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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10-12 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/27/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 10/02/2023 and 07/01/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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, 3-7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2012/0082894 to Takada et al. in view of JP2019164961A to Ichikawa et al.
With respect to claims 1, 4 and 9, Takada et al. teach a battery comprising: an anode (a first electrode); a cathode (a second electrode); and a solid electrolyte layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the first electrode includes: a current collector; and an active material layer disposed between the current collector and the solid electrolyte layer, the active material layer contains bismuth and nickel (Takada et al.: Sections [0031], [0080]-[0083] and [0107]).
Takada et al. do not specifically teach the active material layer contains Bi3Ni, and the Bi3Ni has a crystal structure of space group Pnma; wherein the active material layer contains the Bi3Ni as a main component of an active material.
However, Ichikawa et al. teach a negative electrode active material contains Bi3Ni, and the Bi3Ni has a crystal structure of space group Pnma; wherein the negative electrode active material contains the Bi3Ni as a main component of an active material. (Ichikawa et al.: Page 4, Paragraphs 6-8).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Takada et al. with the teaching above from Ichikawa et al. with the motivation of having a means such it would improve the capacity retention ratio of the battery in charge or discharge cycle.
With respect to claim 3, Ichikawa et al. teach the battery, wherein the active material layer is free of the solid electrolyte (Takada et al.: Sections [0031], [0080]-[0083] and [0107]).
With respect to claim 5, Ichikawa et al. teach the battery, wherein an anode lead 26 (the current collector) contains Ni (Takada et al.: Section [0121]).
With respect to claim 6, Ichikawa et al. teach the battery, wherein the active material layer is a heat-treated plating layer for evaporating the solution in the slurry (Takada et al.: Sections [0080]-[0083]).
With respect to claim 7, Ichikawa et al. teach the battery, wherein the solid electrolyte layer contains lithium iodide (a halide solid electrolyte), and the halide solid electrolyte is substantially free of sulfur (Takada et al.: Section [0107]).
Claims 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2012/0082894 to Takada et al. in view of JP2019164961A to Ichikawa et al. in further view of US Patent Application Publication 2020/0350629 to Fujimoto et al.
With respect to claim 2, Ichikawa et al. do not specifically teach the battery, wherein the active material layer contains at least one selected from the group consisting of LiBi and Li.sub.3Bi.
However, Fujimoto et al. teach a lithium secondary battery comprising an anode, wherein the anode comprising LiBi (Fujimoto et al.: Section [0110]).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Takada et al. with the teaching above from Fujimoto et al. with the motivation of having a means such it would improve the energy density of the battery.
With respect to claim 8, Ichikawa et al. do not specifically teach the battery, wherein the solid electrolyte layer contains a sulfide solid electrolyte.
However, Fujimoto et al. teach a lithium secondary battery comprising the solid electrolyte layer contains a sulfide solid electrolyte (Fujimoto et al.: Section [0105]).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Takada et al. with the teaching above from Fujimoto et al. with the motivation of having a means such it would improve the energy density of the battery.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINGWEN R ZENG whose telephone number is (571)272-6649. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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/LINGWEN R ZENG/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 9/30/2026
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