Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 17, 2026
Application No. 18/616,540

Positive Electrode Active Material, All-Solid-State Battery, and Method of Manufacturing Positive Electrode Active Material

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Mar 26, 2024
Priority
Mar 28, 2023 — JP 2023-051115
Examiner
MARTIN, ANGELA J
Art Unit
1727
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
67%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 5m
Est. Remaining
36%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 67% — above average
67%
Career Allowance Rate
600 granted / 892 resolved
+2.3% vs TC avg
Minimal -32% lift
Without
With
+-31.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 12m
Avg Prosecution
59 currently pending
Career history
976
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
66.2%
+26.2% vs TC avg
§102
24.4%
-15.6% vs TC avg
§112
8.1%
-31.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 892 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . The pending claims are claims 1-5. 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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yasushi et al., JP 2016039062 Regarding claims 1 and 2, Yasushi et al., teaches a positive electrode active material (0001-0002) comprising: an active material particle (0008; 0016); and a coating film (0007; 0016), wherein the coating film covers at least a part of a surface of the active material particle (0040), the coating film contains P (0024), B and O (0003; 0017) as components. Yasushi et al., teaches a water-soluble compound (B) containing a group 13 element (B) of the Periodic Table and a water-soluble polymer (C) film. Production Example A38 of Yasushi describes “1 part of boric acid + Na2B407 (weight ratio 0.7 : 1) and 0.3 parts of 2 Na Phosphate” as a neutralizing agent and also describes Mg alginate as dispersants ([0126] [0131] Table 2). The neutralizing agent contains water-soluble polymer C ([0126]) formed on the surface of the composite oxide (contains boron, sodium, phosphorus, oxygen). Boric acid (B03H3 has MW 61.8). and Na2B407 has MW 201.2 and Na2HPO4 has MW 14. The wt ratio is 0.41 : 0.59 : 0.3, and the numerical value of the wt ratio is divided by the MW of each of the components to obtain material amount ratio (0.0069 : 0.0029 : 0.0021). Then multiply the number of Na, P, B elements contained in each component by the material amount ratio, Na : P : B in neutralizing agent becomes 0.0101: 0.0021 ; 0.0184. Then the amount of Na is about 0.5; value of Na is about 0.5. Additionally, the water-soluble polymer film corresponds to the coating film. The value of Can/(CP + CB) (Formula 2) is close to the value of the substance amount of Na/(substance amount of P + amount of B) in the polymer membrane. Therefore, (0.5) corresponds to CNa/(CP +CB) = 1.34 Regarding claim 3, Yasushi et al., teaches wherein the positive electrode active material has a coverage of 94% or more (0008; 0015-0016; 0031; 0058), and the coverage is measured by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (0032). Regarding claim 4, Yasushi et al., teaches all-solid-state battery (0006-0013) comprising: a positive electrode (0006-0015); and a negative electrode (0038), wherein the positive electrode includes the positive electrode active material according to claim 1 and a sulfide solid electrolyte (0038-0039). Regarding claim 5, Yasushi et al., teaches method of manufacturing a positive electrode active material (0006-0015), the method comprising: (a) preparing a mixture by mixing a coating liquid and an active material particle (0026-0027; 0044) ; and (b) manufacturing the positive electrode active material (0006-0015) by drying the mixture (0041), wherein the coating liquid includes a solute and a solvent (0036-0038), and the solute contains a phosphate compound (0017) and a borate compound as components, and contains, as an optional component, at least one selected from a group consisting of a lithium compound (0003; 0018; 0020), a sodium salt (0017) and an ammonium salt (0017). Thus, the claims are anticipated. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA J MARTIN whose telephone number is (571)272-1288. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-4pm. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. ANGELA J. MARTIN Examiner Art Unit 1727 /ANGELA J MARTIN/Examiner, Art Unit 1727
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Prosecution Timeline

Mar 26, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 30, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
67%
Grant Probability
36%
With Interview (-31.5%)
3y 12m (~1y 5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 892 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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