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 .
Response to Arguments
1. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection shown below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
4. Claims 1,9,10,12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taguchi USP 9,764,582 in view of Matsue et al. USP 8,838,014.
Taguchi discloses, regarding claim 1, A sheet processing system comprising:
a printing unit (706);
a conveyance unit (R1-R4; fig.1) configured to convey a plurality of sheets on which images are printed by the printing unit;
a stacking unit (102) configured to stack the plurality of sheets;
an alignment unit configured to align the stacked plurality of sheets (see unlabeled side alignment members adjacent stacking unit 102 in at least fig.6);
an adhesion unit (101) configured to adhere an edge of a plurality of sheets conveyed by the conveyance unit (see at least fig.13-18); and
a control unit configured to apply control to adhere, using the adhesion unit, an additional sheet conveyed by the conveyance unit to a sheet bundle including the plurality of sheets adhered by the adhesion unit (see ACT 110,111 in fig.11, C13/L18-25).
Regarding claim 13, A method for controlling a sheet processing system, the method comprising:
conveying a plurality of sheets (via conveying unit R1-R4; fig.1) on which images are printed by a printing unit;
stacking the plurality of sheets (via stacking unit 102);
aligning the stacked plurality of sheets (see unlabeled side alignment members adjacent stacking unit 102 in at least fig.6);
adhering an edge of the stacked plurality of sheets conveyed in the conveying (see at least fig.13-18); and
applying control to adhere an additional sheet conveyed in the conveying to a sheet bundle including the stacked plurality of sheets adhered in the adhering (see ACT 110,111 in fig.11, C13/L18-25).
Regarding claim 14, A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method for controlling a sheet processing system (C17/L38-61), the method comprising:
conveying a plurality of sheets (via conveying unit R1-R4; fig.1) on which images are printed by a printing unit;
stacking the plurality of sheets (via stacking unit 102);
aligning the stacked plurality of sheets (see unlabeled side alignment members adjacent stacking unit 102 in at least fig.6);
adhering an edge of the stacked plurality of sheets conveyed in the conveying (see at least fig.13-18); and
applying control to adhere an additional sheet conveyed in the conveying to a sheet bundle including the stacked plurality of sheets adhered in the adhering (see ACT 110,111 in fig.11, C13/L18-25).
Taguchi does not expressly disclose the remaining limitations of the claims.
Matsue teaches [regarding claims 1,13,14] the adhesion unit (40) configured to adhere, with a recording agent (adhesive) applied on at least one sheets included in the plurality of sheets by the printing unit, an edge of the stacked plurality off sheets (adhesive toner image as disclosed in at least C1/L57-C2/L10), and [regarding claim 9] wherein the adhesion is performed by applying a recording agent to each sheet and heating and pressurizing the recording agent (see at least C1/L57-C2/L10, fig.5,6), [regarding claim 12] wherein the recording agent is an adhesive recording agent that is not used by the printing unit for printing the image (see at least C4/L27-47).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the adhesion unit to adhere, with a recording agent applied on at least one sheets included in the plurality of sheets by the printing unit, an edge of the stacked plurality off sheets, wherein the adhesion is performed by applying a recording agent to each sheet and heating and pressurizing the recording agent, wherein the recording agent is an adhesive recording agent that is not used by the printing unit for printing the image, as taught by Matsue, in the device and method of Taguchi, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of providing an adhesive that is colorless, transparent so as to make the adhesive toner image unnoticeable (C4/L51-54).
Taguchi further discloses, regarding claim 10, further comprising a printing unit (706) configured to print an image on each sheet (fig.1).
5. Claims 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taguchi USP 9,764,582 in view of Matsue et al. USP 8,838,014, further in view of Umeda USP 9,713,933.
Taguchi discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), but does not expressly disclose the limitations of claims 3-8.
Umeda teaches wherein [regarding claim 3] the control unit is further configured to perform control to output a sheet bundle generated by a process in a case where a number of sheets of the generated sheet bundle reaches a predetermined number of sheets (X), wherein the process includes the adhesion unit adhering an additional sheet conveyed by the conveyance unit to a sheet bundle including the plurality of sheets (fig.10, C8/L55-63, C9/L24-43), and wherein [regarding claim 4] wherein the predetermined number of sheets (X) is a maximum number of sheets that can be output in one batch (C7/L34-38,62-66), wherein [regarding claim 5] the control unit is further configured to determine whether a number of sheets to be printed (N) exceeds the predetermined number of sheets (X) (Act 2 in fig.10), and wherein the control unit is further configured to cause a display unit (55; fig.9) to display a screen for allowing a user to specify a control method based on a determination made by the determination unit that the number of sheets to be printed exceeds the predetermined number of sheets (C8/L3-7), wherein [regarding claim 6] in the screen, an instruction to generate a plurality of sheet bundles generated by the process is selectable as the control method (C7/L27-56), wherein [regarding claim 7], in the screen, an instruction to output the plurality of sheets without performing adhesion is selectable as the control method (C7/L27-56), wherein [regarding claim 8], in the screen, an instruction to cancel a job of printing an image on each sheet is selectable as the control method (C7/L27-56).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the control unit to perform control to output a sheet bundle generated by a process in a case where a number of sheets of the generated sheet bundle reaches a predetermined number of sheets, wherein the process includes the adhesion unit adhering an additional sheet conveyed by the conveyance unit to a sheet bundle including the plurality of sheets, wherein the predetermined number of sheets is a maximum number of sheets that can be output by the output unit in one batch, wherein the control unit is further configured to determine whether a number of sheets to be printed exceeds the predetermined number of sheets, and wherein the control unit is further configured to cause a display unit to display a screen for allowing a user to specify a control method based on a determination made by the determination unit that the number of sheets to be printed exceeds the predetermined number of sheets, wherein in the screen, an instruction to generate a plurality of sheet bundles generated by the process is selectable as the control method, wherein, in the screen, an instruction to output the plurality of sheets without performing adhesion is selectable as the control method, wherein, in the screen, an instruction to cancel a job of printing an image on each sheet is selectable as the control method, as taught by Umeda, in the device of Taguchi, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of providing a user with increased control of binding processing so long as the binding limit height of the stack is not exceeded.
6. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taguchi USP 9,764,582 in view of Matsue et al. USP 8,838,014, further in view of Watanabe et al. USP 9,110,425.
Taguchi discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), but does not expressly disclose the limitations of claim 11.
Watanabe teaches the recording agent is additional used by the printing unit for printing the image (see at least C3/L6-11,18-32, C6/L40-67).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have the recording agent to be additionally used by the printing unit for printing the image, as taught by Watanabe, in the device of Taguchi, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of simplifying the device by requiring only a single printing unit to produce toner for binding and for printing images.
Conclusion
7. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
8. 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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael C McCullough can be reached at 571-272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LESLIE A NICHOLSON III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 6/4/2026
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