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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawate (US 2019/0044121 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 2014/0186670 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kawate discloses a battery (i.e. power storage cell) comprising a wound electrode body (400) with a plurality of positive (410) and negative (420) electrode tabs protruding upward; a cell case (100) accommodating the electrode assembly; and an insulating member (sheet 350 and buffer 600) between the assembly and the case; wherein the case includes a case main body (111) with an opening (112) that opens upwards and a lid (110) that closes that opening, and the insulating member has a covering portion (600) that covers the upper surface of the electrode assembly (Kawate Figs. 1 and 2, and [0045]-[0054]).
Kawate does not teach that the covering portion has a holding portion that holds an electrolyte solution leaked from the electrode assembly. Kim is directed to an improved insulator for jelly-roll batteries (Kim Abstract). Kim teaches that replacing the typical insulator plate of a jelly-roll battery with a plurality of fine pores to allow permeation of the electrolyte improves injectability without allowing penetration of foreign materials (Kim [0015]-[0016]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to use the porous insulator of Kim for the buffer of Kawate to improve injectability. As the pores are permeable to the electrolyte, they will necessarily hold electrolyte that leaks from the assembly and therefore constitute holding portions.
Regarding claim 2, modified Kawate teaches that a checker pattern of protrusions (i.e. a lattice structure) improves mechanical strength (Kim [0030] and Fig. 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to use a lattice structure to improve mechanical strength. As the pores are fine and permeable to the electrolyte (Kim Abstract), they will necessarily hold the electrolyte by capillary action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Guen (US 2020/0091484 A1) discloses an insulating member for a battery comprising lattice-shaped perforations (Guen Fig. 5A).
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/J.A.C/ Examiner, Art Unit 1722
/NIKI BAKHTIARI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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