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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4, 6-7, 9 and 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. The rejection of claim(s) 1, 4, 7, 9 and 14 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wachsman et al. (US 2014/0287305) has been withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, drawn to a secondary battery comprising a negative electrode plate comprising a negative electrode current collector and a primer layer disposed thereon a solid electrolyte layer comprising a compact layer and a porous layer positioned on one side of the compact layer wherein positive active material comprising a polyanionic compound comprising particles coated with a coating layer comprising ZrO2 located in the pores of the porous layer and a negative electrode active material comprising sodium metal particles located in the pores of the porous layer in the reply filed on 6-6-2025 and 9-5-2025 are acknowledged.
Claims 3, 8 and 10-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9-5-2025.
Claims 15-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6-6-2025. Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 4 is objected to because the claim should cite “wherein the positive electrode active material is selected from the group consisting of” because of the use of “and”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1, 4, 6-7, 9 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1 is rejected because it is unclear which layer (compact versus porous) of the solid electrolyte layer is closest to the positive electrode plate. Claim 1 is rejected because a porous layer would inherently have a porosity greater than the porosity of the compact layer. Therefore, this phrase does not add an additional limitation to the claim. Claim 1 is rejected because the battery claimed in claim 1 cannot be a battery because there is no negative active materials present in the battery. Claim 7 resolves this issue. Claim 7 is rejected because it is unclear how the negative active material can be positioned in the pores of the porous layer facing the negative electrode plate because there is no porous layer present facing the negative electrode plate. Claim 12 is rejected because it is unclear what side of the negative electrode current collector is the primer layer disposed thereon.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 6-7, 9 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wachsman et al. (US 2014/0287305) in view of He et al. (US 2022/0263070). Wachsman et al. teaches in claim 1, a battery comprising a cathode material or anode material; a solid-state electrolyte layer comprising a porous region having a plurality of pores and a dense region, wherein the cathode material or the anode material is disposed on a porous of the porous region [teaching a positive electrode active material in pores, claim 1 and/or negative material in pores of claim 7] and the dense region is free of the cathode material and the anode material and a current collector disposed on at least a portion of the cathode material or the anode material. Wachsman et al. teaches in claim 3, where the cathode material particles are a lithium-containing material or a sodium containing cathode material, Wachsman et al. teaches in claim 5, that the positive active material particles can comprise a lithium-containing cathode material can comprise LiCoO2, LiFePO4, Li2MMn3O8 where M can be Fe and/or Co [teaching a positive electrode material of claim 4]. Wachsman et al. teaches in claim 6, that the sodium-containing cathode material can comprise Na2V2O5, NaNi1/3Fe1/3Mn1/3PO4, Na3V2(PO4)3, etc. [teaching a positive electrode material of claim 4]. Wachsman et al. teaches in claim 8, that the anode material is a lithium-containing or sodium-containing anode material and teaches in claim 10, wherein the anode material is a sodium-containing anode material comprising sodium metal, etc. [teaching a negative electrode material of claim 9]. Wachsman et al. discloses the claimed invention except for specifically teaching that a coating layer is provided on the surface of the positive electrode active material particles. He et al. teaches in the abstract, a rechargeable lithium battery comprising an anode, a cathode comprising active materials and a porous separator [0103], where a lithium ion transporting medium comprising graphite, graphene, carbon, etc. and particles of the cathode active material are combined to form a cathode active material composite. He et al. teaches in Example 1, graphene encapsulated particles of a cathode active materials comprising LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, lithium iron phosphate, etc. He et al. teaches in [0089], that the graphene layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 50 um. He et al. teaches in [0012], that using the cathode in a battery provides a safe, flame/fire-resistant, solid-state lithium ion-transporting medium which is capable of storing a higher amount of charge per unit battery weight or volume. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use cathode active material particles comprising a core comprising LiCoO2 or lithium iron phosphate having a coating layer of graphene because He et al. teaches that using the cathode in a battery provides a safe, flame/fire-resistant, solid-state lithium ion-transporting medium which is capable of storing a higher amount of charge per unit battery weight or volume. Wachsman et al. discloses the claimed invention except for specifically teaching that the coating layer has a thickness of 2-1000 nm. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a coating layer of graphene having a thickness of 2-1000 nm, since it has been held that where general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art and since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05.
Claim(s) 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wachsman et al. (US 2014/0287305) in view of He et al. (US 2022/0263070) and further in view of Hong et al. (US 11,545,659). Wachsman et al. in view of He et al. discloses the claimed invention as explained above but does not specifically teach that the negative electrode current collector contains a primer layer comprising graphene on the current collector and the primer layer is 2 um to 10 um. Hong et al. teaches in claim 1, a negative electrode comprising a negative current collector and a primer layer positioned on the current collector where the primer layer comprises graphene and has a thickness of 0.1-10 um. Hong et al. teaches in that a primer layer is used to allow for better adhesiveness. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a primer layer on a negative current collector because Hong et al. teaches the benefits.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/LAURA S. WEINER/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1723
/Laura Weiner/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1723
Prosecution Insights