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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 are allowable over the prior art of record.
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 of this title, 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.
1. Claims 1, 2, 4, 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US20120015218) in view of Chen et al. (US 20150079426).
2. Regarding claims 1, 2, 4, 11-13, Lee teaches a secondary battery (see Fig. below), comprising: a case; and a venting device that opens when the pressure inside the case reaches a first predetermined value, wherein the venting device comprises: a rupture disk having a bursting part formed therein that bursts at the pressure of the first predetermined value, and a porous member on at least one of the upstream or downstream sides of the rupture disk (see Figs. below).
PNG
media_image1.png
760
860
media_image1.png
Greyscale
3. Lee does not teach the porous member absorbs heat.
4. Chen teaches vent hole is coupled with a metal mesh. When the flame carrying the high temperature materials and the gases spurts out, heat of the flame and the high temperature materials is absorbed by the metal mesh quickly [0009], the mesh cover is made from aluminum alloy [0028] for the benefit of a lithium-ion battery where safety performance of the lithium-ion battery can be improved remarkably (abstract).
5. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee with Chen’s teachings for the benefit of a lithium-ion battery where safety performance of the lithium-ion battery can be improved remarkably.
6. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US20120015218) in view of Chen et al. (US 20150079426) and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20220140432)
7. Regarding claim 3, Chen’432 teaches wherein the heat-absorbing porous member is a member in which a corrugated metal ribbon is wound annularly to form a plurality of layers (disk 112, a corrugated thin plate material and a flat plate material may be alternately wound around a center axis of the flame arresting disk 112 along radial directions of the flame arresting disk 112 to form a plurality of triangular pores [0060]) for the benefit of ensuring that gas caused by thermal runaway can be smoothly discharged through the explosion-proof valve [0060].
8. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee with the teachings of Chen’432 for the benefit of ensuring that gas caused by thermal runaway can be smoothly discharged through the explosion-proof valve.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLATUNJI GODO whose telephone number is (571)272-3104. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 5:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas Smith can be reached on 571-272-8760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/OLATUNJI A GODO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1752
