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 statements (IDSs) submitted on 3/14/25 and 6/6/25 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4, 7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0004117 to Kasuya as modified by JP 2012-035476A to Okasaki.
With regard to Claim 1, Kasuya teaches (fig. 1) an exposure head (42) configured to expose a photosensitive member (36), the exposure head (42) comprising:
a light emitting chip (72) including a plurality of light emitting portions (62) arranged in a rotational axis direction of the photosensitive member (36) and configured to emit light to expose the photosensitive member (36) [0054, and 0061-0062];
a board (60) on which the light emitting chip (62) is mounted [0049];
a lens (62) configured to condense the light emitted by the light emitting chip (62) onto a surface of the photosensitive member (36) [0062];
a housing (66) configured to hold the board (60) and the lens (82);
a first adhesive (92) configured to make the housing (66) and the board (60) adhere to each other, and
a second adhesive (90) configured to make the housing (66) and the board (60) adhere to each other, the second adhesive being cured at a second rate and having a cured elastic modulus of a second elastic modulus, wherein
the second rate is higher than the first rate (due to the UV curing), and
Kasuya does not explicitly teach the first adhesive being cured at a first rate and having a cured elastic modulus of a first elastic modulus; and the first elastic modulus is higher than the second elastic modulus.
However, Okasaki teaches the first adhesive (82) being cured at a first rate and having a cured elastic modulus of a first elastic modulus [0037 and 0045]; and the first elastic modulus is higher than the second elastic modulus. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kasuya with the teachings of Okasaki to suppress entry of dust into the internal space of an exposure apparatus (abstract).
With regard to Claim 2, Kasuya teaches wherein the first adhesive has a property of being cured when applied with heat [0080].
With regard to Claim 3, Kasuya teaches wherein the second adhesive has a property of being cured by irradiation with light [0092].
With regard to Claim 4, Kasuya teaches, further comprising a third adhesive provided in a longitudinal direction of the board and configured to seal between the board and the housing [0063-0065].
With regard to Claim 7, Kasuya teaches wherein the first adhesive makes the board and the housing adhere to each other at a plurality of points whose positions are different from each other in a longitudinal direction of the housing [0068, 0074 and 0076].
With regard to Claim 11, Kasuya teaches the claimed invention except for wherein the plurality of light emitting portions is an organic electro-luminescence (EL).
However, Okasaki teaches wherein the plurality of light emitting portions is an organic electro-luminescence (EL) [0048]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kasuya with the teachings of Okasaki to provide more functionality because each pixel can be turned on or off independently.
Examiner Note
The examiner cites particular columns and lines numbers (or paragraphs or figures) in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. The specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim. Other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 and 8-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reason for the allowance of Claims 5-6 is the inclusion of the limitations a fifth adhesive configured to make the housing and the lens adhere to each other, the fifth adhesive being cured at a fourth rate and having a cured elastic modulus of a fourth elastic modulus. It is these features found in the claim(s) which have not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for the allowance of Claims 8-10 is the inclusion of the limitations wherein the second adhesive is applied between adhesion points of the first adhesive that are adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction. It is these features found in the claim(s) which have not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 12,061,435 discloses a rotatable photosensitive member, a charging member, an exposure unit, a developing member, a transfer member, and a pre-exposure unit. The pre-exposure unit exposes a surface of the photosensitive member after the toner image is transferred to the recording material and before being charged by the charging member. The pre-exposure unit includes a substrate disposed adjacent to one end of the photosensitive member with respect to a longitudinal direction of the photosensitive member, and in which a first light emitting element and a second light emitting element having directional characteristics narrower than that of the first light emitting element are mounted.
US 2025/0021032 discloses an exposure device that has an elongated shape extending in an axial direction of a photosensitive member and exposes the photosensitive member includes: a substrate on which a plurality of light emitting elements that emits light to expose the photosensitive member is arranged in the axial direction; a lens array configured to collect the light emitted from the light emitting elements on the photosensitive member; a housing configured to hold the substrate and the lens array; and a housing support member configured to support the housing, in which one ends of the housing and the housing support member in a longitudinal direction are bonded with a first adhesive, the other ends of the housing and the housing support member in the longitudinal direction are bonded with a second adhesive, and a hardness of the first adhesive after curing is higher than a hardness of the second adhesive after curing.
US 2021/0165339 discloses an image reading apparatus, comprises an illuminating unit which is used to illuminate an original. The reflection element is used to reflect light reflected by the original. The reading unit is used to read the light reflected by the reflection element. The holding element holding the reflection element. The first bonding unit connecting the holding element and one end unit of the reflection element in a direction along a reflecting surface of the reflection element. The second bonding unit connecting the holding element and the other end unit of the reflection element in the direction along the reflecting surface of the reflection element. The second bonding unit has a hardness less than that of the first bonding unit.1
US 2010/0054812 discloses a supporting member for supporting an elongated shaped optical head i.e. LED head (41), where the head and the supporting member are adhered by an adhesive (124). Another adhesive (131) is applied in an adhesive area that is located at a boundary between the optical head and the supporting member along a longitudinal direction of the optical head. The optical head comprises a set of light emitting portions for emitting a light. The former adhesive is applied in a form of a dot, and the latter adhesive is applied in a form of a line.
Communications with the PTO
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARON A POLK whose telephone number is (571)270-7910. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7-3.
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, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached at 571-431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SHARON A. POLK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/Sharon Polk/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
Prosecution Insights