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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted on 03/07/2024 and 12/09/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication 2023/0387404 to Kim et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication 2024/0213470 to Kwon et al.
With respect to claims 1, 4 and 7, Kim et al. teach a battery cell comprising: C cathode electrodes each including a cathode active material layer arranged on a cathode current collector, wherein the cathode active material layer comprises a cathode active material including LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4), where x and y are less than one and M2 includes one or more metal dopants; A anode electrodes each including an anode active material layer arranged on an anode current collector, wherein the anode active material layer comprises an anode active material including graphite and silicon; and S separators (Kim et al.: Sections [0027]-[0028], [0039] and [0076]).
Kim et al. do not specifically the battery cell comprising the anode active material including at least one of lithium silicon oxide (LSO) and silicon-carbon (Si-C); wherein the cathode active material layer comprises: 90 wt % to 97 wt % of the cathode active material, 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a conductive additive, and 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a binder; wherein a D50 particle size of the at least one of the LSO and the Si—C is in a range from 3 μm to 20 μm.
However, Kwon et al. teach a battery cell comprising a positive electrode active material including lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) and a negative electrode active material including a silicon-carbon composite; wherein the positive active material layer comprises: 90 wt% to 98 wt% (100 wt% - 5 wt% of conductive additive - 5 wt% of binder to 100 wt% - 1 wt% of conductive additive - 1 wt% of binder) of the positive active material, 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a conductive additive, and 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a binder; wherein a D50 particle size of the Si—C is in a range from 0.5 to 20 μm (fully encompassed the range of 3 μm to 20 μm) (Kwon et al.: Sections [0031], [0037], [0053]-[0056], [0063] and [0064]).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Kim et al. with the above teaching from Kwon et al. with the motivation of having a means such the specific features would improve charge/discharge efficiency, life-cycle characteristics and thermal stability of the battery.
Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. do not specifically teach C, A and S are integers greater than one.
However, it would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have C, A and S are integers greater than one since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8 (CA7 1977).
With respect to claim 2, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, wherein the one or more metal dopants are selected from a group consisting of titanium (Ti), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), niobium (Nb), cobalt (Co), and yttrium (Y) and tungsten (W) (Kim et al.: Section [0027]-[0028]).
With respect to claim 3, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, wherein the cathode active material includes a carbon coating (Kim et al.: Section [0039]).
With respect to claims 5, 6 and 8, instant claim is proviso upon limitation LSO, which is not required by the claim 1; therefore, the limitation of instant claims do not come into force.
With respect to claim 9, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, wherein the cathode active material comprises LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4), LiMn0.7Fe0.26Nb0.02Y0.01Mg0.01PO4 is an example of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4, both the specification and the claim limitation do not show the criticality of this example over any other examples of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4). In other words, other examples of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4) would have similar or the same characteristic as LiMn0.7Fe0.26Nb0.02Y0.01Mg0.01PO4.
With respect to claim 10, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. teach the same cathode and anode active material of a battery, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed cathode and anode active material the battery and those disclosed by Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al., it would have expected for the battery of Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. to have capacity loading of the cathode active material layer is in a range from 3 to 7 mAh/cm2; and capacity loading of the anode active material layer is in a range from 3.3 to 7.7 mAh/cm2 as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
With respect to claims 11, 13 and 16, Kim et al. teach a battery cell comprising: C cathode electrodes each including a cathode active material layer arranged on a cathode current collector, wherein the cathode active material layer comprises a cathode active material including LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4), where x and y are less than one and M2 includes one or more metal dopants selected from a group consisting of titanium (Ti), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), niobium (Nb), cobalt (Co), and yttrium (Y) and tungsten (W); A anode electrodes each including an anode active material layer arranged on an anode current collector, wherein the anode active material layer comprises an anode active material including graphite and silicon; and S separators (Kim et al.: Sections [0027]-[0028], [0039] and [0076]).
Kim et al. do not specifically the battery cell comprising the anode active material including at least one of lithium silicon oxide (LSO) and silicon-carbon (Si-C); wherein the cathode active material layer comprises: 90 wt % to 97 wt % of the cathode active material, 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a conductive additive, and 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a binder; wherein a D50 particle size of the at least one of the LSO and the Si—C is in a range from 3 μm to 20 μm.
However, Kwon et al. teach a battery cell comprising a positive electrode active material including lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) and a negative electrode active material including a silicon-carbon composite; wherein the positive active material layer comprises: 90 wt% to 98 wt% (100 wt% - 5 wt% of conductive additive - 5 wt% of binder to 100 wt% - 1 wt% of conductive additive - 1 wt% of binder) of the positive active material, 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a conductive additive, and 1 wt % to 5 wt % of a binder; wherein a D50 particle size of the Si—C is in a range from 0.5 to 20 μm (fully encompassed the range of 3 μm to 20 μm) (Kwon et al.: Sections [0031], [0037], [0053]-[0056], [0063] and [0064]).
It would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have modified Kim et al. with the above teaching from Kwon et al. with the motivation of having a means such the specific features would improve charge/discharge efficiency, life-cycle characteristics and thermal stability of the battery.
Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. do not specifically teach C, A and S are integers greater than one.
However, it would have been obvious as of the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to have C, A and S are integers greater than one since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8 (CA7 1977).
With respect to claim 12, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, wherein the cathode active material includes a carbon coating (Kim et al.: Section [0039]).
With respect to claims 14, 15 and 17, instant claim is proviso upon limitation LSO, which is not required by the claim 1; therefore, the limitation of instant claims do not come into force.
With respect to claim 18, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, wherein the cathode active material comprises LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4), LiMn0.7Fe0.26Nb0.02Y0.01Mg0.01PO4 is an example of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4, both the specification and the claim limitation do not show the criticality of this example over any other examples of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4). In other words, other examples of LiM2xMnyFe1-x-yMyPO4 (LiMnxFe1-x-yMyPO4) would have similar or the same characteristic as LiMn0.7Fe0.26Nb0.02Y0.01Mg0.01PO4.
With respect to claim 19, Kim et al. teach the battery cell, Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. teach the same cathode and anode active material of a battery, therefor, lacking of any clear distinction between the claimed cathode and anode active material the battery and those disclosed by Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al., it would have expected for the battery of Kim et al. in view of Kwon et al. to have capacity loading of the cathode active material layer is in a range from 3 to 7 mAh/cm2; and capacity loading of the anode active material layer is in a range from 3.3 to 7.7 mAh/cm2 as claimed lacking unexpected result showing otherwise.
Conclusion
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/LINGWEN R ZENG/Examiner, Art Unit 1723 6/23/2026
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