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.
Claims 19,23-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oyoshi et al. (JP 2013-171211) in view of Tamaki et al. (U.S. 2021/0034007).
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 which is located below the image forming portion; a first replaceable collection container (unit) 10b, 10c, 10d for collecting waste toner from the image forming portion (see Fig.11), and a second replaceable 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).
Regarding claim 23, the ends of the first collection container 10b or 10c or 10d and both ends of the second collection container 10a are disposed inward of both ends of the intermediate transfer belt 14 as seen in Fig.11.
Regarding claim 27, the second collection container 10a can be considered a “buffer” container which temporally stores waste toner material before it is emptied.
Specifically, Oyoshi et al. teach all that is claimed except a sheet cassette located below the first and second collection containers such that the first and second collection containers are located on a first or second cross-section respectively which are perpendicular to the width direction, the width direction being perpendicular to the image bearing member rotational axis (claim 19). Additionally, the first and second waste containers being detached without the intermediate transfer member being detached (claim 24), the first and second waste containers being detached without the sheet cassette being detached (claim 25), and the cassette being detached without the first and second waste containers being detached (claim 26) is not taught.
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.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to locate the sheet feed cassette immediately below the collecting containers as shown in Tamaki et al. because the footprint of the image forming apparatus would not be as large and thus would be more accommodating in office environments. Additionally, the examiner takes Official Notice that the detachment of waste toner containers or a sheet cassette being not dependent on the detachment of the intermediate transfer belt or detachment of the sheet cassette is notoriously well known in the art since a complicated structure can be avoided by not linking a detachment of one detachable item to the detachment of another detachable item.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-22 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.
Regarding claim 21, the first and second collecting container being detachably provided along the axial direction of the image bearing member, the sheet cassette being detachably provided along the axial direction of the image bearing member, and the intermediate transfer belt being detachable along the widthwise direction crossing the axial direction of the image bearing member from a side surface of the apparatus main assembly is not taught, suggested or rendered obvious by the prior art of record.
Regarding claim 22, both ends of the first and second collection containers in widthwise direction are disposed at positions corresponding to both ends of a region in the which the cassette is accommodatable or inward of both ends of the region is not taught, suggested or rendered obvious by the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 19,21-27 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejections.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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.
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/ROBERT B BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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