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 § 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.
Claims 3 and 4 are 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 claims 3 and 4, the terms “positive electrode lead foil” and “negative electrode lead foil” are indefinite, because one of ordinary skill in the art would not be able to determine if this is to mean that the foils comprise lead, such as in a lead acid battery, or if they merely are a positive electrode contact or lead that is formed in the shape of a foil without consulting the specification. The dual meaning creates indefiniteness.
Claim Interpretation
In claims 3 and 4, the term “positive electrode lead foil” is being interpreted as to mean a foil made of a lead-based material that is appropriate for use as a positive electrode in the context of a lead-acid battery;
the term “negative electrode lead foil” is being interpreted as a foil made of a lead-based material that is appropriate for use as a negative electrode in the context of a lead-acid battery.
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 1, 3, and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US-20100183920-A1, Shaffer.
Regarding claim 1, Shaffer teaches in one embodiment (shown in Fig. 1 and 2):
a bipolar storage battery (10) comprising:
a plurality of cell members (12) each including a positive electrode (18 and 34 taken together) including a positive electrode current collector plate (18) and a positive active material layer (34), a negative electrode (20 and 36 taken together) including a negative electrode current collector plate (20) and a negative active material layer (36), and a separator (16) interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, the plurality of cell members being arranged in a stack manner with intervals (See Fig. 1); and
a plurality of space forming members (22, 24) each forming a plurality of spaces (space between each 22 and 22, 24 and 24) for individually housing the plurality of cell members (See Fig. 1).
The one embodiment of Shaffer does not teach the following limitations of claim 1:
That the substrate arranged between the cell members has a through-hole extending in a direction intersecting with a plate surface;
that the positive electrode current collector plate and the negative electrode current collector plate of the cell members adjacent to each other are electrically connected to each other by an electrical conductor arranged in the through-hole;
that the plurality of cell members are electrically connected in series; and
that an area of at least one of a connection surface of the electrical conductor with the positive electrode current collector plate and a connection surface of the electrical conductor with the negative electrode current collector plate is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the electrical conductor parallel to the connection surface in a middle portion in a plate thickness direction of the substrate.
However, Shaffer teaches in a second embodiment (shown in Fig. 3) which includes an alternate separator (40, “substrate”) including substrate layers (43, 44) that covers at least one of a side the positive electrode and a side of the negative electrode of the cell member (Paragraph 72, which describes that 40 is an alternate structure to be placed between positive electrode and negative electrode materials, as well as in between the pasting members 18 and 20). Shaffer teaches also in the second embodiment that the separator (40) arranged between the cell members has a through-hole (50) extending in a direction intersecting with a plate surface (46, 48), the positive electrode current collector plate and the negative electrode current collector plate of the cell members adjacent to each other are electrically connected to each other by an electrical conductor (42, 51) arranged in the through-hole, and the plurality of cell members are electrically connected in series (See Fig. 3, where the positive plate is connected to negative plate), and
an area of at least one of a connection surface of the electrical conductor (area of 46 covered by 51) with the positive electrode current collector plate and a connection surface of the electrical conductor with the negative electrode current collector plate (area of 48 covered by 51) is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the electrical conductor parallel to the connection surface in a middle portion (42) in a plate thickness direction of the substrate.
One of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the instant would have found it obvious modify Shaffer by combining the two embodiments, taking the first embodiment and modifying it wherein the substrate (16) is replaced with the alternate substrate of Fig. 3 as described above. This would be obvious to do because the second embodiment as described explicitly as an additional example of the substrate of the first embodiment (Paragraph 72).
This modified embodiment combining the first and second embodiments does not teach the following limitations of claim 1:
the space forming member includes a substrate that covers at least one of a side the positive electrode and a side of the negative electrode of the cell member, and
a frame body that surrounds a side surface of the cell member,
the cell member and the substrate of the space forming member are arranged to be alternately stacked, the frame bodies are joined to each other.
However, in a third embodiment (shown in Fig. 6), Shaffer teaches a frame body (88) that surrounds a side surface of the pasting member (84), and a grid (86) contained within the frame body that improves structural support during the pasting process (Paragraph 82).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious that the modified embodiment combining the first and second embodiments could be combined with the third embodiment by replacing the pasting member (84) with the cell members of the modified embodiment. This would have been obvious to do because the frame member improves structural support during the pasting process (Paragraph 82).
The frame bodies would then be joined to each other (as shown in Fig. 1) and the cell member and the substrate of the space forming member would be arranged to be alternately stacked (See Fig. 1), which would again be obvious to do because this is how the electrode plate assemblies (14) of Shaffer were meant to be implemented (See Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 3, Modified Shaffer teaches the positive electrode current collector plate is formed of a positive electrode lead foil (Paragraph 70), and the negative electrode current collector plate is formed of a negative electrode lead foil (Paragraph 70).
Regarding claim 4, Modified Shaffer teaches the positive electrode current collector plate is formed of a positive electrode lead foil (Paragraph 70), and the negative electrode current collector plate is formed of a negative electrode lead foil (Paragraph 70).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US-20100183920-A1, Shaffer, in view of US-20200067061-A1, Wynn.
The teachings of Modified Shaffer are outlined above in the rejection of claims 1, 3, and 4. Modified Shaffer additionally teaches that the electrical conductor (51) may be formed of a material having a melting point that is below the thermal degradation temperature of the substrate (Paragraph 56 and 57). Modified Shaffer teaches the purpose of this is disable the operation of the battery if it reaches an unsafe temperature (Paragraph 58).
Modified Shaffer does not teach that the ratio (S2/S1) of an area S2 of the connection surface that is smaller than the cross-sectional area in the middle portion to the cross-sectional area S1 in the middle portion is 0.01 or more and 0.50 or less.
However, Wynn teaches a bus bar having stamped fusible links, wherein the bus bar blank (1210) which comprises the bus bar is 2 to 30 times thicker than the foil sheet (1220) which comprises the fusible links (Paragraph 97). Wynn teaches this is because the fusible links must be sufficiently thin to form a link having the cross-sectional area necessary to act as a fuse in over-current conditions (Paragraph 97). Wynn teaches that the bus bar can’t accommodate the current of multiple battery cells, so the bus bar body must be thicker than the fusible links (Paragraph 93).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing of the instant to form the conductive portions of the substrate of Modified Shaffer (42 and 51) to have the same structural relationship of Wynn, where the contact portions of Modified Shaffer (51) are 2 to 30 times thinner than the middle conductive portion (42). This would have been obvious to do because it would enable the contact portions to more properly melt under undesirable battery operating conditions and protect the non-conductive substrate material while still allowing sufficient current to pass through the conductive portions during regular operation.
By reducing the contact portions width to be 2 to 30 times thinner than the middle conductive portion, when the depth of each of the components is held to be the same, that would mean that the surface area of the middle conductive portion is 2 to 30 times more than that of the contact portions. This comprises a range of ratios of S2/S1, where S1 is the surface area of the middle conductive portion, and S2 is the surface area of the contact portions, to be 0.033 to 0.5, which overlaps with the claimed range of claim 2. Therefore, claim 2 is unpatentable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOUISE JAMES IANNUCCI whose telephone number is (571)272-6917. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M..
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/LOUISE JAMES IANNUCCI/Examiner, Art Unit 1721
/ALLISON BOURKE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1721