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 2/27/2025 was considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 2/27/2025 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 Objection
Claims 1-6 are objected to because of the following informalities.
Claims 1 and 6 lack punctuation to aid in deciphering the limitations of the claims and are confusing unclear. For example, the problem clauses of the independent claims 1 and 6, recite “…an accumulator that accumulates a shortage of an actual replenishment time of the first toner by the first replenishment member with respect to the first necessary replenishment time every time the image formation processing is performed and obtains a first accumulation time, which is an accumulation value of the shortage, and that accumulates a shortage of an actual replenishment time of the second toner by the second replenishment member with respect to the second necessary replenishment time every time the image formation processing is performed and obtains a second accumulation time, which is an accumulation value of the shortage, …”. The “wherein clauses” have the same issues. Please review and make the appropriate correction is required.
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 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NOAYA ((JP2011-048201A; cited by applicant).
Claims 1 and 6 (regarding claim 6, a toner replenishment control method in an image forming apparatus that performs image formation processing by an electrophotographic method) recite an image forming apparatus (figure 1) that performs image formation processing by an electrophotographic method, the image forming apparatus (figure 1) comprising: a first accommodation PrY in which first toner is accommodated; a first replenishment member KY that replenishes a first development unit Y with the first toner accommodated in the first accommodation PrY; a second accommodation PRm in which second toner is accommodated; a second replenishment member KM that replenishes a second development unit with the second toner accommodated in the second accommodation; a drive source 11 that selectively drives the first replenishment member and the second replenishment member (figure 4); a drive controller D1, D2 that controls the drive source 11; a derivator that derives, based on image data to be subjected to the image formation processing (developer request determining means), a first necessary replenishment time, which is a replenishment time of the first toner necessary for compensating for consumption of the first toner consumed by the first development unit (insufficient density detection unit), and a second necessary replenishment time, which is a replenishment time of the second toner necessary for compensating for consumption of the second toner consumed by the second development unit (insufficient density detection unit); and an accumulator that accumulates a shortage of an actual replenishment time of the first toner by the first replenishment member with respect to the first necessary replenishment time every time the image formation processing is performed and obtains a first accumulation time, which is an accumulation value of the shortage (insufficient density update unit), and that accumulates a shortage of an actual replenishment time of the second toner by the second replenishment member with respect to the second necessary replenishment time every time the image formation processing is performed and obtains a second accumulation time, which is an accumulation value of the shortage (insufficient density update unit), wherein when at least one of the first accumulation time and the second accumulation time is equal to or greater than a predetermined first threshold, the drive controller specifies the first accumulation time or the second accumulation time that is equal to or greater than the first threshold as one accumulation time, specifies the first replenishment member or the second replenishment member related to the one accumulation time as one replenishment member, drives the one replenishment member for the one accumulation time with a predetermined second threshold as an upper limit, and then stops drive of the one replenishment member, and further, according to another accumulation time, which is not the one accumulation time, of the first accumulation time and the second accumulation time and the one accumulation time, drives another replenishment member, which is not the one replenishment member, of the first replenishment member and the second replenishment member for the other accumulation time with the second threshold as an upper limit, or drives the one replenishment member for the one accumulation time with the second threshold as an upper limit, or controls the drive source so as to bring the one replenishment member and the other replenishment member into a stop state without driving both of the one replenishment member and the other replenishment member (figure 1, C8: developer request determining means for all color developers/toners on page 8, bottom; C15A1-C15A3: describes the first threshold as drivable time, page 9 bottom half – page 10, top three paragraphs) ((NAOYA teaches a drive system 11 for the yellow and magenta development devices; motor drive circuits D1 and D2; density acquisition unit; insufficient density detection unit; insufficient density storage means; insufficient density update unit; developer request determining means; request signal transmission means; detection interval timing means; signal reception storage means; insufficient driving time determining means; and Y/M color shortage drive time calc. means; Y/M color allocating drive time).
Regarding claim 2, the drive controller specifies, as the one accumulation time, a longer one of the first accumulation time and the second accumulation time when both the first accumulation time and the second accumulation time are equal to or greater than the first threshold (C15A1, described on page 10, next to last paragraph; page 12, steps S18-S19).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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. MIURA et al. (US 2015/0168869 A1) teaches a toner replenishment amount control method to correct the toner replenishment amount based on the install of a new toner bottle/cartridge.
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.
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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
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