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
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Line 14 and line 15 of claim 1 each contain the word “tonner” that should be corrected to --toner--.
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.
Claim 5 is 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.
Lines 3-4 of claim 5 recite “longer than a time from the end of the development process to an end of transfer of the image developed in the development process”. As claims 1 and 5 recite limitations drawn to development processes for a preceding image and a subsequent image, the two recitations of “development process” in the quote above render the claim indefinite, since it is not clear to which development process the limitations refer.
For examination purposes, each recited development process in claim 5 will be interpreted as the development process for the preceding image.
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) 1-2, 5, and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kojima et al. (US 2016/0131999; “Kojima”).
Regarding claim 1, Kojima discloses an image forming apparatus (Fig. 2 [0033]) comprising:
a printing portion 1 that conveys a sheet P fed into a conveyance passage K1 and that prints an image on the sheet P being conveyed (Fig. 2 [0033, 0049]);
a post-processing portion 50 that performs post-processing on the sheet P brought in from the printing portion 1 (Fig. 2 [0033]); and
a control portion (controller [0105]),
wherein the printing portion 1 has an image forming portion 4 that forms an image to be printed on the sheet P (Fig. 2 [0034]), the image forming portion includes:
an image carrying member 5 that is rotatably supported and that has an outer circumferential surface on which an electrostatic latent image is formed (Fig. 2 [0034, 0036]); and
a developing device 42 that has a developer carrying member (developing roller) which rotates while carrying developer containing tonner (toner), the developing device performing a development process to form an image by supplying tonner (toner) from the rotating developer carrying member to, and thereby developing, the electrostatic latent image on the image carrying member (Fig. 2 [0036]),
when performing printing involving the post-processing for a plurality of copies in succession, the control portion stops driving the developer carrying member (via driving motor 15) at an end of the development process for a preceding image to be printed on a last sheet of a preceding copy, and starts driving the developer carrying member when performing the development process for a subsequent image to be printed on a first sheet of a subsequent copy (Figs. 8 & 12 [0037, 0066, 0076, 0084]; the developer carrying member is driven by driving motor 15, which is stopped in an interval between sheets during a post-processing operation that significantly extends the inter-sheet time) and
the control portion sets, as a development driving suspension period, a period from a time when driving of the developer carrier is stopped following completion of the development process for the preceding image (time coinciding with STOP DRIVING MOTOR; Fig. 8) to a time when the driving of the developer carrying member is started to perform the development process for the subsequent image (time coinciding with RESTART DRIVING MOTOR; Fig. 8), and maintains suspension of the driving of the developer carrying member during the development driving suspension period regardless of a length of the development driving suspension period (during any post-processing operation that significantly extends the inter-sheet time, the developer carrier will be stopped, there is no indication that this stoppage/suspension will not be maintained based on length of the development driving suspension period).
Regarding claim 2, Kojima discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing portion includes: a plurality of the image forming portions that form images of colors different from each other (not explicitly expressed, but necessary within a color machine in which an image is formed via intermediate transfer system; [0086]); and an intermediate transfer member that is rotatably supported and to which the images formed in the plurality of image forming portions are primarily transferred ([0086]), the images transferred to the intermediate transfer member are secondarily transferred to a sheet and thereby an image is printed on the sheet (not explicitly expressed, but necessary within a color machine in which an image is formed via intermediate transfer system; [0086]), the control portion makes the plurality of image forming portions perform the development process in a predetermined order such that the images formed by the plurality of image forming portions are superimposed on each other on the intermediate transfer member (not explicitly expressed, but necessary within a color machine in which an image is formed via intermediate transfer system; [0086]), and the control portion sets the development driving suspension period for each of the plurality of image forming portions and maintains suspension of the driving of the developer carrying member during the development driving suspension period (the control disclosed by Kojima in Figs. 8 & 12 is not limited to a direct transfer system, but also applicable to a color machine of an intermediate transfer system; [0086]).
Regarding claim 5 as best understood, Kojima discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time from the end of the development process for the preceding image to the suspension of driving the developer carrying member is longer than a time from the end of the development process to an end of transfer of the image developed in the development process to a transfer destination member (i.e., sheet P). (Although this is not explicitly expressed in the disclosure, this is an inherent feature in order for Kojima to function as intended. See Fig. 2. As Kojima directly transfers the developed image from photoconductive drum 5 to sheet P and motor 15 drives both the photoconductive drum 5 and the developer carrying member within developing device 42 [0034], the suspension of driving the developer carrying member must be longer than a time from the end of the development process, i.e., end of developing the latent image, to an end of transferring the image to the sheet P via transfer roller 7. If suspension of driving the developer carrying member were to be executed before the end of transferring the image to the sheet, driving of the photoconductive drum would also be suspended and the image would fail to be transferred.)
Regarding claim 7, Kojima discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the post-processing includes folding the sheet ([0052, 0060, 0083]).
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kojima (US 2016/0131999) in view of Ishida (US 2012/0155892).
Regarding claim 3, Kojima discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a developing voltage power supply (not shown) that applies a developing voltage (developing bias) to the developer carrying member when the developing device performs the developing process ([0064]), wherein there is no need to output the developing bias when the interval between the sheets is considerably extended).
Kojima is silent regarding the makeup of the voltage applied to the developer carrying member, and therefore does not explicitly teach an AC voltage superimposed on a DC voltage.
Ishida teaches a similar image forming apparatus 100 including a developing voltage power supply that applies a developing voltage having an AC voltage superimposed on a DC voltage to a developer carrying member 4b (Figs. 1-2 [0071]). Further, the image forming apparatus of Ishida suspends application of the AC voltage in a case where a sheet interval time is long ([0097]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate a developing voltage power supply that applies a developing voltage that has an AC voltage superimposed on a DC voltage to the developer carrying member, and to suspend application of the AC voltage to the developer carrying member during the development driving suspension period, as taught by Ishida. One would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide a power supply that would provide the predictable result of appropriately applying charge to the developer carrying member to facilitate development of the latent image, while also suppressing movement (jumping) of the toner from the carrier and suppressing the deposition of toner on the developer carrying member/sleeve surface even in a slight amount (Ishida [0100]).
Regarding claim 6, Kojima discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the time from the start of driving the developer carrying member to perform the development process for the subsequent image to the start of the development process for the subsequent image is longer than a time for the developer carrying member to make two turns.
Ishida teaches a similar image forming apparatus 100 (Fig. 1) that also suspends driving a developer carrying member in a case where a sheet interval time is long ([0097]). Additionally, Ishida teaches controlling the developer carrying member (developing device) drive ON-timing during pre-rotation before image forming depending on a toner charge amount/status of use of the developer in the developing container in order to prevent the occurrence of an image defect (toner stripe) being formed ([0161, 0172]). In other words, the length of time from the start of driving the developer carrying member to perform the development process for an image to the start of the development process for the image is a result-effective variable affecting the quality of the printed image.
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to optimize the result-effective variable of time from the start of driving the developer carrying member to perform the development process for the subsequent image to the start of the development process for the subsequent image (i.e., “developing device drive ON-timing”), including that which results in a total time being longer than a time for the developer carrying member to make two turns, since discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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.
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 “a length T1 of the development driving suspension period when an image is printed on only one side of the sheet is determined by Formula (1) below, and a length T2 of the development driving suspension period when images are printed on both sides of the sheet is determined by Formula (2) below” in combination with the remaining limitations of claim 4.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sekiguchi et al. (US 2016/0041509) is cited for teaching a similar image forming apparatus that halts a developer carrying member during post-processing, similar to Kojima.
Tsukada et al. (US 2014/0044446) is cited for teaching halting a developer carrying member during sheet-to-sheet intervals.
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.
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, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at (571)272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CARLA J THERRIEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852