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
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1,2,4-6,9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takai et al. JP 2015-101009 A.
Takai discloses, regarding claim 1, A medium processing apparatus, comprising:
a liquid applier (94,95) including a liquid application member (96), the liquid applier configured to apply liquid to a part of a medium;
a crimper (91) configured to bind a bundle of media, the binding the bundle of media including pressing and deforming the bundle of media to which the liquid is applied by the liquid applier, the bundles of media including the medium; and
processing circuitry configured to cause the liquid application member to move with respect to the medium, based on height information of the medium, so that an amount of the liquid applied to the medium is equal to a designated amount (at least ¶0032 discloses the amount of rolling movement of the liquid application member to be changed depending on thickness of the paper).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
change a movement amount of the liquid application member, based on the height information of the medium, so that the amount of the liquid applied to the medium is equal to the designated amount (at least ¶0032 discloses the amount of rolling movement of the liquid application member to be changed depending on thickness of the paper).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
changes a movement amount of the liquid application member, based on the height information of the medium, so that the amount of the liquid applied to the medium by the liquid application member is equal to the designated amount (see at least ¶0032), and sets a movement start position of the liquid application member to a predetermined position (the start position is shown in fig.4 {M1,M2,M3 for each binding processing unit} and in fig.6; see also ¶0030).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
acquire a height of the medium based on a number of media included in the bundle of media and a thickness of each medium included in the bundle of media
(see at least ¶0019,0029).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: acquire the thickness one by one for each the bundle of media (see at least
¶0029).
Regarding claim 9, An image forming system (fig.1), comprising:
an image forming apparatus (1) to form images on a plurality of media; and the medium processing apparatus according to claim 1,
the medium processing apparatus (50) configured to crimp and bind the plurality of media on which the images are formed by the image forming apparatus.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takai et al. JP 2015-101009 A in view of Iida et al. USP 7,306,214.
Takai discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶5 above) and further discloses a conveyor configured to convey the medium, the conveyor including a conveyance path (see at least fig.1), but does not expressly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim.
Iida teaches the conveyor further including a retreat conveyance path (E; see fig.12-16) different from the conveyance path, the conveyor is further configured to temporarily convey a preceding medium (P1) to the retreat conveyance path, and then conveys the preceding medium and a subsequent medium (P2) overlaid with the preceding medium (fig.15,16).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide a retreat conveyance path different from the conveyance path, the conveyor is further configured to temporarily conveys a preceding medium to which the liquid is not applied by the liquid applier to the retreat conveyance path, and then conveys the preceding medium and a subsequent medium overlaid with the preceding medium, as taught by Iida, in the device of Takai, with a reasonable expectation of success, such that the combination yields in response to the liquid being applied to the subsequent medium overlaid with the preceding medium, the processing circuitry is further configured to controls a movement amount of the liquid application member with respect to the medium based on a combined height of the preceding medium and the subsequent medium on execution of liquid application, for the purpose of performing medium processing efficiently without decreasing productivity.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 3,7 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
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang (USP 8,495,821) discloses detecting the height of a sheet bundle by way of a pressing part (24) that comes into contact with a topmost sheet in a sheet bundle (see at least C5/L57-63).
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESLIE A. NICHOLSON III whose telephone number is (571)272-5487. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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, Michael C McCullough can be reached at 571-272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LESLIE A NICHOLSON III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 5/29/2026
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