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 § 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, 6 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi et al. (JP5278670) in view of Aya et al. (WO2019077943).
With regard to claim 1, Takeshi et al. discloses a method for producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode, the method comprising preparing a slurry including activated carbon and a binder, and a surface roughened current collecting foil, applying the slurry to a surface of the current collecting foil, and drying the slurry to form an active layer, thus obtaining an electrode, and connecting the electrode and a lead member to each other (paragraph [0003]), the binder includes an elastomer, and a content of the elastomer is between 2% and 4% of the weight (paragraph [0009]). Takeshi does not disclose that during the application of the slurry to the current collecting plate, the application is performed intermittently to form, on a portion of the electrode, a non-applied region where the surface of the current collecting foil is exposed, the lead member being attached to the non-applied region. However, Aya et al. teaches producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode wherein during the application of the slurry to the current collecting plate, the application is performed intermittently to form, on a portion of the electrode, a non-applied region where the surface of the current collecting foil is exposed, in order to form desired patterns of the electrode/current collecting foil, see abstract. 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 performed the application intermittently in the method of Takeshi et al., in light of the teaching of Aya et al., in order to form a desired pattern on the electrode/current collector foil, in order to form desired patterns necessary to attach the lead member to the electrode or for any other purposes. Regarding the recitation of a content of the elastomer is between greater than 0.25% mass and less than 3% mass, Applicant should note that it has been held that “In the case where the claimed ranges ‘overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art’ a prima facie case of obviousness exists.” See MPEP 2144.05 I.
Regarding claim 6, see paragraph [0009] of Takeshi et al.
Regarding claim 8, see paragraph [0022] of Takeshi et al.
Claim(s) 2 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi et al./Aya et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hirokawa et al. (US 20100015328).
Regarding claim 2, Takeshi et al./Aya et al. discloses a method for producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode a shown above including an acrylic elastomer resin binder (paragraph [0016] of Takeshi et al.). Although Takeshi et al./Aya et al. does not specifically disclose that the elastomer includes styrene-butadiene rubber however, Hirokawa et al. teaches using a binder including styrene-butadiene rubber in manufacturing electrodes for electrochemical devices, see paragraph [0032]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the clamed invention, to have used an elastomer including styrene-butadiene rubber in the method of Takeshi et al./Aya et al., in light of the teachings of Hirokawa et al., in order to enhance adhesion of the active material to the collector foil (paragraph [0034] of Hirokawa et al.
Regarding claim 3, as shown above, the combination of Takeshi et al. and Aya et al. make it obvious using the binder in the claimed proportion.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi et al./Aya et al./Hirokawa et al. as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Murase et al. (US 2016/0126553).
Takeshi et al./Aya et al./Hirokawa et al. discloses a method for producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode a shown above. Although Takeshi et al./Aya et al./Hirokawa et al. does not disclose the slurry having a TI value of 2 or more and 4 or less however, Murase et al. teaches using a slurry having a TI value of between 1 and 4 in order to manufacture a uniform positive electrode mixed material layer and further increase the electrical characteristics of the electrochemical device, see paragraph [0016]. 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 use a slurry having a TI value of between 2 and 4 in the method of Takeshi et al./Aya et al./Hirokawa et al., in light of the teaching of Murase et al., in order to manufacture a uniform positive electrode mixed material layer and further increase the electrical characteristics of the electrochemical device.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi et al./Aya et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Motoi et al. (CN104160536).
Takeshi et al./Aya et al. discloses a method for producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode a shown above. Although Takeshi et al./Aya et al. does not disclose the surface of the non-applied region having an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of 0.5 µm or more and 1.0 µm or less. However, Motoi et al. teaches using a collector aluminum foil having a roughened surface with an arithmetic average Ra roughness of between 0.15 µm and 2.0 µm, see abstract and paragraph [0005] of the machine English translation. 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 used a collector foil having the claimed surface roughness in the method of Takeshi et al./Aya et al., in light of the teachings of Motoi et al., in order to improve adhesion of the slurry to the collector foil. Applicant should note that since the whole collector foil is roughened prior to applying the slurry, it is obvious that the surface of the non-applied region will have the same roughness as the surface of the applied region.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshi et al./Aya et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Toshiro et al. (US 2020/0220157).
Takeshi et al./Aya et al. discloses a method for producing a lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrode a shown above. Although Takeshi et al./Aya et al. does not disclose the current collecting foil having a thickness of 20 µm or less, it is known to use current collecting foils having a thickness of 8 µm in making lead member-equipped electrochemical device electrodes as attested by Toshiro et al., see paragraph [0054]. 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 used a current collecting foil having a thickness of less than 20 µm in the method of Takeshi et al./Aya et al., in light of the teachings of Toshiro et al., in order to meet desired structural requirements of the electrodes.
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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