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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention I in the reply filed on 07/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 15-37 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions II and III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/24/2025.
Claims
Applicant’s Claims filed on 09/23/2025 regarding claims 1-38 is fully considered. Of the above claims, claims 15-37 have been withdrawn; claims 1 and 7-9 have been amended, and claim 38 has been newly added.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 8 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, the examiner recommends reciting multiple light-emitting portions of the plurality of light emitting portions in line 6.
Further regarding claim 1, the recitation of “correction data” in line 12 refers to a previously recited limitation.
Regarding claim 8, the recitation of “an image” in lined 2 refers to a previously recited limitation.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 8 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.
Regarding claim 8, the recitation of “same number of light-emitting portions are driven to form each pixel of that image” in lines 4-5 appears to contradict the recitation of “the second number being different from the first number” in lines 14-15 of claim 1.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6-14 and 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al. (US 2021/0055669 A1) in view of Imai (US 2011/0102536 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshida et al. teach an image forming apparatus (electrophotographic image forming apparatus; Figs 1-2) comprising:
a photosensitive member that is driven to rotate (photosensitive drum 102; Figs 1-2);
an exposure head that includes a plurality of light-emitting portions arranged at different positions in an axial direction of the photosensitive member (exposure head 106; Figs 1-2; the light emitting device 401 includes the silicon substrate 402, the lower electrodes 410-1 to 410-748, the light emitting layer 450, and the upper electrode 460; [0046]; FIG. 5; lower electrodes 420-1 to 420-748; FIG. 13), wherein an image corresponding to an output resolution of the image forming apparatus is formed by multiple light-emitting portions (a full color image is formed; [0031]; resolution of 1200 dpi; [0040]-[0041], [0050]-[0052]); and
a control unit configured to control driving of multiple light-emitting portions based on correction data (by setting the pulse width table for each of the lower electrodes 410-1 to 410-748 using the above-described control, it is possible to correct the unevenness of the print image of the printed image caused by the variation in the light amount of each light emitting layer 450 corresponding to the lower electrodes 410-1 to 410-748; [0088]-[0091]), wherein
the image includes at least first pixel and second pixel (the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment drives the plurality of lower electrodes which are adjacent to each other in the rotational direction of the photosensitive drum 102, thereby exposing the area corresponding to one pixel in the output resolution of the image forming apparatus; [0110]).
Further regarding claim 1, Yoshida et al. do not teach the control unit controls the driving of the multiple light-emitting portions based on correction data such that a first number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions form the first pixel and a second number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions form the second pixel, the second number being different from the first number.
Further regarding claim 1, Imai teaches a control unit controls a driving of multiple light-emitting portions based on correction data such that a first number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions form a first pixel and a second number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions form a second pixel, the second number being different from the first number (FIG. 5B) for the purpose of adjusting the barycentric position of each pixel.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the control unit controls the driving of the multiple light-emitting portions based on correction data such that a first number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light- emitting portions form the first pixel and a second number of light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions form the second pixel, the second number being different from the first number, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of adjusting the barycentric position of each pixel.
Regarding claim 2, Yoshida et al. teach wherein at least two light-emitting portions of the multiple light-emitting portions overlap with each other in the axial direction (one square in the direction perpendicular to the rotational direction shows a latent image corresponding to a pixel formed by the lower electrode 410-1 and the lower electrode 420-1; [0127]; Figs 13, 16).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the exposure head includes light-emitting portions arranged in M rows in a circumferential direction of the photosensitive member and N columns in the axial direction, and at least two of the M light-emitting portions of each of the N columns overlap with each other in the axial direction (one square in the direction perpendicular to the rotational direction shows a latent image corresponding to a pixel formed by the lower electrode 410-1 and the lower electrode 420-1; [0127]; Figs 13, 16).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshida et al. do not teach wherein the correction data is data for correcting an image width in the axial direction.
Further regarding claim 6, Imai teaches the correction data is data for correcting an image width in the axial direction (exposure width; FIG. 3A; exposure feasible width; Figs 3B-3C; [0100]-[0102]; [0113]-[0129]) for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein the correction data is data for correcting an image width in the axial direction, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
Regarding claim 7, Yoshida et al. teach wherein the first number of light-emitting portions are driven to form the first pixel with first pixel data; and the second number of light-emitting portions are driven to form the second pixel with second pixel data (the image data for one pixel for one pixel of the image is transferred in one cycle of the clock signal clk; in the high resolution mode, one line has 14960 pixels of image data, and in the low resolution mode, one line has half the image data, that is, 7480 pixels; [0069]).
Regarding claim 8, Yoshida et al. do not teach wherein, in a case where an image width of an image is not to be corrected, the control unit is configured to control the plurality of light-emitting portions of the exposure head such that same number of light-emitting portions are driven to form each pixel of that image.
Further regarding claim 8, Imai teaches in a case where an image width of an image is not to be corrected, the control unit is configured to control the plurality of light-emitting portions of the exposure head such that same number of light-emitting portions are driven to form each pixel of that image (FIG. 3A) for the purpose of forming a line image without correction.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein, in a case where an image width of an image is not to be corrected, the control unit is configured to control the plurality of light-emitting portions of the exposure head such that same number of light-emitting portions are driven to form each pixel of that image, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of forming a line image without correction.
Regarding claim 9, Yoshida et al. do not teach wherein each of pixels of the image is constituted by a plurality of auxiliary pixels arranged at a pitch in the axial direction that is smaller than a pitch of the pixels of the image,
the control unit is configured to control a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel based on the correction data to correct image width, and, the controlled number of auxiliary pixels correspond to the multiple light-emitting portions that are used to form the first pixel.
Further regarding claim 9, Imai teaches each of pixels of the image is constituted by a plurality of auxiliary pixels arranged at a pitch in the axial direction that is smaller than a pitch of the pixels of the image (exposure feasible spots have smaller pitch than exposure distribution spots; Figs 5A-5C),
the control unit is configured to control a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel based on the correction data to correct image width, and, the controlled number of auxiliary pixels correspond to the multiple light-emitting portions that are used to form the first pixel (Figs 5A-5C) for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein each of pixels of the image is constituted by a plurality of auxiliary pixels arranged at a pitch in the axial direction that is smaller than a pitch of the pixels of the image, the control unit is configured to control a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel based on the correction data to correct image width, and, the controlled number of auxiliary pixels correspond to the multiple light-emitting portions that are used to form the first pixel, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
Regarding claim 10, Yoshida et al. do not teach wherein, in a case where the image width is expanded, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is larger than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected.
Further regarding claim 10, Imai teaches in a case where the image width is expanded, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is larger than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected (pixel A has 4 exposure feasible spots in FIG. 5A; pixel A has 5 spots in FIG. 5C) for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein, in a case where the image width is expanded, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is larger than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
Regarding claim 11, Yoshida et al. do not teach wherein, in a case where the image width is reduced, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is smaller than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected.
Further regarding claim 11, Imai teaches in a case where the image width is reduced, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is smaller than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected (pixel A has 4 exposure feasible spots in FIG. 5A; pixel A has 3 spots in FIG. 5B) for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein, in a case where the image width is reduced, the number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel is smaller than a number of auxiliary pixels that constitute the first pixel in a case of the image width being not corrected, as taught by Imai, into Yoshida et al. for the purpose of correcting for color shift.
Regarding claim 12, Yoshida et al. teach wherein the exposure head includes at least one light-emitting chip (the chips of the light emitting device 401 arranged in two rows in the longitudinal direction; FIG. 13; [0112]; light emitting device 401; Figs 14A-14B) that includes:
a data holding unit configured to hold data (image data storage portion 804; Figs 14A-14B); and
a driving unit configured to drive a corresponding one of the plurality of light-emitting portions to emit light based on the data held by the data holding unit (analog portion 806; FIG. 14A; the driving portions 1001-1 and 1001-2 for driving the two lower electrodes 410-1 and 410-2; [0095]).
Regarding claim 13, Yoshida et al. teach wherein the light-emitting chip includes an input terminal to which a synchronization signal is input, and the driving unit is configured to drive the corresponding one of the plurality of light-emitting portions to emit light during a period indicated by the synchronization signal (the synchronization signal generating portion 704 generates a line synchronization signal lsync_x which is a second signal and outputs it by way of the line synchronization signal line 708; [0066]; FIG. 14A).
Regarding claim 14, Yoshida et al. teach wherein each of the plurality of light-emitting portions is an organic electroluminescent element (for the light emitting layer 450, an organic material, for example may be used; [0055]-[0056]).
Regarding claim 38, Yoshida et al. teach wherein the first pixel data and the second pixel data are binary bit data indicating light emission or non-light emission of corresponding light-emitting portion (the image data is four-bit data; [0089]).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al. (US 2021/0055669 A1) as modified by Imai (US 2011/0102536 A1) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Watanabe et al. (US 2021/0294240 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Yoshida et al. as modified by Imai do not teach wherein the multiple light-emitting portions consists of M light-emitting portions, and the at least two light-emitting portions overlap by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in the axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to the output resolution.
Further regarding claim 3, Watanabe et al. teach multiple light-emitting portions consists of M light-emitting portions, and at least two light-emitting portions overlap by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in the axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to an output resolution (first light spot IC1 and second light spot IC2 in the axial direction; FIG. 8B; length of P is length of two matrix squares while overlap D2 is one matrix square in the axial direction) for the purpose of using tow light spots in the axial direction to form a pixel having symmetric barycentric positions.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein the multiple light-emitting portions consists of M light-emitting portions, and the at least two light-emitting portions overlap by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in the axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to the output resolution, as taught by Watanabe et al., into Yoshida et al. as modified by Imai for the purpose of using tow light spots in the axial direction to form a pixel having symmetric barycentric positions.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida et al. (US 2021/0055669 A1) as modified by Imai (US 2011/0102536 A1) as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Watanabe et al. (US 2021/0294240 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Yoshida et al. as modified by Imai do not teach wherein each of the M light-emitting portions of each of the N columns overlap with an adjacent light-emitting portion by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in the axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to the output resolution.
Further regarding claim 5, Watanabe et al. teach each of M light-emitting portions of each of N columns overlap with an adjacent light-emitting portion by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in an axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to an output resolution (first light spot IC1 and second light spot IC2 in the axial direction; FIG. 8B; length of P is length of two matrix squares while overlap D2 is one matrix square in the axial direction) for the purpose of using tow light spots in the axial direction to form a pixel having symmetric barycentric positions.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein each of the M light-emitting portions of each of the N columns overlap with an adjacent light-emitting portion by
M
-
1
M
∙
P in the axial direction, where P is a length in the axial direction of one pixel corresponding to the output resolution, as taught by Watanabe et al., into Yoshida et al. as modified by Imai for the purpose of using tow light spots in the axial direction to form a pixel having symmetric barycentric positions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENDRICK X LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3798. The examiner can normally be reached MWFSa 10am-8pm.
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, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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2 October 2025
/KENDRICK X LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/DOUGLAS X RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853