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 .
Summary
This is the initial Office Action based on Application 18/590,961 filed 02/29/2024 by Wei-Jen Liu, Yu Lo, Shih Ping Cho, Chung Ping Chou, and Chin Wang Lee.
Claims 1-10 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
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) 1-2 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by SUN (CN 117013035A).
With respect to claims 1-2. SUN teaches a battery cell structure that includes a positive current collector, positive electrode sheet 106, electrolyte membrane 107, negative electrode sheet 108, and negative current collector (paragraph 0031). The cell series all solid state battery adopts a layered stacked structure of the positive electrode layer, solid electrolyte, and negative electrode layer (paragraph 0032) this solid electrolyte being the claimed first solid electrolyte. The positive electrode sheet includes an active material, a solid electrolyte material, a conductive agent, lithium supplement agent, and a binder (paragraph 0035) this binder is taken to be the claimed adhesive, and the solid electrolyte material of the positive electrode sheet is taken to be the claimed second solid electrolyte. The solid electrolyte in the positive active material includes oxide or sulfide electrolytes (paragraph 0035) and includes LPSCl (paragraph 0035) LPSCl is the same solid electrolyte used in the present invention (see example 1 of the present application specification),and is taken to be the claimed oxygen-doped sulfide. The conductive agent then includes a carbon-based material such as graphene (paragraph 0035).
With respect to claim 10. SUN teaches the material for the negative electrode may include lithium metal (paragraph 0010).
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) 3-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN (CN 117013035A) in view of HU (US 2020/0403266 A1).
Claims 3-5 are dependent upon claim 1 which is rejected above under 35 U.S.C. 102 in view of SUN. SUN teaches the positive electrode includes a solid electrolyte material, conductive agent, and active material (paragraph 0035) but does not teach that the solid electrolyte is 20wt% or more based on a total weight of the positive electrode layer, the conductive additive is less than 20 wt%, and the active material is between 60-80 wt%.
HU teaches an energy storage device, such as an all solid state lithium battery which comprises a cathode and an anode, as well as the solid state electrolyte (paragraph 0070). The cathode includes a current collector coated by a solid-state cathode composite material (paragraph 0175). The cathode composite material includes an electronic conductive additive (paragraph 0182) and an inorganic ionic conductor (paragraph 0183). The cathode active material in the cathode composite material is 60-80 wt% (paragraph 0213). The electronic conductive additive may be present in an amount of 0-10 wt% (paragraph 0217). The content of the inorganic ion conductive additive is between 0-40 wt% (paragraph 0219) which is taken to be an overlapping range with the claimed range of greater than 20 wt%. See MPEP 2144.05(I).
At the time the invention was filed one having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include the active material, conductive material, and solid electrolyte material as taught by HU for the positive electrode layer of SUN, as this is a combination of known prior art elements in order to achieve predictable results. Specifically HU teaches known ranges for these elements in the positive electrode.
Claim 6 is dependent upon claim 1 which is rejected above under 35 U.S.C. 102 in view of SUN. SUN teaches the positive electrode sheet includes a binder (paragraph 0009). The teachings of HU from above is repeated here. HU teaches the cathode composite layer includes an organic fiber material present between 5-60 wt% (paragraph 0209). This is taken to be an overlapping range with the claimed amount of 1-5 wt% of the total weight of the positive electrode layer.
At the time the invention as file done having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to form the binder of SUN in a value of 5 wt% as taught by HU, as this is a combination of known prior art elements in order to achieve predictable results.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN (CN 117013035A) in view of JANG (US 2025/0167311 A1).
Claim 7 is dependent upon claim 1 which is rejected above under 35 U.S.C. 102 in view of SUN. SUN teaches the conductive additive may include graphene (paragraph 0035). However SUN does not explicitly teach that the number of layers of the graphene is from 3 -20 layers.
JANG teaches a battery pack which includes solid state battery (abstract). The battery may include graphene sheets which may be either singe layer or few layer graphene, few layer graphene sheets defined as having 2-10 layers of stacked graphite (paragraph 0168).
At the time the invention was filed one having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to have the graphene of SUN be the few layer graphene with 2-10 layers as taught by JANG, as JANG teaches the known forms of graphene, and therefore the 2-10 layers would have been obvious for use with the graphene of SUN.
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SUN (CN 117013035A).
Claim 8 is dependent upon claim 1 which is rejected above under 35 U.S.C. 102 in view of SUN. SUN teaches the battery includes a solid electrolyte layer (paragraph 0032). Similarly the positive electrode includes a solid electrolyte material (paragraph 0035). SUN does not explicitly teach that these are the same material. However having the solid electrolyte material be the same material would have been obvious to try at the time the invention was filed, as this is a choice from a finite list of possible elements, either the solid electrolyte material is the same or different, therefore choosing the same solid electrolyte would have been obvious.
Claim 9 is dependent upon claim 1 which is rejected above under 35 U.S.C. 102 in view of SUN. SUN teaches the conductive agents of the positive electrode includes carbon based materials such as carbon black, carbon fiber, and graphene (paragraph 0035). Therefore having multiple conductive agents including both graphene and carbon black would have been obvious to try at the time the invention was filed.
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN G JELSMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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