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.
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.
Claim 15 is 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.
Claim 15 recites “wherein an amount of micro-jitter of the visible image is reduced compared to an amount of micro-jitter of an image formed by a comparative charging member which does not have the Spk/Sk of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is >10, the second portion has a Spk/Sk of less than 0.2, or both.” It is not clear what specific properties a “comparative charging member” would possess, besides not possessing the claimed Spk/Sk values. Further, the comparative charging member is not a part of the claimed electrophotographic imaging apparatus. As such, the comparative charging member does not impart further limitations to the claimed electrophotographic imaging apparatus.
As the metes and bounds of claim 15 cannot be ascertained with certainty, claim 15 is rendered indefinite. For examination purposes, claim 15 will be interpreted as best as one is able.
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) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Harada et al. (WO 2021/145924; “Harada”).
Regarding claim 1, Harada discloses a charging member 10 (Fig. 1 [0012]) comprising:
a conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]);
a conductive elastic body layer 2 on the conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]); and
a surface layer 3 on the conductive elastic body layer 2 (Fig. 1 [0012]), wherein the surface layer 3 includes a binder resin 3a and particles 3b/3c (Fig. 2 [0030]), and wherein the surface layer 3 includes a first portion of the binder resin 3a having the particles and a second portion of the binder resin 3a having an absence of the particles (see Fig. 2).
Harada does not explicitly disclose wherein the second portion has a peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth (Sk) of less than 0.2.
Harada, however, discloses the surface layer comprising an identical resin and identical particles, formed by an identical manufacturing method as the instant application. See paragraphs [0063-0066] of Harada and paragraphs [0081-0087] of the instant application as filed. A specific example is CE 3 of Harada (Table 3) is formed exactly as Example 3 of the instant application (Table 2A).
Because the surface layer of Harada contains identical materials and method of manufacturing as the surface layer of the instant application, the surface layer of Harada inherently has the second portion having a peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth (Sk) of less than 0.2.
It is further noted that examples Ex1-Ex5 of Harada have identical resin and particles as examples 2 and 6 of the instant application. Although Ex1-Ex5 contain additional “second” particles within the surface layer, these examples will still possess all of the claimed limitations. Because each of the different kinds of particles are contained in relatively small amounts (see parts by weight in Table 2 of Harada), there will be areas of the surface layer that (1) contain no particles, (2) contain only the first particle, and (3) contain only the second particle (as can be clearly seen in Fig. 2 of Harada). Therefore, all of these examples will also have the claimed features of claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein an average diameter of the particles is in a range from about 1 micron (µm) to about 35 µm (Table 1).
Regarding claim 3, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein an amount of the particles present is in a range of about 1 parts by weight to about 50 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features, also see Table 2).
Regarding claim 4, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein the binder resin is a urethane resin ([0031]).
Regarding claim 5, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein a Spk/Sk of the first portion/the Spk/Sk of the second portion is > 10 (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features).
Regarding claim 6, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein an average diameter of the particles is in a range from about 18 microns (µm) to about 27 µm (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features, also see Table 2).
Regarding claim 7, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein the particles further comprise acrylic resin particles, and wherein the acrylic resin particles include polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) particles or polymethyl acrylate (PMAA) particles (Table 1 [0050]).
Regarding claim 8, Harada discloses the charging member of claim 1, wherein the charging member is formed as a charging roller ([0011]).
Regarding claim 9, Harada discloses a cartridge 30 (Fig. 3) for an electrophotographic imaging apparatus ([0058]), the cartridge comprising:
a conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]);
a conductive elastic body layer 2 on the conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]); and
a surface layer 3 on the conductive elastic body layer 2 (Fig. 1 [0012]), wherein the surface layer 3 includes a binder resin 3a and particles 3b/3c (Fig. 2 [0030]), wherein the surface layer 3 includes a first portion of the binder resin 3a having the particles disposed in the binder resin and a second portion of the binder resin 3a having an absence of the particles disposed in the binder resin (see Fig. 2).
Harada does not explicitly disclose wherein a peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth(Sk) of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is > 10.
However, for reasons analogous to those described with respect to claim 1 (i.e., because the surface layer of Harada contains identical materials and method of manufacturing as the surface layer of the instant application), the surface layer of Harada inherently has the feature: wherein a peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth(Sk) of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is > 10.
Regarding claim 10, Harada discloses the cartridge of claim 9, wherein the Spk/Sk of the second portion is less than 0.2 (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features).
Regarding claim 11, Harada discloses the cartridge of claim 9, wherein a sum of the Spk of the first portion and the Sk of the first portion is greater than 8 (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features).
Regarding claim 12, Harada discloses the cartridge of claim 9, wherein: the surface layer is formed of a fluorine resin, a polyamide resin, an acrylic resin, a nylon resin, a urethane resin, a silicone resin, a butyral resin, styrene-ethylene/butylene-olefin copolymer (SEBC), olefin-ethylene/butylene-olefin copolymer (OEBC), or any combination thereof ([0031]); and wherein an amount of the particles present is in a range of about 5 parts by weight to about 20 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features, also see Table 2).
Regarding claim 13, Harada discloses an electrophotographic imaging apparatus ([0058]) comprising:
an electrophotographic photoconductor 11 (Fig. 3 [0059]); and
a charging member 10 to contact the electrophotographic photoconductor to charge the electrophotographic photoconductor (Fig. 3 [0059]), the charging member comprising:
a conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]);
a conductive elastic body layer 2 on the conductive support 1 (Fig. 1 [0012]);
particles 3b (Fig. 2 [0030]) having a diameter in a range from 18 microns (µm) to about 27 µm (Examples 1-5 and CE 3 utilize SSX-120 and SSX-127, which fall within the claimed range; see Tables 1-3); and
a surface layer 3 on the conductive elastic body layer 2 (Fig. 1 [0012]), the surface layer having a first portion including the particles and a second portion with an absence of the particles (see Fig. 2).
Harada does not explicitly disclose wherein a reduced peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth(Sk) of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is > 10; and the second portion has a Spk/Sk of less than 0.2.
However, for reasons analogous to those described with respect to claim 1 (i.e., because the surface layer of Harada contains identical materials and method of manufacturing as the surface layer of the instant application), the surface layer of Harada inherently has the features: wherein a reduced peak height (Spk)/core roughness depth(Sk) of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is > 10; and the second portion has a Spk/Sk of less than 0.2.
Regarding claim 14, Harada discloses the electrophotographic imaging apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: an exposure unit to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface layer ([0060]); a developing unit 15 to develop the electrostatic latent image to a visible image (Fig. 3 [0060]); and a transfer unit 17 to transfer the visible image onto an image receiving member (Fig. 3 [0060]).
Regarding claim 15 as best understood, Harada discloses the electrophotographic imaging apparatus of claim 14, wherein an amount of micro-jitter of the visible image is reduced compared to an amount of micro-jitter of an image formed by a comparative charging member which does not have the Spk/Sk of the first portion/a Spk/Sk of the second portion is >10, the second portion has a Spk/Sk of less than 0.2, or both (for analogous reasons described for claim 1, Harada discloses the claimed features, also see Tables 2-3 [0052, 0071-0075]).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is cited as related art. US 2023/0144220 is the US family member of Harada.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLA J THERRIEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2677. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8 am - 4 pm EST.
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/CARLA J THERRIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852