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 .
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
In this instance, the abstract recites the phrase that can be implied “The disclosure provides…” in the 1st line.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In paragraph [0010], 3rd line, replace “powers” with “powders” after “copper”.
In paragraph [0060], bridging the 10th and 11th lines, replace “cooper powers” with “copper powders”.
In paragraph [0062], 8th line, replace “power” with “powder” after “copper”.
In paragraph [0077], 5th line, replace “ithium” with “lithium”.
In paragraph [0078], 11th line, replace “powers” with “powders” after “aluminum”.
In paragraph [0080], last line, replace “plurality times” with “a plurality of times”.
In paragraph [0086], 5th line, replace “powers” with “powders” after “copper”.
In paragraph [0092], in the 2nd line from the end of the paragraph, replace “powers” with “powders” after “aluminum”.
In paragraph [00102], 2nd line, replace “cooper” with “copper” before “foils”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 16, and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, 3rd line, add “,” before “or” for clarity.
In claim 1, last line, add “,” before “or” for clarity.
In claim 2, 2nd line, add “,” before “or” for clarity.
In claim 4, 4th line, replace “cooper powers” with “copper powders”.
In claim 5, 8th line, replace “power” with “powder” after “copper”.
In claim 10, 4th line, replace “powers” with “powders” after “aluminum”.
In claim 16, 10th line, replace “powers” with “powders” after “aluminum”.
In claim 17, in the 7th line from the end of the claim, replace “powers” with “powders” after “aluminum”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 7 is 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.
Regarding claim 7, the phrase "or the like" (in this instance, the term “type” of “NASICON type”) renders the claim indefinite because the claim includes elements not actually disclosed (those encompassed by "or the like"), thereby rendering the scope of the claim unascertainable. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
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.
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 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 107170953 A, of which a complete copy of the Chinese document with a machine translation is provided with this Office Action.
Regarding independent claim 1, as well as claims 19 and 20, CN ‘953 discloses a preparation method of a solid-state battery to form a battery array comprising a plurality of solid-state batteries (see abstract; pages 1-3 of translation under the heading “Description”; and Examples 1-3), in which the method comprises the following steps:
preparing an element layer by powder sintering 3D printing of an electrode material mixture (see the first four paragraphs on page 1 of translation), wherein the element layer is one of a positive electrode element layer, a negative electrode element layer, or a solid-state electrolyte element layer – specifically a positive electrode element layer (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”); and
repeatedly printing the element layer for a plurality of times to a preset thickness (of which repeatedly applying 3D printed layers upon one another would be an inherent step in a process of 3D printing), in order to form a positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”).
Although CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach annealing and cooling of each element layer after printing, such a step would be conventional in any metal powder formation method (see the 3rd paragraph on page 1 of translation) when each element layer is at an undesirably elevated temperature by conducting annealing and cooling, in order to make a final 3D printed product in the highest possible strongest state according to overlapping manufacturing of a solid product in the form of a battery film electrode, thus obtaining accurately controlled shape and excellent electrochemical performance of the battery electrode (see the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraphs on page 1 of translation). With regard to the claim 20 method of preparing a battery array comprising a plurality of solid-state batteries prepared by the method of preparing the solid-state battery of independent claim 1, it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Regarding claim 2, although CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach a thickness of the positive electrode element layer to be 1-100 microns, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to manufacture the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing to be of any desired thickness (with respect to the size, shape, and design of the solid-state battery), since it would be merely a design choice based on the step of repeatedly printing the element layer for a plurality of times to a preset thickness (in referring to independent claim 1 above). Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to choose the instantly claimed ranges through process optimization, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (1980).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 pertaining to manufacturing the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing of a material mixture and repeatedly printing to be of any desired thickness, CN ‘953 fails to teach that the electrode is a negative electrode (inclusive of a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode material layer), and additionally including the step of cooling and annealing. However, since CN ‘953 discloses making a positive electrode by a 3D printing process, including repeatedly applying 3D printed layers upon one another as an inherent step in a process of 3D printing to form a positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to manufacture the negative electrode via the same preparation method as applied to independent claim 1 above by using the process of CN ‘953, since CN ‘953 had already taught the process of making any type of electrode, including the distinctly recited positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”). Furthermore, although CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach annealing and cooling of each element layer after printing, such a step would be conventional in any metal powder formation method (see the 3rd paragraph on page 1 of translation) when each element layer is at an undesirably elevated temperature by conducting annealing and cooling, in order to make a final 3D printed product in the highest possible strongest state according to overlapping manufacturing of a solid product in the form of a battery film electrode, thus obtaining accurately controlled shape and excellent electrochemical performance of the battery electrode (see the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraphs on page 1 of translation).
Regarding claims 4 and 5, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 and claim 3 above, CN ‘953 discloses preparing an electrode, but fails to teach wherein the material of a negative electrode current collector includes copper powders to be repeatedly printed in a plurality of layers to produce at a preset thickness. However, since CN ‘953 discloses 3D printing and using different materials, including lithium-based powders that also include one or more of nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, and/or titanium (see the 4th full paragraph under the heading “summary of the invention” on page 1 of translation), one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that any one or more metal powders among a group of transition metals (including copper powder, as claimed) as a metal powder material substituted for nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, and/or titanium produced at a desired thickness would have been an obvious design choice in combination with lithium powder and one or more of the transition metal powders of CN ‘953 (see the 4th full paragraph under the heading “summary of the invention” on page 1 of translation), for the purpose of obtaining an electrode of desired material composition. With regard to the types of materials that are suitable for use, it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 above, as well as that an electrode printing material is a solid-state material comprising oxides (see the 4th full paragraph under the heading “summary of the invention” on page 1 of translation), as an example in the form of lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, CN ‘953 does not disclose manufacture of a solid-state electrolyte element layer, including that the oxide is of a NASICON or garnet structure. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to manufacture the electrolyte element layer via the same preparation method as applied to independent claim 1 above by using the process of CN ‘953, since CN ‘953 had already taught the process of making any type of electrode, including the distinctly recited positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”). With regard to the types of (oxide) materials that are suitable for use, it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 8, although CN ‘953 fails to teach a particle size of the solid-state electrolyte material to be 0.01-30 microns, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to manufacture the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing to be of any desired thickness (with respect to the size, shape, and design of the solid-state battery) while using any desired particle size (or range of particle sizes) of the solid-state electrolyte material, since it would be merely a design choice based on the step of repeatedly printing the element layer for a plurality of times to a preset thickness (in referring to independent claim 1 above). Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to choose the instantly claimed ranges through process optimization, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (1980).
Regarding claim 9, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 pertaining to manufacturing the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing of a material mixture and repeatedly printing to be of any desired thickness, CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach annealing and cooling of each element layer after printing. However, such a step would be conventional in any metal powder formation method (see the 3rd paragraph on page 1 of translation) when each element layer is at an undesirably elevated temperature by conducting annealing and cooling, in order to make a final 3D printed product in the highest possible strongest state according to overlapping manufacturing of a solid product in the form of a battery film electrode, thus obtaining accurately controlled shape and excellent electrochemical performance of the battery electrode (see the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraphs on page 1 of translation).
Regarding claims 10-12, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 and claim 9 pertaining to manufacturing the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing of a material mixture and repeatedly printing to be of any desired thickness, CN ‘953 fails to teach that the material mixture to be 3D printed is aluminum powder (of claim 10) to result in printing of an aluminum oxide layer at a desired thickness of 5 microns or less (of claim 11), as well as obtaining a content of the solid-state electrolyte to be more than that in the positive electrode material element layers close to the positive electrode current collector (of claim 12). However, since CN ‘953 discloses 3D printing and using different powder materials, including lithium powder and one or more of several transition metal powders (see the 4th full paragraph under the heading “summary of the invention” on page 1 of translation), one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that any substituted metal material to be produced at a desired thickness (including relative thicknesses of the positive electrode material element layers close to the positive electrode current collector) would have been an obvious design choice, for the purpose of obtaining an electrode of desired material composition. With regard to the types of (metal) materials that are suitable for use (to form a metal oxide), it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. Regarding the desired thickness of 5 microns or less (as claimed), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to choose the instantly claimed ranges through process optimization, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (1980).
Regarding claims 14 and 18, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 and claim 13, including disclosing/suggesting that the electrode is a negative electrode (inclusive of a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode material layer), CN ‘953 fails to teach a step of printing a surrounding shell with cooling channels for one or both of the negative electrode current collector and/or the negative electrode material layer. However, since CN ‘953 discloses the process of 3D printing of an electrode, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further include printing of a shell along with a current collector and/or a material layer of the electrode, including with cooling channels, in order to manufacture a unitary component of the solid-state battery, thus further enhancing a final 3D printed product in the highest possible strongest state according to overlapping manufacturing of a solid product in the form of a battery film electrode, thus obtaining accurately controlled shape and excellent electrochemical performance of the battery electrode (see the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraphs on page 1 of translation).
Regarding claims 15-17, although CN ‘953 discloses/suggests the steps of independent claim 1 pertaining to manufacturing the positive electrode element layer via 3D printing of a material mixture and repeatedly printing to be of any desired thickness, as well as disclosing/suggesting powder materials of copper (of applicants’ claims 4 and 5) or aluminum (to form aluminum oxide of applicants’ claims 10 and 11), CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach that the electrode is a negative electrode (inclusive of a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode material layer) and its preparation step, as well as preparation of a solid-state electrolyte, of which positive and negative electrode layers and the solid-state electrolyte are all made by the preparation method in (sequential) process steps, as claimed. However, since CN ‘953 discloses making a positive electrode by a 3D printing process, including repeatedly applying 3D printed layers upon one another as an inherent step in a process of 3D printing to form a positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to manufacture the negative electrode (inclusive of a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode material layer) and a solid-state electrolyte via the same preparation method as applied to independent claim 1 above (including sequentially) by using the process of CN ‘953, since CN ‘953 had already taught the process of making any type of electrode, including the distinctly recited positive electrode (see the paragraph bridging pages 2 and 3 of translation, beginning with “positive electrode…”). Furthermore, although CN ‘953 fails to explicitly teach annealing and cooling of each element layer after printing, such a step would be conventional in any metal powder formation method (see the 3rd paragraph on page 1 of translation) when each element layer is at an undesirably elevated temperature by conducting annealing and cooling, in order to make a final 3D printed product in the highest possible strongest state according to overlapping manufacturing of a solid product in the form of a battery film electrode, thus obtaining accurately controlled shape and excellent electrochemical performance of the battery electrode (see the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraphs on page 1 of translation). In addition, since CN ‘953 discloses a 3D printing process and using different materials in the manufacturing process of electrode material layers, any substituted metal material powder to be used in the 3D printing process, such as aluminum or copper (to be produced at a desired thickness in a preset number of layers) would be merely a design choice based on the step of repeatedly printing the element layer for a plurality of times to a preset thickness (in referring to independent claim 1 above). With regard to the types of materials that are suitable for use, it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN P KERNS whose telephone number is (571)272-1178. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-430pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Walker can be reached at (571)272-3458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN P KERNS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1735 June 3, 2026
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