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 Objections
Claims 1 and 3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In the 2nd line of the 5th paragraph of claim 1, “toner to be replenishment” should be corrected to --toner to be replenished--.
In the 5th line of claim 3, “a part the” should be corrected to --a part of the--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 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.
The last paragraph of claim 1 recites “the toner container arranged in the detachment position is detached along the cover arranged at the close position.” Based on Applicant’s disclosure, it is unclear how the toner container can be detached along the cover when it is at the close position (see Figs. 1 and 4-6 and [0028-0029]).
As such, claim 1 is rendered indefinite. For examination purposes, the last paragraph of claim 1 will be interpreted as “the toner container arranged in the detachment position is detached along the cover arranged at the open position.”
Claims 2-5 are rendered indefinite due to their dependence upon claim 1.
Note: the following rejections are based upon the claims as best understood by Examiner.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ikeda et al. (JP 2007-065271; “Ikeda”). (Note: cited paragraphs correspond to those in the machine translation of Ikeda provided by Applicant.)
Regarding claim 1, Ikeda discloses an image forming apparatus 10 (Fig. 1 [0027]) comprising:
a cover 105 which opens and closes a side surface of an apparatus main body (Figs. 7-8 & 10a-10b); and
a toner container 17 which is detachably attached to an inside of the apparatus main body, wherein
the cover is turned in a reciprocating manner between a close position V2 (Fig. 10a [0065]) standing upright along the side surface of the apparatus main body and an open position V1 (Fig. 10b [0065]) inclined outside the apparatus main body around a lower portion of the cover such that an angle between the side surface of the apparatus main body and the cover is acute (Fig. 10b),
the toner container 17 includes a replenishment vessel 20 in which a toner to be replenishment is contained (Fig. 3 [0032]) and a recovery vessel 90 in which the toner to be disposed is contained (Fig. 3 [0037]), the replenishment vessel and the recovery vessel being arranged in an upper-and-lower direction (Fig. 3),
the toner container 17 is turned in a reciprocating manner between an attachment position V2 standing upright inside the apparatus main body (Fig. 10a [0068, 0101]) and a detachment position V1 inclined outside the apparatus main body (Fig. 10b [0068, 0101]) around a lower portion 107 of the toner container so as to be along the cover (Figs. 10a-10b [0070]), and
the toner container arranged in the detachment position is detached along the cover arranged at the open position (Fig. 10b [0101]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art of record does not disclose or suggest the claimed “the replenishment port is arranged on an inner side of the apparatus main body from a vertical imaginary line extending in an upper-and-lower direction passing a turning shaft of the toner container, and the recovery port is arranged on an outer side of the apparatus main body from the vertical imaginary line” in combination with the remaining limitations of claims 2-5.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record on form PTO-892 and not relied upon is cited as related art.
Conclusion
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.
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/CARLA J THERRIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852