DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-18 and 20 are allowable. Claims 3, 9, 11-13, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, require all the limitations of an allowable claim. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(a), the restriction requirement amongst inventions I and II, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 12/17/25, is hereby withdrawn and claims 3, 9, 11-13 are hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 19 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the sheet feeder" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the print job" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the acquirer" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-18 and 20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art of record does not disclose controlling a first process (being controlled based on an end of the sheet separately from image formation based on a print job) of forming an additional image on a sheet on the basis of a calculated size difference which is a difference between the actual size of the sheet acquired by the acquirer and the sheet size or the size of the document image acquired by a hardware processor that acquires a sheet size of the sheet set in a sheet feed tray of a sheet feeder or a size of a document image set in the print job, and a conveyor that conveys the sheet through a conveyance path.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/2/26 with respect to claims 1-18 have been fully considered and are persuasive.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH S WONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8457. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (9-5).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter L Lindsay Jr. can be reached at (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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/JOSEPH S WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
JSW
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