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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0088425 to Lee et al (“Lee”) in view of Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-216997 to Ebi (citing to the enclosed machine translation “Ebi”). Regarding claims 1-6, 10-13, 15, and 17, Lee discloses a cylindrical battery including a rivet terminal penetrating a closed portion of the cylindrical housing. Lee at paragraph [0436]. The rivet terminal is connected to an uncoated portion of a first electrode plate. A sealing cap plate seals the open end of the cylindrical housing. Id. at paragraph [0450]. A second electrode plate is connected to the housing. Lee is open to either the first or second electrode being the negative electrode with the second electrode being opposite polarity. Id. at paragraph [0397]. The two electrodes are formed in a jelly roll assembly that includes the first electrode plate, a separator, and the second electrode plate. Id. at paragraph [0396]. The electrode plates may have active material coated on one or both sides of the current collector plate. Id. at paragraph [0127]. One long end of each of the electrode current collectors is uncoated with active material continuously along the entire length of the current collector, with the uncoated region of one of the electrodes being one side (upper/lower) and that of the other electrode being on the opposite side (lower/upper). This is considered to correspond to the upper-end uncoated portion of the negative electrode/lower-end coated portion of the positive electrode , where when each electrode has active material applied to both sides of the collector, the uncoated portion of a first side of the negative electrode corresponding to the recited first upper-end negative electrode uncoated portion and the uncoated portion of the second side of the negative electrode corresponding to the recited second upper-end negative electrode uncoated portion; and those of the positive electrode respectively corresponding to the first lower-end positive electrode uncoated portion and the second lower-end positive electrode uncoated portion. These uncoated portions are separated into tabs by laser notching. Id. at paragraph [0132] and [0135]. Lee shows that it was common to leave the shorter winding core end of each collector uncoated (front-end uncoated portion) and the short terminating end of the collector uncoated (terminating-end uncoated portion) so as to avoid short circuiting. Id. at Figure 2. However, Lee is silent regarding a length of a first negative electrode active layer formed on a first side of the collector being different than that of a second negative electrode active layer formed on the other side of the collector.
Ebi discloses jelly-roll electrode assemblies for use is batteries where both sides of the collector of each electrode in the electrode assembly is coated with active material. Where the negative electrode is the innermost electrode of the jelly-roll assembly, Ebi discloses on the core end of the collector providing an innermost side of the collector with a front-end uncoated portion longer than the front-end uncoated portion of the outer side of the negative collector because this portion of the innermost side of the collector does not oppose positive electrode active material and thus is not electroactive. This results in a shorter active material layer on the innermost layer compared to the outermost layer, and also results in a longer front-end uncoated portion on the innermost layer compared to the outermost layer of the negative electrode collector. Ebi at paragraph [0006].
Similarly, Ebi discloses providing the outer surface of the positive electrode collector near the terminating end with a terminating-end uncoated potion that is longer than the terminating-end uncoated portion of the innermost surface of the positive electrode resulting in different lengths for the active material layers of the positive electrode as well. Ebi at paragraph [0006]
Accordingly, in order to make the battery of Lee more compact the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would have had reason to ensure that an innermost layer of the negative electrode has a longer front-end uncoated region than the outermost layer of the negative electrode, and the outermost layer of the negative electrode has a longer terminating-end uncoated region than the innermost layer of the negative electrode, with the active material layer of the innermost layer and that of the outermost layer having different lengths.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, the tabs of Lee do not appear regularly, with some embodiments having them not included at a core/winding end and a terminating end. Lee at figures 4b, 13 and 15
Regarding claims 8 and 9, as noted above, the second electrode of Lee is connected to the housing. Where the positive electrode is the one connected to the rivet, that makes the electrode connected to the housing the negative electrode. The Office finds that connecting any uncoated portion of the collector would have been an obvious means of achieving electrical connection. The separator necessarily continues to extend between the two electrodes and acts to shield the electrode not connecting to the housing from contacting the housing.
Regarding claims 16 and 18, as noted above, Lee allows flexibility with whether the first or second electrode is the negative electrode. Thus, in embodiments where the innermost electrode is the positive electrode, then it will be the one with a first turn of the innermost portion of the collector being uncoated at the winding end (front-end).
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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