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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1, 3-4, 6-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishimura (US 9,010,920) and further in view of Shi (CN 211854816).
With regard to claim 1, Nishimura discloses a drying device (40) [Para. 0034] for blowing warm air on a sheet (P) on which an image is formed by discharging ink and for drying the sheet, the drying device comprising:
a casing (not labeled) [outer portion of (61, 62, 63; Fig. 2];
a belt (51) [endless drying conveyor belt; Para. 0040] accommodated in the casing and provided with a plurality of through holes (not shown) [suction holes; Para. 0041] which penetrate through an inner peripheral side and an outer peripheral side thereof [Para. 0041], and configured to convey the sheet;
a blowing unit (60) provided upward of a conveyance surface of the belt in a vertical direction [Fig. 2], and provided with a blowing duct (61) including a suction opening [Fig. 2] for sucking air and a blowout opening [Fig. 2] for blowing out the air sucked from the suction opening toward the sheet [Fig. 2] and a blowing fan [Fig. 2] for blowing from the suction opening toward the blowout opening in the blowing duct;
a suction unit (55) provided downward of the conveyance surface of the belt in the vertical direction [Fig. 2], and provided with a first exhaust duct (recited in claim 1)/an exhaust duct (recited in claim 8) [air exhaust portion (70); Para. 0050] including a first exhaust opening (recited in claim 1)/an exhaust opening (recited in claim 8) [suction port (72); Para. 0051].
Nishimura does not disclose a suction fan for blowing from the plurality of through holes toward the first exhaust opening/the exhaust opening inside the first exhaust duct; and a second exhaust duct connected to the first exhaust opening of the suction unit/the exhaust and provided with a second exhaust opening for exhausting the air exhausted from the first exhaust opening to an inside of the casing, wherein the second exhaust opening is disposed so as to exhaust upward at a position above the conveyance surface of the belt in the vertical direction (as recited in claim 1) or a connecting duct configured to connect the exhaust opening and the blowing duct and to guide the air exhausted from the exhaust opening to the blowing duct, the connecting duct being disposed on a further backside of the casing opposite to a frontside of the casing than a sheet conveyance portion with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet as recited in claim 8.
However, Shi teaches a suction unit [Fig. 34b] provided with a suction fan for blowing from a plurality of through holes toward a first exhaust opening inside the first exhaust duct [Fig. 34b]; and a second exhaust duct connected to the first exhaust opening of the suction unit and provided with a second exhaust opening for exhausting the air exhausted from the first exhaust opening to an inside of the casing [34b].
Shi also teaches a connecting duct configured to connect the exhaust opening and the blowing duct and to guide the air exhausted from the exhaust opening to the blowing duct, the connecting duct being disposed on a further backside of the casing opposite to a frontside of the casing than a sheet conveyance portion with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet.
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the drying device of Nishimura with a closed loop drying device as taught by Shi in order to improve the uniformity of the heat source and the drying quality.
Since Nishimura modified by Shi teaches the second exhaust duct is connected to the first exhaust duct, it would be obvious that the second exhaust opening is disposed so as to exhaust upward at a position above the conveyance surface of the belt in the vertical direction.
With regard to claims 3 and 10, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claims 1 and 8 respectively but does not disclose wherein an air flow rate of the suction fan is smaller than an air flow rate of the blowing fan.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the suction fan of Nishimura modified to produce air flow smaller than air flow rate of a blowing fan in order to avoid too much pressure on the recording media, and avoid drawing it into the suction ports or holes.
With regard to claims 4 and 11, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and 8 respectively, and Nishimura also discloses wherein the belt is an endless conveyance belt (51) [Para. 0040] configured to convey the sheet by rotation of the belt, wherein the first exhaust duct includes a supporting surface portion [Fig. 2] configured to support an area of the belt on which the sheet is conveyed [Fig. 2], and wherein the supporting surface portion provided with a plurality of hole portions (55a) and configured to attract the belt to the supporting surface portion by sucking the air from a side of the belt through the plurality of hole portions and to attract the sheet to the belt by sucking the air through the through holes [Fig. 2].
With regard to claim 6, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and Nishimura also discloses an air exhaust port (not shown) provided at an end portion on the backside of the main body [Para. 0051] with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet [Fig. 2].
With regard to claims 7 and 13, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 1, and Nishimura also discloses wherein the blowing unit includes a heating means (81) [Fig. 5], and wherein the blowout opening blows out the air sucked from the suction opening and heated by the heating means toward the sheet [Fig. 5].
With regard to claim 8, Nishimura discloses a drying device (40) [Para. 0034] for blowing warm air on a sheet (P) on which an image is formed by discharging ink and for drying the sheet, the drying device comprising:
a casing (not labeled) [outer portion of (61, 62, 63; Fig. 2];
a belt (51) [endless drying conveyor belt; Para. 0040] accommodated in the casing and provided with a plurality of through holes (not shown) [suction holes; Para. 0041] which penetrate through an inner peripheral side and an outer peripheral side thereof [Para. 0041], and configured to convey the sheet;
a blowing unit (60) provided upward of a conveyance surface of the belt in a vertical direction [Fig. 2], and provided with a blowing duct (61) including a suction opening [Fig. 2] for sucking air and a blowout opening [Fig. 2] for blowing out the air sucked from the suction opening toward the sheet [Fig. 2] and a blowing fan [Fig. 2] for blowing from the suction opening toward the blowout opening in the blowing duct;
a suction unit (55) provided downward of the conveyance surface of the belt in the vertical direction [Fig. 2], and provided with an exhaust duct [air exhaust portion (70); Para. 0050] including an exhaust opening [suction port (72); Para. 0051].
Nishimura does not disclose a suction fan for blowing from the plurality of through holes toward the exhaust opening inside the exhaust duct; and a connecting duct configured to connect the exhaust opening and the blowing duct and to guide the air exhausted from the exhaust opening to the blowing duct, the connecting duct being disposed on a further backside of the casing opposite to a frontside of the casing than a sheet conveyance portion with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet as recited in claim 8.
However, Shi teaches a suction unit [Fig. 34b] provided with a suction fan for blowing from a plurality of through holes toward an exhaust opening inside the exhaust duct [Fig. 34b]; and a connection duct connected to the exhaust opening and the blowing duct and to guide the air exhausted from the exhaust opening to the blowing duct, the connecting duct being further disposed on a further backside of the casing opposite to a frontside of the casing than a sheet conveyance portion with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet.
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the drying device of Nishimura with a suction fan in order to help the air enter the connecting duct and to configure the drying device with a connecting duct in order to provide a closed loop and improve the uniformity of the heat source and the drying quality.
Since Nishimura discloses an air exhaust port (not shown) provided at an end portion on the backside of the main body [Para. 0051] with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet [Fig. 2], it would be obvious to dispose the connecting duct on a further backside of the casing opposite to a frontside of the casing in order to complete the closed loop.
With regard to claim 9, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and Nishimura also discloses an air exhaust port (not shown) provided at an end portion on the backside of the main body [Para. 0051] with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet crossing to a conveyance direction of the sheet [Fig. 2].
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the connecting duct connected to the exhaust opening and the suction opening and provided with an opening portion to suck an inside air of the casing by communicating with an inside casing in order to improve the uniformity of the heat source and the drying quality.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishimura (US 9,010,920) in view of Shi (CN 211854816) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Seo (KR 20170021074).
With regard to claim 2, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 1 and Nishimura also discloses an air exhaust port (not shown) provided at an end portion on the backside of the main body [Para. 0051].
However, Nishimura modified does not disclose wherein the suction opening is disposed on a further backside of the casing than the conveyance surface of the belt with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet and above the second exhaust opening in the vertical direction inside the casing.
However, Seo teaches a blowing duct (160) including a suction opening [outer side of disposed on a further backside (114) [back surface] of the a casing (110) [Fig. 2].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the drying device of Nishimura with a blowing duct including a suction opening disposed on a further backside of the casing than the conveyance surface of the belt with respect to a widthwise direction of the sheet and above the second exhaust opening in the vertical direction inside the casing in order that the drying device is capable of causing air to flow smoothly without being decelerated.
Claim(s) 5 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishimura (US 9,010,920) and further in view of Shi (CN 211854816) as applied to claims 2 and 8 above, and further in view of Cosley (US 6,317,320).
With regard to claims 5 and 12, Nishimura’s modified drying device discloses all the limitations of claim 2 and 8, respectively but does not disclose wherein the casing includes a first accommodating portion configured to accommodate the blowing fan, a second accommodating portion configured to accommodate a sheet conveyance portion and the suction unit, and a rotating shaft rotatably connecting the first accommodating portion and the second accommodating portion with each other, wherein the rotating shaft, in a conveyance direction of the sheet as a longitudinal direction, connects an upper portion of the second accommodating portion on one side and a lower portion of the first accommodating portion on the one side with respect to the widthwise direction of the sheet, wherein the first accommodating portion is provided so as to be openable and closable by rotation about the rotating shaft with respect to a second accommodating portion, and wherein the backside is the one side.
However, Cosley teaches a casing (14) [panel; Col. 3; lines 51-52; Figs. 2-3] includes a first accommodating portion (22) [cover housing; Col. 3; line 51] configured to accommodate the blowing fan (60) [Col. 4; line 1; Figs. 3-4], a second accommodating portion (20) [main housing; Col. 3; line 52] configured to accommodate a sheet conveyance portion and the suction unit [electronic components, and a rotating shaft (78, 80) [hinges; Col. 4; line 13; Fig. 4] rotatably connecting the first accommodating portion and the second accommodating portion with each other [Col. 4; lines 16-19; Figs. 2-3 ], wherein the rotating shaft, connects an upper portion of the second accommodating portion on one side and a lower portion of the first accommodating portion on the one side, wherein the first accommodating portion is provided so as to be openable and closable by rotation about the rotating shaft with respect to a second accommodating portion [move between opened and closed positions; Col. 4; lines 16-19; Fig. 2 and Fig. 3], and wherein the backside is the one side.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the drying device of Nishimura modified with a first and second accommodation portion connected by a rotating shaft to move between an open and closed position in order to manage heat generated and ensure the device functions properly and at more optimum levels.
In addition, it would be within the level of ordinary skill in the art to configure in a conveyance direction of the sheet as a longitudinal direction, the rotating shaft to connect an upper portion of the second accommodating portion on one side and a lower portion of the first accommodating portion on the one side with respect to the widthwise direction of the sheet since hinges are attached with L-shaped brackets that can removed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACEY M MCMILLION whose telephone number is (571)270-5193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-2:30PM EST.
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/TRACEY M MCMILLION/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853