Election/Restrictions
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 .
Election/Restrictions
2. Claim 5 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/20/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of species I in the reply filed on 2/20/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito (2011/0299868) in view of Shioyasu et al. (US 2024/0103956)
Ito disclose the following claimed limitations:
* Re clm 1, an image forming apparatus (Abst., figs 1-18);
* a heater/fixing heater 111/ (paras 0039-0042, figs 3-11);
* a temperature sensor /temperature detection element 311/ configured to detect a temperature of the heater/111/ (paras 0042-0047, figs 3-11);
* a power supply circuit/heater drive circuit/ configured to perform power supply to the heater (paras 0042-0047, figs 3-18);
* a main processor/engine controller 202/ configured to supply a heater/fixing heater 111/ control signal to the power supply circuit/heater drive circuit/ based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor/311/ to control the power supply circuit/heater drive circuit/ and adjust the temperature of the heater (0039-0047, figs 1-18);
* a sub-processor/cpu 202a/, (b) supplies, to the power supply circuit, the heater control signal for cutting off the power supply to the heater when determination is made that the output is not made (0039-0047, figs 1-18).
* Re clm 2, wherein the sub-processor/cpu 202a/ controls an internal device/fixing heater 111, transistor 426/ of the image forming apparatus/100/(paras 0036-0037, 0045-0050, figs 1-3).
* Re clm 3, a print engine/processor cartridge 101/ configured to form an image on a print sheet/P/ using a color material/toner/; and a transport device/ rollers, 113, 114,115, 116, 117/ configured to transport the print sheet/S/ to the print engine/101/, wherein the main processor/engine controller 202/ controls the print engine/101, toner cartridge, photosensitive drum 102/, and the sub-processor/paper or sheet transfer control unit 207/ controls the transport device/rollers, 113, 114,115, 116, 117/ as the internal device (paras 0037-0039, figs 1A-1B).
Ito does not disclose the following claimed limitations:
* Re clm 1, wherein the sub-processor (a) monitors whether or not an output from the main processor is made regularly
Shioyasu et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
* Re clm 1, wherein the sub-processor/cpu core 0-3) (a) monitors whether or not an output from the main processor/cpu 11, cpu core 0/ is made regularly (30-34, 38, 42-0055, 0080, 0092-0093, 0131, 0142, figs 1-10).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize wherein the sub-processor (a) monitors whether or not an output from the main processor is made regularly, taught by Shioyasu et al. into Ito for the purpose of providing a connection to a monitor whether a first processor core is among a plurality of processor cores is operating normally.
6. Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito (2011/0299868) as modified by Shioyasu et al. (US 20240103956) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tamagawa (US 2024/0020499).
Ito as modified by Shioyasu et al. discloses the following:
* Re clm 4, wherein the heater/fixing heater 111/ is provided in the drying device/fixing device 110/.
Tamagawa0293 disclose the following:
* Re clm 4, a drying device configured to dry the print sheet after printing in an ink jet system (paras 0074-0075, 0168-0170, 0196, 0293, figs 1, 2, 9).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to utilize a drying device configured to dry the print sheet after printing in an ink jet system, taught by Tamagawa into Ito for the purpose of purpose of improving the quality of printed images onto the printed material.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTAL FEGGINS whose telephone number is (571)272-2254. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 930-530pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricardo Magallanes can be reached at 571-272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KRISTAL FEGGINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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