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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 11 March 2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3 line 2 recites: “…is only one in the press-fit portion…”. This should be corrected to read - - is only one portion in the press-fit portion - -.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Tomita (US 10,429,786 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Tomita discloses a drive transmission device (see Figs. 19A1) comprising:
a drive transmission member (75 in Figs. 19A1-A3) to receive a driving force from a drive source, the drive transmission member having an insertion portion (75c); and
a rotation shaft (73) including:
a press-fit portion (73 in Figs. 19A1-A3) to press-fit into the insertion portion of the drive transmission member after insertion of an axial tip of the rotation shaft into the insertion portion of the drive transmission member (see Figs. 19A1-A3), the press-fit portion including a press-fit flat portion (173c) parallel to an axial direction of the rotation shaft (see Fig. 19A1); and
another flat portion (173a and F in annotated Figure 19A2 below) at a position closer to the axial tip than the press-fit flat portion (see Fig. 19A1),
wherein the insertion portion of the drive transmission member has an inner-wall flat portion (175b) to contact the press-fit flat portion when the press-fit portion is press-fitted into the insertion portion (see Figs. 19A2-A3), and
wherein said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) is parallel to the press-fit flat portion that has a distance (H1) from an axial center of the rotation shaft smaller than the press-fit flat portion (H2).
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Figure 1. Annotated Figure 19A2.
Regarding claim 2, Tomita discloses wherein the insertion portion (75c) of the drive transmission member (75) is formed with a through hole (see Fig. 19A1).
Regarding claim 3, Tomita discloses wherein the press-fit flat portion (173c) is only one portion in the press-fit portion (see Fig. 19A1).
Regarding claim 4, Tomita discloses wherein the rotation shaft (73) has an inclined surface (173b) that connects said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) and the press-fit flat portion (173c).
Regarding claim 5, Tomita discloses wherein an angle between the inclined surface (173b) and said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) at a most upstream position of said another flat portion in a direction of the insertion of the axial tip of the rotation shaft (73) is equal to or lower than an angle between an inclined surface (175c) of an entrance edge portion and the inner-wall flat portion (175b) in the insertion portion of the drive transmission member (75).
Regarding claim 6, Tomita discloses wherein a height of the inclined surface (173b) relative to said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) at a most upstream position of said another flat portion in a direction of the insertion of the axial tip (see Fig. 19A1) is equal to or less than (see Fig. 19A2) a height of an inclined surface (175c) of an entrance edge portion relative to the inner-wall flat portion (175b) in the insertion portion (75c) of the drive transmission member.
Regarding claim 7, Tomita discloses wherein a length (A in annotated Figure 19A1 below) of the press-fit flat portion (173c) in the axial direction is longer than a length (B in annotated Figure 19A1 below) of said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) in the axial direction.
NOTE: The claim only requires “a length” of each flat portion, not an entire length. Accordingly, the annotated figures below set fort “a length” of each flat portion.
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Figure 2. Annotated Figure 19A1.
Regarding claim 8, Tomita discloses wherein a length (C in annotated Figure 19A1 below) of the press-fit flat portion (173c) in the axial direction is equal to or less than a length (D in annotated Figure 19A1 below) of said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a) in the axial direction.
NOTE: The claim only requires “a length” of each flat portion, not an entire length. Accordingly, the annotated figures below set fort “a length” of each flat portion.
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Figure 3. Annotated Figure 19A1.
Regarding claim 11, Tomita discloses wherein the drive transmission member (75) is a gear (see Column 9 lines 44-51).
Regarding claim 12, Tomita discloses wherein the drive transmission member (75) is a resin-molded product (see Column 10 lines 1-9).
Regarding claim 13, Tomita discloses wherein the insertion portion (75c) of the drive transmission member (75) is formed with a through hole (see Fig. 19A1), and
wherein a relation of H1 ≤ H3 < H2 is satisfied,
where when the through hole is viewed from the axial direction, H1 (h1) represents a distance between the axial center of the rotation shaft and said another flat portion (specifically portion 173a, see Fig. 19A1) of the rotation shaft, H2 (h2) represents a distance between the axial center of the rotation shaft and the press-fit flat portion (173c) of the rotation shaft (see Fig. 19A1), and H3 (h4) represents a distance between a center of the through hole and the inner-wall flat portion (175b, see Fig. 19A3).
Regarding claim 14, Tomita discloses wherein the rotation shaft (73) has a mark (E in annotated Figure 19A3 below) indicating an insertion position of the rotation shaft with respect to the insertion portion (75c) of the drive transmission member (75).
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Figure 4. Annotated Figure 19A3.
Regarding claim 15, Tomita discloses an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium (see Abstract), the apparatus comprising:
a driven member (72); and
the drive transmission device according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above) to transmit the driving force of the drive source to the driven member (see Column 9 lines 60-63).
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.
Claim(s) 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomita (US 10,429,786 B2) in view of Schwaerzler (JP 06213242 A).
Regarding claim 9, Tomita discloses wherein the insertion portion (75c) of the drive transmission member is formed with a through hole (see Fig. 19A1),
the rotation shaft (73) has a groove (G in annotated Figure 19A1 below) in a portion that is placed outside the insertion portion after the rotation shaft passes through the insertion portion and is press-fitted (see Fig. 19A3),
said another flat portion (173a and F in annotated Figure 19A2 above) has a flat part (specifically portion F in annotated Figure 19A2 above) closer to the axial tip in the axial direction than the groove is (see Fig. 19A3).
Tomita fails to disclose as claimed a stopper to prevent the rotation shaft from disengaging from the insertion portion, and wherein the stopper is fitted in the groove.
However, Schwaerzler teaches a stopper (15) to prevent the rotation shaft (11) from disengaging from the insertion portion (13), and wherein the stopper is fitted in the groove (16), in order to provide further means to prevent unintended separation between the shaft and insertion portion.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the connection of Tomita, with Schwaerzler, such that the stopper of Schwaerzler is in the groove of Tomita, in order to provide further means to prevent unintended separation between the shaft and insertion portion.
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Figure 5. Annotated Figure 19A1.
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomita (US 10,429,786 B2) in view of Noda (US 6,400,914 B1).
Regarding claim 10, Tomita discloses wherein the drive transmission member (75) is a pulley (see Fig. 19A1), but fails to disclose as claimed that the pulley is a belt pulley.
However, Noda teaches a drive transmission device (see Fig. 44) comprising a drive transmission member (43) that can transmit force via a gear train or a belt pulley (see Column 30 lines 61-65), in order to provide a transmission that can be adaptable to function on the least expensive and most accessible parts components.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the drive transmission device of Tomita, with Noda, such that it comprises the belt pulley transmission of Noda, in order to provide a transmission that can be adaptable to function on the least expensive and most accessible parts components. Further, providing the belt pulley transmission of Noda on Tomita allows the wear and tear to be applied to inexpensive and replaceable belts, therefore protecting more complex transmission components such as gears and pulleys.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY A HALL whose telephone number is (571)272-5907. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 8:00am to 4:00pm.
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/ZAH/Examiner, Art Unit 3678
/AMBER R ANDERSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3678