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 § 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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fujinaka (U.S. 2022/0276587).
Fujinaka teach a process cartridge 20 (see Fig.s 5A,6) including a developing container 32 having a storage chamber 36 to store toner and which extends in a first direction along the longitudinal direction of a developing roller 31; a discharge port is located between one end of the developing container and the other end and is used to discharge toner from the developing container so as to develop a latent image on a photosensitive drum 21 via the developing roller 31 (par.46); a reception portion 32a having a reception port for receiving toner into the toner housing/chamber; a second shutter 38 (applicant’s reception shutter) attached to the reception portion and is movable between a shutter closed position and a shutter open position; the reception portion 32a is connectable to a toner container 40 having a first shutter 41 which is rotatable to open and close a discharge port of the toner container; the reception port is configured to receive toner from the toner container when the toner container is connected to the reception port and both the first and second shutters are rotated to be in the open position (see par.57-58,63-68). The toner container 40 includes a main body (i.e. bottle) to store toner and having a connection member (e.g. protrusions 42) which mate with the replenishing port 32a to connect the toner container to the developing container 32; the toner container bottle can be made of paper (par.71).
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 1-5,7-12,14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (U.S. 2021/0141333) in view of Fujinaka (U.S. 2022/0276587).
Regarding claim 8, Sato et al. teach a process cartridge 51 including a toner housing frame 591 having a developing chamber 59a to store toner and which extends in a first direction; a developing roller 55 extending in the first direction, located within the developing chamber, and configured to supply toner to a photosensitive drum 54 (see Fig.8A,10A par. 93,122); a reception portion having a reception port 591b or 514c for receiving toner into the toner housing/chamber (par.127-128); a reception shutter 515 attached to the reception portion and is movable between a reception shutter closed position and a reception shutter open position (par. 99,106,108); the reception portion is connectable to a toner container 52 (Fig. 11,12A, 12B); the reception port is configured to receive toner from the toner container when the toner container is connected to the reception port and the reception shutter is located at the open position; the reception shutter is rotatable together with the toner container between the open and closed positions (see Fig. 12A, 12B, par.146-149).
Regarding claim 1, the process cartridge 51 has a housing 591 with a discharge port (opening) located between one end of the toner housing and another end of the toner housing in the first direction and on a surface of the housing which crosses (i.e. perpendicular) an end surface of the housing in the first direction and in which the developing roller 55 is positioned so as to discharge the toner from the housing to the surface of a photosensitive drum 54 (see Fig.s 8A, 8B, 12A, 12B).
Regarding claims 2 and 9, the toner container 52 is detachable from the cartridge when the toner container is attached to the reception portion and the reception shutter is located at the closed position (Fig.12A, par.) and when the toner container is rotated such that the reception shutter is in the open position and the toner container is locked and undetachable (Fig. 12B, par. 118-119).
Regarding claims 3 and 10, the toner container 52 includes a main body 521 for storing toner material and having a discharge port 522a to discharge toner to the developing chamber, a container shutter 524 to open and close the discharge port (par. 78); the container shutter closes discharge port when the reception shutter is in a closed position while the container shutter opens the discharge port when the reception shutter is in the open position (par. 147-155, Fig.s 12A, 12B).
Regarding claims 4,7,11 and 14, when the toner container is connected to the reception portion and the container shutter and the reception shutter are in an open position, the toner container is undetachable (par. 118-119); a part of the container shutter 524 such as projections 524b engages the reception portion recessed portion 514d (Fig.11, par. 98, 102-103).
Regarding claims 5 and 12, when the toner container is connected to the cartridge’s reception portion, the toner container shutter projections 524b engage recessed portions 514d of the reception portion; the toner cartridge will be rotated to allow the shutters 524 and 515 to also rotate so that the toner container discharge port 522a and reception port 514c communicate with each other and allow toner to be discharged into the developing chamber.
Specifically, Sato et al. teach all that is claimed except the toner container comprising a paper bottle.
Fujinaka teach a process cartridge 20 (see Fig.s 5A,6) including a developing container 32 having a storage chamber 36 to store toner and a toner container 40 to replenished the developing container with toner. The toner container 40 includes a main body (i.e. bottle) to store toner and having a connection member (e.g. protrusions 42) which mate with the replenishing port 32a to connect the toner container to the developing container 32; the toner container bottle can be made of paper (par.71).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to make the toner container out of a paper material because such material would be a cheaper alternative to using a plastic material and the equivalency of using either of these materials for the toner container is taught by Fujinaka.
Conclusion
Applicant's arguments filed 8/5/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Previously objected to claims (now incorporated into the independent claims) are now rejected over new prior art. This action is non-final.
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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