CTNF 19/172,173 CTNF 81385 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. Specification 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. 06-16 AIA Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure. The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details. The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided. The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it exceeds the 150 word limit. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. 07-34-01 Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 1, in lines 10 and 12, refer to “sections of the operating environment”. A phrase like ‘sections’ typically denotes a portion of a physical object. As a result, it is unclear of this phrase is intending to refer to sections of the interior of the apparatus, such as the discrete location of the charger versus the discrete location of the image bearer; or if it is intending to describe discrete characteristics of the environmental measurements, such as ‘low temperature, high humidity’, ‘high temperature, high humidity’ and the like. Throughout the claims, from context, it also appears to allege that the sections of the operating environment may be meaning sections of the storage/memory for storing a particular value related to a particular state of the operating environment (see claim 1, ln.17 ‘is stored in a section of a measured operating environment’). If this is the case, it is not clearly delineated in the claim language. If this is not the case, revision must be made to clarify the purpose, relationship, or structure of the “sections”. Additionally, it is unclear what is meant by the term “used AC voltage value”. Lines 11-12 define it as “an AC voltage value used to apply the AC voltage to the charger.” However, it is unclear if this is a voltage value that ‘should be used’ for each condition or if it is a value that ‘has been used previously and stored’. A third interpretation is that it could be a value that should be utilized after the component has been utilized and replaced. As such, it is unclear what the metes and bounds of this claim limitation are. 07-34-01 Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It is unclear how the AC voltage value used can be stored as the ‘used AC voltage value’. The claim language appears self-referential. 07-34-01 Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. 07-34-13 AIA Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: by what structure, means or method the circuitry “repeats control of causing the voltage generator to generate an AC voltage, until the reference AC voltage value or the used AC voltage value is within a target range”. It is unclear how the ‘until the… values is within a target range’ is executed or when this process is used . 07-34-01 Claims 8-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 8, in lines 10 and 12, refer to “sections of the operating environment”. A phrase like ‘sections’ typically denotes a portion of a physical object. As a result, it is unclear of this phrase is intending to refer to sections of the interior of the apparatus, such as the discrete location of the charger versus the discrete location of the image bearer; or if it is intending to describe discrete characteristics of the environmental measurements, such as ‘low temperature, high humidity’, ‘high temperature, high humidity’ and the like. Throughout the claims, from context, it also appears to allege that the sections of the operating environment may be meaning sections of the storage/memory for storing a particular value related to a particular state of the operating environment (see claim 8, ln.16-17 ‘is stored in a section of a measured operating environment’). If this is the case, it is not clearly delineated in the claim language. If this is not the case, revision must be made to clarify the purpose, relationship, or structure of the “sections”. Additionally, it is unclear what is meant by the term “used AC voltage value”. Lines 11-12 define it as “an AC voltage value used to apply the AC voltage to the charger.” However, it is unclear if this is a voltage value that ‘should be used’ for each condition or if it is a value that ‘has been used previously and stored’. A third interpretation is that it could be a value that should be utilized after the component has been utilized and replaced. As such, it is unclear what the metes and bounds of this claim limitation are. 07-34-01 Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. It is unclear how the AC voltage value used can be stored as the ‘used AC voltage value’. The claim language appears self-referential. 07-34-01 Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. 07-34-13 AIA Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: by what structure, means or method the circuitry “repeats control of causing the voltage generator to generate an AC voltage, until the reference AC voltage value or the used AC voltage value is within a target range”. It is unclear how the ‘until the… values is within a target range’ is executed or when this process is used . 07-34-01 Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 14, in lines 8 and 10, refer to “sections of the operating environment”. A phrase like ‘sections’ typically denotes a portion of a physical object. As a result, it is unclear of this phrase is intending to refer to sections of the interior of the apparatus, such as the discrete location of the charger versus the discrete location of the image bearer; or if it is intending to describe discrete characteristics of the environmental measurements, such as ‘low temperature, high humidity’, ‘high temperature, high humidity’ and the like. Throughout the claims, from context, it also appears to allege that the sections of the operating environment may be meaning sections of the storage/memory for storing a particular value related to a particular state of the operating environment (see claim 14, ln.14 ‘is stored in a section of a measured operating environment’). If this is the case, it is not clearly delineated in the claim language. If this is not the case, revision must be made to clarify the purpose, relationship, or structure of the “sections”. Additionally, it is unclear what is meant by the term “used AC voltage value”. Lines 9-10 define it as “an AC voltage value used to apply the AC voltage to the charger.” However, it is unclear if this is a voltage value that ‘should be used’ for each condition or if it is a value that ‘has been used previously and stored’. A third interpretation is that it could be a value that should be utilized after the component has been utilized and replaced. As such, it is unclear what the metes and bounds of this claim limitation are. Examiner’s Note : In the interest of compact prosecution, an art rejection has been made for certain claims according to the Examiner’s best interpretation of possible meaning intended by the claim language. These rejections are as follows: Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 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 1, 6, 7, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) in view of Sasame et al. (US 5,568,242) . Regarding claim 1, Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) teach an image forming apparatus (fig.2) comprising: an image bearer on which an electrostatic latent image is formed (fig.2&9, #21); a charger to charge the image bearer (fig.2&9, #22) based on an alternating current (AC) voltage (fig.9, #62&#63); a voltage generator to generate the AC voltage to be supplied to the charger (fig.9, #112/#62/#63); a current detector to detect a current flowing between the voltage generator and the image bearer (para.0117 infers that something similar is present in this alternative); a sensor to measure temperature and humidity, as an operating environment, inside a body of the image forming apparatus in which the image bearer and the charger are disposed (fig.9, #101); a first storage to store a reference AC voltage value, which is a reference value of the AC voltage (fig.9, #113), for each of sections of the operating environment (para.0104); a second storage to store a used AC voltage value, which is an AC voltage value used to apply the AC voltage to the charger (para.0105), for each of the sections of the operating environment (para.0104: the two appear to be tied); and circuitry configured to: control the voltage generator to generate an AC voltage based on the used AC voltage value detected when the circuitry detects that the used AC voltage value is stored in a section of a measured operating environment, which is an operating environment measured by the sensor, in the second storage; and control the voltage generator to generate an AC voltage based on the reference AC voltage value stored in the section of the measured operating environment in the first storage when the used AC voltage value is absent in the section of the measured operating environment in the second storage (para.0103-0106: it appears that the reference table is used for voltage setting until the usage registers as a degradation of the thickness and a setting that takes the thickness into account is used). Regarding claim 6, Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) teach an image forming apparatus wherein the reference AC voltage value stored in each of the sections of the operating environment in the first storage is stored in advance as the used AC voltage value in corresponding one of the sections of the operating environment in the second storage (para.0104-0106). Regarding claim 7, Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) teach an image forming apparatus wherein the circuitry repeats control of causing the voltage generator to generate an AC voltage, until the reference AC voltage value or the used AC voltage value is within a target range (para.0104-0106&0113-0114: performs this process repeatedly as images are formed). However, Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) is silent as to the structure or means for measuring the discharge at the image bearer to determine the thickness. Regarding claim 1, Sasame et al. (US 5,568,242) disclose an image forming apparatus (see fig.) comprising: an image bearer on which an electrostatic latent image is formed (fig., #1); a charger to charge the image bearer (fig., #2) based on an alternating current (AC) voltage (col.6, ln.1-4); a voltage generator to generate the AC voltage to be supplied to the charger (fig., #10/#11); a current detector (fig., #15) to detect a current flowing between the voltage generator and the image bearer in order to determine layer thickness (col.6, ln.52-56). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus with an undisclosed discharge measurement of Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) by having the measurement device of Sasame et al. (US 5,568,242) because it is a known means for achieving the measurement and allows an additional possibility of determining the time to change or replace the member (col.6, ln.56-58). Regarding claim 14, upon combination, the limitations of the method are met by the apparatus of Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) in view of Sasame et al. (US 5,568,242) as applied to claim 1 and therefore stands rejected on the same grounds. Regarding claim 15, upon combination of Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) in view of Sasame et al. (US 5,568,242), the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing the image forming apparatus to execute the method according to claim 14 is read as taught by Aoshima et al. (US Pub.2009/0274474) fig.9, #100. Allowable Subject Matter While no art rejection has been presented for independent claim 8 or dependent claims 2-5 and 9-13, the issues resulting in rejections under 35 U.S.C.112 preclude patentability determination until amendments may be presented. Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA K ROTH whose telephone number is (571)272-2154. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 7:30AM-3:30 PM. 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, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at 571-272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /LKR/ 5/12/2026 /Arlene Heredia Ocasio/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 2 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 3 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 4 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 5 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 6 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 7 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 8 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 9 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 10 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 11 Art Unit: 2852 Application/Control Number: 19/172,173 Page 12 Art Unit: 2852
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