DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/07/2026 has been entered.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings filed 1/6/2023 are accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 3, and 4 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. Specifically, the claims fail to set forth an X-Ray diffraction method with sufficient detail; the X-ray diffraction results will be dependent upon a number of parameters which are not specified, including wavelength, scattering angle, temperature, etc.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-10 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2000-221799 (herein referred to as Kobayashi).
Kobayashi teaches a transfer member for an image forming apparatus comprising a conductive base material, an elastic material comprising a rubber material or resin disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the conductive base material, and a silica glass layer disposed on an outermost surface on an outer peripheral surface (see all).
With regards to claims 5 and 6, Kobayashi is understood to read on said claim because the limitations “wherein the silica glass layer or an inorganic layer is a layer of a reaction product of a tetraalkoxysilane” and “wherein the tetraalkoxysilane includes a tetraalkoxysilane having an alkoxy group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, inclusive,” are understood to be method limitations which do not compositionally or structurally distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. The courts have held the method of making a product does not patentably distinguish a claimed product from a product taught in the prior art unless the method of making the product inherently results in a materially different product. In the present application, no such showing has been made.
With regards to claim 7, Kobayashi teaches the conductive member according to claim 1 is a transfer member that contacts a transfer receiving body to transfer an object to be transferred, to the transfer receiving body. Specifically, Takahashi teaches the conductive member is an electrophotographic photosensitive member (see all).
With regards to claim 8, the transfer member i is part of a process cartridge (see 0126 of applicant’s disclosure) and is known to be detachably attached to the image forming apparatus (see all).
With regards to claim 9, Kobayashi teaches an image forming apparatus characterized in that a photosensitive member whose fundamental construction consists of a substrate, a photoconductive layer and an insulating layer is precharged so that the electrostatic charge may be uniformly imparted thereto, a light image of an original is next projected through a color filter upon the photosensitive member while simultaneously applying a second electrostatic charge thereto, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image, the latent image is then developed with a developing agent of color corresponding to that of the color filter, the developed toner image is then transferred to a blanket roller, the above described steps being repeated so that toner images of different color are transferred to the blanket roller, thereby forming a complete color image, this complete color image is transferred to an image recording member at one time, thereby reproducing a color image of the origin.
With regards to claim 10, Kobayashi teaches the rubber may comprise urethane (see all).
With regards to claim 12, Kobayashi teaches the volume resistivity of the intermediate transfer member is preferably from from 10 .sup.2 to 10 .sup.13.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 4, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi (US 3,904,406) in view of JP 2000-221799 (herein referred to as Kobayashi), as applied to claims above, and further in view of “Structure and Properties of Silica Glass Densified in Cold Compression and Hot Compression” (herein referred to as Guerette)
Kobayashi is relied upon as above, but does not teach the silica layer disposed on the outermost surface on an outer peripheral surface of the conductive base material has a half width of a diffraction peak derived from silicon dioxide of 5° or more and 10 or less as obtained by a powder X-ray diffraction method. However, Guerette teaches that the half width of a diffraction peak derived from silicon dioxide is a result effective variable that relates to the intermediate-range order of silica network (page 2, last full paragraph). Furthermore, intermediate-range order is dependent upon the pressure and temperature at which the silica is quenched (see all; abstract) and effects the elastic modulus and density of the silica . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to optimize the silicon dioxide’s half width of a diffraction peak derived from silicon dioxide in order to optimize the density and elastic modulus of the silica.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-11 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. To the extent applicant’s arguments are relevant to the newly applied rejections, said arguments are addressed herein.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN R KRUER whose telephone number is (571)272-1510. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Callie Shosho can be reached at (571) 272-1123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN R KRUER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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