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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed 03/29/2024 has 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Segami et al (JP 2020155334 A) in view of Yura et al (US 2022/0029148 A1). The English translation of the primary reference was relied upon for purposes of examination.
Regarding claim 1, 2, 4 and 5, Segami teaches a honeycomb-type ceramic positive electrode (1)
with a columnar honeycomb structure having a first end face(1a), a second end face(1b) parallel to the first end face, and an outer side face (1c) perpendicular to the first end face and the second end face, and also having a plurality of holes (1d) extending from the first end face to the second end face (Fig 2, p5),
wherein the honeycomb-type ceramic positive electrode is composed of a lithium complex oxide sintered body in which a plurality of primary grains composed of a lithium complex oxide are bonded (p64 describes a method of producing a sintered body to be used as the first electrode: “extruding a clay-like mixture containing an active material… then drying or firing”, p24 lists lithium oxides as constituents of the positive electrode active substance).
However, Segami is silent on the orientation of the primary grains. Yura teaches that when a positive electrode is made of a lithium complex oxide sintered plate with primary grains oriented at a mean angle of 0° and 30° to the plate face, it has a high energy density and when the positive electrode is included in a battery, it exhibits high performance, such as rapid charge characteristics (p13)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Segami to incorporate the teachings of Yura by orienting the primary particles at an angle over 0° and 30° or less on average with respect to the plate plane which provides the predictable result of a high energy density electrode and a battery with rapid charging performance.
Regarding claim 3, Segami teaches that the plurality of holes are compartmentalized by a latticed partition wall composed of the lithium complex oxide sintered body (Fig 2)
Regarding claim 6, Segami teaches that the lithium complex oxide is lithium cobaltate. (p24)
Regarding claim 7, Segami in view of Yura teaches a lithium-ion secondary battery (10), comprising: the honeycomb-type ceramic positive electrode according to claim 1 (p12 as applied to claim 1, Fig 1),
Segami also teaches that the lithium-ion secondary battery (10) comprises: a plurality of negative electrodes inserted into the plurality of holes and having ends extending out from the first end face or the second end face (Fig 1) ; a separator (3) interposed between the honeycomb-type ceramic positive electrode and the negative electrodes (Fig 1, p48) ; an electrolytic solution (p59, “the secondary battery 10 may be provided with an electrolytic solution”) ; and a battery container accommodating the honeycomb-type ceramic positive electrode, the negative electrodes, the separator, and the electrolytic solution (p60 , “the secondary battery 10 may be provided with necessary terminals, or may be housed in a battery case”).
Regarding claim 8, Segai teaches the negative electrodes comprise carbon. (p23 as the negative electrode active material, carbon such as graphite or hard carbon ... or the like can be used) ".
Regarding claim 9, Segai teaches the separator is a ceramic separator. (p52, “a porous separator layer can be easily formed by fine particles and a binder … In this case as the fine particles any of the inorganic fine particles such as aluminum oxide”).
Regarding claim 10, the ceramic separator comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of MgO, Al2O3, ZrO2, SiC, Si3N4, AlN, and cordierite (p52 any of inorganic fine particles such as aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide … may be adopted.)
Regarding claim 11, further comprising a positive electrode current collecting foil on at least one face of the first end face, the second end face, and the outer side face, excluding a face from which the negative electrodes extend out. (p57)
Regarding claim 12, the lithium-ion secondary battery, further comprising a negative electrode current collecting foil on the ends of the negative electrodes extending out from the first end face or the second end face. (p57)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAZIAH OWUSU-ANSAH whose telephone number is (571)272-0441. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9am - 7pm.
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/KAZIAH OWUSU-ANSAH/Examiner, Art Unit 1748 /JACOB T MINSKEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748
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