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 the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 5-7 and 9-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “a bent portion of the second electrode plate is in contact with an inner wall of the shell” at line 14 and “the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction, a tab of the first electrode plate is located at an edge of the first electrode plate adjacent to the bent portion, and a tab of the second electrode plate is located at an end of the second electrode plate away from the bent portion” at line 17.
However, the specification does not appear to disclose “a tab of the first electrode plate is located at an edge of the first electrode plate adjacent to the bent portion” where “the bent portion” is the bent portion of the second electrode plate.
As shown below, the tab of the first electrode plate is not adjacent to the bent portion of the second electrode plate:
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It is also recommended to remove “the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction” at line 17 because it is a redundant limitation.
This rejection could be overcome by amending starting at line 17 as “a bent portion of the first electrode plate, and a tab of the second electrode plate is located at an end of the second electrode plate away from the bent portion of the second electrode plate”.
Claims 5-7 and 9-17 are likewise rejected for containing new matter by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim 18 likewise recites “the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction, a tab of the first electrode plate is located at an edge of the first electrode plate adjacent to the bent portion, and a tab of the second electrode plate is located at an end of the second electrode plate away from the bent portion” at line 17 and is rejected for the same reason as discussed for claim 1 above and could be amended as shown above for claim 1 to overcome the rejection.
Claim 19 is rejected by virtue of its dependence on claim 18.
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 18-19 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.
Claim 18 recites “the second direction being perpendicular or parallel to the first direction” in line 8 and then “the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction” in line 17 and it is unclear if the second direction could be parallel to the first direction or not.
This could be amended at line 8 as “the second direction being perpendicular
Allowable Subject Matter
In response to Applicant’s filing of a terminal disclaimer, the double-patenting rejections are withdrawn.
Claims 1 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 as discussed above, but the subject matter would be allowable if amended as suggested above or similar thereto.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record discloses electrode assemblies and methods of manufacturing an electrode assembly comprising first and second electrode plates where the first electrode plate is repeatedly folded and the second electrode plate is repeatedly folded or folded once and arranged such that the folds or bent portions of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate are perpendicular to each other and where a bent portion of the second electrode plate may be arranged such that it faces a direction of gravity and where tabs are arranged adjacent to the bent portions and the prior art also teaches placing a bent portion of an electrode in contact with an inner wall of a shell of a battery cell.
The closest prior art of record includes:
Zhu et al. (US 20170149092) corresponding to Applicant disclosed WO 2017089320A1, which discloses folding electrodes such that the folds are arranged perpendicular to each other. Zhu et al. uses more than two folds for each electrode and the tab of the second electrode is not reasonably located at an end of the second electrode plate away from its bent portion.
Kitaoka et al. (previously attached translation of Applicant disclosed JP H0917441A) discloses folding electrodes such that the folds are arranged perpendicular to each other. Kitaoka et al. uses more than two folds for each electrode and the tab of the second electrode is not reasonably located at an end of the second electrode plate away from its bent portion.
Ju et al. (US 20240097177A) discloses folding electrodes such that the folds are arranged perpendicular to each other (Fig. 9) and where the tabs are located at the folds/bent portion (para. [0047]).
The prior art of record did not reasonably disclose, teach or otherwise suggest a battery cell with an electrode assembly or a method of manufacturing a battery cell with an electrode assembly having a first electrode plate which is repeatedly folded in a first direction such that the first electrode plate comprises a plurality of first stack sections connected and stacked in sequence and a second electrode plate having an opposite polarity to the first electrode plate where the second electrode plate is folded once in a second direction such that the second electrode plate comprises two second stack sections connected to each other by a bent portion, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction where the bent portion of the second electrode plate is in contact with an inner wall of a shell of the battery cell and wherein a surface of the bent portion of the second electrode plate facing away from the first electrode plate faces the direction of gravity and where the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction and a tab of the first electrode plate is located at an edge of the first electrode plate adjacent to a bent portion of the first electrode plate and a tab of the second electrode plate is located at an end of the second electrode plate away from the bent portion of the second electrode plate.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/P.M.M./Examiner, Art Unit 1774
/CLAIRE X WANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1774
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