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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Applicant has amended claim 11 to include controlling the photographic fixing module to perform heating to a fourth temperature which is not supported in the specification for this embodiment. As described in par. 88-93 and shown in Fig.s 11-12, there is no fourth temperature to which the fixing module is controlled with regard to the “interval image forming operation”.
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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka (EP 3,825,774) in view of Imaizumi et al. (U.S. 2019/0243292).
Regarding claim 11, Kataoka teach an image forming apparatus including a fixing device 200 including a heating member 202 and a pressure roller 298 forming a nip N and where a paper sheet having a toner image is conveyed through the nip so that the toner image is heat fixed to the sheet (Fig.2). The paper sheet will be divided into a number or regions corresponding to the cycle rotation of the heating member 202 (par. 42, Fig.4). As seen in Fig.4, the base control target temperature will increase according to the cycle number which corresponds to the region of the sheet being fused (first cycle corresponds to front end of sheet and fourth cycle corresponds to rear end of sheet). That is, the front first part of the sheet (1st cycle) will be heated at the base target temperature plus a correction of 0° (applicant’s first temperature) however a second rear part of the sheet (4th cycle) will be increased by 18° above the base target temperature (applicant’s second temperature); the first temperature is lower than the second temperature. This is equivalent to applicant’s “first photographic fixing temperature control strategy”.
Specifically, Kataoka teach all that is claimed except as part of the “first photographic fixing temperature control strategy”, that before heating the first front part of the sheet, to heat (preheat) the fixing device to a third temperature during a time duration at a temperature lower than the first and second temperature.
Imaizumi et al. teach an image forming apparatus having a fixing device 10 having an upper heating member 13 and lower pressure roller 20 which form a nip for heat fixing a toner image to a recording sheet while passing through the nip. As best seen in Fig.8, during a pre-rotation time duration which is before a sheet enters the fixing device nip, the temperature of the fixing device will be set at a pre-heat temperature (180°) which is lower than the temperature of the fixing device (200°) while heating a toner image on a first and second parts of a recording sheet. See par. 78.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Kataoka with the teachings of Imaizumi et al. so that the fixing device is pre-heated before a sheet is heat fixed in the fixing device because a satisfactory fixing performance with unnecessary power consumption can be achieved as taught by Imaizumi et al. (par. 82).
Claims 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka (EP 3,825,774) in view of Imaizumi et al. (U.S. 2019/0243292) as applied to claim 11 above and further in view of Watabe (U.S. 2005/0163525).
Kataoka and Imaizumi et al. taught supra, disclose most of what is claimed except only performing the a “first photographic fixing temperature control strategy” which includes the pre-heating of the fixing device to the third temperature for the first sheet (M=1) of a print job and not performing the preheating to the third temperature for second or more sheets (M≥2) as a “second photographic fixing temperature control strategy” (limitations of claim 12). In addition, to stop heating the fixing device after the last page of the continuous print job is completed (limitation in claim 13) is not taught.
Watabe teach an image forming apparatus having a fixing device 9 having an upper heating roller 51 and lower pressure roller 52 for heat fixing a toner image to a recording sheet (par. 29). When a print job is submitted to the image forming apparatus, the first sheet will be conveyed toward the fixing device; if the fixing device is below a threshold temperature tss, a preheating process will turn on the heater for the fixing rollers to increase the temperature (par. 40-41). This is equivalent to applicant’s “first photographic fixing temperature control strategy”. When pages are printed in succession, the preheating process can be omitted for the second (M≥2) or subsequent sheets if the temperature remains above the threshold temperature (par. 50). This is equivalent to applicant’s “second photographic fixing temperature control strategy”. If the temperature after the first sheet is not above the threshold temperature tss, the preheating control will be performed (par. 50).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Kataoka to perform a preheating process (heating of the fixing device to a third temperature for a second duration) for the first sheet of the print job and to not perform the preheating for second and subsequent sheets of the print job because excessive heat can be prevented from being supplied to the fuser as taught by Watabe (par.50). In addition, to stop the heating of the fixing device after a print job is completed is notoriously well known in the electrophotographic art for the purpose of saving energy of which the examiner takes Official Notice.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4,6-8 and 11 are allowable over the prior art because the applicant has incorporated the objected to subject matter of claim 9 into independent claims 1 and 8.
Specifically, performing the second photographic fixing temperature control for the second to Nth page and controlling the fixing device to a fourth temperature after an Nth page along with the other limitations is not taught, suggested or rendered obvious by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Applicant's arguments filed 3/31/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
It is believed claim 12 has included new matter which necessitated the new grounds of rejection under 112, first paragraph. The obviousness rejection has been continued for these claims.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT B BEATTY whose telephone number is (571) 272-2130. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 7 to 3.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Stephanie Bloss, can be reached on (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-2130.
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/ROBERT B BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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