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) submitted on 22 April 2024 and 04 February 2026 were considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2020/0006823 (Chung) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0375077 (Shin).
Considering claim 1, Chung teaches a battery module that includes a plurality of battery cells in contact with plates that dissipate the heat generated in the battery cells [ABS]. The battery cells are formed by placing an electrode assembly in a pouch made of a casing material which includes sealing portions that may be joined by a thermal fusing method [0031, 0036, 0041]. The end edge, sealing portion 2022 of the pouch 11, is interpreted to be analogous to the peripheral edge of the instant claim [Fig 3]. In an embodiment of the invention, the battery cells 10 are arranged side by side and housed in a case 30 comprising a first plate 50, a second plate 40, and covers 60 [0050, Fig 1,2]. In contact with the side of the second plate 40 that faces the battery cells is a heat transfer material 90, configured to facilitate the transfer of heat from the sealing portion 2022 to the second plate 40 [0065, Fig 6A]. Chung is silent to explicitly teach the casing material and/or the sealing portions of the battery cells to include a metal layer.
In the same field of endeavor of power storage, Shin teaches a battery module that includes a plurality of pouch-type batteries, each including an electrode assembly and fixed to a cooling plate that includes a thermally conductive material [ABS]. The pouch exterior includes an outer insulating layer and a metal layer, for example aluminum [0065]. Additionally, there is a configuration of the invention in which the metal layer at an end of a sealing portion is exposed and is in contact with the cooling plate [0121]. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing to modify the pouch casing of Chung to include a metal layer as taught by Shin in order to improve heat dissipation properties of the cell [0065].
Considering claim 2, Chung teaches accommodation grooves 42 on the side of the second plate 40 that faces the battery cells 10, the accommodation grooves 42 housing the sealing portions 2022 and the heat transfer material 90 [Chung: 0061, 0065, Fig 6A]. Similarly, the cooling plate taught by Shin includes recessed portions that receive folded sealing portions of each battery, where the sealing portions may contain an exposed metal layer [Shin: 0020, 0121].
Considering claim 3, Shin teaches the recessed portions of the cooling plate to house the folded sealing portions of two adjacent battery cells. A modified Shin Figure 3 has been produced for clarity.
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Considering claim 4, Chung teaches the sealing portions 2022 within the accommodating grooves 42 having surfaces positioned on the same plane [Fig 6A].
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2020/0006823 (Chung) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0375077 (Shin) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of KR 20150130002A (Hwang) with reference to the English translation provided in the Official Correspondance.
Considering claim 5, the battery module taught by Chung in view of the teachings of Shin as discussed in the rejection of claim 1 is applicable. In the same field of endeavor of power storage, Hwang teaches a pouch-type secondary battery that accommodates and seals an electrode assembly [0004]. The pouch case is made of a laminate sheet that includes an outer coating layer and a barrier layer, with the barrier layer being a metal layer in an example of the invention [0008, 0031]. Hwang discloses a conventional pouch case where the barrier layer 13 has an edge thickness T1 that is thinner than the rest of the barrier layer 13 thickness T2 [0009, Fig 1]. This reads onto the instant claim of the battery cells having a thicker metal layer towards the center compared to the ends. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the battery module of Chung in view of Shin to include battery cells with a thicker metal layer toward the center as taught by Hwang as the variable thickness in the metal layer is a result of deep drawing molding in the formation of the cell case, which is typical in the production of such cells [0006].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Elliott H Clark whose telephone number is (571)272-0154. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 7:30-5:00.
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/E.H.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1784
/HUMERA N. SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1784
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