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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/2/24 has been considered by the examiner.
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 12 and 32 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.
Each of claims 12 and 32 recite “with a glossy appearance”, which is indefinite. It is unclear what encompasses “a glossy appearance” and how the limitation further limits the electrode wound body of the claims.
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) 1-41 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Otani, US 2022/0149444 A1.
Otani discloses a secondary battery including: an electrode wound body that has a positive electrode and a negative electrode stacked with a separator interposed therebetween and has a wound structure; and a positive electrode current-collecting plate and a negative electrode current-collecting plate, accommodated in an exterior can, where the positive electrode includes a first covered part covered with a positive electrode active material layer and a positive electrode active material non-covered part on a positive electrode foil, the negative electrode includes a second covered part covered with a negative electrode active material layer and a negative electrode active material non-covered part on a negative electrode foil, the positive electrode active material non-covered part is joined to the positive electrode current-collecting plate at one end of the electrode wound body, the negative electrode active material non-covered part is joined to the negative electrode current-collecting plate at the other end of the electrode wound body, one or both of the positive electrode active material non-covered part and the negative electrode active material non-covered part have a surface formed by bending toward the central axis of the wound structure and overlapping each other, and at least parts of the active material non-covered parts near the central axis are multiply bent in the case of observing sections of the active material non-covered parts in the plane including the central axis [0006-0013]. See at least Figure 1 and Figure 4 of Otani:
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The central axis of the electrode wound body 20 has a through hole 26. For improving contact with the current-collecting plates 24 and 25 for current extraction, the active material non-covered parts 21C and 22C are bent, and the ends 41 and 42 form flat surfaces. The bending directions are directions from the outer edges 27 and 28 of the ends 41 and 42 toward the through hole 26, and peripheral active material non-covered parts that are adjacent in the wound state are bent in a manner of overlapping with each other. It is to be noted that the surface may be a flat surface or a surface with a raised part. In any case, the surface has only to be a smooth surface to the extent that the joint to the current-collecting plate is not affected if the surface has some unevenness [0061]. Grooves 43 (see, for example, FIG. 4B) are formed in radiation directions from the through hole 26. The groove 43 extends from the outer edges 27 and 28 of the ends 41 and 42 to the through hole 26 in the central axis. The grooves 43 remain in the flat surfaces also after bending the active material non-covered parts 21C and 22C, and parts without the grooves 43 are joined (welded or the like) to the positive electrode current-collecting plate 24 or the negative electrode current-collecting plate 25. It is to be noted that the grooves 43 as well as the flat surfaces may be joined to a part of the current-collecting plates 24 and 25 [0062].
The negative electrode current collecting plate 25 has substantially the same shape as the positive electrode current collecting plate 24, but has a different band-shaped part. The band-shaped part 34 of the negative electrode current-collecting plate in FIG. 3B is shorter than the band-shaped part 32 of the positive electrode current-collecting plate, without any part corresponding to the insulating part 32A. The band-shaped part 34 has a round protrusion (projection) 37 indicated by a plurality of circles. Similarly to the positive electrode current-collecting plate 24, the negative electrode current-collecting plate 25 has a hole 36 near the center of a fan-shaped part 33, and the hole 36 is located at a position corresponding to the through hole 26. The fan-shaped part 31 of the positive electrode current-collecting plate 24 and the fan-shaped part 33 of the negative electrode current-collecting plate 25 have a fan shape, and thus cover a part of the ends 41 and 42 [0067].
As shown in FIG. 4B, an end of a thin flat plate or the like was pressed perpendicularly to the ends 41 and 42 to locally bend the ends 41 and 42 and then prepare the grooves 43. In accordance with this method, the groove 43 extending toward the central axis was prepared in radiation directions from the through hole 26. The number of the grooves 43 and the arrangement, shown in FIG. 4B, is considered by way of example only. Then, as shown in FIG. 4C, the same pressure was applied simultaneously from both electrode sides in a direction substantially perpendicular to the ends 41 and 42 to bend the active material non-covered part 21C of the positive electrode and the active material non-covered part 22C of the negative electrode, and then form the ends 41 and 42 so as to have flat surfaces. In this case, the load was applied with the plate surface of the flat plate or the like such that the active material non-covered parts at the ends 41 and 42 overlapped and then bent toward the through hole 26. Thereafter, the fan-shaped part 31 of positive electrode current-collecting plate 24 was subjected to laser welding to the end 41, and the fan-shaped part 33 of the negative electrode current-collecting plate 25 was subjected to laser welding to the end 42 [0088]. See also [0089].
Whether the active material non-covered parts 21C and 22C are “multiply bent or not” can be determined by whether at least parts of sections of the individual active material non-covered parts near the central axis appear to be multiply bent or not in the case of observing the sections of the active material non-covered parts in the plane including the central axis of the electrode wound body. In addition, the number of active material non-covered parts multiply bent near the central axis (the number of active material non-covered parts that appear to be multiply bent in a sectional view) is 8 counted from the central axis side in the example (FIG. 7B). As a preferred aspect of the present disclosure, the number of active material non-covered parts multiply bent is 5 or more. In contrast, the upper limit of the number of active material non-covered parts multiply bent is preferably 15 (not shown), and there is substantially no active material non-covered part multiply bent on the side opposite to the central axis side [0096-0101].
Regarding claims 21 and 41, the battery includes a pair of insulating plate 12 and 13 [0048-0050] as shown by at least Figures 4D and 4F. The insulating plates include a hole aligned with the through hole 26 and holes around the larger hole.
In addition, the multiply bent region is preferably present in a region of 0.1 mm or more and 1.5 mm or less in depth from the surface formed by bending the active material non-covered parts 21C and 22C toward the central axis of the wound structure in a mutually overlapping manner [0097]. See at least Figures 7B and 8B regarding asymmetry of the bent portions of the non-covered parts of the electrodes. At least Figure 4B shows the groove has a rectangular cross section and/or is curved.
Thus, the claims are anticipated. Regarding claim 6, as the separator of Otani is wound, the separator inherently has “third bends”. Regarding claim 7, as the electrodes are wound, the electrodes inherently have “fourth bends” and “fifth bends”. Regarding the limitations of claims 8, 11 and 13-15, see at least the Figures of Otani and the discussion above.
*
Claim(s) 1, 6-20, 22-27 and 31-40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kazuo et al., JP2008-166030 A.
Kazuo teaches a manufacturing method of a battery with excellent high-rate discharge characteristics. The manufacturing method of the spiral electrode body made up by winding around a first electrode with an active material applied on a strip electrode core body and a second electrode with a polarity different from that of the first electrode and with an active material applied on a strip electrode core body through a separator, comprises a take-up body making step, in which a core body exposed part (foil extension) is formed without any active material applied at least on one edge of the first electrode in a width direction, and the first electrode, the separator and the second electrode are folded together with the core body exposed part of the first electrode in a state protruded toward front in a width direction in excess of the separator width, and the three entities are wound around in a length direction to make a take-up body with the core body exposed part of the first electrode protruded in one direction, and a tapping step for flattening (bending to overlap to define a surface) the protruded part in the above direction by putting the take-up body under an up-and-down movement in an axis direction, tapping the protruded part in the above one direction, and bending the protruded core body exposed part toward a main body side of the take-up body (abstract). See at least Figure 2 wherein multiple grooves are formed radially and then radial bending of the grooves is performed to bend radially inward in a substantially uniform manner resulting in the formation of an overall flat surface (substantially smooth), although some wrinkles may occur (may have an asymmetric shape) [0034]. A flat surface can also be formed on the second electrode [0022]. The number of grooves is preferably three or more [0026]. Possible eight grooves [0040]. See also [0028].
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Thus, the claims are anticipated. Regarding claim 6, as the separator of Kazuo is wound, the separator inherently has “third bends”. Regarding claim 7, as the electrodes are wound, the electrodes inherently have “fourth bends” and “fifth bends”. Regarding the limitations of claims 8, 11 and 13-15, see at least the Figures of Kazuo.
Regarding the limitations of claims 16-20, the battery has a current collector abutted against the flat surface [0020; 0027-0028]. A folding line may be formed on the core exposed portion [0023; 0025]. The wound electrode body is inserted into a battery can [0035]. Figure 3 shows the current collecting plate of Kazuo.
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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.
Claim(s) 2-5 and 28-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kazuo et al., JP2008-166030 A.
See discussion of Kazuo above regarding the limitations of claim 1 and claim 22. Kazuo does not explicitly teach the grooves are curved, the depth of the grooves and/or the grooves have a rectangular cross section. However, Kazuo teaches the protruding parts are bent perpendicular to the axial direction without breaking to form a shape that expands in the axial direction of the wound electrode body. Kazuo further teaches the flat surface increases the contact area between the bent portions and the current collector plate increasing the current collection efficiency resulting in a significant improvement in high-rate discharge characteristics [0020]. See also [0022] and [0025]. One of skill would have been motivated to vary the design of the grooves in order to create the flat surface to increase the contact area and improve the current collecting efficiency resulting in improved high-rate discharge characteristics of the battery. The grooves of claimed invention and the grooves of Kazuo perform the same function and/or solve the same problem. In reDailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966) (The court held that the configuration of the claimed disposable plastic nursing container was a matter of choice which a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found obvious absent persuasive evidence that the particular configuration of the claimed container was significant.) See MPEP 2144.04.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Umeyama (JP2017-107709A) teaches a battery manufacturing method which can laser-weld a connection part of a collector to a foil exposed part of an electrode plate at uniform welding strength regardless of the place to prevent a keyhole from penetrating through the collector. In a butting process for butting a plurality of foil exposed parts 21m of an electrode plate 21 to a collecting plate (a collector) 50x to be welded including a recessed groove 53 so that the foil exposed parts 21m overlap with each other and the foil exposed parts 21m stride across the recessed groove 53 and in a welding process for welding the foil exposed parts 21m to a connection part 50 by scanning a rear groove part 55 in a groove extending direction while irradiating laser beam LB to the part, a pair of keyholes 50h whose top part 50hs are positioned in the connection part to be welded are formed at positions across the rear groove part 55 by the laser beam LB, and a range from a site 57 between the pair of keyholes 50h to the opposing face 50a is melted (abstract).
Kasahara (JP2004-095487A) teaches a storage battery with high output and low cost having a structure without apprehension of such disorders like buckling and breakage of metal base material or slipping off at welded part, and excellent falling-proof property, and to provide a method of manufacturing the battery with good productivity. Positive electrode side belt- shaped current collector parts 21 and/or negative electrode side belt-shaped current collector parts 24, protruding in the direction of winding width of an electrode plate group 2 are divided into a plurality of connection pieces 21a, 24a by incisions 27 or notches 29 formed so as to radially extend from the winding axial center. Respective contact pieces are folded into right angle toward the winding axial center, and current collectors 9. 10 are joined to respective contact pieces 21a, 24a (abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACY DOVE whose telephone number is (571)272-1285. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-3:00.
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/TRACY M DOVE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1725
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