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 statements (IDS) submitted on 01/29/2025 and 06/02/20255 have been considered.
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.
Claims1, 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Hirobe et al. [EP 1 357 443 A2] in view of Furukawa [8,909,108].
The applied reference has a common Assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Regarding claim 1, Hirobe et al. disclose an image forming apparatus [Fig. 2] comprising a plurality of rotatable image bearing member [10], and a developing device [1] having a developing container [2] configured to contain a developer including toner and a carrier [Para. 0043], a first rotatable developing member [8] to which the developer contained in the developing container is supplied and which carried and feeds the developer to a first developing position where an electrostatic latent image formed on the rotatable image bearing member is developed [Fig. 1], a second rotatable developing member [11] provided opposed to the first rotatable developing member, a second developing position where the electrostatic latent image passed through the first developing position is developed [Fig. 1], a first magnet provided non-rotatably and stationarily inside the first rotatable developing member [Para. 0036], and a second magnet provided non-rotatably and stationarily inside the second rotatable developing member [Para. 0036]; wherein a rotational axis of the second rotatable developing member is positioned above a rotational axis of the first rotatable developing member [Fig. 1], and the developer is delivered from the first rotatable developing member to the second rotatable developing member against a gravitational direction by a magnetic field generated between the first magnet and the second magnet [Fig. 1]. However, Hirobe et al. do not disclose outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second rotatable developing members including a plurality of grooves.
Furukawa discloses a developing device [Fig. 1] comprising a first rotatable developing member having an outer peripheral surface provided with a plurality of grooves, and a second rotatable developing member having an outer peripheral surface provided with a plurality of grooves [Col. 2, lines 51-59].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have the outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second rotatable developing members disclosed by Hirobe et al. having a plurality of grooves as taught by Furukawa for the purpose of effectively conveying the developer to the developing positions.
Regarding claim 8, Hirobe et al. disclose the first rotatable developing member and the second rotatable developing member are rotated in directions opposite to each other in a position where the first rotatable developing member and the second rotatable developing member oppose each other [Fig. 1].
Regarding claim 9, Hirobe et al. disclose the first rotatable developing member and the image bearing member member are rotated in the same direction in a position where the first rotatable developing member and the image bearing member oppose each other [Fig. 1], and the second rotatable developing member and the image bearing member are rotated in the same direction in a position where the second rotatable developing member and the image bearing member oppose each other [Fig. 1].
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.
Contact Information
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examiner should be directed to HOAN H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2141.
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/HOAN H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852 01/06/26