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 .
Specification
The use of the term SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 ® which is a trade name or a mark used in commerce, has been noted in this application. The term should be accompanied by the generic terminology; furthermore the term should be capitalized wherever it appears or, where appropriate, include a proper symbol indicating use in commerce such as ™, SM , or ® following the term.
Although the use of trade names and marks used in commerce (i.e., trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks) are permissible in patent applications, the proprietary nature of the marks should be respected and every effort made to prevent their use in any manner which might adversely affect their validity as commercial marks.
Claim Warning
Applicant is advised that should claim 3 be found allowable, claim 12 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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 1-15, 51, and 52 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 1-15, the preamble of each of these claims is directed to a “nano-deivce” which is necessarily of narrower scope than the unmodified “device”. However, it is unclear if “nano” is meant to place a limit on a maximum dimension of the device (i.e., implies an additional limitation beyond those recited in the broadest claim) or instead , limit the types of materials and objects that may make up the device, etc., The term is not clearly defined in the specification, nor is it an understood term of art with a known specific meaning.
Further regarding claim 9, there is no antecedent basis for “the first terminal”. For examination purposes it will be presumed that this claim should depend from claim 4 rather than claim 3. Similarly regarding claim 10, there is no antecedent basis for “the second terminal”, and for examination purposes it will be presumed that the claim is intended to depend from claim 4.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 13-15, and 48-52 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0027793 to Joo (“Joo”).
Regarding claims 1, 7, 48, and 50, Joo discloses electrodes for lithium batteries, the electrodes comprising a substrate made of a conductive porous mesh of carbon nanotubes corresponding to the recited mesh of conductive nanostructures of claim 1 and the plurality of conductive nanostructures of claim 48. This conductive mesh of carbon nanotubes is further coated with a conductive additive selected from nanostructured carbon black and carbon nanotubes. This conductive additive is considered to correspond to the recited nanoparticle network of claim 1.
Further regarding claims 4 and 5, the battery of Joo includes a current collector attached to the outer surface of the negative electrode substrate, and a current collector attached to the outer surface of the positive electrode substrate, each of which is considered to correspond to a first and second terminal respectively with the electrode substrates located therebetween. Further regarding claims 9 and 49, because the current collector of the negative electrode is in contact with the substrate, it is in electrical contact with the carbon nanotubes of the carbon nanotube mesh making up that substrate.
Further regarding claims 13-15, 51, and 52, Joo uses the term “nanostructured” as it is understood in the art (i.e., to refer to materials having a diameter less than 1 micron, including from 5nm to 250nm). Moroever, they are disclosed as having a length ranging from 1 micron to 500 microns.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WYATT P MCCONNELL whose telephone number is (571)270-7531. The examiner can normally be reached 9am to 5pm M-F.
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/WYATT P MCCONNELL/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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