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 .
Title
The new title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The indicated allowability of claim 2 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to MANDIA et al. (US 2018/0373182 A1). Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 8-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZARETSKY (US 2013/0259505 A1) in view of MANDI (discussed above).
ZARETSKY teaches regarding claim 1, a sheet type determination device for determining a sheet type, comprising a hardware processor that determines whether a sheet is synthetic paper based on a detection result of a moisture sensor [0072] configured to detect characteristic information corresponding to a moisture amount of the sheet (figures 1-2; [0035, 0072]).
Regarding claim 8, the hardware processor determines whether the sheet is a transparent sheet based on a detection result about characteristic information corresponding to transmittance of light emitted on the sheet [0071-0072].
Regarding claim 9, a secondary transfer current to be applied to the sheet in an image forming section is changed based on the sheet type determined by the sheet type determination device [0006, 0057].
Regarding claim 10, a fixing temperature for fixing toner to the sheet in an image forming section is changed based on the sheet type determined by the sheet type determination device [0074].
Regarding claim 11, ZARETSKY teaches a non-transitory recording medium storing a computer-readable program, the program causing a computer to determine whether a sheet is synthetic paper based on a detection result of a moisture sensor configured to detect characteristic information corresponding to a moisture amount of the sheet (figures 1-2; [0026, 0035, 0072]).
ZARETSKY does not teach that a capacitance sensor is equivalent to a thickness detector.
MANDI teaches that a capacitance sensor is equivalent to a thickness detector.
Regarding claim 2, the hardware processor determines whether the sheet is synthetic paper based on the detection result of a-the thickness sensor configured to detect the thickness of the sheet and the detection result of the moisture sensor [0069].
Regarding claim 4, the hardware processor determines, based on the detection result of the thickness sensor, a threshold value that is used for determining whether the sheet is synthetic paper [0010].
Regarding claim 6, a threshold value table in which an input is the thickness of the sheet, and an output is the threshold value ([0010], known in the art).
Both references are concerned with image forming on different type of media.
The rationale for combining the teachings of MANDI with the teachings of ZARETSKY relates to the rationale of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to use the teaching of MANDI with the teaching of ZARETSKY to utilize a common image forming device media detector.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, and 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANA GRAINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-2135. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9-5.
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, Walter Lindsay can be reached on 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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/QUANA GRAINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
QG
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