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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-15) in the reply filed on 5/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Drawings
The Drawings filed 8/27/2024 are approved by the examiner.
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.
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al (US20160163890) in view of Luo (CN101164942). The machine translation of CN101164942 is relied upon for the rejection purposes.
Regarding claims 1-4, and 12, Yeh discloses a conductive paste, comprising: a conductive material; a glass frit; and an organic vehicle (abstract). Yah does not disclose the claimed glass frit. Luo discloses a lead-free glass frit comprising about 15 wt. % to about 30 wt. % of V2O5, about 40 wt. % to about 70 wt. % of TeO2, about 10 wt. % to 30 wt. % of Bi2O3, about 1 wt. % to about 12 wt. % of Al2O3 based on the total weight of the glass frit (abstract and example 5). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filling date of the invention to replace the glass frit in the conductive paste of Yah with the glass frit taught by Luo because the glass frit of Luo is lead-free and capable of being fired at a lower temperature and has good adhesion to substrates, which would provide for conductive pastes with smooth appearance, good sealing strength and chemical stability as well as environmentally friendly.
Regarding claims 5-6, Yeh discloses the conductive material comprises silver (para 0014).
Regarding claim 7, Yeh discloses the organic vehicle comprises an organic polymer and an alcohol (para 0031)
Regarding claim 8, Yeh discloses the organic polymer comprises ethyl cellulose (para 0032)
Regarding claim 9, Yeh discloses the conductive paste comprising from about 55 wt. % to about 70 wt. % of the conductive material (para 0026 and 0035 and examples).
Regarding claim 10, Yeh discloses the conductive paste of claim 1, comprising from about 5 wt. % to about 15 wt. % of the glass frit (para 0026 and 0035 and examples).
Regarding claim 11, Yeh discloses the conductive paste of claim 1, comprising from about 20 wt. % to about 40 wt. % of the organic vehicle (para 0026 and 0035 and examples).
Regarding claim 13, Yeh and/or Luo discloses the other metal oxides include zero as a lower limit, therefore, the paste is substantially free from one or more additional transition metal oxides.
Regarding claim 14, given the conductive paste of Yeh in view of Luo comprises of all the claimed elements of the claimed conductive paste, a person having an ordinary skill in the art would reasonably expect the conductive paste of Yeh in view of Luo to exhibits a resistivity of about 3.5 mohm/sq. to less than about 8 mohm/sq. when fired at a temperature less than 450° C.
Regarding claim 15, Yeh discloses an article comprising a battery wherein the conductive paste of claim 1 is applied to the battery to form one or more terminal electrodes (abstract, para 0036-37).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAIDUNG D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5455. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 10a-3p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HAIDUNG D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
6/22/2026
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