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
Applicant's election with traverse of Species I in the reply filed on 12/30/25 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that “a thorough search for the subject matter of any one species would encompass a search for the subject matter of the remaining species.” This is not found persuasive because for example a thorough search for the subject matter of species I, would include a search for an area fraction of pores present in a specified portion of the belt, but would not include a search focused on the average pore diameters.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 5 and 14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 12/30/25.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the endless belt having pores which “are present such that a fraction of the pores increases from an outer peripheral surface side toward an inner peripheral surface side” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 9, 10, 13 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Takazawa (US 2015/0139703).
With respect to claims 1, 4, 9, 10, 13 and 18-20, Takazawa discloses an intermediate transfer belt comprising an endless belt (e.g., fig. 1, intermediate transfer belt 3) comprising: a resin (as discussed at least in paragraphs 66 and/or 67); and electrically conductive particles (as discussed at least in paragraphs 66 and/or 67 for example by “carbon black”), wherein the endless belt has pores (e.g., “cavities (voids) 30”) inside, and the pores are present such that a fraction of the pores increases from an outer peripheral surface side toward an inner peripheral surface side (as discussed at least in paragraphs 64-69 and/or as shown at least by fig. 4).
With respect to claim 4, Takazawa further discloses wherein an area fraction A of the pores when an outer peripheral surface is observed is 0.01% or more and 1.0% or less (as discussed at least in paragraphs 64-69 and/or as shown at least by fig. 4).
With respect to claim 9, Takazawa further discloses wherein the resin is a polyimide-based resin (as discussed at least in paragraphs 64-69 and/or 115).
With respect to claim 19, Takazawa further discloses a transfer device (20) comprising: an intermediate transfer belt (3) having an outer peripheral surface onto which a toner image is to be transferred, the intermediate transfer belt including the endless belt according to claim 1 (as discussed above); a first transfer unit including a first transfer member (21) that first-transfers a toner image formed on a surface of an image holding member (11) onto the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt (3); and a second transfer unit (25) including a second transfer member (24) that is disposed in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt (3) and that second-transfers the toner image transferred onto the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt (3) onto a surface of a recording medium (8, as shown at least by fig. 1).
With respect to claim 20, Takazawa further discloses an image forming apparatus (fig. 1) comprising: a toner image forming device that includes an image holding member (11) and that forms a toner image on a surface of the image holding member (11); and a transfer device (3 and/or 20) that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the image holding member (11) onto a surface of a recording medium (8), the transfer device being the transfer device according to claim 19 (as discussed above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 6-8 and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takazawa (US 2015/0139703) in view of Ono et al. (US 2022/0146966).
With respect to claims 6-8 and 15-17, Takazawa disclose the endless intermediate transfer belt belt according to claim 1 (as discussed above)., but are silent with regards to an oil of the belt and thus do not specifically disclose, comprising a polyether-modified silicone oil has a number-average molecular weight of 300 or more and 10,000 or less.7. The endless belt according to claim 6, wherein the silicone oil is a polyether-modified silicone oil.
With further respect to claims 6-8 and 15-17, Ono et al. teach wherein the polyether-modified silicone oil has a number-average molecular weight of 300 or more and 10,000 or less (as discussed at least in paragraphs 66-69, 109-112 and/or as shown at least by figs. 1-2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to use the silicone oil of Ono et al. with the belt of Takazawa at least because there would have been a reasonable expectation of success in achieving transfer of an image.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 11 and 12 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for indicating allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not disclose or suggest the claimed area fraction Ao of the pores present on the outer peripheral surface side is 0.05% or more and 1.5% or less, an area fraction Am of the pores present in a thickness center portion is 1.0% or more and 5.0% or less, and an area fraction Ai of the pores present on the inner peripheral surface side is 2.0% or more and 20.0% or less in a section in a belt thickness direction, in combination with the remaining claim elements as set forth in the claims.
Prior Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Inagaki (US 8831490) discloses an intermediate transfer belt with a resin and electrically conductive particles and having protrusions over an outer surface thereof; Shingu et al. (US 2023/0242358) disclose an intermediate transfer belt having a resin and electrically conductive particles.
Remarks
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH S WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8457. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (9-5).
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, Walter L Lindsay Jr. can be reached at (571) 272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH S WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
JSW