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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 11, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 11, line 2, “the first conductive sheet” and “the second conductive sheet” lack proper antecedent basis.
In claim 14, lines 7-8, “the matching part” lacks proper antecedent basis.
In claim 15, line 2, “third groove” implies that there is a first groove and a second groove, but no first groove and no second groove is contained in the language of claim 15 or in claims 7, 13 and 14, upon which claim 15 indirectly or directly depends.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claims 1, 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hayashi et al. (US 2010/0008693).
Hayashi et al. (…693) disclose an adapter (60), installed on a cartridge (22) that is detachably arranged on an image forming apparatus (figure 1), the image forming apparatus comprising an accommodation cavity (figure 1), a conductive unit ([0116]), and an electric signal responding unit (40), wherein the adapter comprises an electric signal triggering assembly ([0113]-[0115]; and figure 4); the electric signal triggering assembly is configured to electrically connect with the conductive unit and trigger the electric signal responding unit to obtain a predetermined responding signal, when the electric signal triggering assembly is installed on the cartridge and the cartridge is installed to a predetermined position in the accommodation cavity; and the predetermined responding signal is configured to determine whether an installation of the cartridge meets an expectation ([0103]-[0105]; and [0113]-[0116]) [see Applicant’s claim 1]. A cartridge (22), detachably arranged on an image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus comprises an accommodation cavity (figure 1), a conductive unit ([0116]), and an electric signal responding unit (40); and the cartridge comprises: an electric signal triggering assembly, configured to electrically connect with the conductive unit and trigger the electric signal responding unit to obtain a predetermined responding signal, when the cartridge is installed to a predetermined position in the accommodation cavity; and the predetermined responding signal being configured to determine whether an installation of the cartridge meets an expectation ([0103]-[0105]; and [0113]-[0116]) [see Applicant’s claim 7]. An image forming apparatus comprising an accommodation cavity to accommodate a cartridge (22) (figure 1), a conductive unit ([0116]); and an electric signal responding unit (40) configured to electrically connect with the cartridge to obtain a predetermined responding signal, when the cartridge is installed to a predetermined position in the accommodation cavity; and the predetermined responding signal is configured to determine whether an installation of the cartridge meets an expectation ([0103]-[0105]; and [0113]-[0116]) [see Applicant’s claim 16].
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi et al. (US 2010/0008693) in view of Koyama et al. (US 10,466,619).
Hayashi et al. (…693) disclose the features mentioned previously, but do not disclose the claimed matching unit and assembly unit. Koyama et al. (…619) disclose an image forming apparatus including a matching unit (18Y) and a cartridge (31) having a memory device (20) that includes an assembly unit (11Y), wherein the assembly unit, configured to cooperate with the matching unit, making the cartridge to be installed to a predetermined position in an accommodation cavity (col. 13, lines 20-54) [see Applicant’s claim 2]. The cartridge includes an assembly unit (11Y) and the image forming apparatus includes a matching unit (18Y), and wherein the assembly unit is a first protrusion; the matching unit is a first groove matching the first protrusion; and the electric signal triggering assembly is arranged on the first protrusion (col. 13, lines 20-54) [see Applicant’s claim 12]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the claimed matching unit and assembly unit, as disclosed by Koyama et al. (…619), since such is known in the art to prevent erroneous attachment of the cartridge.
Claims 3, 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi et al. (US 2010/0008693).
Hayashi et al. (…693) disclose the features mentioned previously. Hayashi et al. (…693) further disclose the image forming apparatus includes a frame and the conductive unit includes a first conductive component and a second conductive component ([0116]) [see Applicant’s claim 18]. However, Hayashi et al. (…693) do not disclose the claimed type of responding signal and the claimed arrangement of the first conductive component and the second conductive component. It is considered to be an engineering decision as to the type of responding signal [see Applicant’s claims 3 and 8]. It is also considered to be merely a matter of a design choice as to the arrangement of the first conductive component and the second conductive component [see Applicant’s claim 18]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the claimed type of responding signal, since the type of responding signal is merely considered an engineering decision. Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the claimed arrangement of the first conductive component and the second conductive component since such is considered to be merely a design choice.
Claims 13-15, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi et al. (US 2010/0008693) in view of Fujiwara (US 2022/0334532).
Hayashi et al. (…693) disclose the features mentioned previously, but do not disclose the claimed protective component and opening component. Fujiwara (…532) discloses an image forming apparatus (figure 1) and a cartridge (7) provided installed in an accommodation cavity of the image forming apparatus, wherein a protective component (110) is further provided in the accommodation cavity; the protective component is configured to cover at least a portion of a conductive unit to protect the conductive unit, when the cartridge is not installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity ([0049] – [0050]); and an opening component is also provided on the cartridge; the opening component is configured to trigger the protective component to release a covering of the conductive unit when the cartridge is installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity ([0050]-[0054]) [see Applicant’s claim 13]. The protective component comprises a blocking component and an elastic component ([0050]); the blocking component comprises a blocking part and a matching part; the blocking part is configured to cover at least the portion of the conductive unit under an elastic force of the elastic component when the cartridge is not installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity ([0050]); and the opening component comprises a pressing part; the pressing part matches a matching part; the pressing part is configured to push the matching part to drive the blocking part to move, when the cartridge is installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity, to release the covering of the conductive unit ([0050]-[0054]) [see Applicant’s claim 14]. It is considered to be merely an engineering decision as to the specific placement of the assembly unit and the pressing part [see Applicant’s claim 15]. The image forming apparatus, wherein a protective component (110) is further provided in the accommodation cavity, the protective component is configured to cover at least a portion of the conductive unit, when the cartridge is not installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity ([0049] - [0050]) [see Applicant’s claim 19]. The protective component also includes an elastic component ([0050]), when the cartridge is installed to the predetermined position in the accommodation cavity, the elastic component is compressed ([0050]) [see Applicant’s claim 20]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the claimed protective component and opening component, since as disclosed by Fujiwara (…532), such is well known in the art to protect a conductive unit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 9, 10 and 17 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/05/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. New references have been applied to the rejection of the claims, as explained above, where Applicant’s arguments do not pertain to these new rejections.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANDRA BRASE whose telephone number is (571)272-2131. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter Lindsay can be reached at 571-272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SANDRA BRASE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852 January 22, 2026