Appeal 2007-1024
Application 10/231,144
One of ordinary skill in the battery art is not an automaton. KSR at
1742, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. One skilled in the battery art would understand
that Ward identifies bulk density of conductive particles as a variable to be
controlled when forming a positive electrode. Consistent with this teaching,
the Examiner has identified a reason for one of ordinary skill in the art to
control this variable, e.g., increase the reaction sites in the electrode
material. We conclude that, as the general conditions of the claims are
disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or
workable ranges by routine experimentation. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456,
105 USPQ 233, 235-236 (1955). We hold claims 10 and 17 as obvious over
the teachings of Tomiyama and Ward.
4. The Rejection of Claims 12-17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
Obvious over Ono in view of Cintra
Ono describes a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery
having a mixture of binders. (Ono, Abstract). Ono teaches that its
binder mixture is formed from polyimide binder and a fluorine
polymer binder. (Id.). The particularly preferred fluorine binder is
PVDF. (Id. col. 5, ll. 13-17).
The Examiner states that Ono’s binders will inherently possess
the required contact angles. The Examiner relies upon Cintra as
teaching the use of agglomerated particles having a size of less than
10 μm.
As discussed above, Applicant’s specification describes PVDF
as a preferred binder “A.” Applicant’s specification however, does
not identify whether polyimide is a suitable binder “B.”
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