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 .
Claim Interpretation
The final clause of claim 1 is drafted in conditional form. The phrase “when a length of the separator . . . is defined as L, . . .” is operative upon the stated condition. As discussed in the rejection below, the cited prior art never defines a length of the separator as “L.”
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 1-3 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kono (US 2017/0309873).
Claim 1: Kono discloses a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery (¶ 29). The battery includes an electrode assembly having a positive electrode 16, a negative electrode 17, and a separator 18 interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode (¶¶ 30-31; fig. 3); and a battery case accommodating the electrode assembly and the electrolyte solution (¶¶ 29, 74); wherein the battery case has an exterior package having an opening, and a sealing plate for sealing the opening (¶ 29), the positive electrode has a positive electrode tab that is a protruding portion of the positive electrode, at an end of the electrode assembly (¶¶ 32, 40), the negative electrode has a negative electrode tab that is a protruding portion of the negative electrode, at an end of the electrode assembly (¶¶ 33, 40), the electrode assembly is accommodated inside the battery case in such a manner that the end having the positive electrode tab and the end having the negative electrode tab face the sealing plate (¶¶ 29, 40), and Kono does not define a length of the separator as L.
Claim 2: Kono discloses the battery case being prismatic (¶ 29).
Claim 3: Kono discloses a wound-type assembly (¶ 67).
Claim 6: Kono discloses a restraining pressure of 0.05 MPA or more is applied to the battery in a stacking direction of positive, negative electrode, and separator (¶¶ 41-52, 76-83).
Claims 7-8 rely on the conditional clause.
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.
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kono (US 2017/0309873), as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Nishikawa (US 2013/0089770).
Claims 4-5: Kono discloses the separator has a base material, but is silent as to a functional layer. However, Nishikawa, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a separator including a porous substrate and an adhesive porous layer that is formed on the side of the substrate. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the application to have provided the separators 18 of Kono with an adhesive porous layer of polyvinylidene-fluoride-based resin formed on a side of the base material in order to adhere each separator to the adjacent positive electrode 16 and negative electrode 17 of Kono’s electrode assembly and thereby suppress the formation of spaces between the electrodes and the separator during charging and discharging, obtaining excellent cycle life (Nishikawa, ¶¶ 4, 64).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LARRY THROWER whose telephone number is (571)270-5517. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm MT M-F.
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/LARRY W THROWER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1754
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