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 .
Claim Objections
The objection to claim 1 is hereby withdrawn in view of the amendment filed July 9, 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kusano et al. US 2019/0302651 A1 (Kusano) and Isobe et al. US 2017/0261886 (Isobe).
Regarding claim 1, Kusano teaches a developer container comprising:
a developing roller (22) configured to supply developer to a photosensitive drum;
a supplying roller (20) configured to be rotatable and to supply the developer to the developing roller;
a developing chamber (18b) provided with the developing roller and the supplying roller;
a developer housing (18a) configured to store the developer and having an opening (18c) that communicably connects the developer housing and the developing chamber; and
a stirring member (23) provided inside the developer housing and configured to stir the developer, and moreover configured to be rotatable in a same direction as a direction in which the supplying roller rotates (20 rotates “in contact with the developing roller 22” thus it is in the opposite direction of D and thus the same as F, FIG. 3), wherein
the developer housing is enabled to be provided with a sealing member (24) for sealing the opening (18c), from a side of the developer housing,
in a state where the opening is sealed by the sealing member (24),
the developer housing and the developing chamber come to communicate each other as a result of the sealing member peeling off, starting from the upstream bonded portion and then the downstream bonded portion (¶0056-¶0057).
Kusano differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: a height of a rotation shaft of the stirring member is equal to or higher than a height of a rotation shaft of the supplying roller, in a gravitational direction, the sealing member being bonded around the opening, and the upstream bonded portion being closer to the rotation shaft than the downstream portion. However this is a known configuration.
Isobe teaches a height of a rotation shaft of the stirring member is equal to or higher than a height of a rotation shaft of the supplying roller, in a gravitational direction (FIG. 2), the sealing member is bonded (welded) to the developer housing around the opening (40c, FIG. 1) at an upstream bonded portion (492, FIG. 1) fold-back portion (FIG. 3A) that is on an upstream side of the opening and also at a downstream bonded portion (491, FIG. 1) that is on a downstream side of the opening, in a rotating direction of the stirring member (¶0052-¶0027), wherein the upstream bonded portion is positioned closer to the rotation shaft of the stirring member than the downstream bonded portion (FIG. 3B). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the developer container taught by Kusano as taught by Isobe since Isobe teaches this configuration offers the advantage of “it is possible to prevent the developing container partitioning member 47 from being peeled off from the developing container 40 during the unused state and to suppress the load to a minimum when the developing container partitioning member 47 is unsealed,” (¶0039).
Regarding claim 2, Kusano and Isobe teach the developer container according to claim 1. Furthermore Kusano teaches a one-end side of the sealing member is attached to a rotation shaft of the stirring member (24a),
an another-end side of the sealing member is bonded at the upstream bonded portion and at the downstream bonded portion in a state where the opening is kept sealed with the sealing member (FIG. 3),
the upstream bonded portion (24c) of the sealing member is positioned nearer to the one-end side than the downstream bonded portion (FIG. 3), and
the sealing member (24) is configured to peel off starting from the upstream bonded portion, and then the downstream bonded portion in conjunction with rotation of the stirring member (¶0056-¶0057).
Regarding claim 3, Kusano teaches a developer container comprising:
a developing roller (22) configured to supply developer to a photosensitive drum;
a supplying roller (20) configured to be rotatable and to supply the developer to the developing roller;
a developing chamber (18b) provided with the developing roller and the supplying roller;
a developer housing (18a) configured to store the developer and having an opening (18c) that communicably connects the developer housing and the developing chamber; and
a stirring member (23) provided inside the developer housing and configured to stir the developer, and moreover configured to be rotatable in a same direction as a direction in which the supplying roller rotates (20 rotates “in contact with the developing roller 22” thus it is in the opposite direction of D and thus the same as F, FIG. 3), wherein
the developer housing is enabled to be provided with a sealing member (24) for sealing the opening (18c), from a side of the developer housing,
the sealing member (24) includes a part that is attached to a rotation shaft of the stirring member (24a), a part that is bonded at the upstream bonded portion (24b), and a part bonded at the downstream bonded portion (24c), in this order, along a direction from a one-end side toward an another-end side (FIG. 3).
Kusano differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the height of a rotation shaft of the stirring member is equal to or higher than a height of a rotation shaft of the supplying roller, in a gravitational direction, the sealing member being bonded around the opening, and the sealing member is configured to peel off starting from the upstream bonded portion and then the downstream bonded portion in conjunction with rotation to the stirring member. However this is a known configuration.
Isobe teaches the height of a rotation shaft of the stirring member is equal to or higher than a height of a rotation shaft of the supplying roller, in a gravitational direction (FIG. 2), the sealing member is bonded (welded) to the developer housing around the opening (40c, FIG. 1) at an upstream bonded portion (492, FIG. 1) fold-back portion (FIG. 3A) that is on an upstream side of the opening and also at a downstream bonded portion (491, FIG. 1) that is on a downstream side of the opening, in a rotating direction of the stirring member (¶0052-¶0027), the sealing member is configured to peel off starting from the upstream bonded portion and then the downstream bonded portion in conjunction with rotation to the stirring member (FIG. 3A-D). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the developer container taught by Kusano as taught by Isobe since Isobe teaches this configuration offers the advantage of “it is possible to prevent the developing container partitioning member 47 from being peeled off from the developing container 40 during the unused state and to suppress the load to a minimum when the developing container partitioning member 47 is unsealed,” (¶0039).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA L ELEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9793. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM CST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter Jr. 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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/JESSICA L ELEY/
Examiner, Art Unit 2852
Prosecution Insights