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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 09/09/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-6 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 09/09/2026.
Status of the Claims
The claims submitted 12/07/2023 have been entered and fully considered. Claims 1-17 are pending. Claims 1-6 are withdrawn. Claims 7-17 are examined herein.
Information Disclosure Statement
It appears the IDS submitted 04/25/2025 contains a typographical error for U.S. Patent Application Publication Cite No. 1. This publication number, 2020/0002817, to Hsu et al. has a publication date of Jan. 2, 2020. This does not match the rest of the listing in the IDS. It is believed that the citation should read 2020/0028174, as this document is listed in the EPO search report, NPL Cite No. 1 on the same IDS, which matches the listed author and publication date. The IDS has been amended to reflect the publication number 2020/0028174. If applicant wishes 2020/0002817 to Hsu et al. to be considered, the examiner will include the reference in a future Notice of References Cited.
Claim Objections
Claims 7-17 are objected to because of the following informalities: the elected invention of claims 7-17 depends from a withdrawn claim, i.e. claim 1. Claim 7 must be made independent. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities: the viscosity unit should be amended to mPa∙s. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 16-17 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper form because a multiple dependent claim cannot reference two sets of claims to different features. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Accordingly, claims 16-17 have not been further treated on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 7-17 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.
Regarding claims 7-17, the elected invention depends from claim 1 which recites a polymer and the monomer components of the polymer. However, the chemical structure of formulas 1-5 is rendered as black boxes. This makes the scope of the claims unascertainable. For examination purposes, formulas 1-5 will be interpreted as formulas 1-5 as listed in the specification as filed at [0059].
Further regarding claims 7-17, the structure of the polymer is unclear in view of the specification. The inventive embodiment of the polymer appears to be a hydrogenated nitrile rubber (HNBR) with the structure
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101
347
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However, this falls outside the scope of the claimed polymer. The claimed polymer requires a) a monomer represented by formula 1, b) a monomer represented by formulas 2 and/or 3, and c) a monomer represented by formulas 4 and/or 5. In the HNBR, it appears the repeating unit a corresponds to the monomer represented by formula 1, the repeating unit b corresponds to the monomer represented by formula 2, and the repeating unit c corresponds to the monomer represented by formula 3. There is no discussion of the presence of the third monomer represented by at least one of formulas 4 and 5, nor is there discussion in the specification of degree of hydrogenation or saturation of NBR. Applicant is asked for clarification. For the purpose of this Office action, HNBR will be interpreted as reading on the claimed polymer.
Claim 14 contains the trademark/trade name Ketjen black. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe carbon black and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 7-8 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2020/0028174 A1 (“Ahn”).
Regarding claim 7, Ahn discloses a positive electrode active material pre-dispersion composition which includes a lithium iron phosphate-based positive electrode active material, a dispersant, and a solvent (“wetting agent”), wherein the dispersant includes a hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) (Abstract). As best understood in view of the 112(b) rejections above, the HNBR anticipates the claimed polymer. The solvent is isopropyl alcohol (having a -OH functional group) or acetone (having a -C=O functional group) ([0036]).
Regarding claim 8, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 7. Ahn further discloses that the dispersant may be included in an amount of is 0.8 part by weight to 1.5 parts by weight ([0035]). This appears to be based on 100 parts by weight of active material. In examples, 1 and 0.5 parts by weight of HNBR is used (Tables 1, 2).
Regarding claim 11, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 7. Ahn further discloses the lithium iron phosphate-based positive electrode active material is LiFePO4 ([0034]), which corresponds to the claimed material when x=y=z=0.
Regarding claim 12, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 7. Ahn further discloses the surface of the lithium iron phosphate-based positive electrode active material is coated with carbon ([0028], [0034])
Regarding claim 13, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 7. Ahn further discloses a slurry composition for a secondary battery positive electrode comprising the positive electrode active material pre-dispersion composition, a conductive agent, a binder, and an additional solvent ([0038]).
Regarding claim 14, Ahn discloses the positive electrode slurry of claim 13. Ahn further discloses the additional solvent comprises N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) ([0041]); the binder comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene copolymer (PVDF-co-HFP), and tetrafluoroethylene ([0040]); The conductive agent comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of carbon based materials such as carbon black, acetylene black, Ketjen black, and carbon fibers ([0039]).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0028174 A1 (“Ahn”).
Regarding claim 9, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 8. Ahn does not expressly disclose X1/X2 is 0.05-20. However, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the ratio X1/X2 through routine experimentation in finding the optimum viscosity ([0035]-[0037]).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0028174 A1 (“Ahn”) in view of US 2017/0331116 A1 (“Awano”).
Regarding claim 10, Ahn discloses the positive electrode active material composite of claim 7. Ahn does not expressly disclose a specific surface area of the positive electrode active material is 15 m2/g-25 m2/g.
Awano discloses a lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite used for a positive electrode active material of an electrochemical device (Abstract). Awano further discloses the BET specific surface area is 5.0 m2/g or more and 50.0 m2/g or less. When the BET specific surface area of the lithium-phosphorus-based composite oxide/carbon composite is in the foregoing range, it is possible to improve the charge/discharge capacity of an electrochemical device more effectively when the composite is used as the positive electrode active material of the electrochemical device ([0036]-[0037]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the specific surface area of the positive electrode active material to improve the charge/discharge capacity of an electrochemical device as taught by Awano.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0028174 A1 (“Ahn”) in view of US 2022/0384812 A1 (“Woo”).
Regarding claim 15, Ahn discloses the positive electrode slurry of claim 13. Ahn is silent regarding a solid content of the positive electrode slurry is 40%-70%; and/or a viscosity of the positive electrode slurry at 20°C is 3,000 mPa∙s-50,000 mPa∙s.
Woo discloses a pre-dispersant composition for an electrode slurry (Abstract). Woo discloses the amount of amount of the solvent used may be sufficient if the solvent may dissolve or disperse the electrode active material and the binder in consideration of a coating thickness of a slurry and manufacturing yield, and may allow to have a viscosity that may provide excellent thickness uniformity during the subsequent coating for the preparation of the electrode ([0104]). For example, when a positive electrode is prepared, the solvent may be included so that a concentration of a solid content in a slurry including the positive electrode active material, the binder, and the conductive agent is in a range of 20 wt % to 75 wt % ([0105]). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the solid content of the slurry to sufficiently dissolve or disperse the components of the slurry in consideration of a coating thickness of a slurry and manufacturing yield and allow to have a viscosity that provides excellent thickness uniformity during the subsequent coating as taught by Woo.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Robert Scott Carrico whose telephone number is (571)270-5504. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:15AM-6PM ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Barbara Gilliam can be reached at 571-272-1330. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Robert Scott Carrico
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1727
/Robert S Carrico/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1727
