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 Objection
Claims 1 and 6 are objected to because of the following informalities. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by YAMAOKA (US 2006/0093397 A1).
YAMAOKA teaches regarding claim 1, an image forming apparatus comprising: a body 3; a rotator 7; a positioning portion 27: and a cover 19 configured to rotate around a support shaft 21 to contact and separate from the body, the cover 19 including, a roller 7, a contact portion 31 configured to contact the positioning portion 27 in response to the cover being closed with respect to the body 1, and an urging member 35 configured to, urge the contact portion toward a direction in which the cover is closed, and urge the roller 7 toward a direction in which the roller contacts the rotator 3 (figures 4 and 8; [0023, 0026]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 and 14-17 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.
Claims 7-13, 18-19, and 21 are allowed.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. SOMEMIYA et al. (US 2010/0278557 A1) teaches a transfer roller held by the cover for the imaging device.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANA GRAINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-2135. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter Lindsay can be reached on 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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/QUANA GRAINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
QG
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