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 .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2 and 6-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 03/24/2025.
Specification
The Title has been updated according to the amended Specification dated 08/13/2025. The objection to the Title has been withdrawn.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2020/0285179 to Seki.
Regarding Claim 1, Seki teaches a heater (22) comprising: a substrate (30); a heat generating member (31) provided on the substrate; and a protective layer (32) configured to continuously cover a region in the substrate where the heat generating member is provided and on a surface of which at least one recess is formed (both sides of projection 36/36S/36U/36V are interpreted as constituting recesses), wherein when a direction of a longer side in a face of the substrate on which the heat generating member is provided is defined as a longitudinal direction, a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in the face is defined as a short direction, and a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the short direction is defined as a thickness direction, a first region where the heat generating member is provided and a second region where the recess is formed are not overlapped with each other as the protective layer is viewed in the thickness direction (Fig. 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C, 6B, 6C, 8B, 8C, 9B, 9D).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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, 3, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5,376,7731 to Masuda et al. in view of US 2022/0291610 to Seki et al.
Masuda et al. teach
(claim 1) A heater (41, Fig.24) comprising: a substrate (42); a heat generating member (43a,43b,43c) provided on the substrate; and a protective layer (46) configured to continuously cover a region in the substrate where the heat generating member is provided and on a surface of which a plurality of recesses (a, see Figs.21 & 26) are formed, wherein when a direction of a longer side in a face of the substrate on which the heat generating member is provided is defined as a longitudinal direction, a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in the face is defined as a short direction, and a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the short direction is defined as a thickness direction, a first region where the heat generating member is provided and a second region where the plurality of recesses are formed are not overlapped with each other as the protective layer is viewed in the thickness direction; and wherein the plurality of recesses are provided at intervals in the longitudinal direction of the substrate (col. 9 lines 19-28) and formed in a shape of a line;
(claim 3) wherein the substrate is rectangular.
Masuda et al. do not suggest the recess being inclined as claimed. Seki et al. discloses an alternative pattern for a heat generation member in which a plurality of heat generation patterns (37a1-37a8) are arranged in the longitudinal direction at to provide more efficient heat distribution for different size sheet in an image forming apparatus.
Seki et al. discloses an alternative pattern for a heat generation member in which a plurality of heat generation patterns (37a1-37a8) are arranged in the longitudinal direction at to provide more efficient heat distribution for different size sheet in an image forming apparatus. Additionally, the heat generation patterns are overlapped with each other in the longitudinal direction to prevent the temperature at regions between the heat generation patterns that do not generate heat from decreasing (Fig.7, [0051-0053]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the heater of Masuda to have heat generation patters as disclosed by Seki et al., for a similar purpose of having better control of heat distribution in the longitudinal direction.
Upon combination, since Masuda et al. teach the recesses at locations between the heat generating portions, the following would also be rendered obvious:
regarding claim 1, wherein the recess is formed in a shape of a line extending in a direction inclined relative to the short direction of the substrate; and
regarding claim 5, wherein ranges where two adjacent recesses of the plurality of recesses exist, respectively are overlapped with each other (as provided by the overlap of the heat generation patterns in the longitudinal direction).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 08/13/2025, with regards to Matsuda et al., have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicants point to the features of claim 15 that they believe to be allowable and state that the cited art fails to teach these features. The Office respectfully disagrees and the rejection has been presented above. The Office particularly disagrees with the assertion that “groove a is shown by cutting out the protective layer and continuous covering is stopped”. According to Masuda et al. recess a is formed because of the thickness of resistors 43a-43c upon applying over coating later 46; there is no disclosure of cutting out layer 46.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 08/13/2025, with respect to Seki et al. have been fully considered and are persuasive. The anticipation rejection of claim 1 has been withdrawn.
Contact Information
Applicant's amendment 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.
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/Arlene Heredia Ocasio/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852