DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/28/25 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakayama (US 2006/0051125).
Regarding claim 1, Nakayama discloses an image forming apparatus 101 (par. 0030) to which a cartridge 133 that stores developer is removably attachable, the image forming apparatus comprising: a rotary 132 including a storage unit 133d that stores the developer supplied from the cartridge, and a developing member 133a that forms a developer image by developing an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member using the developer stored in the storage unit; a frame 132 that accommodates the rotary (par. 0047, fig. 4); a moving device (i.e. drive source, par. 0047) that moves the cartridge from an attachment position at which the cartridge is inside the frame to a displaced position at which the cartridge is outside the frame (par. 0058, fig. 7); a controller (i.e. controlling portion, par. 0052, par. 0048) that controls the moving device; and a document transporter 161 that is rotatable above the frame and that transports a document sheet (par. 0032, fig. 1), wherein a direction in which the cartridge 133 moves from the attachment position (fig. 6) to the displaced position (fig. 7) and that crosses a direction of a rotational axis of the rotary 132 is defined as a displacement direction, wherein an upstream end of the rotary in the displacement direction is defined as a rotary upstream end (i.e. area around 2a, fig. 5), and wherein a rotation center of the document transporter (i.e. area around 103a, fig 5) is located upstream of the rotary upstream end in the displacement direction.
Regarding claim 6, Nakayama further discloses a reader 103 (par. 0032, fig. 1) that is rotatable above the frame 132 and that reads an image on a document sheet, wherein a direction in which the cartridge moves from the attachment position to the displaced position and that crosses a direction of a rotational axis of the rotary is defined as a displacement direction (fig. 5, fig. 7), wherein an upstream end of the rotary in the displacement direction is defined as a rotary upstream end (i.e. area around 2a, fig. 5), and wherein a rotation center of the reader 103 (i.e. area around 103a, fig. 5) is located upstream of the rotary upstream end in the displacement direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claims 2-5 and 7-10, the prior art of record neither disclose or suggest the image forming apparatus comprising all the features of claims 1 and 6, respectively, and wherein a distance between the rotary upstream end and the frame downstream end in the displacement direction is less than a distance between the rotary upstream end and the frame upstream end in the displacement direction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hoang Ngo whose telephone number is (571)272-2138. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 am - 4:00 pm.
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/HOANG X NGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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