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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group 1 (Claims 1-6) in the reply filed on April 22, 2026, is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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 ‘first portion’, ‘the second portion’, and the ‘n or more conductive polymer layers’ of claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). Further, the ‘continuous or discontinuous layer’ of claim 6 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
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Uka et al. (US Publication 2018/0005759).
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Figure 2 of Uka with Examiner’s Comments (Figure 2EC)
In re claim 1, Uka discloses an electrolytic capacitor comprising at least one capacitor element, the at least one capacitor element including:
an anode body (2 – Figure 1, Figure 2, ¶23) including a porous part in a surface layer (Figure 2);
a dielectric layer (3 – Figure 2, ¶24) covering at least a part of a surface of the anode body (Figure 1, Figure 2); and
a solid electrolyte layer (4a, 4b1, 4b2 – Figure 2EC, ¶24, ¶27) covering at least a part of the dielectric layer (Figure 2EC), wherein:
the anode body includes a first end and a second end opposite to the first end (Figure 1),
the solid electrolyte layer (4 – Figure 1) is disposed in a portion including the second end of the anode body having the dielectric layer (See Figure 1), and includes a first portion (4a within pore of 1 – Figure 2EC) disposed in a void of the porous part and a second portion (4a outside of pore of 2, 4b1, 4b2 – Figure 2EC) disposed outside a principal surface of the anode body having the dielectric layer (3 – Figure 2EC), and
the second portion includes n or more conductive polymer layers (4a outside of pore of 1, 4b1, 4b2 – Figure 2EC; ‘n’ has a value of 3) on the principal surface of the anode body (2 – Figure 1, Figure 2EC) having the dielectric layer (3 – Figure 1, Figure 2EC), and following relational expressions are satisfied:
18.0 μm ≤ Tt ≤ 50.0 μm (¶110, ¶112; The total thickness of the solid electrolyte layer is at most 31 μm.)
9.0 μm ≤ Tt/n ≤ 12.5 μm (¶110, ¶112; With a value of Tt falling between 30 μm and 31 μm and ‘n’ having a value of 3, this inequality is satisfied.)
where, n is an integer of 2 or more (4a outside of pore of 2, 4b1, 4b2 – Figure 2EC), and Tt is a thickness of the second portion on one principal surface of the anode body having the dielectric layer at the second end (¶110, ¶112; The total thickness of the solid electrolyte layer is at most 31 μm.).
In re claim 2, Uka discloses the electrolytic capacitor according to Claim 1, as explained above. Uka further discloses wherein the integer n is 4 or less (4a outside of pore of 2, 4b1, 4b2 shown in Figure 2EC gives an ‘n’ value of 3.).
In re claim 3, Uka discloses the electrolytic capacitor according to Claim 1, as explained above. Uka further discloses wherein a following relational expression is further satisfied, 20.0 μm < Tt (¶57).
In re claim 4, Uka discloses the electrolytic capacitor according to Claim 1, as explained above. Uka further discloses wherein:
the second portion includes a water-soluble polymer (¶85-86), and
a weight-average molecular weight of the water-soluble polymer is 50,000 or more and 800,000 or less (¶92).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Uka et al. (US Publication 2018/005759) in view of Uka ‘510 (US Publication 2017/0098510).
In re claim 6, Uka discloses the electrolytic capacitor according to Claim 1, as explained above. Uka does not disclose wherein:
the second portion includes at least one continuous or discontinuous layer disposed between conductive polymer layers adjacent to each other among the n or more conductive polymer layers, and the at least one continuous or discontinuous layer includes at least a cationic agent.
Uka ‘510 discloses the second portion includes at least one continuous or discontinuous layer (4c – Figure 2, ¶32) disposed between conductive polymer layers (4a outside of pore of 2, 4b – Figure 2, ¶27) adjacent to each other among the n or more conductive polymer layers (Figure 2), and the at least one continuous or discontinuous layer includes at least a cationic agent (¶93).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the intermediary layer as described by Uka ‘510 to provide for an electrolytic capacitor capable of having decreased ESR and restraint from increase in leakage current (¶19: Uka ‘510).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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 prior art does not teach nor suggest (in combination with other claim limitations) the water-soluble polymer in the second portion is 10mass% or more and 20 mass% or less.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nobuta et al. (US Publication 2013/0236636) Figure 1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARUN RAMASWAMY whose telephone number is (571)270-1962. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at 571-272-2229. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ARUN RAMASWAMY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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