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/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of Group 1 (Claims 1-4) in the reply filed on 06/16/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is based on the assertion that examination of Groups I-II would not impose a serious search and examination burden because the search would be coextensive and that a complete search of Group I would necessarily encompass the subject matter of Group II. These arguments are not found persuasive. Although some overlap max exist between the searches, separate searches and examinations are still required for the different groups of claims.
The restrictions requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 5-20 are withdrawn from further consideration. Election was made with traverse in the reply filed on 06/16/26.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (CN 108878873), hereinafter Liu.
Regarding claim 1, Liu teaches a modified lithium manganese iron phosphate positive electrode material, comprising ([0001]):
a doped lithium manganese iron phosphate core, the comprises LiNbO3 and Nb2O5 ([0007-0014]);
a coating layer disposed on a surface of the doped lithium manganese iron phosphate core, comprises an Nb element ([0007-0014]).
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.
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu.
Regarding claim 2, Liu teaches the limitations of claim 1, as stated above. Liu further teaches the modified lithium manganese iron phosphate positive electrode material according to claim 1, wherein the doped lithium manganese iron phosphate core has a chemical formula of LiNbaMnxFe1-xPO4 ([0011]),where:
0 < a ≤ 0.05 ([0011]);
0 < x < 1 ([0011]).
It is well established that where the claimed ranges overlap or lie within the ranges disclosed by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art to select variables within the claimed ranges as a matter of routine optimization of a result-effective variable.
Regarding claim 3, Liu teaches the limitations of claim 1, as stated above. Liu further teaches the coating layer has a thickness of 10-50 nm ([0020], specifically 1-50 mm).
Liu does not explicitly teach the mass ratio of LiNbO3 to Nb2O5 in the coating layer is 1:(0.1-0.4). However, the particular relative amounts of these components constitute a result-effective variable that would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art as affecting coating properties, such as interfacial stability, ionic conductivity, and coating performance.
Additionally, it is well established that where the claimed ranges overlap or lie within the ranges disclosed by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art to select a thickness within the claimed ranges as a matter of routine optimization of a result-effective variable.
Regarding claim 4, Liu teaches the limitations of claim 2, as stated above. Liu further teaches the coating layer has a thickness of 10-50 nm ([0020], specifically 1-50 mm).
Liu does not explicitly teach the mass ratio of LiNbO3 to Nb2O5 in the coating layer is 1:(0.1-0.4). However, the particular relative amounts of these components constitute a result-effective variable that would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art as affecting coating properties, such as interfacial stability, ionic conductivity, and coating performance.
Additionally, it is well established that where the claimed ranges overlap or lie within the ranges disclosed by the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness exists. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art to select a thickness within the claimed ranges as a matter of routine optimization of a result-effective variable.
Conclusion
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/TAMARA ORDUNA/Examiner, Art Unit 1776
/Jennifer Dieterle/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1776
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