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
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) 1-4, 7-11, and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0328941 to Guo (“Guo”). Regarding claims 1 and 7, Guo discloses lithium ion batteries comprising negative electrode, separator and positive electrode stacked and wound body. The positive electrode includes a current collector with active material applied to both opposed sides of the current collector. A receiving groove (1033) is formed on long-side edge of a first side of the cathode current collector by cleaning off active material from the current collector, leaving a cleaned rectangular portion of the current collector exposed. At paragraph [0128]. On the opposed side of the current collector and exactly opposite to the receiving groove is formed a cathode paired recess (1035) also by removing cathode active material from the opposed side of the current collector. Id. at paragraph [0137]. A cathode electrode plate notch (1034) is formed at the long-side edge of the current collector in the receiving groove/cathode paired recess portion of the collector. Id. at paragraph [0129]. Regarding the length of the notch in the lengthwise direction of the positive electrode relative to the length of the cleaned portions of the collector in the same direction, Guo discloses that the notch should be 0.9-1.2 times as long as the cleaned portions, which overlaps with the recited range where the factor is greater than 0.9 but less than 1, thereby rendering the claimed range obvious. A cathode electrode tab (104) is received in the cathode receiving groove.
Regarding claims 2-4, Guo does not give specific dimensional measurements for these features. Nonetheless, the Office finds that in balancing the desire for a secure tab connection that can carry high current levels against the desire maximize power density by removing as little active material as necessary, the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would find the recited dimensions obvious. MPEP 2144.05.
Further regarding claims 8-11 and 14-18, Guo does not necessarily state that the winding of the electrodes of its invention result in a square wound body. However, given such wound bodies are either around a singular core body to create cylindrical bodies or around two core bodies to create rectangular/square wound bodies, the Office finds that the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would have reason to try any one of those commonly known shapes for the wound body of Guo.
Claims 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, and 20 are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo further in view of Chinese Patent Publication No. 216288522 to Peng, citing to the enclosed machine translation (“Peng”). Guo is applied as described above. Guo discloses that its cleaned portion/notch combination for tab attachment is aimed at minimizing/eliminating burrs that may form when cleaning active material from a current collector for attachment of an electrode tab. Guo discloses rectangular notches but is silent regarding notches having an arc cross shape as claimed.
Peng similarly discloses forming a notch in a cleaned portion of a cathode electrode to minimize/eliminate formation of such burrs. Peng discloses that the notch can be formed in a major arc manner as a way to ensure that the overall inner stress on the inner wall of the arc is relatively uniform. Peng at paragraph [0082]. Thus, the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention in order to provide the arc of Guo such that the inner stress of the inner wall of the notch is uniform would have reason to provide the notch in the arced-manner disclosed in Peng.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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