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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21____ are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by FR 1272563.
With respect to claim 21, FR ‘563 discloses an electrode for an electrolytic capacitor (see page 2, the second full paragraph of the attached translation) comprising: a carrier substrate (see FIG. 1, 1a, described as a polyethylene phthalate at page 2, third full paragraph); and a first metallization created on a first side of the carrier substrate (see FIG. 1, element 1b, noted as being aluminum at page 3, 2nd full paragraph).
With respect to claim 22, FR ‘563 discloses that the carrier substrate has a higher tensile strength than the metallization. While FR ‘563 does not mention the relationship of the tensile strengths for the carrier and the metallization, FR ‘563 uses the same materials as the instant application, and as such, is considered to implicitly discloses the recited tensile strength relationship.
With respect to claim 23, FR ‘563 discloses that the carrier substrate has a second metallization created on a second side of the carrier substrate. See FIG. 1, noting layers 1b are disposed on both sides of carrier 1a.
With respect to claim 24, FR ‘564 discloses that the carrier substrate comprises a polymer material. See page 2, third full paragraph.
With respect to claim 30, FR ‘564 discloses that the carrier substrate has a thickness of below 15 µm and the metallization has a thickness of 0.01 to 1 µm. See page 2, the first paragraph, and the third paragraph.
With respect to claim 31, FR ‘564 is considered to implicitly disclose that the metallization is surface enhanced, and wherein a specific capacitance of at least 5 pF/cm2 is provided. Because FR ‘564 explicitly discloses the use of the same metals, having the same thicknesses, and arranged in the same manner as the instant application, FR ‘564 is considered to implicitly any physical properties that would be associated with those explicitly disclosed limitations, including specific capacitance. See MPEP 2112.01.
With respect to claim 32, FR ‘564 is considered to implicitly disclose that the carrier substrate provides a tensile strength of at least 10 N/cm to the electrode. Because FR ‘564 explicitly discloses the use of the same polymers, having the same thicknesses, and arranged in the same manner as the instant application, FR ‘564 is considered to implicitly any physical properties that would be associated with those explicitly disclosed limitations, including tensile strength. See MPEP 2112.01.
With respect to claim 38, FR ‘563 discloses a wound electrolytic capacitor (see FIG. 3 and page 2, the second full paragraph of the attached translation) comprising: an anode (see page 2, third full paragraph); a cathode being the electrode according to claim 23 (see page 2, third full paragraph); and two separators (see FIG. 3, elements 3 and 4 and page 2, third full paragraph), wherein the two separators are arranged between both metalized sides of the cathode and the sides of the anode facing these sides of the cathode (see FIG. 3).
With respect to claim 39, FR 563 discloses that at least part of the cathode extends the anode towards one side surface of a capacitor coil, and wherein the extended parts of the cathode have a metal cover, which covers at least part of this side surface, allowing for external contacting. See FIGS. 4 and 10, noting that cathode 2 extends past anode 1, and contacts metal covers 5/6.
Claim 40 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chiavarotti et al. (US Pat. App. Pub. No. 2002/0054468).
With respect to claim 40, Chiavarotti discloses a method for forming an electrode for a wound electrolytic capacitor in a roll-to- roll process (see abstract and paragraph [0011], the method comprising: continuously unwinding a carrier substrate from a first role (see paragraph [0011]); continuously applying a metallization to at least a part of a first side of the carrier substrate (see paragraph [0011]); and continuously winding metallized parts of the carrier substrate onto a second role (see paragraph [0011]).
Claims 33 and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FR 1272563 in view of JP 5784186.
With respect to claim 33, FR ‘564 fails to explicitly teach that the metallization comprises multiple layers.
JP ‘186, on the other hand, teaches that a metallization comprises multiple layers. See FIG. 1(b), element 4, and paragraph [0023], noting that the electrodes are formed of multiple layers including metal or alloy mesh. Such an arrangement results in an electrode having a large surface area. See paragraph [0024].
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, to modify FR ‘563, as taught by JP ‘186, in order to produce an electrode having a large surface area.
With respect to claim 34, the combined teachings of FR ‘563 and JP ‘186 teach that the layers of the metallization are ribbons and the layers are arranged such that a net-like pattern is created by the ribbons. See JP ‘186, paragraph [0023].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 25-29 and 35-37 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: with respect to claim 25, the prior art fails to teach, or fairly suggest, that the carrier substrate retains an electrolyte, and that the second side of the carrier substrate is free of a metallization, when taken in conjunction with the limitations of base claim 21. Claims 26-29 and 35-37 are allowed by virtue of their dependency from claim 25.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Tseng et al. (US 2017/0317341) and Roumi (US 2013/0224632) disclose capacitor systems but fail to teach or suggest the carrier substrate and metallization layering recited in the claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DION R FERGUSON whose telephone number is (571)270-7566. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 5:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m..
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/DION R. FERGUSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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