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
Newly submitted claims 13-15 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons: the claims to the different species recite distinct characteristics of such species regarding how mode selection is executed. In the species according to Fig.7, mode selection is set for the print job whereas in the species according to Fig.9 mode selection is reset every preset number of print sheets.
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claims 13-15 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
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 “manual mode and an automatic mode are selectively executable” 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 Objections
A series of singular dependent claims is permissible in which a dependent claim refers to a preceding claim which, in turn, refers to another preceding claim.
A claim which depends from a dependent claim should not be separated by any claim which does not also depend from said dependent claim. It should be kept in mind that a dependent claim may refer to any preceding independent claim. In general, applicant's sequence will not be changed. See MPEP § 608.01(n).
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, 4, 7-12, 16, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)as being anticipated by US 9,477,184 to Nishino.
Nishino teaches:
(claim 1) An image forming apparatus (100, Fig.1) comprising: a heating rotary member (151) having structure configured to apply heat to a printing medium; a pressing rotary member (152) having structure configured to press the heating rotary member and, with the heating rotary member, to apply heat and pressure to the printing medium to fix a toner image on the printing medium; an acquisition controller (19) configured to acquire information about a basis weight of a printing medium for which fixing is to be performed; and
a controller (19) configured to, in a case where a mixed job for forming a toner image on a first sheet and a second sheet, a basis weight of the first sheet being a first basis weight and a basis weight of the second sheet being a second basis weight different from the first basis weight, is to be executed (col. 9 lines 49-63), selectively execute (S102, Fig.7) one mode of a plurality of modes including an image-quality priority mode (Fig.5) and a plurality of productivity priority modes (Fig.6), the plurality of productivity modes including a first productivity priority mode (*1) and a second productivity priority mode (*4),
wherein
the plurality of productivity modes are modes in which the controller sets a target temperature of the heating rotary member for the first sheet in the mixed job to a first target temperature based on the information about the first basis weight and the information about the second basis weight and sets the target temperature of the heating rotary member for the second sheet in the mixed job to a second target temperature based on the information about the first basis weight and the information about the second basis weight (col. 9 lines 31-41), and
the image-quality priority mode is a mode in which the temperature controller sets the target temperature of the heating rotary member for the first sheet in the mixed job to a third target temperature not based on the information about the second basis weight acquired by the acquisition controller but based on the information about the first basis weight acquired by the acquisition controller and sets the target temperature of the heating rotary member for the second sheet in the mixed job to a fourth target temperature not based on the information about the first basis weight acquired by the acquisition controller but based on the information about the second basis weight acquired by the acquisition controller (col. 9 lines 16-30),
wherein, when a predetermined mixed job for forming a toner image on a third sheet (plain, 90 g/m2), a fourth sheet (plain, 110 g/m2), a fifth sheet (plain 220 g/m2), and a sixth sheet (plain 260 g/m2), whose respective basis weights differ from one another and increase in this order, is executed,
when said controller executes the first productivity priority mode, the temperature controller controls so that the fixing temperatures of the third sheet and the fourth sheet are different from each other (170˚C vs 180˚C), and controls so that the fixing temperatures of the fifth sheet and the sixth sheet are the same (180˚C ), and
when said controller executes the second productivity priority mode, the temperature controller controls so that the fixing temperatures of the third sheet and the fourth sheet are the same (155˚C), and controls so that the fixing temperatures of the fifth sheet and the sixth sheet differ from each other (165˚C vs 170˚C) .
(claim 4) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, in a case where a first job in which a printing medium of a basis weight more than or equal to a predetermined basis weight is mixed is executed, a number of print sheets per unit time of the first job is larger in the first productivity priority mode than in the second productivity priority mode, and
wherein, in a case where a second job in which a printing medium of a basis weight less than the predetermined basis weight is mixed is executed, a number of print sheets per unit time of the second job is larger in the second productivity priority mode than in the first productivity priority mode (col. 11 lines 24-31). (As shown in Fig.6, a first job using paper of or above 195 g/m2 in thick priority mode (*1) requires no temperature switching, therefore a larger number of print sheets per unit time can be executed, and in a second job using paper below 195 g/m2 in thinnest priority mode (*4) requires no temperature switching, therefore a larger number of print sheets per unit time can be executed.)
(claim 7) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in case that the second basis weight (e.g. plain 195 g/m2) is larger than the first basis weight (e.g. plain 117 g/m2), the first target temperature (155˚C @ *4, Fig.6B) is higher than the third target temperature (165˚C, Fig.5B) and is lower than the fourth target temperature (175˚C, Fig.5B).
(claim 10) The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second basis weight is greater than the first basis weight (Figs. 5 & 6).
(claim 8) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the structure of the heating rotary member includes a fixing belt (an outer surface of the fixation roller constitutes “a belt”) and the structure of the pressing rotary member includes a pressing roller configured to form, with the fixing belt, a nip portion at which the heat and the pressure for fixing the toner image to the printing medium are to be applied to the toner image while the printing medium carrying the toner image is nipped by the nip portion and conveyed (col. 8 lines 3-34).
(claim 9) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in case that the second basis weight (e.g. plain 279 g/m2) is larger than the first basis weight (e.g. plain 117 g/m2), the second target temperature (170˚C @ *4, Fig.6B) is higher than the third target temperature (165˚C, Fig.5B) and is lower than the fourth target temperature (180˚C, Fig.5B).
(claim 11) The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the second basis weight is greater than the first basis weight (Figs. 5 & 6).
(claim 12) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a difference between the first target temperature and the second target temperature is smaller than a difference between the third target temperature and the fourth target temperature (e.g. in case of first basis weight= plain 117 g/m2 and second basis weight= plain 195 g/m2, a difference between the first target temperature and the second target temperature is 0˚C and a difference between the third target temperature and the fourth target temperature is 10˚C).
(claim 16) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the predetermined mixed job is executed, in a case where the image-quality priority mode is executed, respective target temperatures of the heating rotary member for the third to sixth sheets are different from one another (Fig.5A-5B).
(claim 17) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a selection portion (20, Fig.2) that enables a user to select whether image formation is to be performed in the image-quality priority mode or in one of the plurality of productivity priority modes (col. 10 lines 58-60).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4, 5, and 7-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARLENE HEREDIA whose telephone number is (571)272-8393. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at (571)272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Arlene Heredia Ocasio/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852