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 .
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 12, and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sakaizawa et al. (US 5,970,279; “Sakaizawa”).
Regarding claim 1, Sakaizawa discloses an image forming apparatus (Fig. 1/Title) for executing an image forming operation for forming an image on a recording material P, the image forming apparatus comprising:
a rotatable image bearing member 1 (Fig. 1 Col. 5 lines 1-5);
a charging member 2 configured to electrically charge a surface of the image bearing member 1 at a charging portion (Fig. 1 Col. 5 lines 31-35);
a developing member 8 configured to form a toner image on the image bearing member 1 by supplying a developer T to a developing portion where the developing member 8 is provided in contact with the image bearing member 1 (Fig. 1 Col. 7 lines 21-42);
a transfer portion 5 configured to transfer the toner image from the image bearing member 1 onto a transfer-receiving material P (Fig. 1 Col. 7 lines 43-52); and
a controller 16 configured to control a charging voltage applied to the charging member 2 and a developing voltage applied to the developing member 8 (Fig. 1 Col. 7 lines 53-60),
wherein during execution of the image forming operation, toner remaining on the surface of the image bearing member 1 without being transferred at the transfer portion is collected by the developing member 8 (Col. 9 lines 39-59),
wherein a difference between a surface potential of the image bearing member 1 and the developing voltage in the developing portion is defined as Vbc,
wherein the controller executes a preparatory operation (between “PRE-ROT START” and “START OF IMAGE FORMATION” in Fig. 2) in which, before the image forming operation, rotation (“preparatory rotation”) of the image bearing member 1 is started and the charging voltage (“SUR. POT BY CHARGING ROLLER”) and the developing voltage (“SUR. POT. AT DEV. ZONE”) are increased stepwise (Fig. 2 Col. 8 lines 31-47, Col. 11 lines 46-61),
wherein the controller controls the charging voltage and the developing voltage in the preparatory operation so that a value of Vbc at a time when a surface region of the image bearing member 1 positioned in the developing portion at a time of a start of rotation of the image bearing member reaches the developing portion again (see Col. 10 lines 12-43: Vbc at this time is calculated as -100 V – (+350 V) = -450 V) is higher (in absolute value) than a value of Vbc in the image forming operation (see Col. 5 lines 30-35 & 57-62: Vbc in image forming operation is calculated as -700 V – (-350 V) = -350 V), and
wherein a rotational speed of the image bearing member in the preparatory operation (speed as image bearing member begins to rotate from being at rest after an image formation start signal is inputted to start the preparatory rotation of the image bearing member 1; Col. 9 lines 5-20) is slower than a rotational speed (93 mm/s; Col. 7 line 63 - Col. 8 line 2) of the image bearing member in the image forming operation. (At the start of the preparatory operation, the image bearing member starts rotating from rest and will accelerate from 0 to some nonzero speed. During the acceleration, the image bearing member will have a rotational speed that is slower than the rotational speed during the image forming operation.)
Regarding claim 8, Sakaizawa discloses the image forming apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the controller controls the charging voltage and the developing voltage so that during a period of the preparatory operation, a surface potential (-100 V) of the image bearing member 1 in the developing portion has the same polarity as a normal charge polarity (negative) of the toner relative to the developing voltage and a potential difference between the surface potential of the image bearing member (-100 V) and the developing voltage (-350 V) is maintained within a predetermined range (100-500 V) (Col. 8 lines 3-15, Col. 9 lines 5-20 & 39-59).
Regarding claim 12, Sakaizawa discloses the image forming apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein a value of Vbc at a first time when the surface region of the image bearing member positioned in the developing portion at the time of the start of the rotation of the image bearing member reaches the developing portion again is defined as Vk1, and a value of Vbc at a second time when the surface region of the image bearing member positioned in the developing portion at the first time reaches the developing portion again by one rotation of the developing member is defined as Vk2, and wherein the controller controls the charging voltage and the developing voltage in the preparatory operation so that Vk2 (-350 V) is less than Vk1 (-450 V) (Col. 10 lines 25-62).
Regarding claim 14, Sakaizawa discloses the image forming apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the toner is a non-magnetic one-component developer (Col. 5 lines 41-42).
Regarding claim 15, Sakaizawa discloses the image forming apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the transfer-receiving material is the recording material (supra, see claim 1).
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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakaizawa (US 5,970,279).
Regarding claim 9, Sakaizawa discloses the image forming apparatus according to Claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the predetermined range is a range of 130 V or more and 550 V or less.
The predetermined range of Sakaizawa is 100-500 V (Col. 9 lines 39-59).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to optimize the predetermined range of Sakaizawa, including that which leads to a range of 130-550 V. Sakaizawa recognizes that the difference between the surface potential of the image bearing member and the developing voltage affects the efficiency with which the residual toner particles are recovered (Col. 9 lines 39-59), and discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 11, and 13 stand as 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, for reasons set forth in the previous Office action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/17/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Sakaizawa fails to disclose or suggest a rotational speed of the image bearing member in the preparatory operation slower than a rotational speed of the image bearing member in an image forming operation.
The Office respectfully disagrees, as explained in the rejection under Sakaizawa set forth above.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kobayashi et al. (US 2020/0292967) is cited for teaching an image forming apparatus that performs a toner removal mode to remove the toner by setting a peripheral speed of an image bearing member to less than a peripheral speed thereof for image formation.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLA J THERRIEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2677. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8 am - 4 pm EST.
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, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at (571)272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CARLA J THERRIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852