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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claims 1, 13 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuroki et al. (US 10,093,499).
With respect to claims 1 and 17, Kuroki et al. teach an image forming apparatus (Fig.1) comprising a housing that has a forming section (Fig.2) which is built therein and which forms an image on a recording medium (Fig.2, Item 15), the housing having a medium placement section (Fig.2, Item 21) that is a bottom surface of a room, of which a front side in a backward direction is open, and an ejection port (Fig.2, Item 84) that ejects the recording medium, on which the image is formed, toward the room along a width direction intersecting with the backward direction; and a sound absorbing member (Fig.6A, Item 83) that is provided on an upper wall covering the medium placement section (Fig.6A, Item 21) from above in the housing and that has a first portion (Fig.6A, Item 83C) and a second portion (Fig.6A, Item 83D) which is positioned closer to the ejection port (Fig.6A, Item 84) than the first portion and which has a larger vertical dimension than the first portion.
With respect to claim 13, Kuroki et al. teach wherein a downward extension portion (Fig.6B, Item 83C) which extends downward is provided at an end portion of the upper wall on the front side.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 12 and 14 – 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The attached hereto PTO Form 892 lists prior art made of record that the Examiner considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDGARDO SAN MARTIN whose telephone number is (571)272-2074. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 - 5:00 M - F.
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, Shawki S. Ismail can be reached on 571-272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Edgardo San Martin/
Edgardo San Martín
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2837
August 22, 2026
Prosecution Insights