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) submitted on April 25, 2024, October 30, 2024 and September 5, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: paragraph [0044] of the specification states the range “0.6 or more and 0.13 or less”, which is a typographical error, does not make sense as written, and is inconsistent with paragraph [0021] and claim 5. The correct range is “0.06 or more and 0.13 or less”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 5 is 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. Claim 5 recites the limitation "the 0.13 or less" in 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is believed that the word “the” in the phrase above was a typographical error and should be removed.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (CN-218482376-U; machine translation relied upon).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches a battery or battery pack (machine translation at page 1), a shell body to form a containing space (taken to be the claimed case) (claim 12), such a battery inherently requiring an electrode body, and an electrolyte, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use an electrolyte solution, as an extremely well-known and conventional type of electrolyte, a rectangular top cover assembly 1 (taken to be the claimed sealing plate sealing the opening opposed to the bottom surface), such a configuration teaching or suggesting that the case has a rectangular bottom surface, because batteries are conventionally symmetrical, the top cover includes a first long side portion and a second long side portion opposed to each other, and a first short side portion and a second short side portion opposed to each other, the sealing plate includes a liquid injection hole through which the electrolyte solution is injected at a side closer to the first short side portion than a straight line passing through a middle point of the first long side portion and a middle point of the second long side portion, the bottom surface also taken to have the claimed long and narrow sides because it is opposite the top cover and such is conventionally symmetrical, the top cover includes a first liquid injection hole 111, wherein the sealing plate the sealing plate includes a pair of protrusions 122 that protrude from an inner surface thereof opposed to the bottom surface inwardly of the case, and the pair of protrusions are provided in portions of the inner surface symmetrical with respect to the liquid injection hole in a long side direction of the sealing plate (machine translation at pages 6-9; claims 1 and 12; figures 4 and 6-7).
Regarding claim 6, Li teaches that the plurality of protrusions 122 are set on the second surface 11b (machine translation at page 8, fourth paragraph; figures 4 and 6) (taken to meet the limitation that each of the protrusions is provided continuously to and integrally with the sealing plate).
Claims 2-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Dean (US Pat. No. 1,376,923).
Regarding claims 2-3, Li does not specifically disclose that each of the protrusions includes a plate-like shape, a flat first surface at a side closer to the other one of the protrusions and a flat second surface at an opposite side to the first surface. Dean teaches using protrusions each of which has flat surfaces on both sides of the protrusion (angled lines flanking opening 5 in figure 8) (page 1, lines 28-80; figures 8-9). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use flat protrusions as taught by Dean in the battery of Li as a known protrusion configuration shape near an opening with predictable results.
Regarding claim 4, Li teaches that the protrusions are inclined relative to the inner surface of the sealing plate, and form angles of less than 90 degrees (figure 8).
Regarding claim 5, Li teaches a specific embodiment where a shortest distance between the hole 5 and each of the protrusions is from 6 to 13% of the overall length of the short side of the cover (figure 4).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wakimoto (US Pub. No. 2020/0052265).
Regarding claim 7, Li does not specifically disclose that the sealing plate includes an insulating member that extends along the inner surface and a portion of the insulating member forms each of the protrusions. Wakimoto teaches that the sealing plate includes an insulating member 63 that extends along the inner surface and a portion 63c of the insulating member forms each of the protrusions (paragraphs [0064]-[0065]; figures 2 and 7-8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use an insulating member, part of which forms each of the protrusions, as taught by Wakimoto, in the battery of Li, in order to insulate the cover to suppress molten materials and sparks from erupting from the battery case (see Wakimoto at paragraph [0017]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHILIP N SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1612. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-5:30.
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/P.N.S/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749 July 21, 2026
/KATELYN W SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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