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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: In paragraph 34, reference numeral 141Y should read 21Y and 143Y should read 23Y. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10-16, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takahashi (US 2022/0394147).
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 19, Takahashi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a conveyance control program executed in a computer controlling an image forming apparatus, a conveyance control method performed in an image forming apparatus, and an image forming apparatus comprising:
a conveyor that successively conveys a plurality of recording media (see Fig. 1 and paras 24 and 30-31, a feeding mechanism feeds sheets along a conveyance path from sheet cassettes to transfer rollers);
a medium detector that detects information about the recording medium conveyed by the conveyor (see paras 68 and 74, conveying speed is calculated by dividing the length of the sheet 110 in the conveying direction by a time period required for the sheet 110 to pass through the reading position of the color measurement sensor 200); and
a hardware processor (see Fig. 3 and para 41-42, printer controller 103 and engine control unit 312),
wherein the hardware processor detects the information about the recording medium being conveyed firstly by the conveyor at a first speed by using the media detector, and outputs a conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the detected information (see Fig. 7 and paras 74 and 79-84, a conveying speed is calculated for sheet 110), and
in a case in which the output conveyance speed is different from the first speed, carries out control such that a conveyance speed of at least one of recording media which are conveyed secondly and subsequently by the conveyor and are conveyed later than a recording medium being conveyed firstly is a second speed different from the first speed (see paras 79-84, 87-88, and 96-98, conveying speed is adjusted based on the type of print media, such as whether the print media is plain paper, thick paper, coated paper, etc., plain paper would have a first speed and thick paper would have a different second speed).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Takahashi further discloses wherein a conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the information is the second speed (see paras 79-84, 87-88, and 96-98, conveying speed is adjusted based on the type of print media, such as whether the print media is plain paper, thick paper, coated paper, etc., plain paper would have a first speed and thick paper would have a different second speed).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Takahashi further discloses wherein the hardware processor, in a case in which the conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the information is different from the first speed, determines the second speed that is higher than the first speed as a conveyance speed of the recording media being conveyed secondly and subsequently (see Fig. 8 and paras 79-82, a second speed for thick paper is higher than that of a plain paper speed).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Takahashi further discloses wherein the hardware processor, in a period during which the plurality of successive recording media are conveyed by the conveyor, in a case in which a conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the information is a third speed different from the second speed, conveys rest of the plurality of successive recording media at the second speed and conveys the recording medium being subsequently conveyed after the plurality of successive recording media at the first speed (see Fig. 8 and para 83, a third speed for coated paper is lower than the speed for thick and plain paper).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Takahashi further discloses wherein the hardware processor, in a period during which the plurality of successive recording media are conveyed by the conveyor, in a case in which the third speed is not determined as a conveyance speed of the recording medium based on the information, conveys, at the second speed, the next recording medium being conveyed subsequently after the plurality of successive recording media (see paras 79-84, conveying speed is adjusted based on the type of print media, such as whether the print media is plain paper, thick paper, coated paper, etc., plain paper would have a first speed, thick paper would have a different second speed, coated paper would have a different third speed).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Takahashi further discloses wherein the hardware processor determines a type of the recording medium based on the information about the recording medium detected by the media detector (see para 74, conveying speed is calculated by dividing the length of the sheet 110 in the conveying direction by a time period required for the sheet 110 to pass through the reading position of the color measurement sensor 200),
determines a conveyance speed defined for the determined type of the recording medium (see Fig. 8 and para 79, each paper type has a different conveying speed), and
after a conveyance speed different from the first speed is output as a conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the information, determines the type of at least one of the one or more recording media being conveyed secondly and subsequently (see Fig. 8 and paras 79-84, conveying speed is adjusted based on the type of print media, such as whether the print media is plain paper, thick paper, coated paper, etc., plain paper would have a first speed, thick paper would have a different second speed, coated paper would have a different third speed).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Takahashi further discloses wherein the hardware processor, after a conveyance speed different from the first speed is output as a conveyance speed of the recording medium determined based on the information, does not change a conveyance speed until the plurality of successive recording media are conveyed by the conveyor (see paras 79-84, conveying speed is adjusted based on the type of print media, such as whether the print media is plain paper, thick paper, coated paper, etc., plain paper would have a first speed, thick paper would have a different second speed, coated paper would have a different third speed, conveying speed is not changed unless the type of media changes).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 9, 17, and 18 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. To further show the state of the art please refer to the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK R MILIA whose telephone number is (571) 272-7408. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached at 571-270-3438. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK R MILIA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
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