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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 2-9,11-12 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.
In claim 2, line 3, the applicant uses the phrase “predetermined period” which is unclear since this lacks antecedent basis. It is assumed the “predetermined period” applicant is referring is the time period each time the power consumption value is obtained however clarification is requested. It is noted claim 1, recites both a “time period” (line 10) and consumption values acquired at a plurality of times or time periods (lines 15-16).
In claim 11, line 3, the phrase “entire of the” should be changed to -- the entire --.
In claim 12, last two lines seem redundant.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1,10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hirota (U.S. 8,909,078).
Hirota teach an image forming apparatus 1 (see Fig.10) including a fixing module 411 having a heater 412 to heat a toner image to a recording sheet and a processor 300 (see Fig.1) to control the operations of the image forming apparatus (col.4, lines 3-7). A power source unit 200 supplies power to the image forming apparatus including the fixing module via a power meter 100 (col.4, lines 42-46). A power consumption value will be obtained for the fixing module during a time period the heater is generating heat; the power consumption value being obtained by measuring the current and voltage supplied to the heater at a plurality of measurement times (col.4, lines 62-67; col.5, lines 8-12); the accumulated power consumption amount will be averaged over a certain time period/operational mode (col.8, lines 18-51). A specific mode the image forming apparatus is in (rising mode, sleep mode, print mode, standby mode) will change the target temperature the fixing heater will obtain and thus the controlling temperature and the electric power supplied to the heater will also vary (see col.5, lines 30 – col.7, line 3). The target temperature of standby mode is 170°C while the target temperature of a printing/copying mode is 230°C. Thus, the “control value” for determining the fixing temperature of the fixing heater is the detected mode the image forming apparatus is currently operating in.
Regarding claims 10-11, while it has been described that the power consumption values are obtained for the fixing module, the disclosure is not limited to just the fixing module but to the entire image forming apparatus and its associated operational modules (i.e. scanner, image forming unit, conveying unit, etc.) which would include the entire image forming apparatus. It is noted that applicant does not claim the power consumption values are obtained separately for each module.
Regarding claim 12, a display can show consumed electric energy of the entire image forming apparatus which would include the fixing module. See col.10, lines 4-10.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 2, acquiring a control value for each time period the power consumption value is obtained and acquiring power consumption values based on the value of the electric power supplied to the heating element from an external power supply and in accordance with the control value
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Okunishi et al. describes obtaining a power consumption amount of at least the fixing module by accumulating a plurality of consumption values over time. Gon et al., Hirano, Takagi et al. all teach obtaining power consumption values for a fixing module. Kojima teach a display for showing power consumption values. Miyamoto and Miyamoto et al. are related 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.
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/ROBERT B BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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