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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “controller” and “position sensor” of claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kiyoshi et al. (JP2870037 B2), of record, in view of Williams “Dancer Roll Tension Control Basics”.
Regarding claim 1, Kiyoshi teaches:
A roll press apparatus [lithium anode manufacturing apparatus; figure 1] comprising:
a main conveyer line [Cu foil roll (2)] that conveys a metal foil to be used as a substrate;
a pressurizing roll [first pressure roll (4)] provided on the main conveyer line; and
a lithium conveyer line [Li foil roll (1a)] that is a conveyer line that conveys a lithium foil to be bonded to the metal foil and merges with the main conveyer line on an upstream side of the pressurizing roll [see figure 1],
wherein the pressurizing roll rolls the lithium foil on a surface of the metal foil and bonds the lithium foil to the surface of the metal foil by pressure-bonding [pages 4 and 5].
Kiyoshi does not teach:
a dancer roll installed on the lithium conveyer line that controls a tension applied to the lithium foil in a conveyance direction so that the tension applied to the lithium foil in the conveyance direction is constant;
a feed apparatus disposed at start of the lithium conveyer line that holds the lithium foil in a wound state, and feeds the lithium foil toward the dancer roll; and
a controller that controls feed speed of the feed apparatus based on an amount of deviation between a position of the dancer roll input from a position sensor and a position of the dancer roll corresponding to a target tension of the lithium foil.
However, Kiyoshi does teach tensioner (3a).
Williams teaches a dancer control system for maintaining consistent tension while transporting a web, which comprises a unwind drive, dancer arm, dancer potentiometer, and dancer controller [see figures], wherein “A dancer’s position is monitored by a sensor that detects and controls the drive’s movement. When tension increases or decreases in a web, the dancer roll changes position that activate the sensor, known as a dancer potentiometer. The sensor signals the system to either increase or decrease the torque, i.e., speed, for the dancer to return to its original position. In that sense, dancers act more as position controllers and less as tension controllers. By maintaining control of a web’s speed, dancers keep tension constant”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the William dancer control system for the Kiyoshi tensioner in order to maintain consistent tension while transporting the foil.
Regarding claim 2, Kiyoshi discloses:
wherein the metal foil and the lithium foil are inserted into the pressurizing roll in a non- contact state [see figure 1].
Regarding claim 3, Kiyoshi discloses:
an angle regulation roll [the unlabeled rollers to the right of pressure roll (4)] that is provided on the lithium conveyer line and regulates an incident angle formed when the lithium foil is inserted into the pressurizing roll at a predetermined angle or greater.
Regarding claim 5, Kiyoshi discloses:
wherein the lithium conveyer line includes a second conveyer line [Li foil roll (1b)] that merges with the main conveyer line from above with respect to a conveyance direction and a third conveyer line that merges with the main conveyer line from below with respect to the conveyance direction [see figure 1],
wherein the pressurizing roll bonds the lithium foil conveyed from the second conveyer line to a surface on a front side of the metal foil by pressure-bonding and bonds the lithium foil conveyed from the third conveyer line to a surface on a back side of the metal foil by pressure- bonding [pages 4 and 5].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference as applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS J GAMINO whose telephone number is (571)270-5826. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Walker can be reached at 5712723458. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CARLOS J GAMINO/Examiner, Art Unit 1735
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735