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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on April 18, 2024, June 3, 2024, December 23, 2025, and June 15, 2026 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2 and 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 9,583,278 B2, hereinafter Miyauchi.
Regarding claims 1-2 and 4-9, Miyauchi teaches an electrical storage device electrode binder composition containing a polymer (A) and a liquid medium (B) (Abstract). The electrical storage device is a lithium-ion secondary battery (C47 L5-6) that contains a separator between a positive and negative electrode and injected with an electrolyte solution (C28 L33-38) (instant claim 9). The negative electrode contains the slurry of Example 1 applied to the surface of a collector (C33 L29-30) (instant claim 8). The slurry contains a thickener, negative active material, water, and the binder mixture (C32 L50-61) (instant claim 7). The binder mixture of Example 1 contains water, a conjugated diene compound, an aromatic vinyl compound, and unsaturated carboxylic acids, and THF (tetrahydrofuran) insoluble content (Table 1). One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the conjugated diene compound will hydrogenate to an alkylene structural unit when in the presence of water (instant claims 1, 4, and 6). The THF insoluble content has a mass% of 99, the conjugated diene compound has a mass% of 49, the aromatic vinyl compound has a mass percent of 22%, and the unsaturated carboxylic acids have a mass% of 17 (Table 1 Example 1) (instant claims 2 and 5). These values fall inside the claimed range of instant claims 2 and 5 and therefore anticipates.
However, Miyauchi fails to teach the binder film formed from the binder composition displaying a maximum displacement of 30 µm or less when the binder film is compressed to a maximum load of 20 mN at a loading rate of 0.2975 mN/s using a micro compression tester (instant claim 1).
In the instant specifications, each example contains the same three monomer groups (ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, aromatic vinyl, and conjugated diene), however, the maximum displacement of the binder film only falls within the claimed range in examples 1-4, not comparative examples 1-4 (instant specification’s table 1). The only overlapping difference between examples 1-4 and comparative examples 1-4 is the production method of particulate polymer (instant specification’s table 1). Therefore, the compressive property of the maximum displacement of the binder film can be attributed to the hydrogenation step in the production method. Because the binder mixture of Miyauchi contains the three monomer groups ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, aromatic vinyl, and conjugated diene and additionally contains water, it will go through said hydrogenation step and will therefore have the compressive property of the maximum displacement of the binder film being 30 µm or less. “Regarding product and apparatus claims, when the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims, claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent. The Courts have held that it is well settled that where there is a reason to believe that a functional characteristic would be inherent in the prior art, the burden of proof then shifts to the applicant to provide objective evidence to the contrary” (MPEP 2112.01).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 8,583,278 B2, hereinafter Miyauchi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 2015/0132643, hereinafter Sasaki.
Regarding claim 3, Miyauchi teaches, as mentioned above, the binder mixture of Example 1 that contains water, a conjugated diene compound, an aromatic vinyl compound, and unsaturated carboxylic acids, and THF (tetrahydrofuran) insoluble content (Table 1). One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the conjugated diene compound will hydrogenate to an alkylene structural unit when in the presence of water. The THF insoluble content has a mass% of 99, the conjugated diene compound has a mass% of 49, the aromatic vinyl compound has a mass percent of 22%, and the unsaturated carboxylic acids have a mass% of 17 (Table 1 Example 1).
However, Miyauchi fails to teach the binder composition having a degree of swelling in tetrahydrofuran off 300 mass% to 1500 mass%.
Sasaki teaches a binder composition for a negative electrode that contains water, styrene (an aromatic vinyl monomer), 1,3-butadiene, itaconic acid (an ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid), and tetrahydrofuran insoluble content ([0224] and Table 1). One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that 1,3-butadiene will hydrogenate to an alkylene structural unit in the presence of water. When the swelling degree of the binder composition for a negative electrode is too large, the durability of the lithium ion secondary battery is lowered [0036]. Adjusting the swelling degree can be performed by decreasing the containing ratio of the aliphatic conjugated diene monomer unit or increasing the containing ratio of the aromatic vinyl monomer unit [0037]. Therefore, the swelling degree is considered an art recognized result effective variable.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled artist before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have optimized the swelling degree of the binder composition of Miyauchi in order to maintain the durability of the lithium ion secondary battery, as taught by Sasaki [0036]. In optimizing the swelling degree, one would arrive at the claimed relationship, barring evidence to criticality of unexpected results (see MPEP 2144.05).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mia K Holbrook whose telephone number is (571)272-9253. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30-5.
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/M.K.H./Examiner, Art Unit 1724 /BRIAN R OHARA/Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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