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
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1,8,9,17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Swartz WO 2019048447 A1.
Swartz discloses, regarding claim 1, A booklet making apparatus (1) comprising:
a pressurizing member (26) configured to oppose a first surface of a sheet bundle in which a plurality of sheets including at least one sheet on which an adhesive layer is formed are stacked;
a receiving member (22a) configured to oppose a second surface of the sheet bundle opposite to the first surface and nip the sheet bundle together with the pressurizing member;
a moving portion (32,36) configured to move the pressurizing member to a retracted position where the pressurizing member is retracted from the sheet bundle and a pressurizing position where the pressurizing member is in contact with the sheet bundle to pressurize the sheet bundle (see at least ¶0024-0028);
a heating portion configured to heat the pressurizing member (see at least ¶0019); and
a sheet separation member (28) configured to come into contact with the first surface of the sheet bundle and separate the sheet bundle from the pressurizing member in a process of the pressurizing member moving from the pressurizing position to the retracted position (see at least ¶0021).
Regarding claim 8,
wherein the pressurizing member (26) has a first contact surface configured to come into contact with the first surface of the sheet bundle (fig.2),
wherein the sheet separation member (28) has a second contact surface configured to come into contact with the first surface of the sheet bundle (fig.2), and
wherein a maximum value of a distance between the first contact surface and the second contact surface in a pressurizing direction in which the sheet bundle is pressed by the pressurizing member in a case where the pressurizing member moves from the pressurizing position to the retracted position is larger than a maximum value of the distance between the first contact surface and the second contact surface in the pressurizing direction in a case where the pressurizing member moves from the retracted position to the pressurizing position (when the pressurizing member presses the sheet bundle the distance is 0, and when the pressurizing member is retracted from the sheet bundle the distance is greater than 0).
Regarding claim 9, wherein the booklet making apparatus is configured to bond the plurality of sheets in the sheet bundle to each other by pressurizing the sheet bundle by the pressurizing member in a state in which the sheet bundle has the adhesive layer on the first surface, and then bond a succeeding sheet stacked on the sheet bundle to the sheet bundle by pressurizing the succeeding sheet by the pressurizing member (see at least the last sentence of ¶0020).
Regarding claim 16,
wherein the heating portion is a heater that is configured to generate heat in response to power supply thereto (see at least ¶0019), and
wherein the heater is in contact with a surface of the pressurizing member (26) on a side opposite to a surface of the pressurizing member configured to come into contact with the sheet bundle.
Regarding claim 17, An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming apparatus body configured to form images on sheets and apply an adhesive on the sheets while conveying the sheets one by one (see at least ¶0013); and
the booklet making apparatus (1) according to claim 1 configured to make a booklet by stacking and bonding a plurality of sheets together by using the adhesive, the plurality of sheets being received from the image forming apparatus body.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 14,15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Swartz WO 2019048447 A1 in view of Abe et al. USP 9,764,920.
Swartz discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), and further discloses [regarding claim 14] a first drive source configured to drive the moving portion (see at least fig.5, ¶0024-0028), and [regarding claim 15] a supporting portion (22) configured to support a sheet thereon; and a conveyance portion (10) configured to convey a sheet to the supporting portion, but does not expressly disclose the remaining limitations of the claims.
Abe teaches [regarding claim 14] the use of a second drive source (10216) configured to drive the sheet separation member; and a controller configured to control the first drive source and the second drive source such that the sheet separation member relatively moves with respect to the pressurizing member in the process of the pressurizing member moving from the pressurizing position to the retracted position (see at least fig.20, C17/L14-22), and [regarding claim 15] wherein the controller is configured to control the second drive source to press the sheet bundle by the sheet separation member in a case where a sheet is conveyed by the conveyance portion (103) onto the sheet bundle supported on the supporting portion (107) (the pressurizing member does not operate until sheets are positioned in preparation for booklet making).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide a second drive source configured to drive the sheet separation member; and a controller configured to control the first drive source and the second drive source such that the sheet separation member relatively moves with respect to the pressurizing member in the process of the pressurizing member moving from the pressurizing position to the retracted position, as taught by Abe, in the device of Swartz, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of providing individual control of the sheet separation member so provide further control thereof (C16/L34-38).
7. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Swartz WO 2019048447 A1 in view of Matsue et al PGPub 2014/0227064.
Swartz discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), but does not expressly disclose the limitations of claim 16.
Matsue teaches wherein the heating portion is a heater (73) that is configured to generate heat in response to power supply thereto (¶0046), and wherein the heater is in contact with a surface (65) of the pressurizing member on a side opposite to a surface of the pressurizing member configured to come into contact with the sheet bundle (fig.7).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the heater to generate heat in response to power supply thereto, and wherein the heater is in contact with a surface of the pressurizing member on a side opposite to a surface of the pressurizing member configured to come into contact with the sheet bundle, as taught by Matsue, in the device of Swartz, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of providing the heater to be independently detachable from the pressurizing member for easier maintenance (¶0067).
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 2-7,10-13 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
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Morinaga et al. (USP 9,415,560) discloses a device comprising a pressurizing member (261a), a receiving member (261b), and a sheet separation member (271) configured to separate sheets of the sheet bundle from the pressurizing member (see fig.23, C23/L55-65).
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESLIE A. NICHOLSON III whose telephone number is (571)272-5487. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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/LESLIE A NICHOLSON III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 1/9/2026