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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-11 are allowable over the prior art of record.
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.
1. Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato et al. (US20060286458).
2. Regarding claims 1-5, Sato teaches a secondary battery (see Fig. below) comprising: an electrode assembly comprising: a first electrode; a second electrode; and a separator between the first electrode and the second electrode; a case having an opening at one or more sides to accommodate the electrode assembly in the case through the opening; one or more cap plates sealing the opening at the one or more sides of the case, respectively; and a reference electrode located in a void volume inside the case (see Fig. below).
3. Sato teaches wherein the case has a prismatic shape (For example, the present invention is applicable to batteries of not only a cylindrical shape as in Examples but also coin, prismatic [0107]).
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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 of this title, 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.
4. Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (US20060286458) in view of Lee (US 20250046788, PCT filed 7/21/2023).
5. Regarding claim 12, Sato teaches a one or more secondary batteries (see Fig. below), each comprising: an electrode assembly comprising: a first electrode;
a second electrode; and a separator between the first electrode and the second electrode; a case having an opening at one or more sides to accommodate the electrode assembly in the case through the opening; one or more cap plates sealing the opening at the one or more sides of the case, respectively; and a reference electrode located in a void volume inside the case (see Fig. below).
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6. Sato is silent secondary battery module comprising a cell stack comprising a plurality of battery cells located along one direction.
7. Lee teaches a secondary battery module comprising a cell stack comprising a plurality of battery cells (battery module 300 is provided as a set of a plurality of secondary batteries 200 [0065]) located along one direction (see Figure 3), wherein at least one of the plurality of secondary batteries 200 may be provided as a three-electrode battery 100 equipped with a reference electrode 110 [0063] for the benefit of a power supply device that is capable of supplying stable power by monitoring the state of the secondary battery in real time (abstract).
8. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated Sato into Lee’s battery module for the benefit of a power supply device that is capable of supplying stable power by monitoring the state of the secondary battery in real time.
9. Regarding claim 13, Lee teaches a battery management system electrically connected to the one or more secondary batteries (a battery management system (BMS) unit 400 configured to control the battery module 300 [0062]), and configured to calculate at least one of a potential value of the first electrode or a potential value of the second electrode, by detecting at least one of a voltage between the reference electrode and the first electrode or a voltage between the reference electrode and the second electrode (a first voltage measuring unit configured to measure a first voltage value between the reference electrode and the first electrode or between the reference electrode and the second electrode and configured to transfer the first voltage value to the BMS unit; and a second voltage measuring unit configured to measure a second voltage value between the first electrode and the second electrode and configured to transfer the second voltage value to the BMS unit [0023]).
10. Regarding claim 14, Lee teaches wherein the one or more secondary batteries comprises two or more secondary batteries (see Figure 3), wherein at least one of the two or more secondary batteries is located at an outermost side of the cell stack, and wherein at least another one of the two or more secondary batteries is located at a center of the cell stack (see Figure 3).
Conclusion
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/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
