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 .
Claims 4-6 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/10/26.
Applicant’s election of group I in the reply filed on 07/10/26 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)).
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takagi Hiroshi (KR 20130033318, here after 318), further in view of T. Hirukawa et al (JP 2023094978, here after 978].
Claim 1 is rejected. 318 teaches an electrode sheet processing method comprising:
a preparing step of preparing a band-like electrode sheet (strip shaped electrode) [abstract lines 1-3] that is an electrode sheet configured such that a current collector formed of a metal foil is coated with an electrode active material layer and includes a non-formed portion in which the electrode active material layer is not formed in the current collector [page 2, EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION paragraph 3];
a stretching step of stretching the non-formed portion(W2) by pressing a roll (20) to the non-formed portion of the electrode sheet while conveying the band-like electrode sheet [fig. 3, page 4 paragraph 3]; and
before the stretching step, a heat applying step of applying heat to the roll until a surface temperature of the roll reaches a preset reference temperature [page 5 paragraph 3 lines 9-12]. 318 does not teach the roll is rubber roll. 978 teaches a method of making an elected and teaches a stretching step of stretching the non-formed portion by pressing a roll to the non-formed portion of the electrode sheet while conveying the electrode sheet, where the roll is elastic (rubber) roll [abstract, fig. 6, 0043, 0050]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 318 where the roll is rubber, because it is suitable material to form stretch roll for uncoated area of current collector.
Claim 2 is rejected. 318 teaches in the heat applying step, heat is applied to the roll by rotating the (rubber) roll in a state of being pressed to another roll (21) [fig. 4]. 318 does not teach the other roll is rubber. However, 978 teaches the uncoated part passes through a pair of elastic(rubber) rolls [0043, 050], which in fact the other roll is also elastic(rubber). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 318 where the other roll is rubber, because it is suitable material to form stretch other roll for uncoated area of current collector.
Claim 3 is rejected. 318 teaches in heating stage [fig. 6], the heating roller (20) contacted the pressing roller (15), and in stretching step [fig. 8] the heating roller only contacted the other roller (21) [page 4 paragraphs 2-end of the page, page 5 lines 1-2]. Therefore, at heating step the heating roller is rotated around the guide roller by the link 22 as to contact the pressure roll 15, and in stretching step [fig. 8], the contact of pressing roll (15) and heating roller stops. For two contacting rollers in pure rolling contact, the tangential velocities at the contact point are equal, and rotation speed is inversely proportional to the roller radius or size: larger rollers turn slower, and smaller rollers spin faster to maintain the same surface speed. Therefore, in the heat applying step, the heating roll is rotated (at a first rotation speed) is less than the stretching step (rotated at a second rotation speed) as it is contacted with roller with larger radius (15).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1885. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gordon Baldwin can be reached at 5712725166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
Prosecution Insights