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 .
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.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore,
the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller variable in nip pressure
the low-thermal- conductivity conveyance roller having a roller surface having a porous structure
the low-thermal- conductivity conveyance roller wider than a maximum image width
the low-thermal- conductivity conveyance roller including a plurality of rollers
the plurality of rollers each having a width narrower than a maximum image width
the plurality of rollers arranged separated from each other in a direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the recording medium
a controller that at least decelerates or stops the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller
must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
TITLE - 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.
ABSTRACT - The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it merely consists of a single run-on sentence without regard for proper grammatical form. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: structure of means to form a nip wherein the recording medium is held by the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller. The omitted elements are essential to properly construe a formed nip, as claimed, and conduct search over prior art.
Claims 1-10 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 recites inter alia, “the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller having a lower thermal conductivity than one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers located downstream of the fixer and being provided in a predetermined region downstream of the fixer where the toner image that has been heated and fixed reaches a glass transition temperature”. It is unclear if the feature “being provided in a predetermined region downstream of the fixer where the toner image that has been heated and fixed reaches a glass transition temperature” refers to the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller or to the one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers. For the purpose of examination over prior art, this limitation is interpreted as “the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller, having a lower thermal conductivity than one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers located downstream of the fixer, being provided in a predetermined region downstream of the fixer where the toner image that has been heated and fixed reaches a glass transition temperature”.
Claim 5 recites inter alia, “the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller includes a plurality of rollers”.
Where applicant acts as his or her own lexicographer to specifically define a term of a claim contrary to its ordinary meaning, the written description must clearly redefine the claim term and set forth the uncommon definition so as to put one reasonably skilled in the art on notice that the applicant intended to so redefine that claim term. Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1357, 52 USPQ2d 1029, 1033 (Fed. Cir. 1999). The term “continuously” in claim 10 is used by the claim to mean “successively, sequentially, consecutively,” while the accepted meaning is “without any breaks, pauses, or interruptions.” The term is indefinite because the specification does not clearly redefine the term.
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(s) 1, 4, 6, and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2007/0098470 to Shida et al.
Shida teaches:
(claim 1) An image forming system (Fig.1) comprising:
a fixer (7) that heats and fixes a toner image onto a recording medium (P); and
a low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller (11b) that conveys the recording medium while holding the recording medium at a formed nip (roller pair 102),
the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller having a lower thermal conductivity than one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers (103-106) located downstream of the fixer and being provided in a predetermined region downstream of the fixer where the toner image that has been heated and fixed reaches a glass transition temperature [0043, 0047].
(claim 4) The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller is wider than a maximum image width (Fig.2a, [0044]).
(claim 6) The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising a controller (A1) that at least decelerates or stops the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller [0048].
(claim 8) The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising a cooler (fan F) that cools the recording medium, the cooler being provided downstream of the fixer and upstream of the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller [0046].
(claim 9) The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller is configured such that only a roller to come into contact with the toner image among a plurality of rollers forming the nip has a lower thermal conductivity than one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers located downstream of the fixer (only 11b of roller pair 102, [0043]).
(claim 10) The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance rollers is continuously arranged in a conveyance direction of the recording medium (see roller pairs 101 and 102).
Claim(s) 1, 3 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2021/0405570 to Shiowaka.
Shiowaka teaches:
(claim 1) An image forming system (Fig.1) comprising:
a fixer (50) that heats and fixes a toner image onto a recording medium (P); and
a low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller (32a) that conveys the recording medium while holding the recording medium at a formed nip (roller pair 32),
the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller having a lower thermal conductivity (0.0600 - 0.163 W/m-K1 for foamed silicone [0036]), than one or a plurality of other conveyance rollers (e.g. 31a, 0.167 - 0.300 W/m-K2 for PTFE [0034]) located downstream of the fixer and being provided in a predetermined region downstream of the fixer where the toner image that has been heated and fixed reaches a glass transition temperature (molten state, [0037].
(claim 3) The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller has a roller surface that is formed of a resin material having a porous structure (foamed silicone [0037]).
(claim 7) The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller is provided at a position in a double-sided circulation conveyance path (42) where the recording medium whose conveyance direction has been reversed is conveyed [0029].
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.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2007/0098470 to Shida et al., as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 20080157465 to Matsumoto.
Regarding claim 2, Shida teaches an image forming system according to claim 1, but appears silent about the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller being variable in nip pressure.
Matsumoto discloses a sheet conveying device which is capable of stably conveying a sheet, irrespective of the material of the sheet. A first conveying roller pair nips and conveys a sheet. A drive motor drives the first conveying roller pair. An encoder detects the rotational speed of the first conveying roller pair. A first nip pressure-adjusting unit controls the nip pressure of the first conveying roller pair, and a CPU controls the first nip pressure-adjusting unit according to a change in the rotational speed of the first conveying roller pair detected by the encoder during sheet conveyance (Abstract).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the image forming system of Shida such that the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller is variable in nip pressure, as suggested by Matsumoto’s invention, for at least the purpose of accounting for changes in the speed of the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller, which occur according to the material, hardness, and thickness of the recording medium when the leading end of the recording medium gets enters the nip (Matsumoto: [0050]).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0405570 to Shiowaka, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2011/0076078 to Yoshida.
Regarding claim 5, Shiowaka teaches an image forming system according to claim 1, but appears silent about the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller including a plurality of rollers each having a width narrower than a maximum image width.
Yoshida discloses a conveyor roller (57) that conveys a sheet in a double-sided circulation conveyance path; the conveyor roller including a plurality of roller bodies (56) arranged at predetermined intervals in an axial direction of a rotary shaft (55).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure an image forming system according to claim 1 such that the low-thermal-conductivity conveyance roller includes a plurality of rollers each having a width narrower than a maximum image width, the plurality of rollers being arranged so as to be separated from each other in a direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the recording medium, as a known configuration for conveyance roller in an image forming system capable of conveying a recording medium with reduce friction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARLENE HEREDIA whose telephone number is (571)272-8393. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30-5:30.
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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.
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/Arlene Heredia Ocasio/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
1 https://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet_print.aspx?matguid=c5a00e0b46c045ce981ac96fe6ceea51, Retrieved 07/13/2026
2 https://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet_print.aspx?matguid=4e0b2e88eeba4aaeb18e8820f1444cdb, Retrieved 07/13/2026
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