active substance material”
Claim 5: “the second current collector comprises at least two second current collectors”
In order to satisfy the requirements of both claims 1 & 5, the second current collector is interpreted to include the following:
a single, continuous structure, with third and fourth coating regions on this single, continuous structure; or
two separate structures, with the third coating region on one of these separate structures, and the fourth coating region on the other of these separate structures.
For #2, the separate structures can be electrically connected, even though they are separated from each other.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 & 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Independent claim 1 and dependent claim 5 state “the second coating region is disposed opposite the second gap”. This duplicate claim limitation should be removed from one of these claims.
Claim 5 begins with a strikethrough of the number 5: “
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
The claims are in bold font, the prior art is in parentheses.
Claims 1-5 & 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2018148230A machine translation (Koji) in view of US20110256438A1 (Taguchi).
With regard to claim 1, Koji teaches the following limitations:
An electrode assembly (paragraphs 71-72; figures 1-2: cylindrical wound electrode unit 10), comprising:
a first current collector (paragraph 34; figure 4(a): negative electrode current collector 132), wherein the first current collector (132) comprises a first coating region (Figure A below) and a second coating region (paragraph 35; Figure A below: uncoated region 130a),
the first coating region is coated with a first active substance material (paragraph 34; Figure B below: negative electrode active material layer 133) and the second coating region is coated with a lithiation material (paragraph 36; Figure B below: metallic lithium M), and
in an extension direction of the first current collector, a first gap (Figure A below) is disposed between the first coating region and the second coating region
Figure A: Annotated Koji Figure 4(a)
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Figure B: Annotated Koji Figure 4(b)
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Koji also teaches the following limitations of claim 1:
a second current collector (paragraph 38: positive electrode 140 has a positive electrode current collector 142), wherein the first current collector (132) and the second current collector (132) are wound with each other (paragraph 28; figure 2)
Koji, however, fails to teach the following limitations of claim 1, which are taught by Taguchi (paragraphs 6 & 77; Figure C below):
the second current collector has a third coating region coated with a second active substance material and a fourth coating region coated with the second active substance material, and a second gap is disposed between the third coating region and the fourth coating region; wherein the second coating region is disposed opposite the second gap
Figure C: Annotated Taguchi Figure 2
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Taguchi is directed to a wound-type accumulator with rapid electrolytic solution penetration into wound electrode interior, rapid lithium ion doping of electrodes, and high productivity (paragraph 17). It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, for Koji’s wound electrode unit 10 to have a second gap between adjacent second current collectors, and for the second coating region to be opposite the second gap.
With regard to claims 2-3, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitations of claims 2-3:
Claim 2
wherein in a winding direction of the electrode assembly, the first current collector (132) comprises an extension portion (Figure D below) that extends beyond the second current collector (142), and the second coating region (Figure D below) is located in the extension portion (Figure D below)
Claim 3
at least part of the first gap is located in the extension portion (Figure D below)
Figure D: Annotated Koji Figure 6
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With regard to claim 4, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitation of claim 4 (Figure E below):
the first coating region is at least two first coating regions of the first current collector (132), and the second coating region is disposed between two adjacent first coating regions of the at least two first coating regions
Figure E: Annotated Koji Figure 4(a)
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Claims 5 & 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2018148230A (Koji) in view of US20110256438A1 (Taguchi), together “modified Koji”.
With regard to claim 5, Koji teaches the limitations of claims 1 & 4 as described above. Koji, however, fails to teach the following limitations of claim 5, which are taught by Taguchi:
the second current collector comprises at least two second current collectors (paragraph 77 & 96; Figure C above: electrode 12 has active material on a current collector, and two separate sections 121 & 122);
the first current collector and the at least two second current collectors are wound with each other (figure 1), the second gap (Figure C above) is disposed between two adjacent second current collectors of the at least two second current collectors, and the second coating region (paragraphs 73-74; Figure F below: lithium ion source 16C) is disposed opposite the second gap (Figure C above)
With regard to claim 7, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Claim 7 states:
the first gap is greater than or equal to 1 mm
Koji teaches a gap (paragraph 73; figure 2: intra-positive electrode space 11S) for no contact between the lithium ion source 16C and the positive electrode 11. Koji doesn’t specify a size of the gap; however it would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to optimize the size of the gap for no contact between the lithium ion source 16C and the positive electrode 11, and thus achieve the claimed ≥ 1 mm.
With regard to claim 8, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitation of claim 8 (Figure F below):
the first current collector comprises a first surface and a second surface that are opposite each other in a thickness direction of the first current collector, and the second coating region is located in at least one of the first surface or the second surface
Figure F: Annotated Koji Figure 4(a)
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With regard to claim 9, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitation of claim 9:
A battery cell (title & abstract: electrochemical device), comprising the electrode assembly of claim 1.
With regard to claim 10, Koji teaches the limitations of claims 1 & 9 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitation of claim 10:
A battery (title & abstract: electrochemical device), comprising the battery cell according to claim 9.
With regard to claim 11, Koji teaches the limitations of claim 10 as discussed above. Koji also teaches the following limitation of claim 11:
An electric apparatus, comprising the battery according to claim 10, wherein the battery is configured to supply electric energy. (paragraph 2)
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2018148230A machine translation (Koji) in view of US20210126250 (Jiang).
Koji teaches the following limitations of claim 12:
An electrode assembly (paragraphs 71-72; figures 1-2: cylindrical wound electrode unit 10), comprising:
a current collector (paragraph 34; figure 4(a): negative electrode current collector 132), wherein the current collector (132) comprises a first coating region (Figure A below) and a second coating region (paragraph 35; Figure A below: uncoated region 130a),
the first coating region is coated with an active substance material (paragraph 34; Figure B below: negative electrode active material layer 133) and the second coating region is coated with a lithiation material (paragraph 36; Figure B below: metallic lithium M)… and
in an extension direction of the current collector, a gap (Figure A below) is disposed between the first coating region and the second coating region
Figure A: Annotated Koji Figure 4(a)
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Figure B: Annotated Koji Figure 4(b)
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Koji, however, fails to teach that the lithiation material includes lithium oxide. Jiang teaches lithium oxide for lithiation (paragraph 42). Jiang is directed to pre-lithiation for high efficiency, better cycle performance, and safety (abstract; paragraph 4). It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, for Koji’s lithium to be lithium oxide, as taught by Jiang, for high efficiency, better cycle performance, and safety.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT WEST whose telephone number is 703-756-1363 and email address is Robert.West@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10 am - 7 pm ET.
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/R.G.W./Examiner, Art Unit 1721
/ALLISON BOURKE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1721
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