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
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:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter “Li”) (JP 2019-036537 A, cited by Applicant; see English machine translation) in view of Kondo et al. (hereinafter “Kondo”) (U.S. 2019/0315628A1).
Regarding claims 1, 2 and 4, Li teaches a lithium solid state battery 10 comprising an anode current collector 1 (negative electrode current collector), a solid electrolyte layer 3 (electrolyte layer), a cathode active material layer 4 (positive electrode), and a cathode current collector 5, stacked in this order. An Li occlusion layer 2 (intermediate layer) is further provided between the anode current collector 1 and the solid electrolyte layer 3. A negative electrode active material layer 6 made of precipitated lithium (metallic lithium) is formed between the solid electrolyte layer 3 and the Li occlusion layer 2 upon charging. (see paragraph 22; FIG. 1). The Li occlusion layer may comprise a mixture of a carbon material and a solid electrolyte (see paragraph 28). As a carbon material, graphene may be used (see paragraph 30).
Li is silent as to hydrogen boride.
Kondo teaches that sheets of hydrogen boride may be utilized in the electrode of a lithium secondary battery and is expected to have properties that are similar to that of graphene (see paragraphs 3, 52 and 56). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have utilized hydrogen boride as taught by Kondo in combination with graphene in the Li occlusion layer of Li because it is prima facie obvious to combine two compositions each of which is taught by the prior art to be useful for the same purpose, in order to form a third composition to be used for the very same purpose. The idea of combining them flows logically from their having been individually taught in the prior art. See In re Kerkhoven, 626 F.2d 846, 850, 205 USPQ 1069, 1072 (CCPA 1980) (see MPEP § 2144.06).
Regarding claim 3, Li teaches that the solid electrolyte of the Li occlusion layer may comprise inorganic solid electrolytes such as sulfide solid electrolytes (see paragraph 33).
Regarding claim 5, Li teaches that the solid electrolyte material used in the solid electrolyte layer 3 may be the same as that in the Li occlusion layer (see paragraph 45). Thus, the solid electrolyte layer 3 may also comprise a sulfide solid electrolyte (see paragraph 33).
Regarding claim 6, Li teaches that the material of the negative electrode current collector may include SUS (stainless steel) (see paragraph 27).
Conclusion
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/STEPHAN J ESSEX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727