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.
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 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi US 2015/0346640 (Takahashi).
Regarding claim 1, Takahashi teaches an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a casing (main housing 10);
an image carrier unit (30) that is housed in the casing and includes an image carrier (31) on which an electrostatic latent image is formed (¶0012-¶0013); and
a waste toner container (60) that is housed in the casing (10) and collects waste toner discharged from the image carrier unit (¶0013), wherein
the image carrier unit (30) is insertable or removable from one side (rear cover 12) of a first direction in the casing (¶0010).
Takahashi differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the waste toner container (60) is insertable or removable from another side (front cover 11) of the first direction in the casing. However this is suggested by the fact that toner container 50 is removable by the front cover 11 (¶0010), and the toner collection tank 60 “will be described layer,” (¶0013). However it is NOT described later. Given that the toner container 50 is removable by the front cover 11 and the placement of the toner collection tank 60 with the toner container 50 and the fact that the toner collection tank needs to be emptied since it can’t be filled ad nauseum without overflowing. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to remove the toner collection tank 60 from the front cover 11 since this is suggested given it’s placement with the toner container 50, and the toner container 50 is removed via the front cover and removing the toner collection tank 60 would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing.
Regarding claim 3, Takahashi teaches the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image carrier unit (30) is, inside the casing (10), disposed at a position closer to the one side of the first direction than the waste toner container (FIG. 3).
Claims 2, 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi US 2015/0346640 (Takahashi) and Sato US 2020/0301353 A1 (Sato).
Regarding claim 2, Takahashi teaches the image forming apparatus according to claim 1. Takahashi differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the details of the toner collection tank, again, suggesting that it would be discussed further but is NOT discussed further thus leaving it to one of ordinary skill to use the known options within his or her grasp. Sato teaches a toner feeding container (72) that supplies toner to be used in the image carrier unit, wherein the toner feeding container is a container integrated with the waste toner container (i.e., below toner container 71, ¶0067, ¶0075). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the teachings of Sato with regards to the waste toner container to inform the implementation of the toner collection container 60 taught by Takahashi since Takahashi is silent with regards to the details of this element leaving it to one of ordinary skill to pursue the known options within his or her grasp and as such the implementation of the waste toner container taught by Sato would yield the predictable result of waste toner being confined.
Regarding claim 4, Takahashi teaches the image forming apparatus according to claim 1. Takahashi differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the details of the toner collection tank, again, suggesting that it would be discussed further but is NOT discussed further thus leaving it to one of ordinary skill to use the known options within his or her grasp. Sato teaches the image carrier unit includes an exit port (123) for discharging the waste toner and an exit port shutter (123c) that opens and closes the exit port (123),
the waste toner container includes a reception inlet (75A) for receiving the waste toner discharged from the exit port and a reception inlet shutter (75B) that opens and closes the reception inlet, and
the exit port shutter (123C) and the reception inlet shutter (75B) open the exit port and the reception inlet when the exit port and the reception inlet are disposed at positions where the exit port and the reception inlet face each other (¶0077-¶0079). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the teachings of Sato with regards to the waste toner container to inform the implementation of the toner collection container 60 taught by Takahashi since Takahashi is silent with regards to the details of this element leaving it to one of ordinary skill to pursue the known options within his or her grasp and as such the implementation of the waste toner container taught by Sato would yield the predictable result of waste toner being confined.
Regarding claim 5, Takahashi teaches the image forming apparatus according to claim 4. Takahashi differs from the instant claimed invention by not explicitly disclosing: the details of the toner collection tank, again, suggesting that it would be discussed further but is NOT discussed further thus leaving it to one of ordinary skill to use the known options within his or her grasp. Sato teaches the image carrier unit (30) further includes a discharge passageway (120) that guides the waste toner to the exit port (123) to the other side of the first direction (FIG. 2), the waste toner container (72) further includes a reception passageway (75) that guides the waste toner received from the reception inlet to the other side of the first direction (FIG. 4-5), and the discharge passageway (120) is arranged in an upper position than the reception passageway in a gravity direction (FIG. 5). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the teachings of Sato with regards to the waste toner container to inform the implementation of the toner collection container 60 taught by Takahashi since Takahashi is silent with regards to the details of this element leaving it to one of ordinary skill to pursue the known options within his or her grasp and as such the implementation of the waste toner container taught by Sato would yield the predictable result of waste toner being confined.
Conclusion
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