Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/193,727

ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTORECEPTOR, PRODUCING METHOD OF ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PHOTORECEPTOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 31, 2023
Examiner
VAJDA, PETER L
Art Unit
1737
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
Konica Minolta Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allow Rate
737 granted / 985 resolved
+9.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+13.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
1005
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§103
57.1%
+17.1% vs TC avg
§102
24.5%
-15.5% vs TC avg
§112
13.4%
-26.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 985 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis ( i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim (s) 1- 2 and 4 -7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 2008-0091833 (henceforth KR ‘833) . KR ‘833 teaches a photoreceptor for an image forming apparatus comprising a conductive support, a charge transport layer and a protective layer formed on the charge transport layer. While KR ‘833 does not teach the formation of an interlayer region between the charge transport layer and the protective layer, KR ‘833 does teach largely the same the protective layer and further teaches utilizing a combination of solvents to promote adhesion between the charge transport and protective layer, much the same as the Applicant’s invention (see the <Crosslinked Layer Formation Step> section of the provided translation) . The use of solvents is taught to form a bridge that at the lower level of the crosslinking surface layer wherein adhesion between the polycarbonate resin of the charge transport layer and the crosslinked surface layer is improved (see the <Crosslinked Layer Formation Step> section of the provided translation). This bridge region is understood to read on the Applicant’s mixed layer recited in pending claim 1. T he protective layer of KR ‘833 is taught to comprise a crosslinked resin that is formed by reacting a radical polymerizable char ge transport compound with a reactive monomer having three or more radical polymerizable groups (see the <Example of the synthesis method for the monofunctional radically polymerizable compound 1 which has a charge transport structure> of the provided translation). Formula (4) on page 13 of KR ‘833 is a general formula for a suitable polymerizable charge transport compound and specific examples are taught in Tables 1-1 through 1-12. The compounds taught in the aforementioned tables are read on the Applicant’s Formula (1) recited in pending claim 2 as well as the specific compounds taught by the Applicant in [0060] and [0208] of the instant specification. Furthermore, the polymerizable monomers having three or more polymerizable groups taught by KR ‘833 are the same as those taught by the Applicant in ([0067-75]). The crosslinked surface layer of KR ‘833 is further taught to have fluorinated polymers as leveling agents which will act as lubricants (see the <Example of the synthesis method for the monofunctional radically polymerizable compound 1 which has a charge transport structure> of the provided translation). KR ‘833 further teaches a method of forming the above described photoreceptor wherein a combination of solvents having a solubility parameter of between 8.5 to 11.0 is used in the coating solution in order to form a lower layer of surface layer that acts as bridge layer to promote adhesion between the charge transport layer and the surface layer of the photoreceptor. The solvents are taught to be the same solvents taught by the Applicant to satisfy the relationship recited in pending claim 5. Specifically, KR’ 833 teaches that the following solvents that are also taught by the Applicant are preferably used in a dip coating method : butyl acetate, acetylacetone, xylene and cyclohexanone (see [0158] of the instant Application and the <Example of the synthesis method for the monofunctional radically polymerizable compound 1 which has a charge transport structure> section of the provided translation ) . While KR ‘833 does not teach the relationship between the solubility parameters recited by the Applicant in pending claim 5, the use of the same solvents taught by the Applicant to satisfy said relationships are taught by KR ‘833. KR ‘833 further teaches that the selection of the solvents based on the solubility parameter of said solvents is a result effective variable to promote adhesion between the charge transport layer and surface layer and further teaches that selection of appropriate solvents will result in forming a similar bridge layer between these two contiguous layers. As such, it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the instant application to have optimized the solvents used in the protective layer of KR ‘833 based on the solubility parameter values taught by KR ‘833 in order to perfect the adhesion of the charge transport and protective layer of the photoreceptor of KR ‘833. KR ‘833 also teaches an image forming apparatus that reads on the Applicant’s pending claim 7 (see the “(Image Forming Method and Image Forming Device)” section of the provided translation). Claim s 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 2008-0091833 (henceforth KR ‘833) in view of JP 2012-262102 (henceforth JP ‘102) . The complete discussion of KR ‘833 above is included herein. KR ‘833 teaches the use of fluorinated polymers as leveling agents in the surface layer, but does not disclose them as lubricant particles and further does not teach the use of inorganic oxide particles. JP ‘102 teaches a photoreceptor comprising a crosslinked surface layer that is chemically similar to that taught by KR ‘833. JP ‘102 further teaches that the surface layer should contain an inorganic oxide particle and a lubricant particle in order to improve the abrasion/wear resistance of the photoreceptor (see the “Background-Art” section, the “[Inorganic oxide]” section and the “[Application of surface layer]” section of JP ‘102). Therefore, in order to improve the abrasion and wear resistance of the photoreceptor of KR ‘833 it would have been obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the instant application to have utilized the inorganic oxide and lubricant particles of JP ‘102 in the surface layer of the photoreceptor of KR ‘833. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT PETER L VAJDA whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-7150 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT 7:30-4:00 PM . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Mark Huff can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-1385 . 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. /PETER L VAJDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 12/17/2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 31, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 18, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+13.0%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 985 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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