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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 10 January 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the Information Disclosure Statemen has been considered by the Examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NIHEI et al. (US 2008/0291259 A1) in view of NISHIO (JP 2018-155987A Machine Translation).
As related to independent claims 1 & 7, NIHEI et al. teaches a print head device [claim 1] and defect determination method for the device [claim 7] comprising: an active light emitter including light emitting sources formed in at least one row, the light emitting sources each including a drive element and a light-emitting element which emits light at luminance according to a driving current caused to flow by the drive element (NIHEI et al. – Page 1, Paragraphs 3-6 & 10 and Figure 3, Reference VCSELxx, shown below); a controller that controls each drive element to control light emission and non-light emission of each light emitting source (NIHEI et al. – Page 3, Paragraphs 47-48 and Figure 4, shown below), and luminance [i.e. light intensity] during the light emission (NIHEI et al. – Page 1, Paragraphs 10 & 24; Page 2, Paragraph 24; and Page 3, Paragraph 48).
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Continuing with independent claims 1 & 7; while NIHEI et al. teaches a measurement or detection circuit to determine if the light emitting sources are defective [i.e. light emitting status] (NIHEI et al. – Pages 1-2, Paragraph 24 & Page 3, Paragraph 48), NIHEI et al. does not specifically teach a current detection circuit that detects magnitude of a current. However, NISHIO teaches a print head device and method for defect determination which specifically uses a current detection circuit (NISHIO – Paragraphs 2, 27, & 29), wherein the current detection circuit detects a total driving current of all or a plurality of the light emitting sources as target light emitting sources, and the controller brings the target light emitting sources into a light emitting state, and thereafter determines that the target light emitting sources are defective in a case where the driving current detected by the current detection circuit is less than a predetermined first threshold value (NISHIO – Paragraphs 2, 27, 29, & 35-37 and NIHEI et al. – Page 3, Paragraphs 47-48 and Figure 5, shown below). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the detection circuit of NIHEI et al. to include the current detection circuit of NISHIO in an effort to provide a means controlling and detecting the status of a light source by monitoring the driving current to ensure the exposure energy of the light pulse is not smaller than the target exposure energy without giving rise to higher cost of the device (NISHIO – Paragraphs 2-3 and NIHEI et al. – Page 1, Paragraph 9).
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As related to dependent claim 2, the combination of NIHEI et al. and NISHIO remains as applied above and continues to teach the controller further perform a process to determine that the target light emitting sources are defective in a case where the controller brings the target light emitting sources into a non-light emitting state, and thereafter a driving current detected by the current detection circuit is more than a predetermined second threshold value (NIHEI et al. – Page 1, Paragraph 10, Page 2, Paragraph 24; Page 3, Paragraph 48, and Page 4, Paragraphs 53-59 and NISHIO – Paragraphs 9-13).
As related to further dependent claim 3, the combination of NIHEI et al. and NISHIO remains as applied above and continues to teach the first threshold value has an absolute that is equal to or less than the second threshold value (NISHIO – Paragraphs 9-13 & 18-21).
As related to dependent claim 4, the combination of NIHEI et al. and NISHIO remains as applied above and continues to teach an image forming apparatus comprising: the print head device; a photoreceptor for image formation exposed by the print head device; and a driver that drives the photoreceptor, wherein the controller controls the driver or cooperates with a second controller which controls the driver to determine the defect in a state in which the photoreceptor stops before the photoreceptor is driven to form an image (NIHEI et al. – Page 7, Paragraphs 88-89 & Figures 1 & 11-12, shown below and Figure 5, shown above, and NISHIO – Paragraphs 2, 16, & 51).
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As related to dependent claim 5, the combination of NIHEI et al. and NISHIO remains as applied above and continues to teach an image forming apparatus comprising: the print head device; a photoreceptor for image formation exposed by the print head device; and a charger that charges the photoreceptor, wherein the controller controls the charger or cooperates with a second controller which controls the charger to determine the defect in a state in which the photoreceptor is uncharged before the photoreceptor is charged using the charger to form an image (NIHEI et al. – Page 5, Paragraphs 66-67; Page 6, Paragraphs 79-81; Page 7, Paragraphs 88-89; & Figures 1, 5, & 11-12, shown above).
As related to dependent claim 6, the combination of NIHEI et al. and NISHIO remains as applied above and continues to teach an image forming apparatus comprising: the print head device; an image former that includes the print head device, and forms an image by an electrophotographic method; and a power circuit that supplies power to the image former, wherein the controller controls image formation by the image former or cooperates with a second controller which controls the image former to determine the defect before the image former forms an image after power from the power circuit is supplied to the image former (NIHEI et al. – Page 5, Paragraphs 66-67; Page 6, Paragraphs 79-81; Page 7, Paragraphs 88-89; & Figures 1, 5, & 11-12, shown above, and NISHIO – Paragraphs 2, 16, & 51).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. OMORI et al. (JP6299951B2 – Machine Translation) teaches monitoring a current corresponding to the light amount of light emitting parts in an image forming apparatus. TANIMOTO (US 2022/0245412 A1) teaches an image forming apparatus with a plurality of light emitting sources and detecting the light emission from the light emitting sources.
Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular Figures & Reference Numbers, Columns, Paragraphs and Line Numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to JOHN P ZIMMERMANN whose telephone number is (571)270-3049. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 0700-1730 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, Ricardo Magallanes can be reached at (571) 272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/John P Zimmermann/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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