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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 09/02/2024 and 02/25/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harunobu Mori (US 20230131005 A1) in view John J. Giobbi (US 20090165123 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Mori discloses an image forming apparatus (¶ [7]) comprising:
one or more controllers (¶ [24]), one or more first memories (¶ [22] memory 164), one or more second memories (¶ [22] memory 166), a display (¶ [22]), an operation acceptor (¶ [23]), and an external interface (¶ [43]), wherein
the one or more controllers
display, on the display, an inquiry screen for inquiring whether or not to encrypt the one or more second memories (¶ [52]) when an initial setting process is executed in a first state (¶ [56]),
encrypt the one or more second memories, based on acceptance of an operation to encrypt the one or more second memories by the operation acceptor (¶ [59] and ¶ [61])..
Mori fails to explicitly disclose the first state being where use of the external interface is restricted and setting a second state where a restriction on the use of the external interface is released, after the one or more second memories are encrypted.
Giobbi, in the same field of endeavor of providing a secure memory storage by encrypting the storage device (¶ [49]), teaches a first state where use of an external interface is restricted (¶ [33-34] control whether functionalities are disabled based on encryption information) and setting a second state where a restriction on the use of the external interface is released, after the one or more second memories are encrypted (¶ [33-34] encryption information grants access to components to allow access to particular functionality).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image forming apparatus as disclosed by Mori comprising a controller configured to display on the display, an inquiry screen for inquiring whether or not to encrypt the one or more second memories to utilize the teachings of Giobbi which teaches the first state being where use of the external interface is restricted and setting a second state where a restriction on the use of the external interface is released, after the one or more second memories are encrypted to enhance security while transmitting or receiving sensitive image data to or from external sources.
Regarding claim 2, Mori discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein the one or more controllers store a setting value being input at a time of execution of the initial setting process in the one or more second memories, and encrypt the one or more second memories after copying the setting value stored in the one or more second memories to the one or more first memories when the operation acceptor accepts an operation to encrypt the one or more second memories (¶ [39]).
Regarding claim 3, Mori discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 (see rejection of claim 2), wherein the one or more controllers copy the setting value from the one or more first memories to the one or more second memories after encrypting the one or more second memories (¶ [38-39]).
Regarding claim 4, Mori discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 3 (see rejection of claim 3), wherein the one or more controllers delete the setting value from the one or more first memories after copying the setting value from the one or more first memories to the one or more second memories (¶ [62]).
Regarding claim 5, Mori discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein the image forming apparatus has at least one of a copy function, a scanner function, a facsimile function, and a printer function (¶ [21]), and the one or more controllers can execute the encryption without performing a setting related to a function of the image forming apparatus (¶ [25] and ¶ [37] wherein the storage device is encrypted as opposed to data executed from one of the copy, scanner, fax or printer functions).
Regarding claim 9, Mori discloses a method of operating an image forming apparatus including an external interface, one or more first memories, and one or more second memories (see rejection of claim 1), the method comprising:
displaying an inquiry screen for inquiring whether or not to encrypt the one or more second memories when an initial setting process is executed in a first state where use of the external interface is restricted (see rejection of claim 1);
encrypting the one or more second memories, based on acceptance of an operation to encrypt the one or more second memories (see rejection of claim 1); and
setting a second state where a restriction on the use of the external interface is released, after the one or more second memories are encrypted (see rejection of claim 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 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.
Nakamura Michio (JP 2008028877 A) discloses an invention relating to unauthorized connection prevention utilizing encryption to encrypt the MAC address of a device and LAN unit to either permit or deny access to the LAN unit.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMARES Q WASHINGTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm.
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/JAMARES Q WASHINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
August 7, 2026
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