CTNF 19/092,070 CTNF 66713 Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-01 AIA The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. 07-31-01 Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. In claim 20, the applicant describes the first and second detachable collection container units overlapping each other with respect to a vertical direction which is not supported by the original specification. As seen in applicant’s Figs 1,5,8, the collection container units 10a, 10b do not overlap in the vertical direction however they do overlap in the width-wise direction. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamaki et al. (U.S. 2021/0034007) in view of Oyoshi et al. (JP 2013-171211) . Tamaki et al. teach an image forming apparatus 200 (Fig.1) including image forming portions 1Y, 1M, 1C, 1K including image bearing members 1 configured to form a toner image, an intermediate transfer belt 31 for receiving toner images from the image forming portions, a first collecting unit 91a provided detachable is configured to receive waste toner from the image forming portions, a second collecting unit 91b is provided detachable and receives waste toner from the image forming portions. A cassette 81a is located below the first and second collecting units. See par. 30,33,40-41,45. As seen in Fig.1, the lower surface of each of the first and second collecting units are provided below the lower surface of the intermediate transfer belt and above the sheet cassette 81a. The first and second collecting units are disposed side by side in a widthwise direction perpendicular to the rotational axis of the image bearing member such that the first collecting unit 91a crosses (intersects) a first cross-section; the first cross-section is perpendicular to the widthwise direction and crosses the intermediate transfer belt and the second collecting unit 91b crosses (intersects) a second cross-section; the second cross-section is perpendicular to the widthwise direction and crosses the intermediate transfer belt. Specifically, Tamaki et al. teach all that is claimed except the first and second collecting units are longer in the widthwise direction than a vertical direction. Oyoshi et al. teach an image forming apparatus comprising an image forming portion (no reference numeral but refer to Fig.s 1, 9-11) including an image bearing member 1a, 1b, 1c, or 1d; an intermediate transfer belt 14 onto which toner images are transferred; a first collection container (unit) 10b, 10c, 10d for collecting waste toner from the image forming portion (see Fig.11), and a second collection container (unit) 10a for collection waste toner from the image forming portion; the first and second containers are disposed below the intermediate transfer belt and side by side in a widthwise direction perpendicular to the rotational axis direction of the image bearing members and since the collection containers and the intermediate transfer belt have a depth dimension (into and out of the page), at least a part of the first collection container and second collection container overlaps with the intermediate belt when viewed from a vertical direction. As seen in Fig.11, the collection container 10a has a length in the widthwise direction which is longer than the height in a vertical direction. The reason for this dimension is to increase the capacity of the collection container without making the image forming device higher (see translation page 11, paragraph 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to make the first and second collection container units in Tamaki et al. to having a length in the widthwise direction which is longer than the height in a vertical direction because the capacity for both collection containers can be increased without making the image forming apparatus height taller as taught by Oyoshi et al . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ninomiya ‘402, Ninomiya ‘233 and Ninomiya ‘284 are the patented parent applications. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT B BEATTY whose telephone number is (571) 272-2130. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 7 to 3. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Stephanie Bloss, can be reached on (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-2130. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /ROBERT B BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/092,070 Page 2 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/092,070 Page 3 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/092,070 Page 4 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/092,070 Page 5 Art Unit: 2852
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