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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being patentable by Shinya et al. (JP 2018056030 A).
Claims 1-2: Shinya teaches a secondary battery comprising:
a flat electrode body (i.e., battery element),
a pouch external body (14) including a laminate sheet (15) (i.e., laminate film),
wherein the electrode body is disposed in the recessed portion (16) and the laminate sheet (15) is folded in two to overlap the laminate sheet at the side seal portions (19 and 20) and the top seal (21) and the overlapped laminate sheet and the seal portions are thermally welded to each other (i.e., the end portions are superposed on each other and the inner surfaces are fused) such that the laminate film covers and seals the battery element [0030],
wherein the recess (16) has a main surface facing the opening surface and four side surfaces surrounding the main surface [0016],
wherein recess (16) is formed to have a rectangular planar shape such that the main surface is orthogonal to the sealed end portions [0016],
wherein negative and positive electrode leads are led out in the same direction through one side surface [0014] (Figs. 1-2 and 4-5),
wherein the side surface opposite to the lead-out direction of the electrode leads (11 and 12) is the bottom surface (17) of the pouch exterior body (14) [0016],
wherein linear bulging portions (18) (i.e., concave-convex shape ) are formed on the bottom surface (17) (i.e., the opposite side surface) of the pouch exterior body (14) along the outer periphery of the recessed portion 16 [0021, 0029].
Claim 3-4: Shinya further teaches while it is preferable to dispose the two linear bulging portions (18) above and below the bottom surface 17, the number of the bulging portions (18) are not particularly limited. Shinya discloses an embodiment with bellows shaped bulging portion (58) wherein the bulges are repeated from one of the main surfaces to the other such that the linear bulges cover the entire bottom surface (17) (See fig. 3 and fig. 5).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kenji et al. (JP 2000200584 A) teaches a battery cell comprising of a battery element (1) housed in a package have a package lid (3) sealed with a package bottom(4) by means of a heat-fusible resin layer surfaces [0010]. Narita et al. (US 2019/0280337 A1) teaches a power storage device (500) using an exterior body 529 having projections and depressions formed by the embossing [0152] (Figs. 7A-B).
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/L.N.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1712
/MICHAEL B CLEVELAND/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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