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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/9/2024 was considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 2/9/2024 are acceptable for examination by the examiner.
Title
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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) 1-3, 10-12, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SAITO TURO (cited by applicant; JP2001-109295A).
TURO teaches a claim 1, a fixing device comprising: a fixing unit (shown in figure 1) that fixes an image on a surface of a medium by pressing the image while heating the image, the fixing unit (figure 1) including a base layer and a surface layer that is composed of a tube having a crease and covering the base layer and of which a coefficient of thermal expansion is different from a coefficient of thermal expansion of the base layer; and a controlling unit that controls the fixing unit, the controlling unit executing a crease removal operation of smoothing out the crease before a start of a fixing operation in a case where the fixing operation is started and a predetermined condition under which the crease deteriorates is satisfied (figures 1-2, [0023-0024], [0027-0028]; or figure 5, [0095], [0150]).
Regarding claim 2, the fixing unit that includes a heating unit and a pressing unit is provided, the heating unit being heated by a heat source and rotating and the pressing unit being disposed to face the heating unit and including the base layer and the surface layer (figure 1, [0055-0060]).
Regarding claim 3, a core material, the base layer that is provided on an outer periphery of the core material and that is composed of an elastic body, and the surface layer that is composed of a fluororesin tube having the crease are provided [0025, 0060].
Regarding claims 10-12, an image forming apparatus comprising: an image holding unit; a transfer unit that transfers an image held by the image holding unit to a medium; and the fixing device according to claim 1, the fixing device fixing the image transferred to the medium (figure 2).
Regarding claim 19, TURO teaches fixing device comprising: fixing means for fixing an image on a surface of a medium by pressing the image while heating the image, the fixing means including a base layer and a surface layer that is composed of a tube having a crease and covering the base layer and of which a coefficient of thermal expansion is different from a coefficient of thermal expansion of the base layer; and controlling means for controlling the fixing means, the controlling means executing a crease removal operation of smoothing out the crease before a start of a fixing operation in a case where the fixing operation is started and a predetermined condition under which the crease deteriorates is satisfied (figures 1-2, [0023-0024], [0027-0028]; or figure 5, [0095], [0150]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-9 and 13-18 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.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. WATANABE (US 2018/0017911 A1) teaches an image forming device that reducing crease when processing envelops.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANA M GRAINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-2135. The examiner can normally be reached on 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, Clayton Labelle can be reached on 571-272-1594. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUANA GRAINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
QG
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