Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 19/169,612

APPARATUS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Apr 03, 2025
Priority
Apr 16, 2024 — JP 2024-066108
Examiner
GRAINGER, QUANA MASHELLE
Art Unit
2852
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Canon Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
85%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
1030 granted / 1160 resolved
+20.8% vs TC avg
Minimal -4% lift
Without
With
+-3.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 0m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
1190
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.5%
-39.5% vs TC avg
§103
60.6%
+20.6% vs TC avg
§102
32.4%
-7.6% vs TC avg
§112
4.7%
-35.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1160 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 19/169,612 CTNF 72641 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/3/2025 was considered by the examiner. Drawings The drawings filed on 4/3/2025 are acceptable for examination by the examiner. Title 06-11 AIA 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. Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities. In paragraph [0002], the second sentence contain non-idiomatic English. In paragraph [0003], in the last sentence, “cell” should be - - call - -. Appropriate correction is required. 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-2, 4, 6, 8-10, 12-14, 16, 18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over IWASAKI (US 2019/0258432 A1) in view of ROBINSON (US 20060269297 A1) . ROBINSON teaches regarding claim 1, an [apparatus management system] for managing an image forming apparatus; regarding claim 13, an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, and claim 20, an [information processing apparatus] capable of communicating with an image forming apparatus [0001], comprising: a detecting unit 104 [0028] configured to detect conveyance failure of a recording material in the image forming apparatus (figure 1; belt 12) at least one cause discriminating unit configured to discriminate a cause of the conveyance failure, detected by the detecting unit 104, on the basis of information acquired from the image forming apparatus; a display unit 108 configured to display information on the cause discriminated by the cause discriminating unit; and a display discriminating unit configured to discriminate whether or not the information on the cause is displayed on the display unit (shown in figure 7) , wherein the display discriminating unit discriminating whether or not the information on the cause is displayed on the display unit , on the basis of a first occurrence rate which is a number of times of the conveyance failure occurred per unit time and a second occurrence rate which is a number of times of the conveyance failure per number of printed sheets (figures 4-7; [0007] recites the first and second occurrence; [0038-0043] discusses the process to add or replace/switch message regarding information on the cause). Regarding claims 2 and 14, the at least one cause discriminating unit comprises a plurality of cause discriminating units, and wherein the apparatus management system further comprises a selecting unit configured to select at least one cause from a plurality of causes of the conveyance failure discriminated by the plurality of cause discriminating units, respectively (network of sensors 104 for subsystems A-E; discriminating unit works with each subsystem; selects all failure at all subsystems). Regarding claims 4 and 16, one of the plurality of cause discriminating units discriminates that the cause is due to a user, and wherein in a case where the one of the plurality of cause discriminating units discriminates that the cause is due to the user, the selecting unit selects, as the cause, that the cause is due to the user (when paper has not been replenished by a user). Regarding claim 6, an apparatus management system wherein the image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on the recording material, a conveying unit 12 configured to convey the recording material, a driving unit 16 configured to drive the conveying unit, [a sound collecting unit, and an environment detecting unit configured to detect a temperature or a humidity], and wherein the information acquired from the image forming apparatus (figure 1) includes at least one of conveyance information of the recording material conveyed by the conveying unit 16, information of the driving unit, [information on a sound collected by the sound collecting unit, operation information of the image forming unit, information detected by the environment detecting unit,] and print information (figure 1; the examiner takes official notice that it is known in the art at the effective filing date of this application to utilized environmental and voice collection within the image forming industry, such as taught by MATSUMOTO (US 2020/0393786 A1)). Regarding claims 8 and 18, [an apparatus management system further comprising: a server connected to the image forming apparatus] and including the cause discriminating unit and the display discriminating unit 204; and a monitoring tool 202 including the display portion 20 [and capable of making reference to information of the server] (figures 5, 7). Regarding claim 9, an apparatus management system further comprising a computer connected to the image forming apparatus [0002]. Regarding claim 10, an apparatus management system, wherein the image forming apparatus includes the display unit 104 (figure 2). Regarding claim 12, an apparatus management system, wherein the information on the cause is the cause of the conveyance failure discriminated by the cause discriminating unit and/or a processing method for eliminating the cause of the conveyance failure (figure 7). ROBINSON does not teach a server or image processing or management system. IWASAKI teaches IWASAKI teaches regarding claims 1, 13, and 20, an apparatus management system, information processing apparatus, and information processing apparatus for managing an image forming apparatus, comprising: a detecting unit configured to detect conveyance failure of a recording material in the image forming apparatus. Regarding claim 8, an apparatus management system further comprising: a server connected to the image forming apparatus [and including the cause discriminating unit and the display discriminating unit; and a monitoring tool including the display portion and capable of making reference to information of the server]. ROBINSON and IWASAKI are concerned with failure analysis for a printer. The rationale for combining the teachings of IWASAKI with the teachings of ROBINSON relates to the rationale of combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to use the teaching of IWASAKI with the teaching of ROBINSON to obtain its management process with other image forming system configurations . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 3, 5, 7, 11, 15, 17, and 19 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. 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. 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, 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. 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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /QUANA GRAINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852 QG Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 2 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 3 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 4 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 5 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 6 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 7 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 8 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/169,612 Page 9 Art Unit: 2852
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 03, 2025
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
85%
With Interview (-3.8%)
2y 0m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1160 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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