Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/721,372

RESIN APPLICATION DEVICE FOR A CONVEYING SURFACE IN A PRINTING PROCESS, ASSEMBLY FOR PREPARING A CONVEYING SURFACE TO RECEIVE A SUBSTRATE IN A PRINTING PROCESS, METHOD OF PREPARING A CONVEYING SURFACE TO RECEIVE A SUBSTRATE IN A PRINTING PROCESS AND METHOD OF PRINTING A SUBSTRATE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 18, 2024
Priority
Dec 22, 2021 — IT 102021000032261 +2 more
Examiner
SENGUPTA, SONYA MAZUMDAR
Art Unit
1745
Tech Center
1700 — Chemical & Materials Engineering
Assignee
System Ceramics S.p.A.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
68%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 2m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 68% — above average
68%
Career Allowance Rate
487 granted / 713 resolved
+3.3% vs TC avg
Strong +20% interview lift
Without
With
+20.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
14 currently pending
Career history
727
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
78.7%
+38.7% vs TC avg
§102
10.2%
-29.8% vs TC avg
§112
8.3%
-31.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 713 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 § 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. Claims 16 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Chiba (JP 2008-247592). Chiba teaches a method of preparing a conveying surface (paragraph 0044) to receive a substrate in a printing process, comprising: moving the conveying surface along an advancement direction (14); delivering adhesive resin at a delivery zone on the conveying surface; displacing at least part of the adhesive resin from one first region on the conveying surface downstream of the delivery zone to a second region on the conveying surface upstream of the first region; forming an even layer of adhesive resin on the conveying surface downstream of the first region (Figure 3); wherein displacing at least part of the adhesive resin from the first region to the second region comprises dragging adhesive resin to be displaced towards the second region to form a recirculation zone of adhesive resin between the first region and the second region. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-2, 4, and 6-12 are allowed. Claims 17, 20-23, 25, 29, and 32 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SONYA M SENGUPTA whose telephone number is (571)272-6019. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:00pm. 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, Philip Tucker can be reached at 571-272-1098. 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. /SONYA M SENGUPTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 18, 2024
Application Filed
Oct 09, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12636901
METHOD OF FABRICATING A THERMAL TRANSFER IMAGE
1y 8m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12623806
METHOD FOR APPLYING LABELS OR INK TO TARGET OBJECTS WITHOUT POST-APPLICATION CURING
2y 3m to grant Granted May 12, 2026
Patent 12623962
BONDED BODY MANUFACTURING METHOD AND BONDED BODY
1y 6m to grant Granted May 12, 2026
Patent 12618180
MANUFACTURING METHOD FOR LIGHT-COLORED FULL-SHADING CURTAIN CLOTH, AND LIGHT-COLORED FULL-SHADING CURTAIN CLOTH
2y 10m to grant Granted May 05, 2026
Patent 12617134
COOLING PLATE INJECTION BONDING METHOD FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY CASE FRAME
1y 9m to grant Granted May 05, 2026
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
68%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+20.1%)
3y 1m (~1y 2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 713 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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