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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/29/2025 was considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 1/29/2025 are acceptable for examination by the examiner.
Title
The 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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 8-11 is/are rejected1 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ZARETSKY (US 2013/0259505 A1).
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]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 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.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. TSUJIMOTO (US 2019/0171149 A1) teaches the use of plural sensors to sense the basis weight of a sheet.
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