DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kato (WO 2020110686 A1 which has been machine translated).
As to claims 1-7 and 9, Kato discloses a developing roller that is provided with an elastic layer 3 on the outer surface of a shaft body 2 (base) and a coat layer 4 (surface) formed on the elastic layer 3. The coat layer 4 contains a polyol, and an isocyanate as well as an unreactive silicone group in a side chain (abs). The coating layer 4 will be considered a silicone graft urethane resin, since the polyol and isocyanate react with each other while it says the silicone oil is unreacted. The silicone used within the composition is X-22-176F which is a one-terminal diol type silicone oil (paragraph 40). The composition further comprises a polyester-based polyol in which Polycastor can be used as the polyester-based polyol (examples 2-7). Further the composition comprises aliphatic isocyanates such as HDI as well as buret modified polyisocyanates. However is silent to the specifics of the coating layer. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kato and used Polycastor as the polyol, a buret modified polyisocyanate or HDI and X-22-176F as the silicone oil as Kato discloses overlapping scope of materials and that these materials are suitable to be used as the coating layer of the developing roller. Since these are the same materials being used within the present invention, it will inherently have an elastic deformation power between 30 to 90%, a Martens hardness of 12 to 200 N/mm2, a silicone element amount of between 10 to 25% and a ratio of A2/A1 of .9 to 1.2.
As to claim 8, Kato is silent to the thickness of the layer, however it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have made the thickness of the coating layer have any thickness including a thickness of 3 to 15 microns as a thicker layer will cost more and be less flexible and studier while a thinner layer will be cheaper and more flexible. See MPEP 2144.06.
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dreyfuss et al (US Patent 5430533) in view of Kato (WO 2020110686 A1 which has been machine translated).
As to claims 9 and 10, Dreyfuss disclose an electrophotographic printer that comprises an intermediate transfer roller. The roller is formed from a urethane and a silicone oil. However is silent to the specifics of the composition.
Kato discloses a developing roller that is provided with an elastic layer 3 on the outer surface of a shaft body 2 (base) and a coat layer 4 (surface) formed on the elastic layer 3. The coat layer 4 contains a polyol, and an isocyanate as well as an unreactive silicone group in a side chain (abs). The coating layer 4 will be considered a silicone graft urethane resin, since the polyol and isocyanate react with each other while it says the silicone oil is unreacted. The silicone used within the composition is X-22-176F which is a one-terminal diol type silicone oil (paragraph 40). The composition further comprises a polyester-based polyol in which Polycastor can be used as the polyester-based polyol (examples 2-7). Further the composition comprises aliphatic isocyanates such as HDI as well as buret modified polyisocyanates. However is silent to the specifics of the coating layer. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Kato and used Polycastor as the polyol, a buret modified polyisocyanate or HDI and X-22-176F as the silicone oil as Kato discloses overlapping scope of materials and that these materials are suitable to be used as the coating layer of the developing roller. Since these are the same materials being used within the present invention, it will inherently have an elastic deformation power between 30 to 90%, a Martens hardness of 12 to 200 N/mm2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Dreyfuss and used the composition of Kato for the intermediate transfer member as it would be a suitable alternative as Dreyfuss disclose overlapping materials. See MPEP 2144.05.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER M POLLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-5734. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8am till 4:30 pm.
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/CHRISTOPHER M POLLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1785
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