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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) acquiring and detecting both of which are mathematical processes of acquiring the in-phase voltage of the motor and detecting a sign of clogging based on variation in phase-to-phase voltage which can be done mentally by comparing the acquired voltages. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the process described could take place completely on a disc and does nothing to transform the image forming apparatus. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because nothing is done with the detection result, detecting alone is insignificant extra solution activity.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ichikawa et al. US 2010/0080638 (Ichikawa) and Dalton et al. US 2009/0272003 A1 (Dalton).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Ichikawa teaches an image forming apparatus comprising:
a waste toner collection path (121, 131, 141) through which waste toner is collected (¶0042-¶0044);
a motor (M1, M2, M3, M4 or M5) that drives a conveyance member provided in the waste toner collection path.
Ichikawa differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: a processor that acquires a phase-to-phase voltage which is at least one in-phase voltage of the motor, and detects a sign of toner clogging in the waste toner collection path, based on a variation in the phase-to-phase voltage. However, this is a known technique. Dalton teaches a processor (controller 21) that acquires a phase-to-phase voltage (phase lag) which is at least one in-phase voltage of the motor (motor 24), and detects a sign of toner clogging in the waste toner collection path, based on a variation in the phase-to-phase voltage (¶0018). Furthermore, it is well-known that teaching of phase lag requires the phase-to-phase voltage at a zero-cross timing which is a timing at which an in-phase current when the motor is driven becomes zero. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the technique taught by Dalton of detecting clogs by monitoring phase of the motor, with the device taught by Ichikawa because the technique for improving and preventing clogs in washing machines is applicable to improving and preventing clogs in an image forming apparatus and one of ordinary skill at the time of filing would have recognized that applying the known technique would have yielded the predictable result of detecting failures such as clogs.
Regarding claim 9, Ichikawa and Dalton teach the image forming apparatus according to claim 1. Ichikawa and Dalton differ from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the motor is a stepping motor. However, stepping motors are well-known. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use a stepping motor as the motors (M1, M2, M3, M4 or M5) taught by Ichikawa since stepping motors are well-known motors and could be implemented with the predictable result of a well-known motors being used to drive the transporting member.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA L ELEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9793. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM CST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter Jr. 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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/JESSICA L ELEY/
Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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