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 § 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.
Claims 1-2, and 5-7, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Onishi et al (US 20210218009 A1) in view of Masuda et al (WO 2021039675 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Onishi teaches A binder composition for a non-aqueous secondary battery negative electrode comprising a particulate binder and water (particulate polymer A; Paragraph [0026-0028]), wherein the particulate binder includes a polymer including an ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid monomer unit ((meth)acrylic acid; Paragraph [0041]), an aromatic vinyl monomer unit ([Paragraph 0030]), and an aliphatic conjugated diene monomer unit (1,3-butadiene; Paragraph [0052]), when a film of the particulate binder is formed, the film has: a degree of swelling of insoluble content in tetrahydrofuran of not less than 300 mass% and not more than 1500 mass% (degree of swelling ranging from 101% to 2000%; Paragraph [0089]); an amount of insoluble content in tetrahydrofuran of not less than 85 mass% and not more than 99 mass% (a proportion of tetrahydrofuran insoluble content ranging from 80% to 99% by mass; Paragraph [0081]), and a ratio of viscosity at pH 8.0 relative to viscosity at pH 3.0 of the binder composition when set to a solid content concentration of 30 mass% is not less than 1.5 and not more than 200. Onishi is silent to the viscosity ratio of the binder composition. However, the disclosure of the instant application includes example embodiments of the invention in Table 1. From this table, the percent composition of the ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, aromatic vinyl, and aliphatic conjugated diene monomer units in Examples 1-11 and 17 are taught by the ranges present in Masuda. Since viscosity is a physical property of the compound, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the binders taught by the ranges of Masuda would have similar viscosities to the embodiments of Examples 1-11 and 17 of the instant application. Furthermore, the instant application discloses optional use of viscosity modifiers which may be added to alter the viscosity of the solution without distinctly modifying the binder formula itself.
Regarding Claim 2, the binder composition according to Claim 1 is taught by Onishi in view of Masuda. A proportion of the ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid monomer unit between 2-35% by mass is taught by Examples 1-9 in Table 1 of Masuda.
Regarding Claims 5-7, the binder composition according to Claim 1 is taught by Onishi in view of Masuda. Onishi further teaches a negative electrode with a current collector and mixed material layer, without any specific limitations, with an adhesive material applied to the surface of the electrode. The adhesive material is a dried product of the particulate polymer slurry (Paragraphs [0152-0157]). Onishi describes this combination as a battery member (Paragraph [0015]) and teaches a non-aqueous secondary battery comprised in part of a battery member, which can be a negative electrode (Paragraph [0019]).
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Onishi et al (US 20210218009 A1) in view of Masuda et al (WO 2021039675 A1) and further in view of Arai (WO 2019208419 A1).
Regarding Claims 3-4, the binder composition according to Claim 1 is taught by Onishi in view of Masuda. However, a range of values for the percent composition of an ethylenically unsaturated amide monomer is not disclosed. Arai teaches a binder comprised of 1,3-butadiene (aliphatic conjugated diene monomer), styrene (aromatic vinyl monomer), methacrylic acid (ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid monomer), and acrylamide (ethylenically unsaturated amide monomer). Specifically, Examples 1-7 of Table 1 in Arai disclose binders with amide component proportions between 1-18 percent by mass. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a percent composition by mass of the ethylenically unsaturated amide monomer unit similar to what is taught by Arai.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN M KNOWLAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0913. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00am - 4:30pm.
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/KEVIN M KNOWLAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1783
/MARIA V EWALD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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