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 .
Response to Amendment
This action has been made non-final because the new grounds are not directly and only necessitated by applicant's amendments.
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.
Claim(s) 21, 23-24, and 31-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Berkel (WO 2016/210371) with evidence provided by Kaun (US 5,194,298).
Regarding claims 21 and 31, Van Berkel teaches a layer of a solid-state battery (Abstract) comprising a composite electrolyte (Abstract):
A polymer binder comprising polystyrene ([0069])
An ionically conductive ([0091]) inorganic particle ([00133], figures, [00200])
Van Berkel teaches that the composite electrolyte has an ion conductivity of greater than 10-4 S/cm ([00173]).
Van Berkel teaches that the weight ratio of the inorganic material to the organic material ranges from 85:15 to 99:1 ([00178]). At this high loading, there is necessarily particle-to-particle contact which provides conductive pathways in the layer to achieve the desired ion conductivity. Please refer to Van Berkel Figure 29 which shows at higher and higher loadings (greater and greater inorganic particle contact), the conductivity increases. Also as evidenced by Kaun, ion conductivity of ion conductive particles is dependent upon particle-particle contact (col. 7, lines 25-34) and supports that the inorganic particles of Van Berkel are contacting each other to provide ionically conductive pathways.
Van Berkel fails to specifically exemplify the recited layer. However, Van Berkel discloses each of the components of the layer, and teaches that they are all suitable for use in a solid-state battery. It is within the ordinary level of skill in the art to make any of the compositions suggested by a reference, including selecting materials from a list in a reference. Therefore, a person of ordinary skill would have been motivated to prepare any of the composites suggested by Van Berkel, including the claimed invention. In view of this, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the present invention to use the teachings of Van Berkel to arrive at the presently claimed invention. It would have been nothing more than using known component in a typical manner to achieve predictable results. KSR v. Teleflex, 550 U.S. 418, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Regarding claims 23-24, Van Berkel teaches that the polymer binder further comprises functional groups such as thiol, amide, sulfonic acid, or epoxide ([00114]).
Regarding claim 32, Van Berkel teaches that the ionically conductive inorganic particles are sulfides ([00133]).
Regarding claim 33, there is no salt mentioned by Van Berkel, and therefore, the layer is free from salts.
Claim(s) 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Berkel (WO 2016/210371) in view of Hoshiba et al (US 2014/0162139) with evidence provided by Kaun (US 5,194,298).
The discussion regarding Van Berkel and Kaun in paragraph 4 above is incorporated here by reference.
Regarding claims 25-26, Van Berkel teaches that the binder can be styrene-butadiene rubber ([0069]), however fails to teach that it is a block copolymer.
Hoshiba teaches a layer of a solid-state batter (Abstract) which contains a sulfide-based solid-state electrolyte ([0064]) in particulate form ([00845)] and teaches a polymer binder such as a styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer or styrene-butadiene block copolymer ([0044]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the styrene butadiene rubber of Van Berkel take on the block copolymer morphology as taught by Hoshiba. One would have been motivated to do so in order to have a binder that binds to the solids state electrolyte and is inert to the electrolyte (Hoshiba, [0035]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed December 23, 2025, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection are made and set forth above.
It is noted that the Hoshiba reference is referred to in the above rejection. Applicant argued that the Hoshiba reference does not teach the recited ion conductivity value. The examiner notes that the Hoshiba reference is no longer used to teach the conductivity value. The primary reference, Van Berkel teaches the recited conductivity value.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DORIS L LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-3872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm.
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DORIS L. LEE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1764
/DORIS L LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1764