/SAA/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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A in the reply filed on 7/21/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 6 and 7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/21/26.
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.
Claims 1, 4, 5, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the controller is configured to: … change the at least one control condition in a case where the measured temperature is lower than a predicted temperature of the fixing member.”
Claim 2, on the other hand, recites the limitation “wherein the controller is configured to determine the predicted temperature of the fixing member using the measured temperature of the heating body”.
In claim 1, the “predicted temperature” can be determined by any and all means, by any and all actors or components, including the controller, but also including unnamed third parties. The predicted temperature is the end result of the process of making a prediction, limited only by the process steps recited in the claim – none whatsoever. Because the claim also includes waiting for unnamed third parties to make a prediction, it is unclear whether infringement occurs when one provides the apparatus that waits for some unnamed third party to make a prediction, or whether infringement occurs when the unnamed third party actually makes a prediction, rendering claim 1 indefinite. MPEP 2173.05(p) (II). Here, the required prediction of claim 1 clearly includes specific actions or functions performed by unnamed third parties. Id. Claim 2, on the other hand, makes clear that the prediction is a capability of the system, rather specific actions or functions performed by unnamed third parties. Id. Claim 2 is therefore definite.
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)(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 1-5, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Kojima, U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2024/0069473.
Regarding independent claim 1, an image-forming apparatus comprising:
a fixing apparatus (21) configured to fix a toner image onto a recording material; and
a controller (14) configured to control fixing of the toner image onto the recording material by the fixing apparatus (¶ 71) in accordance with at least one control condition (¶ 69, the power supplied is to the heater),
wherein the fixing apparatus includes:
a fixing member capable of rotating (71);
a pressurizing member (72) configured to, along with the fixing member, nip and convey the recording material (¶ 68);
a heating body (73) configured to heat the fixing member; and
a measurement circuit (¶ 66, the circuits of the temperature sensors 74, whether such sensors are provided as a plurality or singly) configured to measure a temperature of the heating body, and
the controller is configured to:
control a supply of power to the heating body using a measured temperature of the heating body measured by the measurement circuit (¶ 71); and
change the at least one control condition in a case where the measured temperature is lower than a predicted temperature of the fixing member (¶ 71, 72, 100, considering the corrected temperature based on the prediction when deciding whether to increase the power to match the target power).
Regarding claim 2, which depends from claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine the predicted temperature of the fixing member using the measured temperature of the heating body (¶ 92).
Regarding claim 3, which depends from claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to derive the predicted temperature by inputting the measured temperature into a predetermined prediction model (¶ 92, modeled as an RC circuit).
Regarding claim 4, which depends from claim 1, wherein the measurement circuit includes a thermistor arranged near the heating body (¶ 66), and
the fixing apparatus does not include a temperature measurement circuit, aside from the measurement circuit, for predicting a temperature of the fixing member (only the measurement circuits of temperature sensors are “for predicting a temperature of the fixing member”, whether such sensors are provided as a plurality or singly).
Regarding claim 5, which depends from claim 1, wherein changing the at least one control condition includes increasing an amount of heat generated by the heating body per unit of time (¶ 69, the power supplied is to the heater is the “amount of heat generated by the heating body per unit of time”, which limitation is met whenever the power is increased).
Regarding claim 8, which depends from claim 1, wherein the fixing member is a flexible endless film (¶ 63, there is a hollow elastic layer formed on the hollow metal core).
Regarding claim 9, which depends from claim 8, wherein the heating body is arranged in a space surrounded by the film, and nips the film at a nip part between the heating body and the pressurizing member (¶ 63, 64, metal core includes the heater, which forms the nip along with the elastic layer on it as it abuts against the press roller 72), and
the toner image on the recording material is heated through the film at the nip part (¶ 62).
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 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kojima, U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2024/0069473, in view of well known prior art.
Examiner assumes arguendo, without conceding, that Applicants intended to claim a fixing belt as the fixing member, rather than the more generic “flexible endless film”.
Examiner takes official notice that fixing belts are well known equivalents to fixing roller in the art of electrophotography. See, e.g.: Suzuki, U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2019/0227465, ¶ 110; Tanaka et al., U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2019/0271932, ¶ 98; Arata, U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2022/0179340, ¶ 77; and, Umeda, U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2019/0286024, ¶ 82. See MPEP 2144.03(C) for guidance.
Kojima teaches:
Regarding claim 8, which depends from claim 1, wherein the fixing member is a flexible endless film (¶ 63, there is a hollow elastic layer formed on the hollow metal core).
Regarding claim 9, which depends from claim 8, wherein the heating body is arranged in a space surrounded by the film, and nips the film at a nip part between the heating body and the pressurizing member (¶ 63, 64, metal core includes the heater, which forms the nip along with the elastic layer on it as it abuts against the press roller 72), and
the toner image on the recording material is heated through the film at the nip part (¶ 62).
However, Kojima uses a fixing roller with an elastic outer layer as the flexible endless film rather than a fixing belt.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill at the time of effective filing to provide a fixing belt instead of the fixing roller of Kojima. Such would have been a mere substitution of an equivalent known for the same purpose. MPEP 2144.06 (II).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art also teach comparing predicted temperatures against measured temperatures of a fixing device to adjust the supplied power.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEVAN A AYDIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3209. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9AM-6PM PT.
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/SEVAN A AYDIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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