DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The following is in reply to the applicants submission (e.g. amendment, remarks, etc.) filed on February 24, 2026.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 31 through 34 continue to remain as being withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 October 30, 2024.
Response to Arguments
Applicants arguments filed as part of their submission with respect to Claims 17 through 30 and 35 have been fully considered, but are now moot because the following new grounds of rejections do not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claims 17 through 20, 22 through 25 and 27 through 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Japanese Patent Publication, JP 2015-228533 (hereinafter “JP’533”)1.
Claim 17: JP’533 discloses a method for producing an elastomeric component comprising an elastomer body with a shape and a non-planar, 3-dimensional surface (e.g. Fig. 4); and a printed structure adapted to the nonplanar, 3-dimensional surface of the elastomer body, the method comprising:
providing a planar flexible foil (e.g. 7) of thermoplastic material having a printable surface and a thickness ranging from 25 to 75 µm (e.g. 5 to 50 µm, ¶ [0021]);
printing a structure (e.g. 4, 4A) onto the printable surface of the planer flexible foil to obtain the printed structure (e.g. Figs. 2a, 2b, ¶ [0022]);
providing an elastomer substrate (e.g. 3, 31) for forming the elastomer body of the elastomeric component (e.g. Fig. 3b);
placing the planar flexible foil having the printed structure onto the elastomer substrate (e.g. Fig. 3a, ¶ [0033]); and
laminating the combined planar flexible foil and elastomer substrate by applying heat and pressure (e.g. ¶ [0034]),
wherein the elastomeric component is obtained in that,
the elastomer substrate is formed to the shape of the elastomer body of the elastomeric component before the laminating (e.g. Fig. 3b, as 3, 31 is separated from 2, 37), wherein the planar flexible foil with the printed structure is adopted to the non-planar, 3-dimensional surface of the elastomer body (e.g. Fig. 4).
Claim 18: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the planar flexible foil has elastic properties and the printed structure is at least stretchable without forming cracks when stretched (e.g. Fig. 4, JP’533 does not mention any cracks).
Claim 19: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein, during the laminating, the heat and pressure treatment creates chemical bonding between the planar flexible foil and the elastomer substrate of the elastomer body (e.g. ¶ [0034]).
Claim 20: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein [[the]] a temperature used for the laminating ranges from 120°C to 160°C (e.g. greater than 40°C, ¶ [0033]).
Claim 22: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein, after the printing, the printed structure is at least one of cured and dried (e.g. in Fig. 2c) before the placing is performed.
Claim 23: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein, after the printing, the printed structure is protected with a second foil (e.g. 8) of the same material as the planar flexible foil (e.g. Fig. 2c, ¶ [0021]).
Claim 24: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the planar flexible foil is placed on the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body such that the printed structure faces the elastomer body (e.g. Fig. 3a).
Claim 25: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body is made of a thermoplastic elastomer (e.g. ¶ [0021]).
Claim 27: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the planar flexible foil further comprises electronic components (e.g. 17) connected to the printed structure (e.g. Fig. 3a).
Claim 28: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein a surface of the elastomer substrate (e.g. 3, 31) for forming the elastomer body for circuit placing the printed structure is formed into a non-planar surface during the laminating (e.g. by embedding 17 within 31, Fig. 3a) and wherein the printed structure is a printed electronic structure or circuit.
Claim 29: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the elastomeric component is an elastomeric sealing component (e.g. by sealing 17) and the printed structure is a printed electronic structure or circuit.
Claim 30: JP’533 discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein a surface of the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body is modified with a bonding agent (e.g. 9, Fig. 2) to achieve a better bonding between the planar flexible foil and the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body before the laminating (e.g. Fig. 3b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP’533 in view of U.S. Publication 2015/0305150 to Ohata (hereinafter “Ohata”).
JP’533 discloses the claimed manufacturing method as relied upon above in Claim 17. JP’533 does not teach that a surface of the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body is modified for achieving a better bonding between the planar flexible foil and the elastomer substrate for forming the elastomer body before laminating.
Ohata teaches that a surface of a elastomer substrate (e.g. 2) can be modified with a surface treatment (e.g. by plasma or UV rays) for achieving better bonding strength between a foil (e.g. 8) and the elastomer substrate before laminating (e.g. ¶ [0038]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the surface of the elastomer substrate of JP’533 with a surface treatment of plasma or UV rays before laminating, as taught by Ohata, to achieving better bonding strength between the planar flexible foil and the elastomer substrate.
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP’533 in view of U.S. Publication 2017/0142839 to Aleksov et al (hereinafter “Aleksov”).
JP’533 discloses the claimed manufacturing method as relied upon above in Claim 17. JP’533 does not teach that the planar flexible foil is made of at least one of a material selected from thermoplastic polyurethane, liquid silicone rubber, fluoropolymer, ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, and expanded fluoropolymers.
Aleksov teaches that a planar foil (e.g. 11, Fig. 1) that is made of thermoplastic polyurethane provides properties that allow the foil to be flexible and elastic (e.g. ¶ [0025]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed the planar flexible foil of JP’533 with the thermoplastic polyurethane material taught by Aleksov, to provide equivalent properties of flexibility and elasticity in forming the elastomeric component.
Claim 35 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP’533.
JP’533 discloses most of the limitations of Claim 35 to the extent that all of the limitations of Claim 17 are recited in Claim 35. JP’533 further discloses the planar flexible foil can be formed such that printed structures are printed on both top and bottom surfaces of the planar flexible foil (e.g. double sided, ¶ [0030]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that when the planar flexible foil is placed on the elastomeric substrate (e.g. in Fig. 3a), the printed structure (e.g. 4 on bottom surface of 7) would face away from the elastomer body (e.g. 3, 31, in Fig. 3a or 4).
Conclusion
Applicants amendment filed as part of their submission has 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to A. DEXTER TUGBANG whose telephone number is (571)272-4570. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/A. DEXTER TUGBANG/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2896
1 The interpretation of JP’533 was taken from a Machine Translation in English, a copy of which was provided by applicants in their Information Disclosure Statement on January 26, 2023.