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 patent US 10209667 discussed in the specification on page 1, has been considered by the examiner.
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 1/15/2024 are acceptable for examination by the examiner.
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) 1-2 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ZHOU (CN205193435U, cited by applicant).
Regarding claim 1, ZHOU teaches a switch device 24 for a toner port of a toner container, comprising: a base (2410) for accommodating the toner container, wherein the base (2410) has a toner outlet (2400); a rotating block (26) having a toner discharge channel (24, opening), wherein the rotating block (26) is rotatably coupled to the base (2410); and a driving sliding plate (30) for driving the rotating block (26) to rotate, wherein the toner port 1155 of the toner container is opened when the rotating block (26) rotates to a position where the toner discharge channel (11520) communicates with the toner outlet (2400), and the toner port 1155 of the toner container is closed when the toner discharge channel (11520) does not communicate with the toner outlet 2400 (figures 21, 25-30, 33, 36, [0137-0140]).
Regarding claim 2, the switch device 24 further comprising: a connecting rod (262), which has a first end coupled to the rotating block (26) for driving the rotating block (26) to rotate and a second end connected to the driving sliding plate 30 (figure 25).
Regarding claim 7, the rotating block (26) comprises a rotating block plate part (30), and the toner outlet (2400) of the base (24) is closed by the rotating block plate part (30, via holes 302a) when the rotating block 30 rotates to a position where the toner discharge channel (11520) does not communicate with the toner outlet (2400) of the base (24), so as to achieve closing the toner port of the toner container (figure 31; [0143-0144]).
Regarding claim 8, the driving sliding plate (6) comprises a first holding portion (6-2), at which the driving sliding plate (6) is driven to slide when the toner container is loaded.
Regarding claim 9, wherein the rotating block (30) has a circular shape, a fanned shape, a V-shape or other irregular shapes (30, shape shown in figure 31).
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.
Claims 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU (CN205193435U, cited by applicant) in view of PENG et al. (CN 109856937A).
Zhou teaches regarding claim 3, a switch device 24 further comprising: [a compressed sealing [cotton piece]], which is attached on the rotating block (26), has a first toner discharge hole (2400, in switch), and is located between the base (24) and the rotating block (26)(this is unclear with respect to the specification) after installation, wherein the first toner discharge hole (2400) is coaxial with the toner discharge channel (11520) of the rotating block (26).
ZHOU does not teach the full recitations of claims 3 for a cotton seal.
However, it is known in the art to place a seal around toner discharge hole. Regarding claim 3, PENG teaches a cotton seal (abstract).
ZHOU and PENG are concerned with developing device that accept toner cartridges. ZHOU teaches the use of seals [0081] but PENG teaches a seal formed of cotton (abstract).
The rationale for combining the teachings of PENG with the teachings of ZHOU relates to the rationale of combining prior art elements according to a known methods to yield predictable results.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to use the teaching of PENG with the teaching of ZHOU to obtain sealing with the inherent properties of cotton for a discharging hole.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4-6 and 10 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. CHIESA (US 6,363,235 B1) teaches a toner bottle with shutter system.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANA 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, Walter Lindsay can be reached on 571-272-1674. 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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