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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 2, “the protrusion parts” should read --protrusion parts--. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al. (US Patent 6,836,401) in view of Ishizuka et al. (US Patent 7,417,844) and Will et al. (US Patent 11,823,847).
With regard to claim 1, Yoshida et al. discloses a manufacturing method for an electrolytic capacitor that includes at least one anode foil 2a having a dielectric layer 4 formed on a surface thereof, at least one cathode foil 3a, the manufacturing method comprising a laminated body formation step of forming a laminated body by laminating the anode foil and the cathode foil, a polymer layer formation step of forming a polymer layer between the dielectric layer and the cathode foil (col. 4, lines 23-27 and 36-44, and col. 7, lines 56-61), wherein the laminated body formation step further includes a step of surrounding an outer periphery of the laminated body with a binding member 1 (col. 8, lines 38-40). Yoshida et al. does not disclose at least one separator such that the separator is arranged between the anode foil and the cathode foil, or that the electrolytic layer is formed by impregnating the laminated body with a dispersion liquid containing a conductive polymer and a dispersion medium however, it is known to provide a separator between an anode foil and a cathode in an electrolytic capacitor and to form solid conductive polymer layers in a laminated capacitor by impregnating the laminated body with a dispersion liquid containing conductive polymer and a dispersion medium as attested by Ishizuka et al. see, col. 3, lines 15-26 and col. 5, lines 29-40. Therefore , it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have provided a separator between the anode foil and the cathode in the electrolytic capacitor of Yoshida et al. in order to improve the short resistivity of the capacitor, and to have formed a solid conductive polymer layer in the capacitor by impregnating the laminated body with a dispersion liquid containing conductive polymer and a dispersion medium, in light of the teachings of Ishizuka et al., as is known in the art. Regarding the recitation of the separator having a protrusion part that protrudes from the binding member, Yoshida et al. discloses the anode foil and the cathode foil having protrusions 2 and 3 that protrude from the binding member to meet a desired use thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have provided a protrusion similar to those of the anode and cathode foil of Yoshida et al., for whatever use was expedient. Further, the recitation of the laminated body being impregnated with the dispersion liquid from the protrusion part, Will et al. teaches impregnating a laminated body of a capacitor by introducing the dispersion liquid from openings between the laminates, see col. 6, lines 25-31 and col. 12, lines 54-64. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have impregnated the laminated body of Yoshida et al./Ishizuka et al. in the manner taught by Will et al., in order to ensure an homogeneous covering of the laminated. Applicant should note that whether the impregnating dispersion liquid is introduced from the separator protrusion of from the anode foil and the cathode foil protrusion or any other opening that would allow the dispersion liquid to flow axially and homogeneously cover the laminated body is an obvious matter of design choice as long as the laminated body is effectively covered by the dispersion liquid.
Regarding claim 2, Yoshida et al. discloses a plurality of protrusion parts, see the figures and it is within the general skill level of a worker in the art to provide opening large enough to facilitate introduction of the dispersion liquid in the laminated body.
Regarding claim 3, Applicant should note that it is within the general skill level to provide appropriate openings that would allow introducing the dispersion liquid efficiently in the laminated body.
Regarding claim 4, Applicant should note that official Notice is taken in that it is known to impregnate a laminated body with a liquid solvent after impregnating the laminated body with a dispersing liquid.
Regarding claim 5, see figure 1A of Yoshida et al. for example showing the binding member 1 covering almost 100% of a region where at least one of the anode foil and the cathode foil is present.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, Applicant should note that providing a binding member by shrink-fitting is an obvious matter of design choice. Further. shrink-fitting is a well-known process of covering parts with tight covering. As one of ordinary skill in the art would know, the shrink-fitting step of any other step of providing the binding member would have to come after both the polymer layer formation step and the laminated body formation step since it would have to be one of the last steps.
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Applicant should note that official Notice is taken in that it is known to impregnate laminated body with the conductive polymer dispersion by immersing the laminated in the conductive laminated body that would be in an exterior body or container.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al./Ishizuka et al./Will et al. as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Merker et al. (US patent 2013/0279079).
Yoshida et al./Ishizuka et al./Will et al. discloses a manufacturing method as shown above but does not explicitly disclose the laminated body impregnated with the dispersion liquid being heated to evaporate at least a portion of the dispersion medium however, such is known in the art as attested by Merker et al., see paragraph [0078]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have heated the dispersion liquid in the manufacturing method of Yoshida et al./Ishizuka et al./Will et al., in light of the teachings of Merker et al., in order to evaporate at least a portion of the dispersion medium as is conventional in the art. Applicant should note that it is obvious that where a shrinking binding member is provided, one of ordinary skill in the art would find it obvious to combine the heating of the dispersion medium and the shrinking of the binding member for a more efficient process.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/ESSAMA OMGBA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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