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 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.
Claims 1 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki et al. JP 2021-067780 A (hereinafter “Aoki”) in view of Aoki US 2020/0033800 A1 (hereinafter “Aoki ‘800”).
Regarding claims 1 and 9 (image forming apparatus-FIG.1), Aoki, with reference to FIG. 5, teaches a sheet feeding device, comprising:
a sheet housing unit (506) that is mounted on a body of an apparatus (250) such that the sheet housing unit can be pulled out of the body of the apparatus;
a blowing unit (611a, 611b) that blows air toward a sheet housed in the sheet housing unit;
a heating unit (613) that heats the air blown by the blowing unit; and
a control unit (301) that controls the blowing unit and the heating unit,
the control unit being configured to
drive the blowing unit and the heating unit, and
continuously drive the blowing unit (”sheet loosening fans 611a and 611b operate for a predetermined time (for example, 15 seconds) as initial loosening when the power of the image forming device is turned on, when the feeding deck 250 is opened and closed”) and stop the heating unit when the sheet housing unit is pulled out of the body of the apparatus during the sheet feeding operation (“When the storage open / close detection sensor 608 detects that the storage 506 has been opened in step S7, the heater for heating the handling air is stopped”).
Aoki is silent in teaching wherein the blowing unit and the heating unit are driven during a sheet feeding operation of feeding the sheet from the sheet housing unit, however, Aoki ‘800 teaches it’s well-known in the art to use side blowers (611a, 611b) also during sheet feeding operation ([0108]) for loosening of sheet during sheet feeding in addition to a pre-loosening operation to facilitate separation of sheets during sheet feeding.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Aoki’s device using blowing unit and heating unit to operate during a sheet feeding operation as taught by Aoki ‘800 for providing air and heat assistance for separating sheets during the sheet feeding operation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUIS A GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-3094. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
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/LUIS A GONZALEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653