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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/16/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, and 9-13 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being taught by Kim et al. (EP 4156359-A1, hereinafter “Kim”).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches: A method for detecting a meandering fault of electrode tabs of a secondary battery, the method comprising: (Kim, Fig. 1, Background Art, "Among them, the jelly roll electrode assembly has the advantage of being easy to manufacture and having a high energy density per weight. In particular, a jelly roll-type electrode assembly having a high energy density can be built into a cylindrical metal can to form a cylindrical secondary battery, and such a cylindrical battery is widely applied in fields requiring application of high-capacity secondary batteries, such as electric vehicles.")
photographing an electrode tab area of the secondary battery through a camera; (Kim, [0012], "The edge position of this electrode 1 is indicated as a determination EPS edge position value. The determination EPS 32 may be a sensor which measures the electrode edge position in a non-contact manner, such as a light transmission and reception sensor or the like.")
measuring exposed lengths of a sealing film located between the electrode tab and a pouch film at two designated points from an image obtained by photographing the electrode tab area; (Kim, [0022], "An electrode meandering correction device according to the present invention, which is a meandering correction device at the time of transferring an electrode to be wound around a winding core to form a jelly roll electrode assembly, includes: … an edge position control (EPC) unit provided with a determination edge position sensor (EPS) disposed before the winding core to measure an edge position of the electrode as a determination EPS edge position value.")
checking whether an absolute value of a difference between the measured exposed lengths is a designated reference value or more; (Kim, [0022], "… and the input inclination adjustment mechanism, wherein the controller feedback-controls the edge position of the electrode so that the determination EPS edge position value matches the determination EPS edge reference value.")
and if the absolute value is the reference value or more, determining that the meandering fault of electrode tabs has occurred. (Kim, [0022], " … acquires determination EPS edge position value data when the determination EPS edge position value changes over time to converge to the determination EPS edge reference value by the feedback control, and selects data values changed by the influence of the input inclination of the input clamp from among the determination EPS edge position value data and feedback-controls the input inclination adjustment mechanism to correct the input inclination by comparison of these data values and the determination EPS edge reference value.")
Regarding claim 6, Kim teaches: The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating an alarm in a designated manner when it is determined that the meandering fault has occurred. (Kim, [0022], " … acquires determination EPS edge position value data when the determination EPS edge position value changes over time to converge to the determination EPS edge reference value by the feedback control, and selects data values changed by the influence of the input inclination of the input clamp from among the determination EPS edge position value data and feedback-controls the input inclination adjustment mechanism to correct the input inclination by comparison of these data values and the determination EPS edge reference value.")
Regarding claim 7, Kim teaches: The method according to claim 1, further comprising recognizing a degree of meandering of the electrode tab based on the difference between the exposed lengths. (Kim, [0022], " … acquires determination EPS edge position value data when the determination EPS edge position value changes over time to converge to the determination EPS edge reference value by the feedback control, and selects data values changed by the influence of the input inclination of the input clamp from among the determination EPS edge position value data and feedback-controls the input inclination adjustment mechanism to correct the input inclination by comparison of these data values and the determination EPS edge reference value.")
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 has been analyzed with regard to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above as well as in accordance with Kim further teaching on: An apparatus (Kim, Fig. 1)
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 has been analyzed with regard to claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above as well as in accordance with Kim further teaching on: An apparatus (Kim, Fig. 1)
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 has been analyzed with regard to claim 7 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above as well as in accordance with Kim further teaching on: An apparatus (Kim, Fig. 1)
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 has been analyzed with regard to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above as well as in accordance with Kim further teaching on: A system for detecting (Kim, Fig. 1)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jinsu Hwang whose telephone number is (703)756-1370. The examiner can normally be reached Mon -Thu 10am-8am EST.
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/JINSU HWANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2667 /MATTHEW C BELLA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2667
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